2, and newborn. Number 1 and number 10
are girls, and the rest are boys. We have a
very unique family, not just because we
have eleven kids but also because of how
close in age our kids are. This has created
many unique challenges for us.
The question I receive the most,
second, of course, to “Are all these kids
yours?” is “How do you homeschool with
so many kids?” In fact, I am a very organized person, although I do know some
large families who are not as structured as
we are, and that works for them. I think
structure is important for us because of the
number of preschoolers we have.
A book I highly recommend on this topic
is Managers of Their Homes, by Steven and
Teri Maxwell. Our daily school schedule is
broken up into thirty-minute segments.
Every member of the family, excluding Dad
(who is at work and has his own schedule),
knows what he or she is to be doing at all
times. There are times for each subject in
school, staggered throughout the day, so I can
be with any child who needs me. There also
are times when each older child is in charge
Our chore chart, which goes along with
our daily schedule, has been a wonderful
tool that has helped us keep our house in
order. Every older child has a “
jurisdiction” to keep clean. During the week, he or
she must keep it picked up. On Fridays,
there is also a list of weekly cleaning jobs
to do within each jurisdiction, and on the
last Friday of the month, the children must
do their monthly cleaning jobs, which is
the heavier duty cleaning. This system will
really be great when all the kids are old
enough to help.
Another tool that has helped us is doing
lesson plans for the year. I prepare two
hundred lessons a year per child. Each
child follows his lessons in consecutive
order. If a child has to miss a day or two, he
just picks up when he can, where he left
off. Each child can be working on a
different day’s assignment (i.e. Day 14,
Day 15, Day 26). It does not matter that
they all may be working on a different
day’s assignment on any given day during
the year. Each child does the lessons for
The whole family: (back row) Hayden and Benjamin;
(middle row) Hunter holding Kolton, Tanner, Victoria
holding Makenna; (bottom row) Dalton, Christian,
Braden, and Aaron, August 2008
When God did bless us with these children, He
also entrusted us to protect them and to train
them, and above all, to teach them
about Him.
of one or more of the little ones or is asked to
read with the 6-year-old or to do laundry duty
or to carry out other chores.
Of course, quiet time and free time also
are built into the schedule. There is even a
time when I am just with the baby or have
time to read with the quads. It took me
many hours to come up with this schedule,
and admittedly, we never stick to it
perfectly. After all, life happens. We, of all
people, must be flexible. Nevertheless,
when we use the schedule versus not use a
schedule, more school gets done, the house
is kept in order, laundry stays caught up,
and no child is ever left without attention
or things to do. This protects the whole
family from stress.
whatever day he is on until he completes
the two hundred days for the year. This
initially requires a huge amount of work on
my part, but once it is done, it’s done for
the whole school year. Homeschooling is
definitely something that has caused me to
tap into my creativity, my resourcefulness,
and above all, my flexibility. One has to be
willing to try new things and abandon
things that don’t work. Every year is
different, and every child is different, but
that is part of the joy of it all as well. There
is nothing as rewarding as seeing your children develop before your eyes academically, and more importantly, spiritually.
Many people view such a large family
who chooses to homeschool as weird, but we
know children are a blessing from the Lord.
When God did bless us with these children, He also entrusted us to protect them
and to train them, and above all, to teach
them about Him. In a world with an obvious
departure from moral values (especially the
family unit, which God established in His
Word), we are proud to have our “
quiverful.” We are proud to be Christians and
proud to be called homeschoolers. We are
i ndeed blessed beyond measure.
Karla and her husband, Bill, live in
Richardson, Texas, where they homeschool
their eleven children: Victoria, Benjamin,
Hunter, Hayden, Tanner, Aaron, Braden,
Christian, Dalton, Makenna, and Kolton.
They have been homeschooling for ten years.
You may contact Karla at momof9b2g@att.net.
