Comments on: Multi-level Homeschooling: Little Ones Part 1

By: camille Duckwqorth

camille Duckwqorth — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:49:34 +0000

all the comments have been helpful thanks!

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:12:01 +0000

I don’t think it’s too late, especially if your 2 and 4 year old are accustomed to obeying you.

Simply put the blanket out and show them their boundaries. Tell them that Mommy wants them to stay on the blanket and play with the toys. (I would set a timer for 5 – 10 minutes to start with.) Devote that 5-10 minutes to being certain that they stay were you’ve asked them to stay. If they get off the blanket simply handle it as you would handle any other disobedience.

Does that make sense?

By: Dyan Croushore

Dyan Croushore — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:32:58 +0000

We never trained our little ones to stay on blankets, and I have a 4 y.o., a 2 y.o., and an infant. How can we start with the 4 and 2 year old (can you give me specifics on blanket training)? Is it too late?

I am homeschooling my daughters, ages 8, 6 and 6. Thanks so much for the godly advice! I have a tendency to push through the day just to check off the boxes on the school to do list, and neglect my little ones.

By: 4 Moms Open House: Yard and Entry | Raising Olives

4 Moms Open House: Yard and Entry | Raising Olives — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:09:05 +0000

[...] a play/sitting/eating area off of the family/school room. This portion of the deck is ideal for little ones who need an outside break while we are working on school. Back [...]

By: While the Mommy’s Away, the Toddlers Will Play

While the Mommy’s Away, the Toddlers Will Play — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:04:27 +0000

[...] run and clean up later Some days are just like that. For more ideas on keeping toddlers busy: Raising Olives Smockity Frocks Too Many Kids in the Bathtub and Miscellaneous Musings of a 5x Mom (whom I am [...]

By: Christin

Christin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:34:55 +0000

This is my first visit to your blog and I just love it!! Your family is BEAUTIFUL!!
I love all your tips. I have 3 little ones, 4 and under. I spend some morning time working with them on “school”. My four year old and I work through phonics, some math concepts, reading, art projects, etc. My 2-year old and I work through letter, number, shape, and color recognition as well as reading time. After they have had their “face” time, My older one (7) begins her lessons. My 14-month old is a bit of a bigger challenge so we use her nap time to really dig into lessons.
There is certainly room for more training because there is often disruptions. I really try to remember to keep handy some hands-on, independent activities for the little ones while I focus on my older daughter.
Thank you for all these wonderful tips!

By: Lisa from the Crew

Lisa from the Crew — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:48:31 +0000

Great ideas! Thank you!

Sometimes it’s very easy for me to get caught up in the “this schoolwork has to be done” mentality and I forget why I’m really homeschooling.

Great reminder and I appreciate the tips!

By: Nikki

Nikki — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:58:44 +0000

Great post Kimberly. I look forward to more advice and pictures too. I’ve been fretting about how exactly things will work. And of course, when these twins will actually be born. But I always come away from your blog feeling uplifted and inspired. Thanks so much for your faith.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:43:12 +0000

Great post! I have 13 children, and we have been homeschooling for 19 years. Last year was the first year that we did NOT have preschoolers and/or babies. (We began our homeschooling when we had 6 children under 7 years old.)

We, too, have always taken advantage of nap time to do more concentrated work with the older children. We have also rotated older kids’ schedules so that they could take turns playing with little ones. And, we’ve had older kids teach younger kids at different times (which gives mommy time with the little ones). We may have an older child teach art or science, or help the younger ones with math or reading, depending on the older child’s interests.

We, too, always focused our “schooling” on training up our children to love and serve the Lord. That has always been our primary goal of parenting. Character education was much more important than how old each child was when they learned to read, for example.

