Homeschooling with Toddler Twins (or: lifestyles of the overwhelmed)
Let’s talk a bit about homeschooling with twins underfoot, shall we? (That was your cue to start breathing into a paper bag.)
(Of course, if you have toddler twins, you already are breathing into a paper bag.)
So… um… this is really hard.
I mean reallyreallyreally hard.
I’ll be completely honest here and tell you that there are many days when I wonder if homeschooling well with twin toddlers underfoot is actually possible.
I am cranky and therefore refuse to quote Philippians 4:13 in this post, so instead I will tell you that this past year, my seemingly never-ending optimism has been severely tried.
Recently, I wrote just a little about how overwhelming I’m finding homeschooling with twins to be.
It’s the everlasting plight of the idealist that reality never matches the vision inside her head, sure, but scrap the beatific visions- my idealist self curled up and went to sleep in the corner about two years ago.
This is just blasted hard, that’s all there is to it.
After that post went up, one of my fellow twin-mama readers sent an email, “I can only read aloud when they are sleeping,” she wrote, “If they are awake, they each bring a book and demand to sit on my lap, and then shove each other and yell about their books, which means it’s too chaotic to read for anybody else. We can’t pray either – they fight over the hymnal, or my lap, or they sit on the big kids’ laps and distract them. It’s all hysterically funny and tragically frustrating at the same time.”
And that is, exactly! It IS hysterically funny. We laugh all day around here- the toddlers’ antics are endlessly amusing.
But it’s also tragically frustrating in that sense of looking up to heaven and thinking, “I think this might be impossible. Actually, I’m fairly certain that this is impossible.”
There are tears too, and plenty of them. But it’s not because I’m ungrateful.
Far from it, I know these babes are God’s grace wrapped up in pinky flesh. And in the moments that I’m awe-struck by what God has seen fit to do in our family, the overwhelmed part of me fades just a little.
But only a little.
I have this compulsive thing I do…
I ask moms who are further down the road for their perspective. If there’s one thing I know for certain about motherhood, it’s this: all I can see right now is trees.
Trees, trees, trees- everywhere I look. You can tell me there’s a forest, but I’m just taking that on faith, because I sure as heck can’t see it.
Someone just a few steps further down the road has perspective that I can only dream of. I know this.
It’s why I never ignore a wiser, more experienced mama when she tells me what her biggest wins or greatest regrets are.
It’s why when a woman reminisces on her homeschooling years, my ears perk up and I shut out the rest of the world to hear what she has to say.
So when Angela (mama of eight and a homeschooling mom and blogger I have long admired) popped into the comment box of that post, I dropped what I was doing and paid close attention. This is what she said:
Honestly, I look back on myself as a younger mom, when I had so many little ones all at once and the twins were little, and I wonder what I was thinking. I had such unrealistic expectations of what I ought to get done every day, when so much of my energy went to taking care of a baby and making sure the twins didn’t destroy the house or themselves.
I wish I had stopped stressing about it so much and just accepted that it was hard and that was okay, our homeschool was never going to look like the homeschools I read about on blogs.
I guess some of the pictures I shared from that time looked impressive, but trust me — sometimes what I put on my blog was the only thing we did that day. And of course you couldn’t see the rest of the house, or the fact that we were eating frozen pizza for dinner – AGAIN.
Emphasis mine. There’s more goodness to that comment, so if you find yourself hungry for more of Angela’s insight, you can read the whole comment here.
So I left off reading the comments in that post and immediately hopped over to write this one.
I am buoyed up by knowing that I am not alone, and I’m betting that some of you are too.
If you’re homeschooling with baby or toddler twins, know this: it feels so hard because it IS so hard.
Hold onto those hysterically funny moments and let them carry you through the tragically frustrating ones. Kiss all four of those little cheeks and while you’re down there on your knees, send up a prayer as well. You need it. So do I.
But we’re in this together.
Thank you so much for sharing these words of wisdom! I have five girls and the youngest two are 3-year-old twins. They bring so much joy to my life, but homeschooling my older three girls has been such a challenge – lots of tears and doubts. I actually found the Read-Aloud Revival website one night when I entered “How to homeschool with twin toddlers” in a Google search. I crossed my fingers that someone had blogged about this challenge, and this blog popped up! That was one year ago, when the twins were two, and I was just re-reading it today for another dose of encouragement. These words have been such a blessing in my momma/homeschooling journey. Thank you!
