#9 Making an "un-schedule": In 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol =)

This is the 9th in a series about teaching school with lots of kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about.  These 10 things would have revolutionized my life, had I done them all from the beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

#9:  Making an "Un-Schedule"

     So I have talked A LOT about chore charts and ORSH/block scheduling and having a routine and plan your food and those things are all well and good, but what happens when.... well, when the poo-poo hits the fan?
     "Mama said there'd be days like this" and Mama was RIGHT!  Bad days, busy days, and all consuming days, will find you more often than not.  Making an 'Un-schedule" is 80% attitude, 10% scheduling and 10% fall back.

The fall back!

     The "fall back" is the normative estate.  What is NORMAL IN YOUR HOME.  My fall back is really my chore system.  Because that system is worked around meals, it acts as a natural "reset".  If the day "gets weird" we can fall right back into gear by hitting the next meal and going with it.  Another great thing, is in anticipation of a disruption like.... leaving the house for a field trip; I can gather the crew, tell them to "check their jurisdictions", my house gets a once over before we leave and we come back to bliss instead of mess.  If you do not have a PLEASANT NORMATIVE ESTATE, then you will have nothing to FALLBACK ON!  Or (even worse!) if your fallback is a disorganized one,  it will be a source of contention and will breed chaos in your home.

Attitude!

     Now, really pay attention... attitude.  It makes a word of difference.  IT REALLY DOES!  Now I am not talking about attitude in the sense of "good day/bad day" but more in an "out look" sort of way.  Do you have an attitude that allows your home to be flexible without putting guilt on yourself?  (WHOA!)  Too often we Moms put unwarranted guilt on ourselves for not having everything done:
   
     We didn't get to that pile of laundry, we didn't do all 4 application that went with one lessons.  We didn't think about dinner until 4 p.m., we didn't get to all the parts of language arts we should have today...

     We get so caught up in this train of thinking though that we will sometimes disregard what we DID DO:

     We helped the oldest get passes a hard concept in math while the laundry waited patiently.  We were caught up in fantastical discussion on the slave trade and the kids were so into it that we schooled past 3!  In language arts, the one little bit on poetry stanzas turned into a hilarious sort of "whose line is it anyway" with the kids making up their own couplets, triplets and quatrains! 

     It's all perspective friends and when you count all the little things you see that they all add up to very big things!  Sometimes days just "get off track" and that is PERFECTLY FINE!!!!  Just have those safe guards in place, those fall backs, so that when it does, you know how to get back on track!

THE UN-SCHEDULE
 
     With that said, we have to look at the schedule now and ask some very important things.

1. Are the expectations reasonable?
2. Are you willing to "chuck what doesn't work" or "pause on it until a later time?
3. Is it flexible enough to bend and shift with your family?
4. Are you willing to "call it" at any given moment when the day is just not working?

    PSSST:::::   The last one is the hardest- just say'n.  Go ahead, re-read the 4 questions one more time.  Okay maybe 2 more times ;)  There is no way to schedule an un-schedule.  You just have to be able to stay fluid enough that you can shift, but strong enough that you can carry the vessel on.  

At the beach on a school day in April with friends.

     I spent a lot of years not being fluid enough and my vessel just sat in the water.  We couldn't more forward because I was stuck in what we didn't do in the past!  Once I worked on being fluid, things started moving, kids were learning even more and we were accomplishing so much.  

     Now I'm like "psht, let's just go to the beach because its sunny today!" because I know in a few days it will rain for a week and we can "catch up" without a problem, or maybe we will need a few "tweaks" to the scholastic line up, but we CAN DO THAT!   I have also learned what I really needed (and could actually accomplish) within schooling.  Geography is perfectly fine being taught as a highschool course, we don't need a full course in it at 4th grade.  We can touch base on those things as part of history!  It's okay if a child progresses more OR LESS in an area that is not atypical.  It will all round out in the end.  I have even learned that it was really okay that we hardly did school for my oldest daughter's 2nd grade year.  There was a lot going on, let's leave it at that.  And you know what!!!  She is not scarred for life, shes super smart and has no scholastic set backs from playing most of the year when she was 8.  Guilt-GONE.  Be willing to take your best laid plans and chuck them for the sake of loving your family.  

     Besides, look at what you are teaching the kids!  Be flexible, be willing to critically look at plans, be willing to admit you "bit off more than you can chew", be the person who is wise enough to "call it" when it's just not working, be the one to accomplish much with a good attitude.  Be willing to HAVE FUN, be appreciative of what you do school wise, be willing.  BE WILLING!  BE the person who knows, when all is said and done, how to get back to the "normative estate" and be okay with it all.  You are teaching them how to navigate the ups and downs of life.  An un-schedule is really just flexibility in action!

That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on "Making an un-schedule"!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

#8 FEED the People: in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol:

This is the 8th in a series about teaching school with lots of kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about.  These 10 things would have revolutionized my life, had I done them all from the beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

#8 FEED the people

     One of the things I get asked about a lot is food.  It's a valid question for sure!  With a family of 12, we go through a lot of food.  For some reason, all these children want to eat!  3 meals a day at that!  This becomes very time consuming when thrown into the daily grind of house and school.

