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65 Best Teaching Tips for Embracing Homeschooling Multiple Ages

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I’m sharing 65 teaching tips for homeschooling multiple ages. Also, grab more ideas on my page How to Homeschool.

When I first started my blog, I did a series on homeschooling multiple ages.

It was a sweet series chock full of tips, but wouldn’t you like to know how successful that method was for me?

Fast forward to the present with three kids graduated, you will love these tried and true tips for homeschooling multiple ages and ideas you wished you knew earlier.

65 Best Teaching Tips for Embracing Homeschooling Multiple Ages

So, I’m breaking down the tips into big chunks so that you can easily find the help you need as I share details. I’ve had a lot of time to refine the process over the last 20+ years.

HOMESCHOOLING MULTIPLE AGES

First, let’s discuss ten benefits of teaching mixed ages together and eight challenges.

10 Benefits of Teaching Mixed Ages Together

  1. The public school approach has complicated the simple. More subjects do not equal more; it just equals more busywork. Teaching subjects together combines several bodies of knowledge which are related.
  2. Shorter more productive days stick. The time after instruction is filled with how each child connects what is learned today with yesterday. A child needs time to linger on what is newly learned.
  3. We homeschool because we want to nurture family togetherness and teaching siblings together does that.
  4. Focusing on one science, history, geography, music, book, or art topic multiplied my time as a teacher. From topics came lesson plans suited to each age and ability. Bottom line is my time planning yielded huge results.
  5. Covering a topic with multiple ages enriches the depth of each child’s knowledge as they share their research with the family.
  6. Teaching multiple ages together is easy on your budget. Buying one science or history book for all your ages screams homeschool savings. (Yes, it’s fantastic. I’ll share in a minute how to do it.)
  7. It fosters a love of independent learning. I didn’t realize this until later. Coming together to study encouraged my kids to research their ideas and to present them to the rest of the family.
  8. Older children model for younger children.
  9. Younger children learn from older siblings.
  10. All of your children learn from each other as the older children review facts mouthed by the younger siblings. That equals natural review instead of forced worksheets.
65 Best Teaching Tips for Embracing Homeschooling Multiple Ages and Ideas You Wished You Knew Earlier. After 20+ years of homeschooling multiple children together through to high school, you'll love the HUGE LIST of tips to know from how to choose curriculum to understanding the definition.

8 Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages

Also, look at my YouTube video 3 Lesser Known Problems Homeschooling Multiple Children the Fixes

Identifying the challenges I’ll be addressing will help you to see which part of this process gives you a bump in the road.

More important, I’m also giving you tips for smooth sailing on teaching your mixed ages.

Next, let’s dive into listing the challenges.

  1. Does teaching together really mean at the same time? Should I teach a few kids separately?
  2. How do you give each child one-to-one and when?
  3. It could create an unhealthy spirit of competition. For example, an older learner may outshine a younger learner. Also, in some instances an advanced younger learner can outshine an older sibling.
  4. Also, if you have several small children creating a lot of interruptions this can make for an atmosphere of chaos instead of calm.
  5. Another challenge is how to create lesson plans which fits all ages.
  6. What activities are good for all ages?
  7. Teacher time planning is increased.
  8. Determining if this approach is good for all of your children can be stressful.

If you’re new to homeschooling, you’ll love my online self-paced Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers.

New Homeschooler Online Self-Paced Boot Camp By Tina Robertson

Now that some challenges and benefits have been identified, I’m moving on to explaining what is homeschooling multiple ages.

DEFINING HOMESCHOOLING MULTIPLE AGES

Understanding a definition brings clarity which is sanity saving.

Look at six ways to understand what it means to juggle mixed ages.

6 Ways to Define Homeschooling Mixed Ages

  1. It means you can teach your children together, but each one can be working independently on an assignment. The kids are not all huddled together in front of you every minute. Of course, unless you want that. Just saying.
  2. Creating multiple assignments on one topic for each child’s needs is the very foundation of homeschooling multiple children.
  3. You can create individual hands-on projects based on ages.
  4. Creating ONE BIG project by all the kids teaches siblings how to collaborate. You decide which projects and how many projects your kids do jointly or individually. Maintaining flexibility of how many hands-on ideas or projects you want to assign to your older or younger set of kids or assign individually is key to savoring the process. Flexibility is king for projects.
  5. Understanding that you do NOT have to do all the teaching when the kids are together is another important element to know.
  6. Older siblings reading to younger siblings or reviewing math facts is part of how you juggle mixed ages.

