Homeschooling Multiple Grades Together: Older Siblings Can Teach

homeschooling multiple grades together

If you are homeschooling multiple grades together, things can get pretty hectic some days, if not most days. Time to get those older children to help out! By doing this, you can delegate tasks and encourage your older kids to take on more responsibility and put into practice some of the things they’ve already learned. This will boost their confidence and let them know that they are being helpful and feel smart in the process as well as solidifying their own knowledge.

Helpful Tasks

Here are some tasks that older siblings can participate in with their younger siblings:

Reading buddies - You can schedule a time for them to read together during school time or make this part of your bedtime routine. Have the older one do the read-aloud book for homeschool or let the younger one choose their favourite bedtime story to be read.
Teach a new topic - Your older child may be an expert in a certain subject or topic, and with your guidance, you can have the older child introduce the topic. They might be more excited to teach about the subject than you, especially when it’s their favourite thing to talk about!
Introduce a new toy or game - Have your older child pick one of his old toys and teach the younger sibling how to use it. For example, introducing a younger sibling to Legos will definitely be a fun day.
Teach a new skill - Sometimes, learning a new skill is hard for young ones to pick up, but an older sibling may have a better way of explaining things. For example, an older child might be able to explain how to tie shoelaces better than you can.
Keep track of a schedule - Help the younger sibling to stay on task or track their rewards on a daily or weekly reward chart. They can be in charge of putting the stickers on and reminding the younger siblings that they’ve got a task to do.

When older children teach the younger ones, it helps the older children to consolidate their learning while you as a parent can clear up any misconceptions they have. For example, if the older child starts explaining something and gets confused or doesn't quite understand themselves what they are trying to teach, you’ll have the opportunity to correct them and show them where they went wrong. Sometimes, mistakes are the best teachers. That's why it’s good to encourage kids to think of learning as a process instead of a destination.

homeschooling multiple grades together

Teaching as a Job

Depending on the age of your older siblings, you may also offer them a teaching position as a job. Whether you can use their help because you are finding you don’t have the time to homeschool multiple grades together or you just want to give them the opportunity to guide their siblings in their learning, this can be a beneficial arrangement for everyone in the family.

With the added incentive of money, you should state your expectations clearly and provide them with a written list of what you expect from them in their role as well as give them a bit of a training period. Then be sure to offer areas for improvement as time goes on and be there for them to problem solve and develop their teaching skills.

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This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.