#10 FREAK OUT: in 10 TRICKS OF THE TRADE when Teaching School with a crap ton of kids everywhere- lol =)

This is the 10th 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!

#10 FREAK OUT!!!!

photo credit "robmcnealy.com

     This is probably less of a blog post and more of a letter of encouragement.  When I started off homeschooling, I had such visions of grandeur.  Images flashed through my head of all these fun and exciting things we would do and learn!  How my children would be ahead in everything, know Latin, music, and excel in all the arts!  I didn't think it would be so hard to "do kindy" and take care of 2 littles at the same time.  I never dreamed that I would feel like throwing in the towel and sending them to public school because I WAS A FAILURE as a teacher, as evidenced by the fact that I had 2 babies/toddlers and 3 school age kids and our entire week of "school was watching leap frog... again, and doing some costco workbooks.  I questioned.  I toiled.  I struggled.  I doubted.
     The truth is I WAS NOT FAILING but I had placed higher expectations on my life, and my children, than were necessary.  I kept soldiering on, tweaking our school days, tweaking our curriculum.  Some days I was a HUGE SUCCESS and others MEH-NOT SO MUCH.  Through it all though, I was in it!  I was committed!  I was willing to let God continue to change and mold me into the Mom HE wanted me to be and you know what, it totally got better!
   
   In my 12 years being a homeschool Mom, I have learned some very valuable things; some of those only recently!  These are all things I used to
FREAK OUT about and now I am sailing that beautiful sea of
"NOW I KNOW BETTER".  To end out this series, I would like to share some "gems" with you that I have learned.  Beautiful tid-bits to help you realize all this "freaking out" is really not needed.  Satan tells us lies people!  Lies that we are failing, that we aren't smart enough, that we are ruining our children, that we can't do it, that we are not able to do it.  (if your lips are move'n, if your lips are move'n, then you lie, lie, lie!)  It's time for  us all to STOP BELIEVING THE LIES!  The truth, the truth, the truth is that we CAN DO IT, WE WILL DO IT, WE WILL SUCCEED!!!  So what are these "FREAK OUT" things???  Here's 5, knock yourself out!!


FREAK OUT #1:  I'm totally freaking out because we haven't done school at all this year!
     Okay, so how old are your kids?  Hmm not in highschool.  You will be fine.  The more I homeschool, the more I think that you really can cover just about everything you need to between grades 7th and up... and thats if you want to be done with highschool in the 10th grade so that grades 11th-12th are at a college.  Now, I am not an "unschooler" but I am starting to see a method to some of the madness ;)  (saying that with love).  What I have realized though is that if all you did was teach them to read and work on math, you really arent going to miss anything else if you saved all the rest for the upper grades.
     Filling your days with lots of learning through reading, games, videos, songs, going places, talking, talking, talking, have I mentioned talking?  Your kids will learn so very much!!! Talk about anything and everything.  Give them things to make their own books, and posters, and flip books, and lapbooks, and pop ups, and comics and, and and and and!!!  they will learn.  They will learn about maps and places and cities and countries and animals and insects and the commas I am not using because I don't feel like it right now ;)  THEY WILL LEARN!  Despite you and BECAUSE OF YOU!!  If you never touched on formal history and science until the last 4 years of their school life... they will be just fine!  SO DON"T FREAK OUT!!!