Thank you for this! I needed to read it today, more than any other day!!
It has been a really hard day.
We have two and half year old twin boys, and honestly, I’m overwhelmed. They are crazy! Lol! They are nonstop, non napping, masters in opening baby locks and the most professional climbing monkies I’ve ever seen! I’m exhausted! We also have twin girls and a single girl. Life’s is hard! But when I sit down at the end of a long day., I’m so grateful for all of the silly moments! Their laughs and imaginations make it all worth the struggle. I don’t feel so bad for giving them the frozen pizza now! Or the hot dogs for the third time this week! Thank you for making it okay for me! :)
My house is in shambles and I haven’t showered, but two little boys are all cuddled up on me right now. I’m so lucky and blessed. Thank you for your words and making me see the silver lining!! You always have a way to make a mom feel better!! Thank you!
I love this. I have been blogging about the things I tried last year homeschooling with 2 year old twins. Is it ok if I link to your post?
Just found this article in your archives and it’s honey to my soul. I’m planning to home school my 5 and 4 year old boys this fall and am expecting twin boys in July. I’ve been wondering if i’m completely insane (or way too optimistic) to even attempt home schooling this year, but your post and Angela’s comment helped remind me to take a deep breath, decide what’s truly important each day and be ready to give all of us grace when my expectations need to be adjusted again.
I have this sense that we’re heading into this thick forest (of having twins) that others before me have said is both beautiful and extremely difficult – and i’m just trying to figure out if I packed enough sandwiches and band-aids for the adventure.
Thank you for the peek into your perspective. I’ve loved RAR for a long time, but I appreciate it all the more realizing you really are one of those whose ahead of me on this path and calling back with encouragement and honesty.
Thank you for this article. I have eight little ones. I’ve been homeschooling for six years, and now have five children of school age ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. Our two year old has a very inquisitive and outgoing personality which at times has made homeschooling…let’s say “interesting”. As of March we were blessed with twin boys, and these last seven weeks have been an ongoing cycle of chaos, regaining order, moments of order, chaos. :) I
love the pictures with juice all over the couch, and the vent pulled out. Children do some silly things and it nice to be reminded that mine are not an exception. God bless you. And, please say a prayer for all mothers!
I may have commented before but I’m tired and can’t remember if I did! This is good! I have 4 kids (boy almost 7, girl age 4 and twin boys age 15 months!) I’m tired and feel like I never get around to teaching. I just googled how to homeschool with twin toddlers and this post came up. Thank you for writing this encouragement!
Thank you for this. I’m so right here right now. I need help with the links though. When I click on the “one most important thing every time there’s a new baby in the house” link, and “I changed our whole summer school plan” link, they come up as page not found. I tried to search for “summerish” and “that single priority” but nothing shows up. Can you please please link me to those posts?
Oh oh how I needed this today!!! I just googled homeschooling with twins underfoot and this popped up! My kids are 6, 4 and twin 9 month old boys. Today was hard! Teething and just right down fussiness. The twins are also army crawling in different directions! Thank you for this☺️☺️😁😁❤️️❤️️
I love this! Thank you!! I’m homeschooling with a 4yo and 2yo twins… and hear EVERY single word you’re saying! So true, and so comforting. Thanks a million
I realize this is an old post but I had to say that I’ll be referring to this post and others…We have 3 kids (7, 5 and 3) and are expecting twins any day now. 😊😳
People have asked me if I’ll still homeschool or how I’ll homeschool with twins and I just shrug them off and say, “I’m not the first mom to homeschool with twins and I won’t be the last; I’ll figure it out.” Ha! I hope I can keep that optimistic attitude.
Love this post, and all your others – just an FYI, some of the posts you linked to (about 1 single priority, summer school) aren’t working – was going to read them, but getting an error message
Thanks for the heads up, Katelyn!
