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Original poster

3 kids under 4

53 replies

CelticFay · 09/03/2023 16:33

Hi, I'm a homeschooling mom to a 2.5 year old boy and a 15 month old daughter and I'm currently 11 weeks pregnant. When my third baby will be born my other 2 kids will be 3y and 22 months. I'm a homemaker and I intend to homeschool my children which means I won't have time out by sending them to childcare/schools and I don't have much support to help me, my husband works full time. I'm happy my kids will have short age gaps so that they can grow up together in similar developmental stages but I'm starting to feel the vertigo of what's to come. Any tips from other moms who have gone through something similar? I'm also expected to tend to all domestic chores and at this rate I feel I need a clone to get anything done 😂

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
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TinyTeacher · 10/03/2023 19:13

Oh, and i didnt quite have 3 under 4, my eldest was 4 and 1 month. She would have been at preschool, but because of lockdown she was at home for most of that year. It was a very difficult juggling act, and you definitely have to accept a certain amount of mess and chaos! I suppose at least i knew nobody would be visiting! 😑

Jmaho · 10/03/2023 19:17

Are you in the UK? My eldest two are 13 and 11 and I can assure you that Algebra is very much still on the curriculum

Original poster
CelticFay · 10/03/2023 19:24

Marchforward · 10/03/2023 14:16

SATS at 16. I’m assuming you’re not in the UK?

My mistake, I'm not originally from the UK and I got the exams mixed up. What I meant is that they will take their GCSEs at 16.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

1 year olds 1st trimester 2 year olds Behaviour & development
LadyJ2023 · 10/03/2023 19:35

We have 3 under 2 lol just get on with it and lucky to have a very supportive hubby aswell and our teen is homeschooled also

LadyJ2023 · 10/03/2023 19:39

And btw great job interacting with your kids, just read that bit. Our twins just over 1 can identify and speak alot of words and colours now and Our 2 he is a lil brain box. But I also spend time doing stuff with them aswell as also considering home teaching like we do for our teen. They learn a lot more in a much shorter time and then have extra time to do other activities. Our 13 just had his yearly check up from the schooling authority and they've said he is way ahead of the school past gcse level already so I'm chuffed with that.message if you feel like a chat 🙂

PennyRa · 10/03/2023 19:51

TinyTeacher · 10/03/2023 19:10

OP, I believe there is a homeschooling board. You may find you get more useful guidance there.

I don't homeschool, I'm a teacher. I have taught a reasonable number of pupils who were homeschooled until either 12 or 16. My experience is that homeschooling up to age 11/12 can be done well (IF thought through carefully! That's a bit if), but up to age 16 means there are some practical skills they 're likely to miss out on - I'm a science teacher and the ones that try to do science a levels after homeschooling REALLY struggle with practical work as they just aren't at all familiar with the equipment.

For those leaping on OP about what her 2 year old can do, it's not at all unbelievable! My eldest was a fluent reader at 3, because that was her priority, she loved it. My toddlers know their times tables because toddlers are little sponges and they listen to her practising. They can read short words too. It's not that unusual. Young children are prone to obsessions and sometimes these tend towards the academic, especially if that's the sort of thing they are exposed to.

Not me reading this while prepping the chemistry equipment for the experiments we are going to do tomorrow that is better than they have at the local highschools 😂

RampantIvy · 10/03/2023 20:10

CelticFay · 10/03/2023 19:24

My mistake, I'm not originally from the UK and I got the exams mixed up. What I meant is that they will take their GCSEs at 16.

Show quote history

I apologise for my comments, but rest assured that children are set for maths in secondary school, and the curriculum is the same for every school. They can't just drop a topic because the children don't like it. And yes, they do algebra.

miawallacesfeet · 10/03/2023 20:12

CelticFay · 10/03/2023 09:02

When I say I'm a homeschooling mom I mean I intend to homeschool my kids for their primary and secondary education, up until the age of 16, by then they'll take their SATs and choose what to do with their lives. The reasons why I do this is because I don't want my kids to be slowed down by following the minimum common denominator in their classroom and I don't like it that schools are removing parts of their curriculum like algebra because "other kids find it too hard". Both my 2 year old and my 15 month old are homeschooled through playtime. My 2 year old knows the alphabet both in upper and lower case, can spell written words, can count to 20 and knows the symbols that represent each number, shapes including polygons, colours,... He even surprised me the other day when he saw the number 26 and he told me "two and six is eight". I really think he could learn how to read, add and subtract in the following 2 years. My daughter knows her body parts and farm animal noises, I'm teaching her the colours now and she can partially sing the ABC song. Homeschooling only takes maximum 1h of their day.

