10 tips on managing kids and homeschooling work

When you’re in the midst of trying to help your kids get their school work done, it can feel like a pretty chaotic juggling act! Here are a few strategies that may help you to keep on top of things:

1. Routines

Routines are key for homeschooling effectively – they enable you to do more without thinking about it. For example, decide ahead of time when you will eat, exercise, start school work etc. Have a look at my post on 8 Key Areas for Routines in Homeschooling for more on this.

2. Set a time in the day when all your kids do their school work

This follows on from routines – having a set time for schoolwork will limit the time when you are “on duty” as their teacher, and hopefully streamline their educational time. For us, this is the morning (around 9-12.30) because concentration levels are better then. If your kids insist on leaving work till later in the day, they should suffer the consequences of that choice! E.g. You not being available to help or missing out on a shared activity with the family.

3. Have your kids sit in the same area or same room

This means you will be available to help whoever needs it, without having to trek all over the house. It also becomes obvious who’s on task! There may be occasions where it makes sense to allow a little more freedom – such as writing a story under a tree outside.

4. Remove distractions

This applies to both students and teacher! If the TV or cellphone is vying for you or your kids’ attention, keep them away while you’re trying to get school work done.

5. Plan for babies and toddlers

If you have babies, try to put them down for a nap during school time. Toddlers are harder – perhaps put aside some activities especially for this time that you know will keep them entertained.

6. Use a checklist rather than a timetable

A specific list of tasks they need to get done and can tick off will make your life easier than trying to have a set timetable for the different subjects. It means they can be more independent too! See my earlier post on Planning & Schedules for an example checklist. This also means that kids will hopefully learn to get their work done quickly with the reward of more play time.

7. Rotate between kids

Once your kids are all working away, rotate between them to check if they need your help. Obviously you can’t help them all at once, so encourage them to get on with something else while they wait for their turn. If they all need help on a particular subject like Maths, try to get them doing Maths at different times.

8. Try a whiteboard management system

This is a strategy used by teachers and tried by a friend of mine. She had a whiteboard (or a piece of paper) which the kids could add their name to if they needed help with something. She would then work her way around them. This approach apparently gave her kids more sense of control and added a calmer atmosphere.

9. Get your older kids helping younger ones

If you are struggling to keep up with the multi-tasking that is homeschooling, assign some helping/teaching jobs to your older kids. They are usually quite capable of doing jobs such as: marking basic facts tests, listening to reading, helping with phonics or testing on spelling. Be aware though that ‘helping’ with Maths often leads to telling the answers to get it over with as quickly as possible!

10. Use Incentives

Rewards and incentives are always helpful for kids. E.g. “If you get all your Maths done by lunch, I’ll play a game with you / read you a book / give you some screentime”. Don’t give it to them unless they’ve earned it!