Keep up the good work with all your little ones. It is the most amazing thing for me, now, that those 6 older children I started homeschooling with are now all young adults, each one passionate about serving the Lord, and several of them traveling the world as missionaries.

blessings,

Laurel

By: Whitney

Whitney — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:20:00 +0000

Just wrote out a big comment that I accidently deleted! Time for bed….Keep up the inspiration and advice. Its truly appreciated! Thanks, Whitney

By: Jonam

Jonam — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:13:17 +0000

Thanks for you good information

By: Heather@It's Twinsanity

Heather@It's Twinsanity — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:58:09 +0000

My children are 6, 5, 3, 3, 11 months, and 11 months. I am often asked about how I teach them with the little ones running around too. Honestly, I could use some tips myself! We have learned that it’s best for our family if I start lessons in the afternoon, after lunch, when the toddlers are sleeping. I keep the babies with me and they play or nurse while I teach-unless they are sleeping too, which is nothing short of a miracle! I would love to see pictures of your classroom and hear other tips for having little ones around while teaching!

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:25:34 +0000

Thank you so much for all of the tips. I love the activity ideas. I did not even know there was such a thing as window markers. I cannot wait to try them. I really enjoy your blog and all of your tips. One thing I would be interested in learning about is how you cope with morning sickness while pregnant and having other children and how you cope with lack of sleep those first few weeks after you have an infant.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:12:29 +0000

Great post! Loved this. Especially the part about teaching Godliness over scholastics. Nice work here mom!

Hope your having a good week!

Love and Prayers,

Tim

By: Jennifer in IL

Jennifer in IL — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:10:44 +0000

oops I forgot. We have ages 13, 11, 7, 5, 2 and due Sept.

By: Jennifer in IL

Jennifer in IL — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:10:04 +0000

I’ve gained a lot of mileage out of “school toy boxes”. I suppose they could be called workboxes. Most of the little ones toys go into 4-5 boxes, one for each day of the school week. After Mommy time, comes Crib time, snack, then I pull out the toy boxes. The toys only come out once a week so the little ones always look forward to see them again. Before we begin our fall/early winter season, when the weather gets yucky, I dump all the boxes and various toy boxes out. I spend several days sorting and deciding which toys will get packed away and which will go into a box. Each box is labeled so errant toys get put back in the right box.

By: Veronica at luvmyarrows

Veronica at luvmyarrows — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:27:35 +0000

Thanks for all the info! I have homeschooled my 14 and 16 year olds from the beginning, but with such a big age gap with my now 1st grader and preschoolers, it feels like starting all over again, so your ideas/tips are such a blessing.

Happy homeschooling!

By: Tristan from the Crew

Tristan from the Crew — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:48:19 +0000

We include the little ones in as much as possible too. We use our own version of workboxes and that helps my oldest work independently for a lot of things. The 3 and 4 year olds even have a set of weekly workboxes they can grab any time they want (or any time I tell them to LOL) to do activities too. Their favorites are puzzles, a pocket microscope, and file folder games.
The 1 yo plays with math manipulatives, toys, puzzles, markers(and crayons and dry erase markers), books, and big siblings when mom is helping a specific child.
The 5 month old is on the floor nearby, in my lap, or occasionally in the baby swing (next to us) while we do homeschool.

The 1yo only naps in the afternoon (1pm – 3pm). The bigger kids do quiet time in their beds from 1-2 and then we have an hour for things that are easier with the 1yo asleep.

I try to mix active assignments (can you do 20 jumping jacks and then run around the living room 5 times?) with quiet assignments for littles. The occasional well placed snack helps too!

We can’t send the kids outside without an adult (we live in town along an alley. It happens to be the thouroughfare for the local high school students, especially since the $5.00 pizza shop is at one end of it!), but we try to spend time outside every day.

We also have a mini trampoline indoor.

By: Twisted Cinderella

Twisted Cinderella — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:20:24 +0000

Thank you for the great tips. As I move into homeschooling, knowing that I will be starting out with seven year old and a one-year old and ending the year with the addition of a newborn, I can use all the tips I can get.