     We spend about $750 a month on just food.  I keep cost down by making as much as I can by hand.  This means our food budget can stay lower but we have to put more time into these things.

sour dough bread

   We make pretty much all bread items from scratch (no bread machine and many of the items are sourdough), yogurt, many broths, some meals to put in the freezer... sometimes (honestly I don't have time for a ton of that and most freezer meals don't reheat well when made in the quantities I need).  We freeze berries we collect all summer and harvest tons from our garden and fruit trees in order to can and freeze.  These things keep our cost way down, but it does mean that we do a lot of "home ec." September and October, and we have to have at least one day a week set aside for bread baking.  I will talk more about these things in a future post.  The point of THIS POST is in how we actually feed all these kids in an orderly fashion, without too much mess, 3 times a day.

cinnamon rolls

     We begin: it helps to have as much as I can already made... like bread items.  It also helps to use my crock pot as much as I can.  For hot meals in the morning, I'd rather go the crock pot route the night before.  We do eat a lot of eggs but only because we have chickens.  We do not do boxed anything.  Not cereals, not dinner items, no pre made rice or packaged mac and cheese.  About the only thing we buy "pre-made" is handy items like spaghetti sauce, noodles,  pancake batter (and that is only because my husband prefers in (currently) as he makes pancakes on the weekends), sometimes granola bars, you know... that kind of stuff.

finger veggie mix for the fridge

     I will take some time to cut up finger veggies and put them in a large tupperware container so that we have cut veggies for lunches all week.  My two older girls make a HUGE amount of muffins 1x a week or so that we freeze and pull out as needed (along with the other bread items).  If we have a lot of eggs, hardboil and peel a bunch!   You know, just think about what you go to the most and pre-make as much as you can to make things easier!

  Another thing I do to save on monthly cost and to make things faster is I "flip" a lot of meals.  I can make 2 roast chickens from costco give me 3-4 meals... for 12 people! (with stuff added to it of course)

     I digress... back to the main point:  I have learned that if I do not keep the meals simple for breakfast and lunch, then our homeschool day can quickly be swallowed up in food prep, cooking, and cleaning.  We keep things pretty healthy, my kids eat all their "greens" (veggies) and they eat what they are served... period!

     For this post, I have tried to include our more predominate meals and my hope is to come through and do some picture tutorials on some of them as well.  Hope you all enjoy!



  Lets start with breakfast.  Now remember, all bread items are already made and just have to be pulled from the cupboard or freezer.  All meals include fruit and are usually on napkins or paper plates, unless they need "real dishes":

Morning "kitchen helper's" on
the chore chart, making breakfast.

This Guy is happy to eat!

Here is a list of breakfast items we have often.

1. Overnight crock pot oatmeal (tons of different "kinds")
2. Overnight crock pot french toast
3. Overnight crock pot sweet bread
4. Muffins/fruit/nuts
5. Yogurt/fruit/nuts
6. Eggs: scrambled, in burritos, fried, on english muffins, hard boiled etc.
7. Cinnamon rolls/fruit/nuts
8. Banana bread
9. Raisin bread
10. Pumpkin bread
11. Pie.  Yes pie!  It is not below me to pull out a pie crust and fill it with canned fruit with a topping of crushed nuts.  I might even layer it with some yogurt.  Don't judge me, it's delish!
12. Smoothies with some type of bread/muffin
13. Every once in a blue moon, home made "cereal" and milk.
14. Rice cereal
15. Toast with something on it, with fruit/nuts
16. Yogurt parfaits
17. Pancakes
18. Waffles
19. Muffin Quiche 
20. bagles
21. breakfast pizza
22. Breakfast salad.  Usually chopped up cabbage and other greens mixed into a happy greek yogurt.  Very yum!

b-fast salad

pumpkin muffins

Whew!  Most of this stuff can be made ahead of time and frozen, can go in the crock pot over night, or be whipped together within 20 minutes or less in the morning.  Clean up is pretty easy and with kids using the chore system, clean up goes fast.  Even if I didn't have an older kid cleaning crew, all of this stuff would be easy for me to whip out right before I got littles out of bed and I could clean up pretty quickly, by myself.

Lunches ;)  everything includes fruits and veggies even if they are not mentioned.  And yes, my kids eat all their "greens" (this is all veggies).  I still only use paper plates or napkins unless I need real dishes:

parfait cups for lunch

Pizza rolls

1. Tortillia roll ups: this might be like pb and J but rolled into a tortillia, peanut butter/banana/celery,  or a sandwhich wrap.
2. "Lunch boats".  This is like home made chicken salad scooped into romaine leaves.
3. Parfait lunch cups.  Ummm...anything that goes in a cup
4. Open face sandwiches.  Could be pb and j or meat and cheese stuff.
5. Popcorn lunch:  popcorn, slice cheese, lunch meat, fruit, veggies, spoon with peanut butter on it, nuts ect, ect,... like a "lunchable"; it has a little bit of everything!
6. Soup.  Man alive but I can feed these kids for days on different soups and bread!
7. Bean and cheesers.
8. Nachos
9. Home made pizza on pizza crust or sliced bread or "pizza casserole" and we make many different "kinds" of pizza.
10. Tuna melts
11. Pasta salad
12. pasta in general
13. Ummm... bread anything.  Meat and cheese drop biscuits, bread with stuff spread on it, bread with stuff melted on it, bread baked with things in it (think calzone).  Did I mention bread?
14. Corn dogs (ok, this one I buy and don't make from scratch)
15. Hotdog rolled up in a tortillia
16. Anything from the breakfast list =)
17. Dinner leftovers
18. Salads
19. Anything I can throw in a large cup and send them outside with.... kinda like #4
20. Stir fry stuff (this is usually a left over thing that gets flipped into a stir fry)
21. Rice and beans... beans and rice =)

Dinner time now!

