How Do You Teach and Organize a Large Family?
Posted By Jacque on July 7, 2008
I joined the CMOMB board (Christian Moms to Many Blessings) a few months ago, and recently I joined the MOMYS board. My friend, Christina, has been a member for several years, but I thought the MOMYS board was like MOPS, and I wasn’t interested for a long time. I stumbledupon it a couple of days ago and actually read what it was about, so I joined! 
First of all, MOMYS is an acronym for Mothers Of Many Young Siblings. From the site: “If you have, have had, or hope to have, four or more children under eight years old, this is the place for you. The purpose of MOMYS is to provide support and encouragement for women who have many small children, to the glory of God, and membership is restricted to those who fit this description.“
I have received a warm welcome by the ladies there, and even though I really don’t have a lot of time to peruse and participate in message boards, I did come across a great topic for homeschoolers. It was a set of questions for moms to answer. If you decide these are great questions and post yours on your blog, leave me a link!
How do you teach school with toddlers?
We include them. They listen to the stories most of the time, sitting in a lap. If they want to, I will let them play with their legos or color.
If they are especially antsy, I will just take a break and cook something with them or go outside or go for a walk… something to change the scenery.How do you get 4 or more out the door on time?
I don’t know that we get them out the door on time… I have learned that if we need to be somewhere at a certain time, that I have to plan to leave 30m before then, and then we might leave on time to get there. Being organized and having everything where you don’t have to search for it always helps to leave without problems.What are your favorite curriculums?
We start out with A Beka for arithmetic and language for the 7-9yo. Then, for math we use Saxon. For grammar and literature, we use Simply Grammar and reading whole books and watching movies and documentaries. Our children love to read. They read a lot!
Right now, our method for teaching writing is Blogging to Learn. My oldest children have blogs, write for an online magazine, and manage various websites. They are assigned topics to write about, and they also write journal posts about life, as well as oratory on researched and Biblical topics. I correct grammar with my children and teach them as we correct it.
I like the Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach, as it uses different homeschool methods and can be made to fit into how you personally teach. It is a Bible-first method, using the Word of God and implementing the way Jesus taught into the learning/thinking process. The Bible is by far the firt and foremost important curriculum manual in a homeschool. By it, all answers are given and all lessons can truly touch the heart.
History in this house is live. We read, write, watch and live history. Science is something that is hit and miss. We study creation science and use various books to learn the different aspects. Keeping a Nature Journal and allowing the children to sketch rather than a hard-line drawing is something I have learned is very important. For the older children (biology and such), we have used Apologia and BJUPWhich work best with a large family?
We use what I call Living Learning Moments. Life works best with a large family. We live on a small hobby farm with goats and chickens. We did have horses, but recently sold them.When our daughter asked if she could get a couple of goats (we had no animals then), we thought it was a strange request, but we let her. It was the best decision we could have made. We have learned so many things it is unbelievable. We even had goat kids and dealt with complications of the kidding. Our children have responsibilities now that they live with and learn through daily.
We read the Bible and put it into our days. Anything that comes up, whether it is a material lesson or a spiritual or thought issue, it is a lesson, and we take time for it.What to do with several preschoolers?
We have older children, so it is different for us now. It has been 13 years since I had 3 preschoolers and no older children and 8 years since I had 5 ten and under.
I would say have fun. Teach them responsibility that is fit for their age. They can fold laundry and put away dishes and toys as Littles. They love to pour chocolate chips into the cookie dough mix, stir it, and test them when they come out. “Preschool time”. What is that exactly?? If they are children and breathing, they need to learn life and responsibility. The cool thing is that at this time, life and responsibility are FUN!
What is MOTH, anyways?
I have read about MOTH and researched it online. I have always hesitated to spend the money, because, I always have to pick and choose what to use in a planning system, so I have my own system I make up combining any useful information I have found or learned.What works best for you, workbooks or unit studies?
We use a mix of both. It really depends on the learning style of the child. Unit Studies works well with any age and any child, but sometimes certain ones are fitted well to work out of workbooks. We use both and other methods as well.
You can read more about our homeschool and how we do it in the upcoming Summer Issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I can’t wait!
blessings!
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Nice article, Jacque….I like the pic, too
Mom ( Grandma Starr)s last blog post..It’s All Relative
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