I almost cried reading this, and some of the comments… I needed this encouragement today. I have been feeling so overwhelmed and miserable and convinced I’m doing it all wrong. My youngest two aren’t quite twins, but they are only 3.5 months apart. So I have 8, 7, 3, 2 and 1 right this second. (We just entered birthday season so soon it will be 9, 7, 4, 2 & 2.) I also babysit a 6 month old 5 days a week. Our days are so hectic and crazy right now. The toddlers are into EVERYTHING. The youngest one especially loves: dried up dog poop in the back yard and toilet water. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you. 😊 I am off to keep reading…
Thank you! My twins are 3.5 and it’s so so so hard. This is encouraging! Love to know I’m not the only one feeling like this. Yes I can see the fun and funny moments too. Just there are LOTS of crazy times.
Peace keep you as you love and care for your family, Allie!
I just came across this blog post and I want to thank you for your candidness. My twins are almost two and I work full time out of the house. I LOVE that you put in pictures of real life, with real twin trouble. Just yesterday I as getting ready for work and had to run upstairs. The twins were in the kitchen but they always follow me when I go upstairs. Except for yesterday. I checked on them and they were playing happily, so I took advantage and went upstairs to finish getting ready. When I went back downstairs, maybe five minutes later and they had opened a cabinet and had poured a container of vinegar into the blender and were getting ready to add whatever else they could find! And one twin had a (thankfully) tiny cut on his wrist from the blender blades. BUT, I am so blessed and thankful for them. I can’t imagine life without them.
I guess I didn’t clarify. We homeschool too. My oldest is 13 and youngest are the nursing fanatic twins at 15 months.
Thank you! Mama of 8, 4 in school and the twins are 15 months old. I regularly think, “What on earth am I doing!?!” It is sooooo hard and I appreciate your encouraging words and perspective. I also love hearing that I’m definitely not alone! 😉
This article is a breath of fresh air to me!! I am a homeschooling mama of twenty six month old twins, and an 11,9,7 year old. It IS hard many days but I’ve learned to keep my head up, rely of the Lord for strength, pray often, and sometimes just cry….as it can be so overwhelming. Thankfully, I don’t cry for long because I know we will get through this season of toddlers climbing the walls and getting into absolutely EVERYTHING……eventually. And they will be ten before I know it!! But it still doesn’t make it any easier…it just gives hope for the crazy moments!!
So thankful I have found this blog. I have a 5 (6 in April) year old boy, 3 year old girl and 2 month old twins. It’s hard, very hard. I am finding myself struggling with mom guilt; that maybe my 5 year old is not getting enough of me or that I’m not doing enough and I think, how the heck am I supposed to homeschool like this!! But God called me to it so I know He will equip me. Thankful for all the encouragement found on this blog and through the comments.
Oh! So much truth here. I think the thing I would say as a mother of twin boys (now 10, but still wrestling like bear cubs) is to keep encouraging one another. I appreciate this post for the honesty and that encouragement. It is so easy to fall into a pit- especially while potty training said boys- but a few kinds words can really help a sister out! Have play dates in your messy house. The company will be worth it!!
And one thing to remind yourself frequently- the days are long, but the years are short.
My sweet twins address 9 months old. The “bigs” are 5, 7, and 8. I had no idea how difficult 2 babies would be, how much their needs would complicate our schedule. I am so blessed to be given these 5 little boys. Thank you for your encouragement. This is hard, this is a blessing, this is God’s story and I get to be part of it.
OMGosh. I am RIGHT in the middle of this. My twins are 18 months old and smack in the middle of toddlerhood. I probably wonder at least 50 times a day why I don’t just put my older girls in school because they must not be learning anything in this chaos that is our home, and we are SO behind according to my nicely written out schedule that I hardly touch.
On top of that, we’re right in the middle of trying to find a house and move in a housing market that is seller-friendly. So when I have time to do a lesson, suddenly there is a house that we have to see and I have to throw everyone in the car to drive over there and usually it’s right in the middle of nap time.
This article was encouraging. Thank you so much for just acknowledging that this time is just so hard. I’m trying to remember that it will get better.
I know this is an old post, but I needed to comment. We have 6 children (28, 24, 20, 12, newly turned 3, and 2 3/4). Our toddlers just came home in late October (we adopted from China) and it has been so hard for me to get things done. Thanks for sharing and helping ease the “I’m a complete failure” feelings I have from time to time.