Did you know this method of teaching is time tested? It reminds me of the one-room schoolhouses of the past.

If you were to ask a seasoned homeschooling mom if a one-room schoolhouse is a thing of the past, they would probably say no.

The building may be long gone, but the idea of teaching mixed ages together is alive and strong in the homeschool world.

More Homeschooling Multiple Ages Tips

NUTS AND BOLTS OF HOMESCHOOLING MULTIPLE AGED CHILDREN

One of the most common mistakes or misunderstandings about teaching multiple grades is that all your kids sit down together in front of you and you teach them at the same time. 

That is not true.

While it’s easier to do this when they are young, it gets harder to do as they get older.

In short, one huge tip to teaching multiple grades is to remember that you are teaching multiple lesson plans on one topic. A big difference. 

So this means you have to know when to teach together at the same time and know when to teach separately.

65 Best Teaching Tips for Embracing Homeschooling Multiple Ages

Key to teaching ONE lesson plan for multiple ages is knowing that some subjects are more essential while other subjects can be taught in a variety of ways.

Six GENERAL Tips for Homeschooling Multiple PRESCHOOL and ELEMENTARY Children

Look at the nitty-gritty tips of teaching when ALL your kids are 8 years old and younger.

  1. When teaching young children who have shorter attention spans more breaks are needed between topics. Knowing this you want to prep for several 15 to 30 minute teaching slots throughout your day.
  2. Do reading aloud first for the school day. This way you have set the tone for the teaching day.
  3. Reading aloud can be any book which covers a subject you need to teach for the day. History, science, math, literature and even books which teach grammar in a humorous way are your guides for reading. One budget saving tip is to use a book, yes even a textbook which you already have. A textbook is not my first choice because it’s tweaked to fit one age. A book which covers multiple ages is your aim.
  4. However, if you don’t have a book which covers multiple ages to teach the subject and only have textbooks aim for the book that targets the middle age of your children or your oldest children. For example, by a rule of thumb your 8 year old would be considered third grade. You want to use a second or third grade textbook.
  5. When choosing resources for your children know it’s ALWAYS easier to adjust lesson plans DOWN from a resource for younger children than up for an older child.
  6. Another sanity saving tip when working with young children is that you give one-to-one time starting with your YOUNGEST and work your way up to your OLDEST.

Now that you have some general tips for homeschooling younger children, it’s important to know that subjects fall into two types of category.

For instance, language arts and math are skill subjects.

While it’s not completely impossible to do so, it’s harder to teach those skills to multiple children using one level.

Incidentally, this is a concept that even public school teachers understand which is that even children in the same grade are all over the place skill wise.

On the other hand, content subjects like history, science, art, and many others can be taught together.

Although you want to keep the information at your children’s level, it’s not critical for them to master one concept in content subjects before moving on to another one. However, it is for skill subjects.

Children need to know the four basic operations of math before moving on to Algebra.

Another example of the important point I’m making is if a child does not learn to read and write well by the older grades, he could be at a deficit for learning.

He may be set up for struggling if enough time was not spent mastering skill subjects as his individual pace.

However, if a child did not learn the capitals of every state by fourth grade, he will not necessarily be ill-equipped in adulthood.

He would need to know how to read to look up the capitals of states.

Learning styles and learning modalities can be complex. However, tapping into the way a child prefers to learn is essential to success.

Five Specific Tips for Homeschooling Multiple PRESCHOOL and ELEMENTARY Children

Now that you understand the differences in the types of subjects, look at these specific tips for homeschooling multiple young children.

  1. After reading aloud, begin one-to-one with your preschoolers and toddlers on the lesson for the day.
  2. Start with the skill subjects first since they’re most vital at this age. If you did a literature read aloud, then work with letter recognition or sound with your group of littles.
  3. Fine motor skills can be done at this time too. Set up your learning area for painting, beading, or playdough.
  4. Bottom line is to teach all of your youngest children together. As the youngest learners they’re your true schedulers.
  5. Before you move on to the group of older kids or your next group, being READY INSTANTLY with activities is key to teaching the littles. If you have a large family, you may need a division of three groups depending on the ages.

Next, let’s move on to tips for older learners. It’s one thing for your kids to be real little and have years to teach, but it can be quite scary as your kids approach middle and high school.