I will list just a few since dinners are usually more involved and its after school hours.  Plus, eventually I will write a more informative food post =)  I use bread as a "filler" with most dinners and always have a side veggie or salad as well.

personal pizzas for dinner

1. Pasta of various kinds both as hot and cold dishes.
2. Tacos.  
3. Salads with meat on them.
4. Soups
5. Stews
6. Pizza
7. Chicken that gets turned into 3 or more meals
8. Ham that then gets turned into another 3 or more meals
9. Baked potatoes with stuff
10. Every meal is a main "something something" with salad or side veggies and bread (usually sourdough sliced)

  What about snacks??? 

     Yah... we just don't.  The only exception wold be if we are having a really active day like swimming or hiking or... a beach day.  That constitutes NEEDING a snack.  When we are at home though, we just do not snack.  I can't afford it and they really do not need it!  If I had kids 3 and under in my home I would give them a snack between getting up from naps and dinner.  I have found if kids snack all day long they 1)eat you out of house and home BUT only on the "goodies" and 2) they don't eat their dinner.  They do have access to their water bottles all day long =)  When we do have snacks, its stuff like fruits, veggies, trail mix, muffins,  bread (lol).  Every now and then I  might have pretzels.  Like I have stated, we don't do boxed things.

Dishes?

     Okay, so don't judge me for using paper!  My dishwasher can only run so many times a day and we can not be backed up in the kitchen; we would get nothing done!  Dinner is pretty much always on real dinnerware and we run a load in the DW after dinner at night.  Breakfast and lunches are normally paper plates or napkins.  If I need to use real stuff, like for oatmeal, then I do.  Between breakfast and lunch we usually run one more DW load.  It all depends on what we had for Bfast and lunch =)

CUPS?  I love the land of sippy cups so as my kids got older I got them water bottles!  Everyone has their own and that is what they use everyday, all day, and that's it.  If they knock it over, it doesn't spill.  If we are going somewhere I can grab the basket of water bottles and take it with.  I don't have to wash 2 million cups everyday.  It's a beautiful system!  Water bottle live in the basket.  Not on the counter, in their room, outside, you get the point.  In the summer I put the basket on the porch so they have easy access all day long =)  We pretty much ONLY DRINK WATER.  I don't give out juice or milk to drink unless it's a special treat.  When I do though, they get it in a regular cup ;)

Did you just say your kids do not drink milk (GASP!)

     Why yes, yes you did.  All the great stuff in milk is also found in other dairy and in other foods.  My kids eat plenty of yogurt and cheese.  They eat dino kale and other nutrient rich greens and plenty of other fruits and veggies.  Milk is not the end all to health and my kids are not lacking!  Besides, we can not afford to have everyone drinking milk all the day long.  

WHO DOES ALL THE WORK??

     Well..... At this point in my life, it's a real joint effort between the kids and I.  I do most of the dinners with help from various children.  The kids do most of the other meals.  We all pitch in on food prep stuff as needed.  The older girls do most of the bread baking items.

     Of course, before my oldest was 11, it was just me.  I did it all and I did it as I had time and I prolly did even more because my family was small enough that things like freezer meals still worked.

F was about 13 here.  Making muffins.

You JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE TIME TO DO IT!  There is no trick to getting it done, you just have to get it done!  Sometimes that meant not taking a nap, or staying up a little later, or taking a whole saturday to cook and food prep.
    Don't underestimate your childrens abilities either!  My oldest was 11 when she started doing breakfast on her own.  She would get up at 7 and make muffins and/or other breakfast items for everyone while I nursed the baby.  I really could have had her helping me in that way much younger.  I know my current 8 year old boy could totally do it right now!  I just didn't know that I could have her doing stuff then and I didn't know it was OKAY to have her doing stuff!  Remember this is part of training them to be adults!  Start young!!!!
     As far as clean up goes, well the kids do that thanks to my CHORE SYSTEM, and if you do not have older kids yet- read it anyway!  Training starts early!

QUESTIONS?????  Please ask in the comments so I can answer! =)



TO CLOSE:  OVERNIGHT OATS =)

So, this is pretty easy.  I will forewarn you though, I do not measure =)

YOU WILL NEED:

• crock pot
• oats
• applesauce or canned fruit (but you could skip this- it just makes it more yummy)
• raisins or craisins or berries or nuts, if you want
• spices like cinnamon,  pie spices, ect
• vanilla
• sugar if needed (if using applesauce or canned fruit you may not need any)

ASSEMBLE:

• Dump in your fruit, spices, and any other add ins, like nuts or raisins.
• If you are doing something like peaches, you will want to take some food scissors and cut them up smaller.
• pour in a dash of vanilla

NOW:

Dump in a bunch of oats.  You really can't go wrong here.  Just don't fill it all the way up!
(DO NOT add water before oats.  Always oats first)

NEXT:

ADD Water until the Oats are covered and then stir!