Thank you….for even existing. Honestly, I didn’t think that if I googled homeschooling with new baby twins anything would come up, but it did m. my babies are three weeks old, precious and exhausting. They are on the eating plan that hijacks my showers, my sleep (sanity), and the whimsical plans I was already probably not doing enough structured homeschool with. Sometimes it feels like Dantes inferno, except there’s so much love it must just be a part of pilgrims progress. Thank you for knowing when I’m going through. It just helps.
I really relate to you Sarah. I have 6 kids 10, 7, 5, 2, and 1 year old twin girls (7 and 5 are boys the rest are girls). I realized today I spent most of my day just taking care of the twins nursing diaper changes feeding. Spoon feeding takes FOREVER! I have not gotten any school done all week! Just one of those weeks! Today I was thinking this is really hard glad to hear I am not alone. OUr favorite book is Seven Silly Eaters and I think the true limit to how many kids I can handle will be how many times I will be able to go through the teaching how to read process. You joked about that in one of your podcast.
I couldn’t have found this post at a better time!!! Thank you so much for writing such encouraging words! This helped my heart more than you know. I have twin 4 yr olds and a 6 yr old….all boys. The twins just stopped napping so we are transitioning again and I’m finding it difficult to homeschool them let alone my 6 yr old due to noise, meltdowns..you know…them general dynamics of 3 boys 2 of which are twins. So again thank you. “It feels hard because it is hard”. I couldn’t love The rest I find in that statement more!
Hi Sarah,
I may have commented on another blog of yours – I can’t remember (twins here, too). But I hope you find this message and hear that your life sounds just.like.mine. And there is no date on this post so I’m not sure how old your twins are now, but I find so much comfort in reading your posts. I am so thankful for your voice and want you to know that in this world of social media and blogs and etc., you have truly ministered to my heart and soul in a way that my closest friends without the trouble of homeschooling with little twins just can’t.
So thank you! I am so grateful to have found your book and your blog.
I am a homeschool mom of a daughter Grade 7 this year. Yes, the beginning was an adjustment and I wanted to give up but praise God I didnt. She is an amazing homeschool stundent now. NOW I have 2 boys aged 6 and have had them at home and schooled them little bit here and there but they doing well, thus far BUT they have to grade 1 next year and I so considered sending them to school as I have no idea how i am going to do this. Like you said, and it is my phrase I use when moms say: I cant homeschool, it is not in me. I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST YOU STRENGTHENS ME!!!!! I have homeschooled on that verse al these years. The boys are soooo different and it is soooooo hard and I sooooo want to run away at times……. REALITY and so true what you said: It IS hard…that is the reality!!!!!! Just wanted to share. Blessed are you!
Thank you for sharing your heart, Natasha. Peace keep you!
I love you for posting this. Can we be best friends? A friend of mine shared this with me and I cried reading it. I’m a mom of a 4, a 2 and twin 10 month olds. My heart is so led to homeschooling and we are giving the preschool a go this year and I am just so caught up right now in how hard everything feels and how overwhelmed I feel. I feel like I am constantly failing the older two due to the attention the younger two require. I know these are all untruths but it’s a spiraling rabbit hole. So I will now be an avid follower of you because I too am obsessed with more experienced mom’s perspectives. Thank you.
I have a 5 yr. Old daughter we are doing kindergarten with this year. I also have 3 y.o twin boys who are crazy, like bananas. (I hear its survivable, though sometimes I don’t believe it.) Thankfully, I can still get most work done during naps, but they are getting fewer and farther between now. Pray for us as we find balance and I will pray for you too!
I have a 5 yr. Old daughter we are doing kindergarten with this year. I also have 3 y.o twin boys who are crazy, like bananas. (I hear its survivable, though sometimes I don’t believe it.) Thankfully, I can still get most work done during naps, but they are getting fewer and farther between now. Pray for us as we find balance and I will pray for you too!
I have five kids :: Fourth grade, second grade , and then the little :: Ages 4,2, and 3 months … I’m right there with you . And I sometimes get so annoyed or irritated with whatever the current chaotic moment is that I do…literally laugh like a hysterical woman.
I am expecting twins in February or March, and I am super excited about it!! I will be homeschooling 3 kids and have a toddler as well. And then the twins will get added into the mix! Yikes! LOL…So, your blog post is pretty eye opening but I am excited for the journey.
