Homeschool World Forum

[MOMS]

My kids are 8, 5, 3 & 11 months.......they all want all my attention ALL DAY!
My oldest usually does his work quietly while I do phonics with the little two, but they do nothing on thier own while I'm helping the oldest the rest of the day. Thank God I have my husban home during school hours to help out....but he pretty much has the 11mo old all day. I feel like I'm not raising my baby & not giving each child enoug attention
How can I keep the 3 & 5 year olds busy & when do I take time for my baby?
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StevieRay (10)
Sato (7)
Mia (5)
Baby Hondo (2)

[elliemaejune]

I only have 2 dc so I don't have any practical, personal experience with situations like yours--and you have my greatest admiration . But I have read that some people have their older dc spend time with younger siblings while the mothers teach the others. So, maybe your 8yo could play with the 3yo while you teach the 5yo and bounce the 11mo on your lap? (Your 3yo doesn't need to be doing phonics yet.) Then you could work again with the 8yo while the 5 and 3yo play and you bounce the 11mo, then you could love on the the 3yo while the 5yo and 8yo play...

Theodore would have some good suggestions, I'm sure, as his mother has 10 children or so.

There's a book called "Managers of Their Homes" which deals with this very thing.
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Married to Mr. Ellie for over 30 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Caretaker of 2 dear kitties, 1 French bulldog, 1 dachsund, and 3 budgies

[sartasd]

First, slow down. There is no reason you have do it all today.

I have a siister with 4 kids. She homeschooled 2 who are doing online college and still has 2 in homeschool.

She had things they did together as a family such as Bible reading time. others who don't put Bible in their day, could be reading a classical literature book as a read aloud.

When one child is have instructional time with Mom, the others will be doing independent work. (usually the time for a 8 yr is limited to about 30 min at one sitting.) Give the 3 year old puzzles, coloring pages, blocks or legos to play with while you are busy with the 8 yo. the 5 yo could be doing something on the computer while you work with another child. the 5 yr old could be working on phonic using starfall.com to reforce the phonics. Then rotate the kids, doing instructional time with another child while the others use the computer for math pracitce (mathbrain) or other educational sites or your own CD-roms. make centers so they rotate from center to center. allow break time, (recess) go outside if the weather allows and run and play and laugh.

While the 3,5, and 8 play you can hold and play with your 11 mo.

Organize the time and also plan read a loud times. Reading aloud to the group will aid all of them in reading, language, vocabulary, grammar, and much more as you read from a interesting book, pick chaphter books, pick classics such as Charlotte's Web, Little House books, fairy tales, Bible stories, and many more.
Children's picture books are great too, but don't limit read aloud time to children's book, put book that will be read slowly over a period of a week or more. Read aloud should be limited to about 10 to 15 min. at the most. Most young ones can't sit that long.
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Sharon

[MOMS]

thanks SO much for the help guys
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StevieRay (10)
Sato (7)
Mia (5)
Baby Hondo (2)