You want the  Oats "stew like"  if its too "soupy" add some more oats.  If too "chunky" add some more water =)

Taste the liquid and if its not sweet enough, add some sweetner =)

NOW COOK IT!

Before you go to bed, turn your crock pot on the lowest setting.  On my Crock Pot, That is WARM.

LAST:

Put the lid on it and let it do its thing.  You will be ready to eat this yumminess in the morning!

(I usually turn my CP on warm around 10 p.m.  we eat it when we are ready in the morning.  7 am if we have to be out of the house but more like 9 on a regular day)



That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on "FEED the people"!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

#7 schooling with toddlers and babies in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol:

This is the 7th in a series about teaching school with lots of kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about.  These 10 things would have revolutionized my life, had I done them all from the beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

#7 Schooling with babies and toddlers

The "Little Boy" brigade

     Schooling with little ones about is like trying to teach rocket science while having a seizure every 90 seconds.  No matter how small the lessons should be, it can effectively take all picking day!!!  So how do you actually get stuff done?
     I actually think there is a simple answer and a more complicated one.  The simple answer is: by being flexible and creative with how you use your time.  The complicated answer is: that if you are not utilizing your team, if your kids aren't doing chores, if your scholastic expectations are too high, if your curriculum is too time consuming, if you are not dealing with "heart issues" that are causing problems, then no matter how flexible you are, you will never actually get anything done.
     School will always be the thing you ditch because the kids must be fed, the laundry done and the house picked up.  So while this post will be full of helpful tips, making your day actually work involves getting many areas of your family life in order.  With that said, now we begin =)

An older kid doing her reading
with a younger kid doing his

     I really believe curriculum choice is HUGE when it comes to schooling with little ones.  For me I needed a mix between things that could be done "one room school house" and things that could be independent.  Picking curric that will allow some flexibility is really going to pay off in the long run.  my fave is, of course, Queens.
     Another thing is the rhythm of your school days are really going to change when you go from having all your school age kids in k-3 to having 4th plus grades.  The good thing is, by the time you get to the 4th/5th grades, your older children should be well trained and part of a good working family team.  If you are already there and they are not.... well.... get on it! =)  K-3rd really does not need more than 30-60 minutes a day; 90 if you have a kid who really like doing math, by 3-4 days a week.  4th and up you are getting into the 90 min plus a day 3-4 days a week.  4 days for sure if 6th and up.  This is that "expectation" part.  If you have a kindy kid and you are trying to school 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, you are going to go crazy.  Plus, it's really not needed.

I HAVE 3 THINGS THAT MADE IT WORK FOR ME

not too happy about sitting
there but he did it! 

1. Blanket training my toddlers.  We practiced this all the time so I could use it all the time.  I would put out a small blanket for each child and they would sit on it and play with the toys I gave them.  They needed to be content with the items I gave them to play with (and not covet other things) and stay on the blanket.  This is my NUMBER ONE life saving tool with toddlers!  I did have some things that were special items that came out "just during school time" for a while, but in the end they got whatever I pulled out of the toy bin.  If I needed to focus in on one kid or another or go over something or even tend to the baby, I could lay out a blanket for each toddler with some toys and know that they were now contained.   Often they would end up on their blanket because they were either fighting or getting into things and needed to be reigned in.



Me out with 5 kiddos on a field trip
It was either do this or be a hermit.

2. A really good baby carrier.  My favorites were my mei-tais I made and my wraps.  I could wear my baby or my toddler or both and still get things done.
3. Schedule the school things that needed my attention the most during naptime.  (yes I trained my kids to nap at the same time everyday)  Let's face it.  It is just plain easier to school older kids when littles are asleep.

Beyond those three things is the creativity bit.  Here are some ideas:

• school in weird places.  Alphabet and handwriting with shaving cream at bath time.  Math at the park with bugs and bark.  Science on your way to a playdate, talking about the trees you see, why the sky is blue.  Spread your schooling out and count everything... even sorting laundry is school!



7 1/2 and on baby duty

• keep lessons short- especially if you have the 3rd grade and under crowd.  Set your timmer if you must.  "Little Johnny, its time to practice handwriting"  give his his one or two page work sheet and set your timer.  If he does more that is fine too if he gets done sooner- great!  But limit yourself.  Looking at school as a 1 our block can be overwhelming but taking each subject in small chunks is so doable!

I covered my table with paper.
The tots colored for a long time!

  
• don't start school until the house/team is in order.  Clear the table, wipe down the counters, start the laundry!  Have every member working! (here is my chore system)  You can get a lot more done if you can touch the table without sticking to it!
• remember to play.  take walks, be silly!
• rotate some babies with older kids if you have them.  Set the timer!  9yr old Jane is on baby buddy duty for 30 min while Mama sits with 6yr old John to help him with Math.
• Have older kids help little kids.  Does Janey know how to add?  Have her help out John while you sit and nurse the baby and keep an eye on the toddlers on their blanket!
• circle time.  This sounds kinda lame but its really fun and they all love it!  If you have older kids, they can run it!  Take 20 minutes to do circle time everyday.  Make a circle time box so everything is ready..  hmm maybe I should blog how to do this!  Include songs, easy games and some learning stuff.  Voila!  school!  It also teaches kids from very little to respect "sit down time".  
• if they are bring really naughty, don't let it slide.  Deal with said child.  It will pay off in the long run if you don't quit in the short game.

