Homeschooling With Large Families
Homeschooling seems to be in the news lately. And not just homeschooling, but homeschooling with large families. Most people today would never consider homeschooling with many kids. The thought just seems to be too much. Could you imagine having 5 or 6 kids in your house all day every day? What about 8,9, or more? these families are doing it, loving it, and thriving.
- 12-Year-Old Homeschooler Goes to College. He has two older sisters who also started college early, at 12. Though mom Mona Lisa Harding home schools all eight of her children (with number nine on the way), she says they are just an average family involved in church, sports, and fun.
- Britsh mom of 11 homeschools her children. And she does so eight months pregnant. Three hours every morning is set aside for lessons and the rest of the day is free for fun, fieldtrips, the park, or anything else.
- Mother of eight says homeschooling gives them more flexability. She says that have a love of learning and were able to socially bloom in their own time because of homeschooling.
With many kids your home becomes like the old one-room school houses*, where children of many ages and levels were all taught together. In that kind of environment the common peer hierarchy has no room to grow. The older kids don’t look down on the younger ones for being in a “lower level” and the younger kids do not fear the older ones. Even though they are all siblings, that kind of heirarchy can still devolope. A friend of mine recently commented to me that her preteen daughter has been watching Hanna Montana on the Disney channel. Apparently an episode caught her where Hanna goes to high school and tries to say hello to her older brother. The brother quickly points out that even though they are siblings, his older grade status makes him “too cool” to be seen talking to her. My friend laughed as she recalled older cousins who had no problem playing at her house on the weekends, but once school was in they would not even look her direction. It was the unwritten law of high school, the older kids do not talk to the younger ones.
*Interesting note: Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, went to school in a one-room school.
homeschool, homeschooling families, large families, children, school, one-room school
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