Jesus fuck.

Shahira78 · 10/03/2023 20:21

By the time your kids get a bit older, you may want to change your mind. Trust me on this! I used to think like you, now I just laugh at how utterly naive I was!!

Shahira78 · 10/03/2023 20:23

And I am a qualified teacher!

Stellaris22 · 10/03/2023 20:29

I'm also expected to tend to all domestic chores

Are you sure this is your choice OP?

DeadbeatYoda · 10/03/2023 20:31

I had 3 children under 4 and was also a SAHM. My DC's are 18, 16 & 14 now. Sorry to say but you sound extremely naive. You will not be doing your children any favours by suffocating them in this way. They need to develop socially, they need time away from the apron strings. You may think that you can do the job of specialist subject teachers better than they can but I'm betting you really can't.
There are lots of free schools / alternative provision if you don't like standard mainstream schools but you will be doing your children a huge disservice by cutting them off in this way.

sparkle1011 · 10/03/2023 21:16

LemonInaMug · 10/03/2023 13:45

Is this some sort of joke????

I thought the same

sparkle1011 · 10/03/2023 21:17

GreenCup · 10/03/2023 15:42

I don't know what part of the OP's post everyone is struggling with here tbh. She's been quite clear. I also don't see what would make anyone think it's 'fake'.

It might not be your (or my) way of raising/educating kids, but everyone's different.

Wow 😯

PennyRa · 10/03/2023 21:24

Shahira78 · 10/03/2023 20:21

By the time your kids get a bit older, you may want to change your mind. Trust me on this! I used to think like you, now I just laugh at how utterly naive I was!!

Just because you failed doesn't mean OP will

MrNook · 10/03/2023 21:56

My daughter knows her body parts and farm animal noises, I'm teaching her the colours now and she can partially sing the ABC song. Homeschooling only takes maximum 1h of their day.

Isn't that just.. raising a toddler rather than "homeschooling"? They learn songs and body parts and animal noises from the songs you sing together and books you read

FriedasCarLoad · 10/03/2023 22:10

Mine are 4, 2 and newborn, and I also plan to home educate.

I'd strongly suggest joining some home ed groups on Facebook (even if that's the only reason you go on FB). You'll get better targeted and more specific advice, without the risk of unwanted criticism from people who don't understand home ed.

Saracen · 10/03/2023 22:58

FriedasCarLoad · 10/03/2023 22:10

Mine are 4, 2 and newborn, and I also plan to home educate.

I'd strongly suggest joining some home ed groups on Facebook (even if that's the only reason you go on FB). You'll get better targeted and more specific advice, without the risk of unwanted criticism from people who don't understand home ed.

I agree: you'll get more useful input in a home ed forum. Home education is one of those topics which everybody and their dog imagine they understand. The idea that kids will be socially isolated and the notion that parents have to be subject specialists in order to home ed at secondary are common misconceptions.

My two are now 23 and 16. Obviously with that big age gap, I have no useful tips on getting through the early years with several small children. But I've seen many home educating parents in similar circumstances who make a success of it, and there's no reason to suppose you won't! It gets easier as they get older, not harder, so if you are getting by okay now then you'll be fine in the long run.

TinyTeacher · 11/03/2023 10:31

@PennyRa good for you! Have mostly found the home-ed kids were verygood on theory/exams but pparents didnt have the equipment for them to practice things like distillation so they really struggled with A Level practical s.

Lcb123 · 11/03/2023 10:59

Surely this a joke post.

Lcb123 · 11/03/2023 11:00

“I'm also expected to tend to all domestic chores”

a thousand percent your choice

PennyRa · 11/03/2023 11:42

TinyTeacher · 11/03/2023 10:31

@PennyRa good for you! Have mostly found the home-ed kids were verygood on theory/exams but pparents didnt have the equipment for them to practice things like distillation so they really struggled with A Level practical s.