• if you have older kids, schedule their independent work for the time of the day that the littles most need you.  Then when the littles go to bed, hit your "big kid stuff"
• food can be used.  sit the littles at the table with a snack while big kids sit there and do school.  
• its okay to "tag team" with another mom.  You take the littles and they "do school" and then switch.  
• having learning materials out that the older kids can do when they would like too.  Workbooks from the dollar tree, dice games, lego challenges!  This way your kids start to incorporate schooling into their play!
• dry erase pens.  OKay so heres the deal.  They wipe off of everything... even kids.  Everything from a coloring page to a worksheet can go into a clear page protector and be written on and then wiped off.  I have entertained littles for hours at the table with dry erase pens!
• if they must watch the TV make it educational.  Leap from, the magic school bus, one of the millions of nature science shows.  
• include them!  I know that often that can make things take forever but it will entertain them, you are training them and you can keep your eyes on them!  Plus... it can be super cute!

Cowboy, toddler baking?
Why yes, yes it is!

• make clean up fast!  many of the woes with schooling and having littles is the mess!  Minimize as much as you can and then when you do pick up- pick up by having the kids put "everything that doesnt belong" in that room into a laundry basket, then vacuum.  YEAH the room is clean!  you and the older kids can "put away the put away basket" later when there is time  
• if its just not working, call it quits for the day, pick it all back up tmw!

     Don't be afraid! (of all these little people).  You really are the sweet boss, training your kiddos!  School is life and school is scholastic!  School is teaching them how to be mommy's and daddy's.  School is not a workbook or the amount of hours you put in.  It's the quality of the time you have!

That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on utilizing your team (aka older kids)!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

#6 Utilize your team (aka older kids) in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol:

This is the 6th in a series about teaching school with lots of kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about.  These 10 things would have revolutionized my life, had I done them all from th beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

#6 Utilize your team (aka older kids)


  From a very early age, older siblings can and should help out in the home.  This is their training time for when they are moms and dads!  Kids can help in so many ways and schooling is no exception!  This is especially true as children get bigger and the family gets bigger.

  This does not mean you are shirking your own responsibility as parent and educator.  Letting your children participate in teaching and helping with school IS PART of THEIR SCHOOL!  It's  a huge part of learning and one that has mutual benefits for you all!  Everyone must learn to be a disciple and to be discipled!

  From a very early age I partnered up kids to do some school together.  This is before I was working with block schedules and one room school house teaching.  I didn't pair kids up because I thought it would be a great teaching opportunity, in truth I did it out of survival.  I had just had baby #6 and... well there was a lot going on in that period of my life.  I needed help.  My 7 year old (2nd daughter) was a very good reader but my 6 year old daughter was not (partially due to age and partially because

H was 7, helping M then 6 with school

she just wasn't going to be until she was older) anyway, the 7 year old thought it was a brilliant idea when I told her she would buddy up with a younger sister and do science together.  They read an ABEKA science reading book together and answered the questions.  It was a beautiful thing.  Big sister and Little sister loved doing school together and I often found them "playing school" but actually doing real work.
  I will admit that there was a certain amount of guilt that came in the beginning.  Feelings of shame that I was "stealing their childhood" or that I was "not doing my own responsibilities".  Quickly the Lord showed me how much the kids enjoyed it, how it strengthened their relationships and that they were learning a skill!  I wasn't stealing anything I was enriching!  Thank you Jesus!

  Utilizing your team isn't just about schooling though.  Its also there with everyday chores and food as well.  It's a complete picture where kids are helping and pitching in as needed because we are all a team... we are a family- it's what family does!

 Now lets utilize these little people!

  There is no "schedule" really to having kids help in school or with day to day stuff.  It just happens as its needed- don't be afraid to call on them on the fly!  Here are some ways and times I utilize my team:

H reading to the little boys

• I have to leave the house for some reason.  my M12g LOVES science and loves to teach the boys!  She will step into my place and "do science" with them.  Still One room school house, but the teacher has changed.  A9b says he loves when M12 teaches science because "she makes it fun.  She gets very excited about what is being learned and that makes me more excited.  She also is very encouraging."  
• Twice a week, on the same day, I have to bring my oldest to work and my A9b to physical therapy.  H13g and M12g will finish up any one on one school still left with the little boys and H13g usually plans a craft with them.  She loves littles and really enjoys being a teacher.  She will do a circle time, sing songs with them and do a learning craft.  This is all by her own initiative but I still count it as school!
• Something in the house has to get done.  A little one needs attention, a baby needs dealing with, important phone call that can't be skipped.  Things happen!  Things come up!  Sometimes in these moments I might change the assignment a little in order to make it easier for the older one I am putting in charge but usually its pretty smooth.

