It can seem overwhelming when you think about homeschooling multiple kids when you think about it from a public school-style learning point of view. You think of multiple curriculums for multiple grades and it starts to feel impossible. But it doesn’t have to. Instead, it’s about picking the best curriculum for multiple kids to make life easier for yourself.
This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.
Picking the Best Curriculum for Multiple Kids
The first thing when you think about homeschooling often is that you need different grade levels for each curriculum.
For example: You have a second grader and third grader, you think you need a science, language arts, and math curriculum for each of them. That would mean you would have to buy six different curriculums for just three subjects. I almost panic at the thought of that and I know I am not going to buy it.
Decide Your Homeschool Goals
What is your goal for the school year? What is your budget? Your time availability?
I know that I do not want to spend all day every day teaching my kids. For one we have too many animals, too much of social life, and life in general (including this site) to spend eight hours teaching each of my kids.
This is where a curriculum that focuses on ability comes in handy. RightStart Math for one is an excellent example of this, WriteShop is another. They each of a placement test that you can go through to find the right level for them.
All-in-One Curriculum
One great thing about an all-in-one curriculum is that they often are for a range of ages rather than for a specific grade! BookShark is a great example of this. It makes it easy for parents to use this type of curriculum for multiple kids.
Examples of Curriculum for Multiple Kids
I want to share how I homeschool three kids – 12 years old (Austin), 10 years (Brookland), 8 years old (Gauge). That’s two years, two grades between each of them. But our homeschool day doesn’t last all that long, and we get a good bunch of it done together and with a good routine.
Austin is the typical preteen, sleeping later than the other two. This means the younger two kids are up and ready to start their day before she is up.
What curriculum we are using this year:
WriteShop Junior E
WriteShop1
History Quest early Times
BookShark Science Level E
Teaching Textbooks
I work with the younger two kids together on their language arts as I have them working on the same level this year which has been working great. We sit at the table and work through it together while Austin gets up, has breakfast, and starts on her math lesson.
By the time I am finished with the younger two, Austin and I can divide into her lesson and the younger two get started on their math lessons.
Using a digital, online math curriculum that they can work on independent of me is a lifesaver for me, and is teaching them independence.
Once those two lessons are finished we move on to other group lessons like science and history. I feel that science and history are easily taught together, especially when your kids are relatively close in age. Even if the lessons are slightly above what your younger kids can completely understand they are going to take away something.
We have been doing science and history together since the beginning. It has worked great for us. We follow our kids’ interests in everything.
I just want to give them the foundation for learning and let them go from them. Brookland just a month ago decided that she wants to learn more about history and is borrowing books from the library and watching documentaries on Curiosity Stream to learn more as she’s ready.
Similar Posts
Homeschooling Multiple Kids with Ease