Teens, Tweens, Toddlers - How to Manage Multiple Ages and Homeschooling

It seems like a lifetime ago, but when we started homeschooling, our oldest son was four. We also had a two-year-old and a newborn, and as life went on, we added another baby about every other year or so. Pretty soon we had a big group of eight kids from 15 down to the baby, and I felt like I was drowning every day.

I have learned and implemented a lot of management techniques over the years.

Sometimes the things I try work and other times I have to scrap the whole shebang just an hour or two into it. Quite honestly, my current frustration is teens who see the systems, know the systems, and ignore the systems. Systems, it seems, aren't the stuff of which relationships are made.

I'm not so good at relationships. I'm very good at projects. For all the homeschooling moms out there who love to while away the afternoon with a cup of coffee and a long conversation on the couch, I'm the homeschooling mom who would rather organize paperwork and cook dinner. I'm the one to whom administration and organization come naturally. I'm the one who is socially inept most of the time, so if you want to throw a party, I'll get it all up and running for you. Just don't ask me to host. Ha!

I'm working on the relationship part, and I love reading books by homeschooling moms who are relationship rock stars.

Are you needing help knowing how to not drown while homeschooling?

How to not go completely under? I can do that. In fact, I have a whole site dedicated to helping you figure out how to homeschool older kids well while managing little ones, too. It's called Preschoolers and Peace, and it's been around a long, long time.

Help is here!

I also have two eBooks that might come in handy, particularly if you want to cut to the chase and not have to poke around the site for the info you need. The first is called Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling Older Kids With Success While Loving the Little Ones at Your Feet (affiliate link), and it covers everything from home management to kid management to schedules to food to school ideas.

The other is Circle Time: Plan the Best Part of Your Day (affiliate link). I was struggling getting to all of the subjects we wanted to cover, such as Scripture memory, art, writing letters, etc., and so I implemented a group time around our kitchen table that includes all the kids. It's been the anchor to our homeschool for the past 15 years!

Here's to thriving in our homes!

-Kendra, who is off to focus on some relationships here . . .

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Five For Friday: All the Single Ladies

From around the web, here are five articles and blog posts to accompany our latest episode, All the Single Ladies. We think you'll find them very encouraging this weekend!

How Can a Single Mom Afford to Homeschool? - Kim Sorgius

Single homeschooling mom Kim Sorgius is frequently asked how she's able to provide for her family and homeschool at the same time. We think you'll appreciate her grace-filled answer.

Homeschooling During a Deployment or Other Separation - Aadel Bussinger

Aadel is a military wife and she knows separation - long spells of deployment when dad is unavailable. Maybe that's you, too? Take heart, join up with your sisters, and know you are not alone.

How to Homeschool as a Single Parent - Penelope Trunk

Like our episode guests, Penelope Trunk works from home as she educates her kids there, too. It's possible to do this thing, and she'll show you how.

Homeschooling When Dad Is Not Home - Michele White

When dad travels a lot for business, a homeschooling life can be interrupted on both ends - when he leaves and when he returns. Michele has found some great ways to make it all go as smoothly as possible.

When Your Ex Has Different Values - Andrew Stenhouse

What if your ex doesn't agree with your homeschooling? What if he doesn't agree with your faith?

What resonated with you this week?

Are You More Committed to Homeschooling or to Your Kids?

I was. We were. Homeschooling was the miracle cure, and our commitment ran deep. 

When our oldest son could have benefited from some of the strengths of a classroom setting, we held fast to homeschooling as the unwavering standard. When our second son told us he felt he should go to school, we dismissed him out of hand and told him it wasn't even a consideration. We even told them that if they didn't end up homeschooling their own kids, we would feel like failures.

Good grief. Do you see a major breech of identity here? We were communicating clearly that we believed homeschooling was the ultimate answer, and that our identity was wrapped up in our choice to do this thing and how they turned out as a result.

God has been gracious to rip that rug out from underneath us, and our oldest sons have been gracious to forgive our misplaced zeal. The oldest has thrived in the college classrooms he's been learning in and our second son tells us that the Classical Conversations classroom year he had was the best year of high school for him. He's off to nursing school in August, and we're looking forward to the good things those classrooms will encourage in him.

The point is, it can be terribly easy to let ourselves get so wrapped up in homeschooling that we miss the forest for the trees, and in this case, the forest is our kids. God has called them to something, and is it possible that His calling might include a direction you didn't anticipate?

It's a good idea to ask yourself every once in awhile, "Is my identity so wrapped up in the job I'm doing as I educate my kids at home that I couldn't quickly change paths if I knew it were the better option because my identity is in my methods and not in God?" Phewf. Take a breath. Step back. Look at those kids and keep your eyes on Jesus, then point them to Him, too. You know, it's possible to point them to Jesus, even if they're in a classroom.