If there is one thing you have noticed when you homeschool more than one child, it is the difficulty in keeping everyone gainfully occupied in the homeschool classroom. With the difference in age you are trying to teach different grade material to different children all at the same time. This will mean that some children will finish the tasks that you have set for them before you are free to give them your full attention again. So how do you keep them busy for the few more minutes that you need with their sibling? Here are some ideas that may do the trick!
Fill it up challenge
This works really well for small children. Give them a small sized container, it could be a small plastic box, or a matchbox or anything small you have handy. Now ask them to find small items that they can fill in the container. Make them scout around for small things in the house, or restrict them to the classroom if you don’t want them wandering around without supervision. The rule to follow is only one piece of the small item is allowed to be put into the container. They will be times to see how quickly they can fill up the container.
Build it up challenge
If you would rather that the children stayed in the school room and not wandered about leaving their seats, this is a new game they can play. Give them some snacks that they can eat, however ask them to build the tallest tower out of the snacks on their plate. They can measure the height of their towers using a foot ruler and write it down. Make them maintain a log of how high the tower was on each consecutive day of the week. It will become a running competition that way and sustain their interest. You can write down the heights of the towers built by all the children individually and pin up the sheet on the notice board to keep things fun.
Small activities like these two can work very well in keeping your younger homeschool students occupied while you spend school time with their elder siblings.