Mixing It Up

One of the big benefits of homeschooling is that the kids are in mixed-age groups. Within our household, everyone was a different age. Even adding a few kids of the same age (Camille being a mere day younger than Mindy, for example) didn't dilute the fact that the kids learned a bit more about patience and kindness from being in a mix of ages. And when it comes to kids “showing” what they can do, or trying new stuff, or learning-through-watching—having multiple ages as well as multiple interests and strengths is a big benefit.

Mindy was almost always one of the oldest kids in the group, even in our large homeschool group, because we started the group with our five-year-olds and their younger siblings. But even Mindy was often exposed to older learners, because we adults tend to learn a lot while homeschooling (especially unschooling). Whether we were touring a newspaper publishing plant, doing combustion experiments, or reading a historical novel set in Ancient Egypt, we parents learned along with the kids!