For the most part, skill subjects are just as important in the older grades as they are in the younger grades.

The huge difference is in the upper grades content subjects need equal attention. That can be the rub, but I have some tips and tricks for you in a just a bit.

By the time a child is in the older grades he is reading to learn instead of learning to read. When a child is past that point of the basics of learning how to read he is ready to focus on more content subjects.

As I mentioned earlier, the general rule of thumb when working in a group is that you work with the youngest group of children first and work your way up.

In short, your older kids will get your one-to-one later or even last. This calls for an absolute clear direction for them to start their day on the topic.

Six Practical Tips for Homeschooling Multiple OLDER Children

Look at these tips for homeschooling multiple older children.

  1. After you come together to start your day with the lesson topic, then let your older kids decide what lesson to do OR even a different subject. For example, if you’re teaching a science lesson, he may want to do math instead. Allowing your older kids to make decisions like that gives them control over their learning journey. Having an order for lessons is key because you will always need to work with the youngest first. Your older kids can’t be held up for the day waiting on you.
  2. This brings me to my next tip. Let your older kids do lessons or subjects that require minimal help from you.
  3. On the other hand, if they struggle with a subject like math, I suggest they do that first when they’re freshest in the day. The key here is to use a program which teaches step by step or even visually.
  4. Let them do some of the reading or teaching to their younger siblings. It’s great training.
  5. Also, get them to help do the research on an upcoming lesson plan or topic. It’s a win-win. They learn research skills, you get help, and your older kids are diving deeper into learning. Valuable research skills and outlining are learned. They feel a useful part of your teaching team while increasing their knowledge.
  6. Finally, one more tip that I call the broccoli cheese sauce method is to combine one skill subjects which your older child may not like, maybe essays, with a content subject he does. For instance, assign writing topics based on a science passion, geography, nature, history or a Bible topic.

To summarize this section, it’s important to put all of these tips I mentioned above into a working day.

How does the day or schedule look?

Flexible Homeschool Schedule for Juggling Mixed Ages

1st
Block of Time
(could be morning)

Begin the start of your day together. Usually the morning time is the beginning of the homeschool day. Whatever time is the first to your homeschool day, the key is to start with all kids together.
Then let older kids work independently.

2nd
Block of Time
(could be afternoon)

If you have all young kids like 8 years old and younger, you need time to come back together to teach the lesson in more depth or through a hands-on idea.

Do one hands-on idea/project for all your kids.

If you have a set of older and younger kids, then only come together with the youngest set. This allows the older learners independent time.

3rd
Block of Time
(could be after school)

This time period is a flexible time. I could use this time before supper to help one of my kids who was struggling. Also, we did music and art during this time. As my kids grew older, they used it for fitness time and research time. Too, silent reading time was during this period.

As you see from the above flexible schedule, adjustments will have to be made along the way.

From PreK to high school I’ve used the method above with variations for each year.

In a nutshell, teaching multiple ages always included some part of the day being together no matter the age.

While it’s true that as each son entered high school, the time together was shorter. It wasn’t because my older children needed more time alone; it was because they learned to be independent using this method of teaching multiple ages. On the threshold of adulthood, they were already using their time wisely.

ACTIVITIES FOR MIXED AGES

Next, having a list of activities ready to choose from and which will work with a variety of ages was indispensable.

Look at some activities below which will simplify your day.

21 Ideal Activities for Juggling Mixed Ages

  • Watching Dvds.
  • Coloring. Museum quality coloring books and coloring books are not just for young kids anymore. These high quality pages are great learning aids for any age, but especially young adults.
  • A mixed age homeschool co-op.
  • Drawing and labeling. Whether your kids draw and label an animal or plant cell, it’s an activity that adjusts to each age.
  • Poetry recital. When one kid remembers one poem and recites IT, all your kids benefit.
  • Listening to an audio book can be enjoyed by all ages.
  • Growing a garden or tending plants is a wonderful family activity.
  • Discussing current events.
  • Virtual field trips.
  • Physical field trips.
  • Combining math and art.
  • Drama and plays.
  • Watching a musical.
  • Viewing a documentary.
  • Studying maps and atlases.
  • Reading together, of course.
  • Have your children prepare ONE huge lapbook together or have your kids prepare individual ones.
  • Make vocabulary cards for a game.
  • Educational board games.
  • Make character cards from a movie, documentary, or book.
  • Any life skill like sewing, baking, or cooking.