FREAK OUT #2:  WE ARE SO TOTALLY BEHIND AND I DON'T THINK WE CAN CATCH UP!!!!
     So here's the thing: If you do feel like you are "behind" the first thing you need to do is look at what you are "behind in".  (Read "freak out #1 again) If its NOT math and reading... stop freaking out.  History, science, ect can be taught more formally later or on a slower progressive curve.  If, for instance, you are using a curric like Mystery of History, it's perfectly fine to stretch the volume you are in out to encompass more than one school year.  It really is okay.
      If you are really "behind" in stuff, take a look at why.  Is it because you need to prioritize school better?  Is it curric? Do you need to carve out some one-on-one time?   Is the child not ready to be moved ahead?
     My son A9 was in 4th grade this last year.  He has a summer birthday so he is a "young grade level" kid.  Technically he could actually be in the grade below him.  These are good things to keep in mind.  So, reading has not been his thing.  He is still "behind" but he is progressing for him and it gets better and better every day.  And we did implement some things this year to keep encouraging him in his reading.  However, in MATH, he started the year off about 1/4 of the way through 4th grade math.  He ended the year a little more than 1/4 of the way into his 6th grade math (teaching textbooks).  Did you compute that?  My "behind in reading" kid did over 2 years of math in one year!  His brain was there, in math land, not in reading land!  So I didn't freak out.  He's progressing just fine with reading.  My outlook needed to change....  he's not "behind", he is just on a different schedule =)  If you really are behind in stuff though- chuck everything off your plate except what really counts.  set some goals and work on those.  Put back in the other things as the "behind stuff" get stable and are in an uphill progression.

FREAK OUT #3:  THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE TEACHING WAYYYYYY MORE STUFF THAN I AM!!!
     No, no they are not.  How do I know this?  Why because up until this past February (2015) I had 3 kids still in the public school system.  Let me share a few things with you: 1)I actually had to teach them the story about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving,;  I still can't believe that.  2)The public schools aren't teaching everything either!!!  (go on, get out your shock face!)  They do math and language arts every day.  That is the only thing they are doing every day.  They have units they do here and there, throughout the year, on science and history/social studies and if they do not get the math and LA done, they ditch the other stuff.  (No wonder they had no clue about the pilgrims!). PE and ARTS are hit and miss as well.  This is kinda the way their world turns until about 7th grade.  So, if the public school isn't even doing all 9 billion subjects, why are you stressing out about it?!?!?!  Teach your child to read and to love reading and keep on a progressive level with math.  Anything else that you missed along the way- assign it to them from junior high on up!

FREAK OUT #4:  But this other homeschool family in our circle, well their kids know Latin and there's all this stuff about the different phases of learning and they all play the violin!  We don't measure up =(
     Measure up to who?  The Jones's?  Stop comparing yourself to other people!  They don't have the same life/kids/family/worries/joys as you do.  I admit, my kids would prolly be a lot more "highly educated" had some of the other families I know have been theirs.  But you know what?  They aren't theirs, they are mine!  Being the "smartest homeschool family ever" should not be your aim in life and I am sure it's not all it's cracked up to be.  It really will be okay.  Do they love and follow Jesus?  Are you teaching them to live a life for Gods glory and not their gain?  Then KEEP GOING!!!  You are doing just fine!!  It really is okay if we don't all school the same way and with the same scholastic goals.  It really is alright.  IT REALLY IS!

FREAK OUT #5:  I WON'T BE ABLE TO TEACH MATH... OR MIDDLE SCHOOL... OR HIGHSCHOOL!  
     Yes you can and yes you will!  First of all, there are so many amazing programs and curriculum's out there.  Anyone can do it and that includes you.  Secondly, just because your child is getting older, that does not make you dumber.  Besides, even if it did (but it doesn't- not even "placenta brain"), by the time they get to highschool, they should be pretty independent.  They hopefully got the hang of using the math computer program, learned how to research and even if you only required ONE essay a year, if it was a good one then they know how to do that too.  They can read, they can write, they can move through curriculum.  It really will be okay and you really can do it!  And you really are smart enough too =)

     My friends, keep fighting the good fight.  Keep pouring into your kids.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Don't give up!!  Don't freak out!!  Take it one day at a time and be encouraged, YOU'VE GOT THIS!

That concludes this blog post (and this series!).   I hope you have enjoyed this overview on "FREAK OUT!"  Other topics to come in this series, in no particular order, are:

1. One Room School House Teaching
2. block scheduling/4 day school week
3. 3 hour limit
4. schooling when they are ready- don't stress until then
5. sickness in the house and new babies
6. utilize your team (aka older kids)
7. schooling with toddlers and babies
8. FEED the people
9. Making an "unschedule" for your home
10. FREAK OUT!

#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!

#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!