Homeschool or Homework: Simple Sanity Saver

Yesterday I was featured at Parent Hacks. They liked my post, How to Motivate Your Kids Using Rocks, enough to blog about it and send hundreds of readers my way. If you've never been there, Parent Hacks is a site that posts parenting tips from the real experts -- ordinary parents like you. They post tips that make you want to smack yourself in the head and ask, "Why didn't I think of that?"

While I'll probably never top that post about how I reward my kids by giving them rocks, here's a little idea that has saved my sanity while homeschooling multiple kids.  It would work for supervising homework as well.

When I started homeschooling four kids, I realized pretty quickly that having someone constantly calling my name was going to be the death of me.  About the time I'd settle into teaching one child's math lesson, another child would yell a question from the other room.  Constantly interrupted, I couldn't teach effectively.  And I felt like I was being pecked to death by chickens.

Since we don't have a dedicated school room, we spread out and "do school" all over the house, meaning I couldn't ask them to raise their hands because I might never see their raised hands.    So, I invented the question card.  Each child has one.  I even laminated them so they'd hold up to long term use and put magnets on the backs so they could live on the fridge.

Now, whenever a child has a question during our homeschool day, he quietly brings me his question card.  If I'm working with another child, the child with the question simply hands me his card and goes back to his seat.  Hands it to me - not waves it frantically two inches from my nose.  Hands it to me and leaves -- without a word.  When I get to a stopping point, I look at the name on the card, go to that child and address his question.

It's been a sanity saver.  Parent Hacks would be proud!

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