To summarize, make a list of ideas for you to have quickly available to you. Ideas will vary according to whatever topic you’re teaching.

The point is make a huge list from the resources you have on hand and of course stalk my Pinterest for ideas.

HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM FOR MULTIPLE CHILDREN

Finally, resources for homeschooling multiple children are EVERYTHING; resources can literally make or break teaching multiple ages.

Not having the perfect resources when I started, I still used what I had already purchased because I didn’t have to go out of my budget.

Further, I promised earlier that I would explain how to choose resources and how to choose one book for all ages.

Before I go on, I do want to touch on one important point which made teaching multiple ages successful through to high school for each kid.

I switched to a unit study homeschool.

It may seem harder to lesson plan, but using a unit study approach gave me ample information to feed each of my children’s learning appetite at any age.

Now, look at how to choose resources and unit study curriculum ideas for homeschooling multipe ages.

  1. Although textbooks are not my first choice, it’s what I had when I started. I encourage you to use what you have; I didn’t know the difference between living books and just books. Tip: Use the textbook from your oldest child to teach your subject. As I’ve stated before, it’s EASIER to plan down than up for your oldest learner. You can adjust lessons for younger learners when you have more than enough information to choose from for lesson plans.
  2. In addition, book series work great for multiple ages. I aim for a middle school or higher series. As an example, a few book series are The Boxcar Children, The Little House, J.R.R. Tolkien Set, and The Puffin in Bloom Collection.
  3. Also, some curriculum is easier to use with multiple ages of children than others. Here are the ones I like and have worked timelessly for me through the years: Beautiful Feet, Ellen Mchenry Games and Learning Resources, Home School in The Woods, Literary Adventures For Kids, Art History Kids, Music in Our Homeschool, Tapestry of Grace, NaturExplorers from Shining Dawn Books, Five in A Row series, Learning Language Arts Through Literature series, and All About Spelling.

In summary, it wasn’t easy to let go of the thinking that children need to be segregated by age. 

By nature we fight it because are so very aware of the fact that the educational future of our children is in our direct hands.

Now that I have three young successful adults, I can say without a doubt that this time-tested method works.

It is natural for our kids to compare themselves to each other, but it is our job to be sure we nurture them in their own unique talents.

65 Best Teaching Tips for Embracing Homeschooling Multiple Ages and Ideas You Wished You Knew Earlier. After 20+ years of homeschooling multiple children together through to high school, you'll love the HUGE LIST of tips to know from how to choose curriculum to understanding the definition.

This means separate time for the little ones so they can shine and not be overshadowed.

The one room school house is still alive and well in homeschooling today. Though it has its challenges, the rewards are well worth it.

Did you find a part here that can help you? What part do you struggle with in teaching multiple ages?

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have first grade homeschool curriculum for history and geography. Also, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Out of all the grades to begin choosing homeschool curriculum, first grade is really overwhelming.

Not from the point that it will necessarily be hard to teach, but it is the first formal grade.

You want to kick off your formal years right.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

The first of anything can be tough just because of inexperience.

Add to that the mega choices we have in homeschooling and it can be downright stressful to choose curriculum.

Starting with history and geography (because they are two of my favorite subjects) I want to give you a bit of help in sorting out the choices.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History

When starting with history for any grade and especially first grade, keep these two important things in mind.

1. Decide An Approach to History

When I first started homeschooling, studying history in chronological order made sense to me after I read The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition). I started my homeschool journey with classical roots.

I started off first grade using The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition (commonly referred to as SOTW).

Story of the World covers history in a 4 year cycle beginning with the Ancients and moving forward to Modern. You spend one year on each time period.

The teacher’s guide is helpful and necessary because you have questions and answers to help review the reader. 

History is told in a story fashion and my boys found it delightful.

Homeschool Curriculum for History

However, after schooling for a few years, I realized that because of his younger age, my middle son wasn’t retaining as much information as my oldest son had retained.

So I questioned the chronological approach and switched to a literature approach by Beautiful Feet where my son could learn history through a famous historical character.

This made a huge difference to him and helped my middle son make a meaningful connection to history.

Using living books like George Washington by the D’Aulaires or Abraham Lincoln (Bicentennial Edition) helped my son to understand some of the major players in history. Chronological order came later.

