There is a lot to cover when educating a child. You want to make sure they learn a lot and get a well-rounded education. When a family has more than once child, it can be difficult to get it all done each day. For me, I have three students. They are all in different “grades”. I could spend an entire 12 hour day teaching them. But, I don’t.
My children are all elementary level this year. It won’t always be this way but I am taking advantage of it for now. We have so many subjects to cover and my desire is to get to most of them each day. Especially the main courses like math and language arts.
Instead of doing each subject separately with each student, we combine a few of them. We combine science, history, Bible, and geography/cultures. All of my students (1st, 4th, and 5th grades) listen and participate together in each of these subjects. My youngest son only listens and answers questions out loud. He doesn’t write very well right now and I am okay with him just listening.
The older boys do their worksheets or whatever work is assigned for those subjects together. Well, we do them as a family. We read the topics, ask the questions, and answer them. Sometimes I write the answers on our whiteboard so they can write them on their worksheets.
Combining these subjects makes it easier for me as well. It means less books, less grading worksheets (looking them over for correct answers), and less time spent teaching several different children about several different topics. It means we get to finish school in way less time.
This has also given my children something to talk about and learn about together. They can have discussions about their history lesson or their science experiment. They can talk about the books they are reading (the ones I read aloud to them). They can talk about their Bible lesson together. It’s been fun for me as well. I am learning right alongside them and have enjoyed watching them light up when something clicks.
Homeschooling doesn’t have to be difficult or take all day. Combining some of the subjects you teach can free up lots of time and money (from saving on a bunch of books). What subjects do you think you can combine with your students?