  

  M and A doing a gardening
  assignment together

• I need people to sit with new readers and let them read out loud.  Littles are always very ready to help with the listening!  Some of those littles are learning to read though and they too need practice.  I can buddy up older kids with younger kids in order to hit more than one bird with one stone.  With 4 boys learning to read and on different reading levels, it is nice to be able to split up that 20 min reading time over myself and 3 other big kids.  If I didn't do this I would be sitting for an hour or more just in listening to kids read and I do not always have that time.
• "long assignments sometimes need 2 brains working it".  This could also be titled, "I only have so many computers/tablets and you need to share so work together".  I 'spose this isn't really teaching but still buddies up kids to streamline the learning.  Also when you buddy up an older with a younger, they help keep the younger on task and the younger kid feels a lot of pride with doing a "bigger assignment".
• play games.  they usually need more than one person anyway.
• when I was gone for 5 days.  I assigned teachers and students.  All the schooling still got done when I was away. 

  

  F15 doing real swimming
  lessons with D5

• food: While I am working with a set of kids an older child can make lunch.
• laundry:  hello!  someone please go flip the laundry (all my kids know how to do that!)
• "I need some help"  this is heard often enough and often enough its said by more than one child.  I have "mini teachers" all over the place.  If you are a big kid and a little one needs help and you are close.. help out =)
• little ones need to be distracted so I can work with someone on something.  Often enough we "rotated" old kid helpers and saved our big kid school for when babies were sleeping.  More on that in a later post about schooling with babies and toddlers.

  I know a lot of these idea are simple and " a given".  I think a big thing for us homeschooling moms is in actually utilizing the team we have.  So many things can get in the way of that.  Satan often tells us "we are failing, our kids aren't mature enough, they will all need

The "Reds" doing school
with the little boys, just because
they all thought it would be fun!

therapy!" and so much more.  The Lord tells us  to "find our strength in him, to train our children up, to teach them diligently".  As I said earlier... everyone is both a disciple and needs to be discipled. 

That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on utilizing your team (aka older kids)!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

#5 sickness in the house and new babies in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol:

 This is the fifth in a series about teaching school with lots kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about. These 10 things would have revolutionized my life had I done all of them from the beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

  We are currently battling a virus (or two) in our house right now.  With so many people in our home, one sickness can last forever!  We basically get sick every year around or just after Christmas and are sick until March.  In honor of having half the family down with a cold, I figured it would be a GREAT TIME to talk about how to homeschool through sicknesses and new babies (cause.... they kind have the same effect on the house right?)

     There is no "magic ticket" to getting through virus's and babies.  While being sick or having a new baby does not automatically mean you can't do school but it sure can make it nearly impossible!  So how do I survive?

"I QUIT!"

     Fancy advice huh?!  It is not an insane thing to admit the limitations of ones household.  Taking a step back is not failure- it's smarts!  Saying "I quit" for a while does not mean no one is learning, or that we will get behind or that I am negating my responsibilities.  It just means we are taking a break from the rigors of schooling norm.  Sickness we ride out as we never know how long they will be here.  A new baby I take at least the first 6-8 weeks off.
     Another thing to note is that these breaks often bring about so much learning.  Letting your kids have some time off will allow them to process all that new information and you will probably see it showing up in small and big ways!  You will be surprised on how much they continue to learn when on break.

  Now that we have a right spirit about our time off.  Lets look at what the breaks actually looks like and what can be done.  You will see that even though we are not doing the regularly scheduled schooling, we are still doing school stuff and still learning!

Technology

  Lets not roll our eyes and pretend like we don't use it, because we do.  I will say though that in my house,  it is used conservatively.  We do not have cable.  We do not have video games.  We limit time and types of activities on tablets and computers.  We do have computers and netflix ;)  This is because we believe too much of a good thing can be bad and we want to teach our kids how to view technology and make good choices with it.  When new babies and sickness are in the house though, we use technology more.
  I use it because sick kids can do a lot of review but may not be able to process new information plus, if they are not sleeping they are usually bored, especially the older ones.
  When a new baby comes I am not always available and this is a good way to give some teaching responsibility to "someone" else.  We will not judge eachother on that fact that that "someone" is a computer.  Heres what we use:

One of our FAVE history series
to watch!

• netflix and youtube history and science movies and documentaries.  Last year we were sick from Jan-feb!  We still did 2 months worth of history by watching documentaries and then talking about them, drawing pictures and that kind of stuff.  Don't worry that they didn't do a writing project, They do so many writing applications throughout the year that it really does not matter that they are not doing any while sick.  If they are not sick and its a new baby thing and you do have older kids- go ahead and assign a writing project or have them make a play or develop a puppet show about what they learned for the littles. (this is part of using your team; a future post).  Of course, if all your kids are say 6 and under most of what you will watch is stuff like... the magic school bus.  It's all good, don't worry!  And if the 6 and under crowd do not want to watch the doc on...lewis and clark that the older kids have too, thats alright too.  Its not really that big of a deal.  When that set is older they will learn about Lewis and Clark then.
• computer programs.  Math can be kept up if sickies are not too bad or if its a new baby thing and you have kids who can do math without you like with Teaching Textbooks or Khan academy. Reading/phonics can still be done on reading eggs
  
  
  
  
  
  or teach your monster to read as they are online or even abc mouse!  Again only if your kids are functioning well enough to do them without you. Learning sites such as always icecream and clever dragons, brainpop, and discovery ed, or animal jam are all great places where they can go and research or just play and still
  
  be learning.  I really like always icecream and clever dragons because they send me a progress report and tell what they were learning.

tablets.  There are so many great free to cheap apps.  Load up a file on your tablet with that childs name with the things they can do if you say "go do school on your tablet".  Put learning games you like on there only.  Looney tunes phonics, math lite (different grades), multiplication bubble are some of our faves! 