So, using Beautiful Feet is one example of living books and is a literature approach to history.

Using classical books, history comes alive through people and events and it’s not chronological.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

If you feel your background in history was lacking, there is nothing wrong with starting in chronological order and adding in living books too.

It’s taking the best of both approaches.

If you have it in your budget, there is nothing wrong with choosing one history curriculum as your spine or the essential guide you are using and another one you like to supplement with.

Now, please don’t make the mistake of doing two curriculum because that is overwhelming.

But using curriculum which fits your teaching style more and using the other one to help add other things your spine may be lacking is a good technique to keep you rounded out in your teaching.

Before you can make curriculum choices, you want to take stock of how you think best your children will learn and how much background help you need in history.

2. Determine If You Want to Tech History Using a Secular, Christian or Neutral View

The next biggie to decide is how you want to approach history.

Do you want the history of religion woven into your curriculum like Mystery of History, which too is taught in chronological order?

Or would you prefer a more neutral stand to history like The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition?

Too, another reason for choosing a program like The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition is because you may want to add your own Bible study information to it.

I didn’t need any help with a worldview and so I chose SOTW. I also used other resources which I’m going to tell you about in a minute.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Though some may argue that a secular and neutral approach in history are synonymous, it has been my experience that they are not.

In my earlier years of homeschooling I felt that you taught Bible based or used something that conflicted it and this idea is still popular among homeschoolers.

I still feel like that way somewhat but have expanded my view of what is neutral because of using so many different history curriculum.

More Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

There can be some fine differences though it is tough to tell at times until after you have finished the curriculum in full.

Then there is secular curriculum that takes a more neutral approach in that they merely introduces the idea of the big bang theory but then talks about true history like making disciples during Roman times.

The book I am talking about and is an example of a more neutral view is a book by Virgil Hillyer, A Child’s History of the World.

I skipped the first two chapters of the book because of the mention of the big bang theory which I didn’t want to introduce at this age.

A Child’s History of the World makes history come alive for this age and it has been the one book that has held each of my boy’s attention as they started first grade.

I can’t say enough good things about this book.

Looking back now, I could have easily only used A Child’s History of the World and added in my own free resources.

For hands-on learning we’ve always used Home School in the Woods products.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Look at a couple of the ones for grades K to 2.

Homeschool Geography for the Littles

It is important to mix hands-on activities with formal learning.

I enjoyed using the series by Steck Vaughn called Maps, Globes, Graphs. It was a mix of coloring, crossword puzzles and search and find clues in the workbooks along with maps.

Another super resource for grade K – 4 is Galloping the Globe, which is a unit study approach.

It it not as easy to follow along because I feel it is more like a reference but it is meaty enough for this grade level to understand about the cultural of other places.

The beauty of this resource is that it adds in things like cooking and cultural, which certainly needs to be included to help a child appreciate that geography is more than just a map, which could be boring.

Galloping the Globe would compliment a workbook approach.

My other love to have at this is Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary (Trophy Picture Books).

This is a reference book along with pictures to explain different features of geography.  A must have if I were homeschooling this grade again.

I hope this background information along with some of the things I used will keep this process fun and exciting like it should be.

Also, another one that we love for this age and that fits my idea of what teaching history and geography is Beautiful Feet curriculum that I mentioned earlier.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have 100 free unit study resources. Unit studies have a way of taking any topic from drab to fab. Grab more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies pages

They can bring life to the most seeming lifeless topic.

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

So today in sharing toddler to teen 100 free unit study resources, I hope you find something that inspires you and your kids.

A good amount of the work has been started for you already with the resources I have listed below. And no, I just couldn’t stop at 100 resources!

Free Unit Study Resources

General Information & Unit Study How-Tos

Free Unit Studies

A

B

C

Also, look at Beautiful Feet literature for some fun literature, history and geography unit studies.

Homeschool Unit Studies

D

F

Unit Studies for Multiple Ages

G

H

I

J

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

K

L

100 Unit Studies

M

N

In addition, look at the Holling C. Holling Geography Unit Study Using Living Books.

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

O

P

R

S

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

Free Unit Study Printables

T

U

V

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

W

Z

Don’t forget that I have the Ultimate Unit Study Planner. Having an eye for detail and creating many unit studies with multiple levels of kids, I know you’ll love it.

