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CM with multiple kids…challenging or doable?
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…granted mine are still small…-am only hs one in K this year- but for those of you who are homeschooling multiple children: do you find it difficult to do CM (with so many books) or is it doable? Do you keep everyone on somewhat of the same topic? I see so many hs families do a worksheet pile each day for the majority of the daily school work (which I don’t agree with)…but is CM overwhelming with multipules?
Sometimes, but it really is doable. =) How’s that for an answer?
Seriously, it is doable – and it is made much easier if you take the time when they are young like yours teach them the habits you will need them to have in order to be successful.
The books are the best part! Even my littles listen while we eat lunch – and they enjoy the selections chosen for their age. I keep us on the same topics as much as possible in every subject.
You will probably feel overwhelmed at times with multiple children while Homeschooling no matter which methods you employ. It’s just the truth.
We have 5DC and have always homeschooled. Having family studies that revolve around the same topic (IMO) tends to be quite a bit easier than several subjects dealt out by a boxed curriculum. (At least it’s been easier on me.)
We did use boxed and correspondence curriculum in the early years when we only had 3 children, but it was a managerial frustration for me during my 4th pregnancy. One was way ahead of the curriculum, which meant boredom. Another should’ve been allowed to wait to begin until later, much later, in fact. The third listened in while in ear shot of the other two and learned to read without directly focussed attention from me. Once I realized we could not keep up with the pace for one, were boring the other, and didn’t need curriculum for the third, I began piecing thongs together based on their individual levels. Having commonality of topics made this so much easier. Categorized book lists by reading level was a huge help!
My favorite book for this is All through the Ages, by Christine Miller. We used Robinson for a few years and really developed the kids’ independence. But, it’s not a very conversational style of Homeschooling and we weren’t studying any subjects in common (other than math on various levels and nature study.)
I took the best of both CM and RC by keeping an RC style routine during independent study time with AttA/SCM based booklists. We like it. Anytime life means no time for family studies, the independent studies continue without me stressing out that they aren’t learning enough.
The best advice I can give while they are young is focus on the Bible, habits (character and chores,) and the 3Rs. The extras will take care if themselves a bit down the road if you can’t get to them just yet. Having the kids equipped to study well on their own when your hands are full of life makes a huge difference for them to be able to have books assigned in common areas at the upper elementary-highschool grades.
Blessings,
Becca<><
I think both ladies are right – homeschooling will have times that are challenging no matter how many or how few children you have!
Our situation: We’ve always homeschooled, started out with unit studies and are mostly CM now. We’re expecting baby #8 this summer and the other children are 11, 8, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1. The youngest has major medical needs that have put our life into multiple doctors and many unexpected surgeries (he had 5 unexpected brain surgeries in 6 months last fall, on top of the expected brain and spine surgeries he had last year at birth. Homeschooling is the best thing for our family because it is the constant and allows us flexibility and time as a family around it all.
I love CM because her principles are doable. I love SCM’s aim to do family studies keeping everyone together for history topics, artist, composer, etc. Some CMers don’t do that. They have each child doing separate work in separate time periods with never a book the same between children (Ambleside Online comes to mind). For me that would be so much harder. I think it is all in how you apply it.
For example in my family right now we read one thing in history together and then my children learn more at their own age/ability with an independent read or a group read. So after our family read aloud my 6th grader can learn more on a topic with her own book while I read aloud a simpler book to my 2nd, 1st, and younger kids. Narrations are very efficient to hear what each child is forming a relationship with.
I want to echo everything Tristan said … I’m always searching for a “like” button here.
I only have four kids, 9, 7, 5, and 4, but approaching history/geo/Bible the way the SCM team presents in their guides makes so much sense for multiple children. We use some things from AO and HUFI, along with SCM, but combining big “subjects” into a family feast the way it is done with SCM always resonates most with my semi-large family.
It was overwhelming for me the first three years when I added another child every year! But it is doable. Now they are in 4th, 3rd, 2nd and my last starts K next year. I teach as many subjects together as I can. I use the SCM history study guides (I don’t know what I would do without them) and we do science together, art, music, etc. They are learning more independence each year so I expect it to get easier in that regard as we go along.
Enjoy your first year with “only” one!
I think it’s very doable…although homeschooling (or just taking care of) a large family is challenging no matter what! Those moms have to grade that big pile of worksheets…I don’t think that’s any easier than spending time reading to them and discussing books with them. I know which of the two I enjoy more. 😉
SCM is a wonderful fit for our family (we have 4 DC, 10 and under). I spent last summer trying to find a solution to combine everyone. I cut out all the busywork and looked for a great way to combine them. SCM was my pick and it’s been our best HS year ever!
It is a lot to jump into…especially when you only have 1 school aged DC. I’d take it slow and add a subject or two at a time. We have been adding subjects in all year and still haven’t studied Shakespeare or been consistent with our nature walks or music studies. We keep going and it gives us something to work up to…even if we don’t get to it until next fall!
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