Can I homeschool a kindergartner if I have 2 younger toddlers?

Question

I really like the idea of homeschooling , however I am not sure how to do it if I have 2 other toddlers (2 and 3 yr old) Are there other homeschooling parents with young toddlers willing to share with me how do they do "school" with the older kids while caring for the younger ones .Thanks!

Answer 1

Sure you can. Make learning a part of your daily life, not just a time set aside to do lessons. A child in kindergarten really doesn't need more than maybe half an hour of 'academic' work if you are trying to keep him/her to local standards. You can probably do a lot of that work just in having fun--have an art time each day and have him practise painting the letters for his/her name or make a little booklet with pictures matching the target sound, count all kinds of things, ask him/her questions... There is so much academic stuff that can be learned just through daily living. By the time s/he's in gr. 2, your toddlers will be 4 and 5 and ready for their own schooly activities. It'll work out!

Answer 2

Yes, I have a friend who homeschools and she has 5 kids. Of these five, two are toddlers with one on the way! Find an activitity for the toddlers to work on even if its just scribbling. Perhaps while they are napping. Who knows, they may want to "pretend" to be doing what the older sibling is doing. Kids are never too young to start educating them. Don't let people discourage you by saying homeschoolers "lack socialization." This is the greatest myth used by supporters of public school education. Most homeschoolers are more socialized than public school kids because they are required to interact with people of all age levels and not just grade levels. As far as friends, well there is no guarantee that your child will have more friends attending public school. Good luck!

Answer 3

I agree with Angel. There are many ways you can socialize your child other than school. My son is in daycare part time. They have his age group (2 and 3 yr olds) in a class setting for about 2 hours each morning. It is mostly story time, crafts, games, etc. They are teaching the alphabet, numbers, colors, and social skills.

Even if he was not there during the time I work part time, I believe he would be learning all that anyway. We are teaching it at home first. His friends that he plays with during the week are not the kids from daycare...they are from church.

You could even do some activities with your toddlers while teaching the 5 year old. Just have them age appropriate. The younger ones might play in another area while you do some more extensive learning with your oldest one.

I am praying about whether we should homeschool. (It is my dream...just got to make sure I can be at home.)

Good luck!!!

Answer 4

Think about it this way... for K, there will be activities that the younger ones can join in (songs, rhymes, games, arts and crafts, reading stories, etc.).

Some of your Kindergarteners work will be independant... set them up with a project or some educational toys, set your other kids up with their toys, and just divide your attention.

If you want to do some more structured work w/the kindergartener one on one, it won't be for long stretches of time. Do 20 minutes here and there when the younger ones are napping, or maybe when their dad gets home if you're married after dinner he can play with or bathe the little ones while you sit down and do some seatwork w/the kindergartener.

Remeber that your time is your own, so you don't have to work within the confines of the hours a public school kindergarten runs-- you can do structured work on weekends and take a couple of days a week off, or in the evenings, working only 3 days a week year-round, etc.

As for socialization, just take the kids to the park when other kids are there, make play dates with friends, check out to see what kind of activities your library has for pre-school and K age children, most have some kind of reading program.

Answer 5

My youngers are all blanket trained, meaning they have 3-5 blankets with toys on them that they can choose to play on for a set amount of time while the olders are doing school. They have all been taught to stay on the blanket playing happily for the set time, and to keep all of the toy grouping on the blanket so cleanup is a breeze. Some examples are blocks on one blanket, puzzles on another, Little People sets on another, baby dolls and accessories on the other.

Every hour on the hour we have our exercise time for 5 minutes. We set a timer and dance, do "Father Abraham", do basic aerobics, do jumping jacks and situps, or make up silly exercises. Then we have everyone quiet for 25 minutes, take 5 to trade to another blanket and get settled in for 25 minutes, then it's exercise time again. We begin with a 40 minute circle time that the younger ones participate in, followed by this schedule for 2.5 hours, followed by lunch, and then the younger ones nap while the olders finish anything that is not yet completed for the day.

My olders are 8 (3rd grade), 7 (2nd grade), 4.75 (1st grade), and my youngers are 3 and 15 months. Email if you would like more info!

Answer 6

It's sooo easy.
When we were doing school-at-home set-up, we just had a bookshelf with plastic bins full of toys, legos, blocks, dolls, etc. We did story time all together, and the older kids had special things that they did (write answers to questions) while the younger ones drew pictures from the story. If we needed to do one-on-one then we would start by spending fifteen or twenty minutes playing with a toy (blocks for example, building and knocking down) and then when the littles were engaged, the older children and I would move to the table to work on whatever. This had the added benefit of allowing fun time for the older children, building family, spending time together, and allowing them to mentor the younger children.

Alot of time the littles WANT to be at the table, esp if your oldest is doing kindie work, it's easy and fun and they'll want their own notebooks and worksheets. We have a rubbermaid three drawer shelf, the 8x10, that we make copies of papers for each child and they have their own drawer with their own 'work'. Even a two year old will love to have his own drawer, to access special coloring sheets for him/her.

I could go on and on, but trust me, it's easy and FUN to homeschool with toddlers. Like Glurpy said, homeschooling takes much less time than you imagine, even with my older children it takes less than an hour a day. We're unschoolers now, and that takes a lot of time and energy, but it's so worth it.

Good luck

Answer 7

imet a lady who does it and what she did was got a home school circulim for preshoolerd and homeschooled all 4 (set a twins in there). the preschool kids ended up being above there age level when they were ready to start kindergarden

Answer 8

At that age things are really fun and hands on. The younger kids can also do any activites you might have planned. You can also do your work when the little ones are napping. Actual school time will be fairly short.

Answer 9

Why homeschool yet?

Answer 10

You might be better off to wait until they are a couple of years along in their schooling.

It is important that they learn to interact with other children, and kindergarten is ideal for that.