One Room School House

If you look back at schooling back in the olden days, you will notice that the students of a one room school house would have an age range from preschool all the way up to highschool. The teacher would teach a subject and each age group would take that particular subject to their learning capacity.

Even today, you can sit down a wide range of different aged children and teach them on the same subject. They then can take that particular subject to their learning level. I'm finding this to be true in our own home.

Schooling these days have children separated out by age. I find this very beneficial at times, and even neccessary. But why should they be taught this way all the time? All year long?

So, as a homeschooling momma of four (ages 5, 7, 12, and 13) I have used this technique more and more in our homeschool. We call this technique "academic periods". I did not make this idea up on my own. As we chose to homeschool classically, we have learned this technique from the founders of the school we co-op with.

Basically all my children sit at a table for an academic period, which lasts an hour long. These periods are only the major subjects like math, history, grammar. At the beginning of that period I teach all the information at once (if applicable), and then I block out time to spend one on one with each child. During that block of time I teach any content if needed. I gradually dismiss the students from the table by age. The five year old is dismissed first. Then the 7 year old is dismissed. My older daughters stay the entire period. It’s a WONDERFUL way to get those major academics out of the way.

It takes training to this everyone down and learn to working in these periods, but it is possible! I know!