Layering Lessons Part 2

Homeschooling multiple grades can be done by layering lessons.

I realized I forgot something important on my last Layering Lessons post. I didn’t tell you how I needed a homeschool prep that was simpler, so I ditched the math books to do my own thing.

One option I thought of was to get one math book, probably for the oldest student, to use it as a guide for lessons, and then use worksheets from online for the younger ones. The other idea I had was to find a book that showed what all the kids needed to learn for math each year and do worksheets for everyone. That’s the idea I went with.

Find a source for math subjects, get some worksheets.

There are so many choices for worksheets online. You could probably pick a site that has worksheet organized by grade levels and just skip the books all together. I haven’t used enough sites to tell you which ones are better or worse, but there are a couple I use pretty often. I’ll get more into that in a minute. 

There are also books of math worksheets. The ones we used this year are from IXL. These make the search for worksheets a little easier. 

I’m gonna walk you through how I plan and carry out a layered math lesson for homeschooling multiple grades.

First I get out my handy dandy copy of “Home Learning Year by Year.” It’s not the most recent homeschooling book, but it suits my purposes beautifully. The book is organized by grade level, which makes it easy to look for the levels my current students are on.

Let’s say I want to teach a geometry lesson for my 8th grader, 5th grader, and my 2 younger boys who are both at 3rd grade level. I go to the “Grade 5” chapter, find Mathematics section, and the Geometry heading. The first standard it lists there says “Recognize and identify common polygons and polyhedrons” and has a little more detail. For my own reference, I’ll write down the standard and the page number in case I need to find it again.

Next I find the “Grade 8” chapter. This Mathematics section is more vague but mentions some good sources for Pre-Algebra. It does say, “Know the basic properties of geometry,” with details of what that should include. I’ll just use one or two details to focus on for this lesson.

Then I’ll jump over to “Grade 3” to find a related geometry standard there; “Recognize and identify basic and more complex two-dimensional figures.”

Then I get online to find some worksheets that go with those standards.

There are 2 worksheet websites that I use the most for our homeschool. One is called Math Worksheets. I use this one almost weekly and really like their options for math worksheets. K5 Learning is another site I use often. This one also has worksheets on several subjects besides math.

Get some fun math manipulatives and start teaching. 

Once I’ve selected and printed my worksheets, I think about how I want to teach these lessons in an interesting way. I might get out the geoboards and rubber bands, or find shape manipulatives.

Now it’s time to do the teaching part of homeschooling multiple grades. When the kids come in, we talk about shapes, making sure to include the standards for those grade levels, starting with the lowest. Once I’ve taught the younger ones, I give them the manipulatives to practice with, and continue teaching the older ones. Those older ones will get a mix of manipulatives and notes to copy.

Then we pull out those worksheets and stick them into dry erase pockets, which we call practice pockets. I watch while they work to make sure they know what they’re doing, check it when they’re done, and help them fix any mistakes. Then they erase it and can use the same worksheet to practice all week.

Something I love about using the practice pockets is that I can save the worksheets for a few weeks and use them later for review and testing.

That is how to go about homeschooling multiple grades. Of course I’ve left out the details of the 4 and 1 years old asking for snacks, throwing toys, tramping mud in the house, or fussing and crying because they want my attention. That does make math lessons and all of homeschool a little more difficult. Ok, a lot more! On the best days the 1 year old sits on the table in the middle of it all and lines up the markers, and the 4 year old does his 10 minutes of practice and then pulls out some learning toys and makes a mess on the table. It’s never boring!

If you any other ideas or favorite worksheet sites, share them in the comments below.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you’re enjoying your adventure.

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