Maybe a generation ago it would have been difficult to facilitate but these days it's so easy and readily available

RedToothBrush · 11/03/2023 11:43

MrNook · 10/03/2023 21:56

My daughter knows her body parts and farm animal noises, I'm teaching her the colours now and she can partially sing the ABC song. Homeschooling only takes maximum 1h of their day.

Isn't that just.. raising a toddler rather than "homeschooling"? They learn songs and body parts and animal noises from the songs you sing together and books you read

When parenting a toddler becomes homeschooling because adult is performance parenting on the internet.

I thought the same thing.

I love how a fear of algebra being removed from the curriculum means that school is now unsuitable rather than deciding to do this parenting thing and deciding to teach your kid things you want them to know but might not be on the curriculum.

Instead of trying the schooling system in the UK (which the OP helpfully admits she doesn't fully understand by mistaking SATS for GCSE), she's already decided that her kids are child geniuses who won't gain anything from socialising and learning British cultural reference points and knowledge which she might not know. Thus keeping her kids in this non integrated bubble and making it harder for them socially in the long run. It's USEFUL to learn to interact with kids who might be 'a little bit thick' because you are always going to come across them in life and it's a skill to communicate complex ideas in a simply way to make them accessible to all. Noting that these child geniuses in life are generally the ones who need to develop these type of skills most of all because they can be held back in life because of these lack of skills.

Again the child genius thing at 2years old isn't about the kid it's about performance parenting

Parents who decide that their kids are their pet vanity projects, rather than teaching them be well rounded individuals, with space to develop their own identities and teaching them independence are doing their kids a massive disservice. It's insanely controlling.

Homeschooling is fine if it's in the best interests of the kid. There's nothing here that says that. All I'm seeing is an adult who sounds like they are about to insta/ tiktok their homeschooling journey to demonstrate their own ego.

The whole parenting / homeschooling word issue smacks of it being an adult lifestyle choice . It sounds like nutty American puritanical drivel, in quasi religious fashion.

I think that actually does a lot of homeschoolers a massive disservice.

TinyTeacher · 11/03/2023 14:37

@PennyRa may I ask what sort of thing you do for this sort of thing? When we have homeschooled children joining at sixth form sometimes the parents ask what they could/should do I'd love to be able to recommend a way for them to be on top of practical skills.

PennyRa · 11/03/2023 14:37

RedToothBrush · 11/03/2023 11:43

When parenting a toddler becomes homeschooling because adult is performance parenting on the internet.

I thought the same thing.

I love how a fear of algebra being removed from the curriculum means that school is now unsuitable rather than deciding to do this parenting thing and deciding to teach your kid things you want them to know but might not be on the curriculum.

Instead of trying the schooling system in the UK (which the OP helpfully admits she doesn't fully understand by mistaking SATS for GCSE), she's already decided that her kids are child geniuses who won't gain anything from socialising and learning British cultural reference points and knowledge which she might not know. Thus keeping her kids in this non integrated bubble and making it harder for them socially in the long run. It's USEFUL to learn to interact with kids who might be 'a little bit thick' because you are always going to come across them in life and it's a skill to communicate complex ideas in a simply way to make them accessible to all. Noting that these child geniuses in life are generally the ones who need to develop these type of skills most of all because they can be held back in life because of these lack of skills.

Again the child genius thing at 2years old isn't about the kid it's about performance parenting

Parents who decide that their kids are their pet vanity projects, rather than teaching them be well rounded individuals, with space to develop their own identities and teaching them independence are doing their kids a massive disservice. It's insanely controlling.

Homeschooling is fine if it's in the best interests of the kid. There's nothing here that says that. All I'm seeing is an adult who sounds like they are about to insta/ tiktok their homeschooling journey to demonstrate their own ego.

The whole parenting / homeschooling word issue smacks of it being an adult lifestyle choice . It sounds like nutty American puritanical drivel, in quasi religious fashion.

I think that actually does a lot of homeschoolers a massive disservice.

Show quote history

You clearly know nothing about homeschool communities 🤦