Living and learning

     There are many things you can do without technology.  A lot again depends on if you can be involved or not.  Are the kids and you sick?  Did you just have a baby?  Can you be involved?  Can you use your team and have an older child lead the group or part of the group?  Again a lot depends on the ages and stages of your children so glean what might work for you and toss the rest out ;)

an old picture of my girls reading after I had had baby #5

• reading books
• playing board games, card games, making their own games!
• letting older kids plan and make meals (with your approval)
• giving the kids a theme and have them build it (legos), act it (a play),  illustrate it (art), write about (writing), cook something (math skills); the sky is the limit with themes! (I do this a lot!
  

  

  The theme was
   little house on the prairie!

• Combine a theme with watching something.  Even little kids can watch some fun mini docs on youtube about things and then go and do something with that theme!)
• 
  
• ombine it with watching something.  Even little kids can watch some fun mini docs on youtube about things and then go and do something with that theme!)
• 
  
• send letters to friends and family
• go on walks and discover fun things, even if its in your own back yard
• find some fun science experiments you can do at home (pinterest and yourtube)
• everyday household chores and going ons are still learning things!

Thinking outside the box!

     This is more for new babies than sickies.  When we are really sick, about all we can do is drink tea and watch videos.  With new babies and kids say... 9 and under, they usually need a little more instruction as they are not as independent and I want to keep them motivated to want to learn.

• LET THEM PLAY!  novel idea huh!
• handwriting with shaving cream during bath time on the walls in the tub (I taught 2 of my boys their letters doing this when I had a baby in December)

  

  They wanted to do a tea party after my
  oldest two read about "high tea" in a book

• shaving cream plus food coloring makes for an art lesson and writing!
• painting in the tub period is awesome.  tape the pages to the shower walls, let them paint, give them a shower, clean your walls: you now have beautiful paintings and clean kids and tub!
• math can be done in the tub too- get out  your measuring cups!
• get a box.  give them crayons.  this is always great fun!
• get the comics out of a newspaper and let your kids white out the words and re create them!
• make a video message for a friend or relative
• tell them they are news reporters and they can make a news paper or...(wait for it) a tri-fold brochure! (so maybe you need to know me and my kids personally to see the humor in that one)
• have a costco?  go get some boxes.  they can color them, sit in them, build with them, make a train our of them.  put christmas lights in their- fun!  Tell them to do things like put them in a straight line or curved line, or two by two.
• play games like simon says and red light green light (crawling edition)
• buy cheap tp and let them make mummies out of their stuffed animals.  Watch prince of egypt and a doc about mummification.
• have a jar of money?  let them sort it and count it.  Give them a dollar, take them to $tree.  They adore you for at least a few days.
• take a regular coloring book and make it a color by number or letter!
• use your imaginations and google.

   Remember if you WILL be using technology or creative ideas to replace normal school for a while, YOU CAN MAKE IT MEANINGFUL!  Just know your game plan so that when those "times" hit, you know what you are doing!

What about when we are well or when baby is older and we jump back in?  Are we behind?

     Well that all depends on how you look at it.  If you have younger kids and curric and schooling in general is more of a fluid thing then don't stress keeping up with curric.  You can look through the math book and take out pages that were skills they did on the tablet.

  Were you going through a stufy on indians in your history curric but for the past month you did it all with videos- count it!  you passed that section move on to the next!

     

     With older kids if they are going through a set curric it can be a little more tricky depending on your curric.  All of the curric I have chosen to use are things that I can easily have my kids catch up on if they have to have a break eg: Queens LA has 180 lessons, one for each day of school for one school year.  If my older kids take 10 days off because of sickness, its pretty easy for them to double up and catch up!  My history program (mystery of history), I usually will look at the lessons for that week and find documentaries so that we are not missing.  One doc can sometimes cover 5-8 lessons (like when we were learning about British monarchy).  TT is easy to double up on and Khan I really don't worry at all since they can move up several levels with one mastery challenge

  So do I try and make up the work?  Well with my older kids I do.  With my younger kids, no I really don't.  I will have them "make up" on a math book but thats so easy its not really like making anything up.  I just make sure we finish the book before the next year.  Everything else is subjective.  I hope that made sense.

That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview sickness in the house and new babies!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

#4 Schooling when they are ready in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol:

 This is the fourth in a series about teaching school with lots kids, multiple ages and grades and little ones about. These 10 things would have revolutionized my life had I done all of them from the beginning.  Enjoy and hopefully they help you a bit too!

#4, schooling when they are ready

 
"SOUND THE ALARM , GOOD FOLKS OF HOMESCHOOLVILLE!  Little Johnny is in the 4th grade and reading at a 1st grade level (insert: gasps all around).  How could such a travesty occur? (everyone looks around sheepishly).  The parents are FAILING little Johhny!  The mother obviously can not teach him!  The Father needs to send that child to public school.  Poor Little Johnny, he will need all sorts of help and therapy now!"  

     We have all heard the newsreel before.  Maybe not out loud but definitely in our heads. We start with good intentions, things don't go the way they want and then we fold under pressure.
      Everyone in the homeschool world says that one of the best things about homeschooling is that we can go slow and teach as the kids are ready.  The truth is though, that so many of us do not practice what we preach.  We stress out, stress our kids out and PANIC because "little Johnny can't read yet and he is 8" or "little Janey cries every time we get up to 2 digit numbers and she is in the 2nd grade already!"  You know I'm right guys!