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources. I have 100 free unit study resources. Unit studies have a way of taking any topic from drab to fab. Grab more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies pages. They can bring life to the most seeming lifeless topic. So today in sharing toddler to teen 100 free unit study resources, I hope you find something that inspires you and your kids.
  • This is a DIY printable Ultimate Unit Study Planner in COLOR.
  • Undated pages, so it is a 1 Time Purchase
  • You do not pay for “Fluff” pages like calendars found freely on the internet and provided here on my blog. Only unique working forms are part of your comprehensive download.
  • Lesson Pages are divided by lower, middle and higher grades.
  • Learning Objective Forms & Assessment Forms
  • Brainstorming Maps

Feel inspired to try one or two or . . .?  You’ll be hooked!

You’ll love these other posts and tips too:

100 FREE Toddler to Teen Homeschool Unit Studies. Your kids will love these ideas and you’ll find plenty of topics to keep homeschool planning easy. CLICK HERE to grab one or two!
100 FREE Toddler to Teen Homeschool Unit Studies. Your kids will love these ideas and you’ll find plenty of topics to keep homeschool planning easy. CLICK HERE to grab one or two!
Ultimate Homeschool Unit Study Planner - Comparing Two Different Lesson Planning Pages @ Tinas Dynamic Homeschool Plus


This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

Toddler to Teen 100 Popular Free Homeschool Unit Study Resources

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have 12 pick up and go homeschool kindergarten history curriculum. Also, grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum.

Teaching history to a young child can be daunting.

And sometimes we may not have a handle on what is and isn’t important to teach in kindergarten.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

Additionally, you want to understand what pick up and go means. It can mean different things for each person.

For me it means the resource gives me in a capsule the important parts to teach.

Day-to-day lesson plans are what some families thinks of pick up and go.

With the resources I’ve listed, you’ll have a chance at both of those approaches along with others.

First, you need to determine what is the best way for you to teach history to your kindergartner.

For example, kids this age do best by hands-on learning.

That lesson was a hard one for me to learn because I felt comfortable with worksheets.

3 Ways to Make Homeschool Kindergarten History Relatable

And was comfortable thinking that completing a worksheet equated with understanding. It does not as I learned.

Worksheets do not teach anything, but they can guide you as the educator.

For instance, worksheets can condense important parts into smaller parts, and you can use them to construct a lesson plan for the day.

Or you can use the worksheet question and answers to summarize important points from the curriculum.

However, beyond choosing homeschool kindergarten history curriculum it’s more important to make history relatable to your child.

Look at these 3 ways to make history relatable to your young child.

1. Use a story telling method.

Because young kids don’t really have a significant grasp of time like the past other than the day they were born, a story is a fun and relatable way to bring history to life.

For example, Story of the World uses a reader to tell the story.

The rest of the work in the activity guides can be saved for next year when a child can write.

However, the activities can guide you how to flesh out the topic.

Too, living books are some of the best stories.

The Geronimo Stilton series of books is about a scaredy mouse Geronimo who goes on many adventures through history.

He’s a timid single guy afraid of new adventures yet finds himself reluctantly traveling the globe with his friends and family solving mysteries and completing research for his next big story.

They bring history to life without too many details which can be distracting to young learners.

2. Do Hands-on Activities.

This next point is hard for new parents to accept. It was for me.

I didn’t have enough experience to know that hands-on activities makes learning stick.

True I was quite judgmental thinking crafts was fluff learning.

But when you know better you do better. My kids showed me the way.

When we did hands-on activities, points in history stuck.

Also, we would do coloring, lapbooks, and use these hands-on lap packs.

Next, is one of the most important ways although I didn’t fully appreciate it in the beginning.

3. Through play learning.

Play is how children use their imagination to connect information.

Simply, children are learning about the world around them when they engage in play.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

Use a diorama like Rocky Mountains Oregon Trail Fun Large Diorama Craft for Kids to teach kids about the early pioneers, learn about Daniel Boone through creating an edible cabin, and learn the difference between myth and true happenings by making the lost city of Atlantis diorama.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

More Kindergarten Homeschool Resources

Finally, look at some resources for teaching kindergarten homeschool history.

12 Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

12 History Curriculum for Kindergarten

You can get as much help as you need or as little with these resources. Sometimes we want lesson plans laid out and other times we want just a framework.

