Home education is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. There has been much learning going both ways: to the kids and to myself. Yet it has also given me its fair share of frustration. I have had to dig deep to find joy in homeschooling multiple children.
Oh yes, indeed you have to find that joy; because oftentimes you will lose it. Children are fun and cute, but spending long hours with them requires a special kind of patience and tolerance muscle. And if you are dealing with more than one child, your reserves can drain real fast!
Joy thieves
The biggest thief of joy is comparison (I have tried to trace the origin of this saying widely attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but alas it’s evading me!). You will be ok in your zone until you learn what other children your own’s age are doing at school; or have accomplished. Suddenly it feels like you are just not doing enough! You start second-guessing yourself and try to make up for the deficit – in the process stressing yourself and the children.
Another thief of joy is replicating the school environment at home. Doing school at home is a recipe for disaster, especially with multiple children. Standing like a school teacher in front of your students may be fun to do sometimes but running a home school in that manner is not feasible. It may work for others but for me it was just draining. Trying to make this one sit and do their grade 1 Math, whilst running around the table to check if the grade 3 is done while the junior kindergartener is clamoring for attention to their coloring was exhausting. It was a one-way ticket to burnout!
Claim your joy back!
If you want to find joy homeschooling multiple children, let go of the school mentality. Most learning is incidental. But that does not in any way suggest that you ditch planning, no not at all; but just that you go with the flow and not be too rigid. Cultivate a warm environment that allows children to explore. Treat every question as an opportunity to learn. In such a setting strengths are realized and school will make sense to children because it answers their questions; it’s meaningful to them and not just a drudgery.
All chidren do not have to be seated at the same time. One or more can be playing whilst you concentrate on book-work with one. It’s also very common for one child to have more interest in what the other is doing and not in their own work. My 6 year-old son is more interested in the clock than his 8 year-old sister. I encourage him to do more clockwork but don’t force it upon him. As we ‘play’ time, the sister is revising on the same and at once being challenged to do better.
Document, document, document! End the day by reflection, writing down what you did. You will find a lot of learning (a.k.a subject content) was covered even when the children were playing games. But if it’s not documented you won’t remember, and it will stress you thinking you did nothing. If you feel you will forget if you wait until the end of the day then do it as you change activities. Taking pictures and videos is another great way to document learning.
Teach them to love learning
Older children can be trusted to do their share of work independently. Believe it or not, if there is any interesting topic you won’t need to hover over them too much. They may even share their joy and findings without follow-ups. If you teach them to love learning and not just to complete exercises for the sake of finishing a curriculum there will be great rewards in your home school.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to quantify how much good (or bad for that matter) one has done. In home education you just cannot see that impact until much later. Claim your joy back, you are doing something for your child. There are soft skills that children gain in the home, life skills that are crucial but that cannot be put on paper. Educating multiple children doesn’t have to be stressful, you can actually find joy while doing it!
