"It's All Done With Mirrors!"
© Joan Archer
Okay, so maybe this is a worst-case scenario in the multi-generational homeschool, (I've heard worse horror stories!) but multi-generational homeschooling is considered one of the more complicated aspects of homeschooling. In our case, we did not start out being a multi-generational homeschool. I was homeschooling Jasper, when Isaac began floundering in Middle School. He did not do even enough work to pass seventh grade, and the school system refused to hold him back. We tried eighth for a while, but when it became apparent that he was in over his head, we decided to homeschool him, also. I was not entirely enthusiastic about this decision, because earlier attempts I made to teach Isaac were disastrous. He and I are dear companions, described as being "joined at the hip" but he has always resented my attempts to teach him anything. He had to beg before I finally consented to homeschool him. He's under contract to me to be a good student, and so far, it has worked out very well.
I think teaching the multi-generational, multi-talented, multi-tempered student body is the thing that keeps most homeschool parents from going on after their children are grown and getting their own degree in teaching. This experience gives us a healthy respect for what school teachers go through on a daily basis, but what also solidifies our committment to home teaching. We realize that one person at the front of a classroom cannot possibly be expected to discipline, educate and plain-old pay enough personal attention to a room filled with twenty or more children to do even an adequate job.
So, then, what do you do when you have a whole house full of kids and you have an agenda to get through? Lesson plans must be kept, especially when your minor irritants (no, really-I love my kids!) are not temporary. A standard joke told among homeschoolers is to throw 49 pennies out of the window and tell the little ones they can come back in the house when they've found all fifty! Of course, you have to find something else to amuse them when the weather is bad. After you've amused the little kids, what do you do with the older ones who might not be interested in studying identical subjects, or they are into the same subjects, just not on the same level? This is where the art and skill of teaching melds with pure imagination.
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