My day started at 6:30 after waking up at 2:00, 4:00, and 5:30 due to sick 6 month old twins. I was optimistic that we would start homeschooling by 9:00 since I was up earlier than normal , but our morning was spent watching sprout to just keep the fussy twins from completely melting down. And now phineas and ferb is on while I’m trying to finish my coffee at 10:45. I just keep praying my other kiddos are learning something during this season! It is so hard! Thank you for letting me know that it’s not just me!
Thank you for your encouragement! We just had our 4th child two weeks ago, which gives us four children under the age of three (our eldest turns three in two days, though, so we can only say that for so long!). We have twins who are 21 months, and though we are not trying to homeschool yet, just getting through the day seems like an enormous challenge for me! I am only on week one of doing this on my own (my husband was home half of last week, and my mother was here all week), so I guess I shouldn’t put too much stock into how hard it’s been determining how hard it will be in the coming days and weeks. It IS encouraging to know I’m not alone! And, as my husband keeps reminding me, I’m REALLY not alone because I have a kind, gracious Heavenly Father who loves me and takes care of me. “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”
I may print this out and stash it sonewhere. This is our first year of homeschooling and our twins are due in December. Just praying for the determination to keep on keeping on. Thank you for your honesty.
I have four boys under seven years, and it is wonderful, pure joy, but HARD and probably taking years off my life. Some days to keep the three year old from pulling the stools out from under the older boys while they learn to write I just open the flour bin and let him and the baby go for it. They love blocks, except when it is convenient! Or I will be making great progress only to hear too much quiet suddenly and find that it has taken that wild one 30 seconds to figure out the child lock and lead the baby outside…but I love doing this together. I love how involved and excited we all get. It’s hard, it’s messy, overwhelming too–but I think of it like a marathon. Nobody runs a marathon because they are going to smile, look put together and feel completely rested and at ease during the whole thing. It’s for the love of it, for the growth. And fun is there too :)
Me, me! I need rooting! I’m first-time homeschooling my oldest who’s 5, and I have a 3yo and a 16mo… aaaand 1mo twins who are still in the NICU. I can’t wait for them to come home (likely in the next 1.5-2 weeks) but I’m kind of terrified, too! But hey, at least I’ll no longer have to drive to the hospital to visit them every day, right? ….right?? 😬
Haha, I only just noticed that this was a super old post. Oh well!
Oooh! Will be praying those babies out of the NICU and right into your arms at home, Emily!
I’m homeschooling my two boys, 6th grade and preschool, and we’re expecting twins in January. I’m quite intimated already at the idea of homeschooling with newborn twins, however blogs like yours have helped with encouragement, planning a routine, and homeschooling tips. Thank you for this!
I will be homeschooling a 6 and 4yo along with a 2yo and twin 2month old. I got this article from a multiples group a mom shared. I like how you said we should look to others for wisdom. Thanks for your blog!
Sarah, I love this post & was just re-reading it to help me steal my nerve for the up coming school year. I have toddler twin girls, a 4yr old dd, 7yr old ds, 9yr old dd, 11yr old dd, 14yr old ds, 16yr old dd, & finally an 18yr old ds. I truly do not know how I will manage this year.
Can you do me a favor and update this post? Tell me it gets better, lol!! What were some of your strategies that worked this past year & how are 3yr old twins different from straight up toddlers?
The good news is that we have had read aloud the past three days this week and the girls were content to putter around us and climb in and out of laps without derailing our story time (that is how I’m starting my school year; read aloud first, then memory work).
I am so happy to have seen this post today. I’m panicking about starting my second year of homeschooling……3 boys 8,6,3 & 6 mo b/g twins. Still delaying on hitting the order button on my book order because I am so afraid!!!!! I am really struggling with feeling guilty re: my 8 & 6 yo and my limitations/potentially not being able to give them what they need. I’m trying to just keep reminding myself that God gives actual graces. IN THE MOMENT. He will not abandon me to figure how to do this on my own. But maybe I am crazy for trying!!!! Ahhh. #serviam
This was very encouraging! I have 4.5 year old triplets and doing the simplest of preschool activities with them makes me think I’m losing my mind! I decided to google “how to homeschool twins” because I simply can’t get to all of them all the time. How encouraging to be reminded that not everyone does it all, all the time. (And I’m a blogger and *know* this. ;) ) I’m gonna lower my expectations and work on being thrilled with getting anything done with them. <3
Hello!