     No one stresses out when kids are "ahead".  When children learn faster than atypical, everyone applauds the parents and their awesome abilities and the brilliance of the child.  When a child is behind though... well, people whisper in the corners (just loud enough for you to hear of course) about how the child is being "neglected,  maybe un-schooled to the point of abuse, sinning against their child " the parents are failing because... gulp...their child is behind!

     First of all- don't you, or anyone else, compare "normal learning" to the public schools!  (That is another post!)  There is a "norm" but, even in the PS system they have kids who are "ahead" and kids who are "behind".  The public school system is NOT something you should compare your child too.  What you should do is access what they ARE learning!

     In all my years homeschooling, I have had children who are atypical learners, some more ahead and some more behind.  None has taught me more about not freaking out about being "behind" than my 7th child, A9b or... ManBoyA.
     I could go on for days about ManBoyA.  Good, bad and ugly, this kid has it all!  What he taught me though was a valuable lesson about filling a childs life with learning and letting the rest work itself out.

     Learning is not about applicable abilities.  Meaning: the ability to read/write/and do math is not needed to LEARN.   Learning is about filling ones life with knowledge so that when you are ready you can pull from it. 

     There are some things that helped keep education pouring in.  First being that we homeschool with one room school house style teaching.  Science and history are done as a group and ManBoyA could DICTATE what he has learned and I could write it down.  He can color a picture, do a project and other things that still do not involve applicable abilities.
     Math was pretty easy and can be fun to tweak.  In his early years we played a lot of games and did fun math worksheets, though I still freaked out since it didn't seem like we were really doing anything and I still wanted him to "complete" a math curric.  I learned though.  I learned to back off when he started taking too long to do something because we really accomplished nothing but frustration "fighting" it out.  As he got older I could require more from him in this area.  Not only did he "catch up", but he is now a grade level ahead in math.
     Reading was something he was pretty sure he could live without and something I knew he needed to do to be able to live!  We spent many years going no where in this area.  I ignored so many cues.  He did not try writing, he did not try reading,  He did not ask me how to spell things.  He did not care.  I cared... but he could careless.  I tackled that by trying to make it fun and something he would more or less enjoy.
     We stopped doing regular "phonics" type lessons and I put him on the computer with Reading Eggs.  I was always perplexed on how he could move up in all the levels and still couldn't read a "BOB book".  I worried, I prayed, I vented to Tammy and Vanessa.  My husband and I were worried.  We kept on though.  Putting the TOOLS in front of him, letting it sink in and then giving him opportunity to use them.
  FINALLY , one day in the summer, just before his fourth grade year, he started asking about spelling words, making comics on his own, trying to read different things as we were out!  These were are clues that he WAS READY.  All that time on reading eggs had put the words in his head, the ability to read in his mouth and now that he was curious and he just needed practice.  He is not at a "fourth grade level" but he is READING and its more than BOB books!

     ManBoyA's personality and outlook on school FORCED us to re look at schooling and learning and to re-access what "progress" really was.  Comparing him to other children, regardless of how they were being schooled, was not the answer.  Counting each success he accomplished, number 1 in character and number 2 scholastics, was better.  What we began to see was a really smart kid, very active, who just needed time.

     If I had learned this lesson earlier things would have been much different for ManBoyA.  He taught us the lessons of schooling when they are ready.  If I had already learned this lessons, then his schooling life would have gone MUCH differently.  Thankfully I did learn and the three little boys that followed ManBoyA are reaping the benefits!  Their outlook on schooling is the best I have had,  They are eager, wanting and excited to learn.  I push them to try new things but I do not "push them" to the point of frustration and tears.  Homeschool Mom reading this- you know what I mean!  I encourage the learning and fill the homeschool time with learning.  I try and make it more fun and less "booky".  If we are not "feeling it" that day I back off.  Even if that person is me!  I look for the cues and clues and go with it!

     One of the most important lessons I learned from ManBoyA is that "behind" is really a non-word.  The child who is "behind" today in reading can quickly  be the child who is "ahead" tomorrow if you just wait until they are ready.  The child who can not get past long division today can take a break and do multiplication games for a month and then try long division again and blow through it like its nothing and test out of 4 chapters in math and fly ahead.   Its about progressing to the best of your ability- not the kid's next door.

     I do want to note that struggling learners can also have underlying issues like sight problems, dyslexia,and  dyscalculia.  It is important to keep an eye out for other clues that show there is a problem and not just a reluctance to "do school".

  In closing, relax homeschool Mom!  If your child does not seem ready for math and reading, DON'T PUSH THEM.  Read to them, play with them, still "do school".  Look for ways to put in that math or do some reading without it looking likt math, or looking like reading.  Fill their world with information and then watch as they process and replicate the things you teach!

 That concludes this blog post.   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on Schooling when they are ready!  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

One Room School House Teaching

block scheduling/4 day school week

3 hour limit

schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then

sickness in the house and new babies

utilize your team (aka older kids)

schooling with toddlers and babies

FEED the people

Making an "unschedule" for your home

FREAK OUT!

•