Story of the World

Available in paperback, this four-volume narrative world history tells the story of the entire globe, from the earliest nomadic humans all the way to the Persian Gulf war at the end of the twentieth century. It now includes the Revised Edition of Volume 4. Told in an entertaining, engaging style, The Story of the World uses the stories of women and men, countries and empires, rebels and rulers, peasants and presidents, to walk young readers through a continuous, chronological account of human events.

A Child's First Book of American History

This is America! And this is its glowing, epic story, from the days of the Viking expeditions to the birth of the Atomic age. Here are the explorers, the Indians, the settlers and fur trappers, the soldiers, the statesmen, the men and women who have shaped our country and its destiny. It is a continuous take of adventure, of wars, of industry and invention, of hardship and growth; it is an unparalleled tale of courage, high ideals, hard work--and a precious thing called Freedom.

Photo Credit: www.bfbooks.com

Teacher Guide Around the World Part 1 - Homeschool Teacher's Guide

AROUND THE WORLD WITH PICTURE BOOKS PACK PART 2
Photo Credit: www.bfbooks.com

Early American History K-3rd - Homeschooling History Curriculum

Sure to ignite curiosity about our nation's history, this Early American History Through Literature study will take you and your K-3 homeschooling students through the first Indigenous people of the Americas, the Vikings discovery of America, the exploration, colonization, settlement, and establishment of the United States

Social Studies, New Edition - Grade K5

A simple and fun introduction to American history.

Photo Credit: store.homeschoolinthewoods.com

Hands-on History Lap-Paks

Each Lap-Pak contains projects on a topic for one complete lap book, as well as a text booklet, making this a complete topic study.

History Pockets: Native Americans, Grades 1-3

Bring history alive as students explore the fascinating past by making the interactive projects in History Pockets. Students store the projects in easy-to-make construction paper pockets
that are wonderful portfolios for assessment and display!

What's Inside History Pockets-Native Americans, Grades 1–3, contains nine memorable discovery pockets. The introduction pocket gives an overview of the tribes in North America that are featured. The other pockets focus on food, clothing, shelter, and family life of eight Native American tribes.

Who Was? and What Is? America Collection Boxed Set 25 books

Explore short biographies of historical figures so you can read aloud or if your child is already a fluent reader, he will short these engaging storeis about people and events.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition Coloring Book (Dover American History Coloring Books)

On April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Agreement between France and the United States was formally signed. President Thomas Jefferson paid the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte approximately 18 cents per square mile for a vast wilderness territory (more than 825,000 square miles) stretching from New Orleans to the Canadian border and west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The Purchase effectively doubled the size of the young United States.

180 Days of Social Studies: Grade K

Supplement your social studies curriculum with 180 days of daily practice! This essential classroom resource provides teachers with weekly social studies units that build students' content-area iteracy, and are easy to incorporate into the classroom. Students will analyze primary sources, answer text-dependent questions, and improve their grade-level social studies knowledge.

My Story K: My Family My Life

This is a unique kindergarten social studies course, introducing you to family and culture, what it is to be a good citizen, basic geography, and basic economics.

History Quest Study Guide Early Times Pre-History to 8th Century CE

History Quest Study Guide contains everything you need for a full year’s history curriculum for elementary-age children. Each weekly unit takes a chapter of History Quest: Early Times, the narrative history series, and turns it into a robust unit study with a week’s worth of engaging activities. Your student will gain a broad and deep understanding of early civilizations through readings, geography activities, discussions, writing assignments, coloring pages, crafts, and more. Also included throughout the curriculum are four weeks of warm and cozy ancient literature study, where parents and students snuggle up together to enjoy time-honored tales from four ancient civilizations across the world.

A Homeschooler’s Quick and Painless Introduction To Learning Styles

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I have a quick introduction to learning styles. And grab my other tips I have on my page homeschool learning styles.

Also, it’s not necessary to be concerned about educationalese so learning about homeschool learning styles should be painless.

It’s not necessary to understand all the jargon of learning styles like I tried to do.

A Homeschooler’s Quick and Painless Introduction To Learning Styles

Too, I want you to know why it’s important to understand this brief introduction to homeschool learning styles prior to choosing curriculum.

Additionally, I want you to understand these 3 things.

  • you need to understand your child’s weaknesses and strengths.
  • that you should tailor curriculum to meet your child’s learning personality and
  • the more you educate yourself and your child the better you’re equipped to meet his needs.

Introduction to Learning Styles

First, it’s important to success as homeschool educators to understand our children and ourselves.

