Autopilot Homeschooling

If you want to know a great secret for homeschooling huge amounts of children, read on.

As a mom of 15, I understand the juggling routine when it comes to teaching multiple ages at the same time. Everyone told me to “combine subjects,” which helped a little bit, but led me to think I had to neglect the basics in order to enjoy the things that gave us great delight.

After much trial-and-error I discovered that, yes, there are subjects we can combine, but only after we have addressed the basics so that our children can become competent in the tools of learning.

In order to understand what I am trying to say here, it helps to have an idea of what education is, which I talk in depth about in this video (and the others in this series):

There is also system of approaching true education that can help moms gain more hours in their day.

This system is the one I have found that actually works. First, I think of the first two parts of education as the most important:

• A child’s relationship with God and man
• The tools of learning (reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic)

Why? Because if children behave (have an understanding of right-and-wrong and a respect for authority) and can read, write, and cipher, you can put the rest on autopilot.

AUTOPILOT: a state or condition in which activity or behavior is regulated automatically in a predetermined or instinctive manner

Merriam-Webster

Here is the system that I use:

• Materials that lend themselves to autopiloting, such as the McGuffey readers combined with The Lesson Book, Gentle Grammar, a good math spine, and some science and history resources combined with notebooking according to the Charlotte Mason method.

• An assignment sheet for each child that they can use to check off each activity as it is completed.

• A few hours on a Sunday afternoon that I use to go over their work from the previous week and assign work for the next week.

• A daily “group time” (doesn’t have to be in the morning) where we come together to do some Bible, history/science activities, video, etc., and a read-aloud book.

If you are interested in snagging the free assignment sheet, I did a video and offered a free printable assignment sheet in this post.

I know this takes a bit more explaining. That’s why I recorded this video :

May this bless you! If you have any questions or requests you would like for me to address, just leave them in the comments below.