Have you ever had the experience of telling someone you homeschool your kids and gotten this response: “I don’t know how you do it!” It can be hard to tell if that is a statement indicating they are impressed by you or are concerned you might need help (maybe both). I often find myself fumbling for a response that attempts to put the other person at ease: “Oh, you find a way to make it work!” Or, “as they get older, they can work more independently.” The truth is, homeschooling more than one student is tricky, and often, I don’t even know how I do it! Hopefully, these tips and tricks I use while homeschooling my four kids at different grade levels will be helpful.

I first try to remember that homeschooling is not just public school at home. When we homeschool, we have the opportunity to teach our students using different methods, tools, and resources. Combined with a lot of flexibility, these things can create a wonderful learning environment that helps our students succeed.

Finding the right space to homeschool is very important to making homeschooling multiple kids work. In my experience, this space may change every school year, and sometimes it changes mid-year (or multiple times mid-year). Being thoughtful of what each of your students need in terms of support from you, environmental factors such as background noise and their own distractibility all factor into finding the suitable school space for each student. In my home, I have one student who needs a very quiet environment with limited distractions. I have two others who need to have me close on hand as they are in lower grades and need lots of one-on-one support, and I have another who can work well in different environments. Work with your students to find a good space for them to do their work.

Another thing that works well when schooling multiple students is combining their social studies and science lessons and doing them as a group. I typically teach to the standards the oldest student is working on and modify to touch on the standards the younger students need. This can help eliminate the worry of “missing” teaching, as I know that they will have opportunities to learn about various topics over multiple years. I supplement what I am doing with my kids by having them take Adventure Academy classes specifically targeted to their grade levels so that they are getting the standards for their grade level covered.

Another way to make this work is by looking at your family’s schedule and picking times to do school work that accommodate everyone’s needs. For example, having an older student work on a subject like typing or an instrument that they don’t need as much support with while I work with the other students on their Language Arts and Math allows me to spread myself out more efficiently and be available to each of the students for the subjects they need the most help with.

If you’ve been homeschooling one student and are adding more students this year, don’t be worried if you have to make some adjustments or changes to the curricula you are using. You may find some things work better when homeschooling multiple children. Curriculums that offer more student-directed instruction through videos or written instruction are great options when homeschooling more than one student.

I cannot underestimate the benefit of having other homeschooling parents to learn from when it comes to this. Finding other people who have done this that you can ask questions of, brainstorm, and get their tips and tricks is so helpful. I never cease to be amazed at the creativity of other homeschoolers and the innovative ways they handle these homeschooling challenges. If you want to connect with the homeschool community, visit one of our park days and meet other parents. You won’t regret the support and camaraderie!

Finally, remember that learning how to collaborate, be patient, work independently, and help each other are all fantastic skills our students need to be successful not just as children but as future adults, too!

Happy Homeschooling!