For example, as parents we know from the time our children are born, they have a definite personality.

In addition, we have pre-set ideas of how to raise them.

However, their personality and our ideas of how to homeschool can collide.

So, you need to understand your child’s weakness and strengths so you can best know how to homeschool him.

Better yet you want your child to excel in life as well.

What is a Learning Style

Although some scientific studies want to complicate the simple, here is my simple definition.

A learning style is the way a person prefers to learn. It goes beyond visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. It involves the way a person feels, senses, and thinks about certain topics. Also, it is a preferred way to interact with new information and it involves their personality. And to accept the differences in people and understand there is no reason to change a person because differences are a good thing.

The reason so many educators can be overwhelmed is that they try to make it science to understand how the brain works.

While it’s true that studying the brain is vital and it is science, it’s equally important to know that we will never know all that affects our brain, emotions, and personality.

Key to moving forward in teaching children is accepting their personality and understanding that they we should not try to change them.

We only see what children can do and how they interact and will never be able to know everything about the brain.

True, we want to nurture them and pass on what we know.

However, that is much different than changing something about somebody that we have no control over. If a child is born with black hair, then it’s black.

As absurd as it is, we don’t insist we have a child who is blonde headed even if he or she dyed their hair.

We’re born with certain traits which can’t be changed no matter how much we may hide them.

Why should we tailor our curriculum to meet our child’s needs?

Next, another point to know is that tailor curriculum to a child’s learning style is not coddling them.

Just as you have a preferred teaching style your child has a preferred way to learn.

Each of your children began to walk and talk at different times, not the exact same day.

So, when our curriculum is varied it means we accept and recognize differences.

And you recognize that just because one math program works for one child it doesn’t mean it will for the next child.

Again, this is because there are differences in our learning personality that need to be recognized.

When a child loses self-confidence or thinks he is weird because he doesn’t comprehend our teaching method then the curriculum is counterproductive.

We simply cannot expect each of our children to be the same and this is because they each have different learning personalities.

Why Your Child’s Learning Personality is Important

Because teaching styles are only part of choosing curriculum easily, I’ve included a link to my online course Identifying Your Homeschooled Childs Learning Personality.

How to Determine the Best Learning Style Approach for Your Child? Determining the best learning style approach is much easier when you know about homeschool learning styles. A learning style is not something I thought about when I started homeschooling or even when my kids were struggling. However, had I taken time to learn what is the best learning style for each of my children, I would have saved myself unnecessary stress.

YOU WILL LEARN:

  • How to understand the way your child prefers to learn so that you can teach him in a way that he enjoys learning;
  • How to pinpoint your child’s learning personality;
  • A starting point in understanding (barring any special learning challenges or disabilities) and accepting your child’s preferred way of taking in information;
  • Understanding when the learning personality emerges; and
  • Teaching tips for each learning personality to stop the head-butting.

Moreover, look at the resources to help you understanding learning styles.

Homeschool Learning Style and Personality Book Helps and How to of Homeschooling

Arming yourself with more information as to how children learn and how to teach them best should be part of every homeschool library.

Our goal in homeschooling is to be the best teacher and learn how OUR kids learn best and not every child or grade level.

31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don't Know Where to Begin

Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! 

How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and On to Learning

Carol Barnier knew that her son -- more likely to be sitting on the table (or the refrigerator) than in his chair -- was worthy of high expectations. She also knew that he could easily miss achieving them if she didn't find the right key to unlock his capacity to learn. Carol found volumes of information on how to recognize the challenges in ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) children, how to manage them, how to discipline them, and how to accept them. But no one told her how to teach her son math tomorrow. In her search for solutions, she developed techniques that are not only fun for all children, but highly successful with any child who struggles with focus.

The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles: A Fresh and Demystifying Approach

All children want to learn, but so often we give students a key to unlock their understanding of a new concept only to discover that it was the wrong key. The question then becomes, WHAT NOW? Carol Barnier delivers a fresh and demystifying approach to learning styles. You'll find answers and so much more. You, the newly energized "Keeper of the Keys," will now have access to the following ideas that will help you find the right key to unlock a love of learning in your K-12th grade child:

More Homeschool Learning Style Resources

A Homeschooler’s Quick and Painless Introduction To Learning Styles

Your children are so much more capable of learning than we sometimes give them credit for. Understanding their learning personality unlocks the power of learning.