# How many kids to start?



## moonrabbit (Apr 1, 2016)

Hello homeschool mommys (and daddys!)

I hope this hasn't been asked too many times, I did browse through a lot of the threads here and learned a lot, just would like opinions from people that are homeschooling currently.

I have kind of a large family, 7 kids. Homeschooling has been on my heart for a long time now, it used to not be a possibility since I worked outside the home. God has worked it out and I'm ready to jump in, I do have a couple of questions and would love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences:

Do you think it is better to just get everyone on the homeschool program at once or start a couple of kids at a time?

If you think it is better to start a couple of kids at a time is there a certain factor that you would choose one child to start first over another, I mean would you start young kids first or older kids, or is it a question of the individual personality or something else?

My youngest daughter is 4, next is 7yo boy, 8 year old triplets (girls), 10 year old boy and 11 year old boy. 

Is there a time when it is "too late" to start homeschooling them?

My kids are pretty well behaved, they love to learn and we already do a lot of home learning. One of the triplets has a learning disability. We had a family meeting to explore the possibility of homeschooling and all of them want to be homeschooled which is a blessing but also overwhelming!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for any advice you can offer


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## FarmerKat (Jul 3, 2014)

Congratulations on the beginning of your homeschooling journey!

I only have 2 kids so I cannot really offer real-life tested advice on starting all kids at once but I do not think it is ever too late to homeschool. 

I do not know how much time you have had to pick curriculum but do not get tricked into buying bunch of stuff you are not going to need. I was recently talking to a new homeschool mom and she said she needed to sell her materials because she bought about $800 worth of stuff she did not really need (and had no idea she was not going to need). Just take it slow, decide what you think will work best for each kid (and for you). If you have friends who homeschool, ask them to show you what they use. 

Consider how you would like to do it - do you want to do group work with all kids together and then give each of them learning-level appropriate assignment? Do you prefer to just set time aside with each child individually? Would your older kids like to do some type of independent learning program? (That is what my friend with 6 children does for the 2 oldest who are 9 and 11. But she is more hands on with her younger kids.)

Remember that when you withdraw your kids from school at 8 AM, you do not have to run home and start teaching at 8:30 AM. Set your schedule, take some time to create your routine, find what you think will work ... and enjoy time with your kids


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## Fairfarmhand (Mar 29, 2016)

This question will take a long time to answer. And my answer will be different from anyone elses!

First, for the next month, start researching. Not curriculum, but blogs that detail how families do it and make it work with multiple grade levels and ages. Find a good homeschooling forum (this one is great, but my fave is The Well Trained Mind Forum) and ask some questions. 

For what it's worth, I do think that the ages of your kids is a great time to start.

Next, start looking for homeschoolers and homeschool groups in your area. Talk to these people, ask questions, take notes. Ask if you can flip through their books. Ask what they like and don't like about what they're using. 

Order a catalog from Rainbow resource center. This book is the size of a phone book with very through reviews. Make lists and use sticky notes to record things that sound appealing.

I'd let the kids finish out this school year and seriously consider starting next fall. That'll give you time to research and plan. \

Also, research the legalities of homeschooling in your area.

Then duing the summer, do a "trial period." This means that you take 2-3 weeks and try it. See how it goes. I'd do this in July. If you like it, keep going. If it's awful, you still have time to enroll them in school. If you need to tweak it, do it. Your early start means that you can take a 2 week long fall break! Or you may get out of school earlier the following year.


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## BigHenTinyBrain (Apr 4, 2013)

Perhaps start them all at once, and ask the oldest ones to begin showing the youngest this or that, while you put your energy into whoever seems to need and want it the most at first. I admit we are very loosely structured around here, and while we don't exactly unschool we are pretty close, so that's my perspective. 

One way or another, start small. It won't hurt the kids to just relax and de-school for a little while- probably also a good argument for starting them in the fall. Many people seem to find a period of adjustment is needed (for you and the kids!), and if you use prepared materials you will probably have some trial and error. Have fun, don't stress, enjoy your kids!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I would probably let the kids already in school finish out the year (as long as there are no safety or emotional issues). 

Start the four year old with printing (they really draw letters at this age, circles and sticks). No tails, please do not teach with tails. Work on letter recognition and sounds. Decoding is very very important and people who have trouble decoding (sounding words out) find reading to be difficult.

If she was in preschool they would be working on letters, colors, shapes. I think a four year old can easily recognize circle, square, rectangle, star, triangle. Play counting games as well as recognizing and drawing numbers. After that, you will be able to figure out what she is ready for. The best way to have a child interested in reading is to read yourself because they will model you. Read everyday (newspaper, book,&#8230 and read to her. The library is your friend.

Also, the way learning works is this: one part of your brain collects new information, a different part stores it. So, after a few minutes of lesson, give the kids a physical break where they play, run around, do chores. Something physical. This allows the brain to shift from learning to memory. It is suggested to study in twenty minute increments, but a child will require less. It&#8217;s better to take breaks than to keep going over the same material again and again.


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## moonrabbit (Apr 1, 2016)

Thank you all for your very thoughtful answers and excellent advice 

I apologize for the delay, I did not know how to subscribe to the thread, I thought I did but apparently I did not lol.

So as an update: I started with my 4 year old who was not in preschool since she didn't turn 4 in time. I figured I could work with her until the summer and at that time I could have sort of a summer school program with all the kids, basing our ultimate decision on how that went. If it goes well then we will keep them home in the fall.

So I started with my 4 year old 2 weeks ago, did a lot of reading and mapped out a weeks worth of fun lessons. We did an ocean theme, it was a lot of fun and she took to it very quickly.

What I did not anticipate is that the older kids were really interested in what we were doing, they wanted to have school with us too though they are still in "regular" school. One by one they came and asked if they could participate so long story short 2 weeks later they are all doing projects and lessons with us. I've hustled to keep up with age appropriate lessons that keep with our central theme which has been "the ocean" for the last two weeks, we just kept on finding more things we wanted to learn about and I kept building lessons on it. I've been tying in the stuff that the older kids are learning in school and it has been surprisingly easy and natural for our family. 

I'm still looking at curriculum, haven't made up my mind yet but will need to soon. I'm also doing my research about the requirements for homeschools here, I'll need to make sure we have our ducks in a row. With my husband's blessing I set up a homeschool area in the den and it's coming along nicely too.

I've got an Egyptian theme planned for the next two weeks, the kids are excited. 

I guess the takeaway is that it's going really well and I think it is going to be a huge blessing for our family. I am very thankful for the all good advice here, it has been more helpful than you can know so thank you all again and again


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## FarmerKat (Jul 3, 2014)

moonrabbit, that is awesome  I was so happy to read your update.


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