...the chief function of the child - his business in the world during the first six or seven years of his life - is to find out all he can, about whatever comes under his notice, by means of his five senses; that he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge got in this way; and that, therefore, the endeavour of his parents should be to put him in the way of making acquaintance freely with Nature and natural objects... Charlotte Mason, volume 1 p. 96Anyways, it is a challenge to homeschool while having little ones who are still very needy and dependent on you as a mom! I have made an effort to include the younger ones even though they are not school aged yet. I wanted to share some of the things that I do (because I know there are moms who I've talked to who are struggling) and to encourage you that it can be done!
I include the children in praying at Circle Time.
Sometimes they offer up their own requests and sometimes they want to pray too and these are both good things. Even if they don't, we are modeling prayer for them and they know that we are speaking to God. To hear a young child pray to their Heavenly Father is a precious thing we get to eavesdrop on.
I include the children in memorizing the Bible at Circle Time.
This is not hard to do as young children have an AMAZING capacity for memorizing and pick up on EVERYTHING we say. One of the twins has begun memorizing with us and we all get a kick out of it. I do not think this is arbitrary memorizing - I believe and pray that God will use it for the formation and salvation of their souls. Julia has memorized many passages with us and can quote some of them as well as her sisters. I pray it changes their souls. Repetition is something kids love and so this works well for all ages.
I include the children in exercising!
The youngest of the family LOVE to copy and watch the exercise video that we do together. They are so excited to stretch their muscles and be challenged. They help us to have a good attitude about exercising :) (This is the one we have been using the most.)
I include the children in picture study at Circle Time.
This is easy. I make it a big deal when I bring a new picture out for the kids to "look at," but I do try to remind them that they are to be super quiet when looking at the picture. Sometimes it is all of 5 seconds that they look at it, but sometimes longer. After we are done looking at it, I will ask Julia what she saw or what she thinks its about. The twins aren't that verbal yet but to look at a beautiful picture is still beneficial.
I include the children in composer study.
We usually listen to a new piece of music by our composer at lunchtime. Sometimes this doesn't work too well as lunch can be chaotic but most times if I set it up right when they start eating and they are focused on that, quiet can be maintained enough to listen to a piece or better yet, watch a performance of it on YouTube. The watching entrances all of them and the quiet is much easier to come by this way. :)
I include the children in Foreign Language (Spanish).
The younger kids LOVE watching our Spanish DVD and will mimic the language just as much as we do. The DVD's we are using are perfect for all ages middle school and younger.
I include the children in Singing.
We all sing and learn hymns together, as well as American Folk songs. The kids ALL love singing and this is an easy way to include them. They even have their favorites they request.
I include the children in Nature Walks!
This is kind of a given... but I love that the entire family can participate when we get a chance to go on an intentional nature walk and then come home and paint or write in our nature journals. We haven't been as good about this with the twins but now they are old enough to walk through the woods (because we don't have nice, paved sidewalks in the forests here in NH like we did in IL)!
As you have just read, there really are quite a few subjects that you can include your youngest ones in! Be encouraged! :)
Also, during the times when my older girls are reading or narrating (and especially during the winter months!!) I try to have educational toys or fine motor skill toys on hand for times when we are at the table. Puzzles, markers, books and playdough are out on a constant basis but there are a few things that I only bring out during school time when I need them to be occupied, like these:
And these are some I am thinking about adding because there is nothing that distracts like new toys :) I view these as legitimate survival techniques. If you know me, you know I don't like to have a lot of clutter and toys around, but I think these types of things are super helpful to me so that I can actually listen to a narration (which happens very often during the day) or make a phone call or start lunch or something basic.
Now that you are overdosed with a visual of rainbow colored toys... I do want to affirm that yes, it is not easy to have small children around when you are trying to homeschool but we should not view them as a hindrance to our older children's learning... but instead as a life lesson for them that they can learn to be patient and longsuffering with their siblings, and that life doesn't always allow the perfect setup for what we want to do BUT we can choose to make the best of it. This is hard and I do try to facilitate as much quiet as possible during the school day and allow the older girls to be downstairs in their room or our family room for their quiet reading, but the reality is, the house is still loud and narrations are sometimes hard to hear over the din. But this is our life for now and it won't always be so loud...
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