Q&A: What do you do with your preschoolers while you are teaching your older kids?

A: As much as possible, I tried to keep my preschoolers in the same room or general area while we were doing school. During the summer, I would prepare special fun activities they could do to learn from while the others were doing their school. See Schooltime Activities for Preschoolers for a list of ideas we used

The preschoolers would be at the kitchen table doing their activities. The kids who were reading would be in the living room and the kids writing were at the dining room table. My job would be the “juggler” if you will, moving about and assigning work, keeping kids on track, and changing the preschool activities out.

It’s amazing what the preschoolers pick up that the older kids are learning. When my older boys were learning anatomy, I got an anatomy coloring book for 4 year old Matt, who thought he was big stuff doing his anatomy with the older kids.

When reading to the older kids, I would let the preschoolers listen in; the could learn Bible verses as well when the older kids were reciting theirs. We learned character qualities together too.

I taught the preschoolers to use “school-time voices” during school time, which just meant lowering the level of their voice so others could concentrate. They didn’t do it perfectly all the time, but they can be trained to be thoughtful of others with some training and positive praise.

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Marilyn

Marilyn is wife to Rick, Mom to 14 children, Nana to 22 grandchildren (and counting!) and homeschooler for 37 years. She and her husband own Character Concepts which they started for the purpose of helping others raise children with a strong, godly character and Biblical worldview.They have developed character curriculumfrom preschool through high school, based on what they found worked whenteaching their own 14 children over the years. Her passion is to help young moms raise kids of character and enjoy the journey!