I have a 4-year-old and 2.5-year-old-twins – girl/boy. I am contemplating homeschooling, but just don’t see how I’ll be able to do it. Some days I’m so overwhelmed and I need a break so badly that thinking about them all in school is a relief. How do you overcome this mindset? How do you do it? Do you get breaks ever or do you just accept that you will never have a break. Maybe some people don’t need breaks as much as me? LOL. Anyway, I am researching my possibilities and I appreciate your blog.
Can I add my 2 cents? :) It’ll get easier as they get older. Once your 4 year old is a little more mature it will be better. This absolutely is the hardest time, right at the beginning, because they are the neediest right now. You also have to ask yourself why you want to homeschool and decide if your convictions are strong enough to carry you through the hard days so you can experience the good days. Its basically a decision you have to make.
And I totally get needing breaks!! Especially when they are as small as yours! But, again, it will get better and easier as they get older. My oldest is 9 now and she and my 7 year old are a HUGE help. This will be the case for you as well, you’ll see. Hang in there!
I’m dying over here, laughter and tears! Those pictures! The k-cup all over the couch, that is life. This post was so great. I, too, am a homeschooling mom of toddler twins. They are the youngest of 7 kiddos. These twin babes are getting the best of me. This is the impossible. Never have I felt so completely desperate for help and defeated in all my attempts. I can’t agree with you more on the deep desire to pick the brains of any other, more experienced, momma. “How do we do this well? Or, at all?!” I just ordered your book and thought to check out your blog. Even more excited to get my hands on that book. I know the Lord is good and in this, but to know we’re not alone in this makes things seem a bit more doable. Thank you for this post and sharing a bit of your “real”.
Thanks for this. I’m weighing putting my kids in private school or homeschooling with twin one year olds. I really want to keep them at home but find myself so many days wrangling the boys and trying to read over screaming that it seems less then ideal. They do take great maps though and we danger a lot done then! We will see. Thanks for the honesty.
Thanks for the encouragement!! I totally agree… Hysterical and frustrating all wrapped up together. We too have twins, 3 years old, and three others ages 15, 13, and 4 1/2. I’m grateful for God’s grace and constant strength!! Homeschool is full of wonderful blessings, but it IS really difficult.
Thank you for your blog I really do appreciate the honesty my ex boyfriend and I are highly considering taking the twins out of public school and homeschooling them I don’t live with my ex boyfriend but I am a stay-at-home mom with my new baby and so I will be the main one homeschooling are twins with his help of course I haven’t even started homeschooling them and I’m already overwhelmed because they share so much energy to get them to focus is my biggest challenge. My plan is to continue to research and gain wisdom and read blogs like yours about homeschooling Twins and homeschooling to see how we can go about this.
I’m so nervous about homeschooling my 6 yo girls! Haven’t made up my mind yet but I’m really praying hard about this. Thanks so much for your blog it’s such an inspiration. God bless!
I have three beautiful boys ages 6, 4, and 16 months. I homeschool my 6-year old. My 4 year old is challenging because he’s not quite ready for preschool yet (attention-wise). And my 16-month old he is all fun and has the tenacity to match it. Well two weeks ago I found out I was pregnant! Joy! We have been working and praying for a daughter. Much to our surprise we found out we have TWO new additions expected in August. I am so grateful for the blessing that God has bestowed upon us, but I can already feel pressure and disappointment mounting. Homeschooling with a toddler and twins?! I’m a perfectionist and struggle when things don’t look like they do in Pinterest or on Facebook. Well, I want you to know, I thank God for you, and women like you. I cried when I read this post, it gave me hope and courage. It gave me peace of mind to know that I’m not alone, and if others can do it that I can do it. God bless you, I look forward to reading more.
I’m thankful for you, a mama just a little further down the road from me. This past January I found out I was carrying twins. I cried. I was just 34 weeks. Three weeks later I gave birth to two beautiful healthy little boys. They are my 4th and 5th. My perspective on multiples has changed much. Instead of “oh no” I think “oh yes!”. But I am trying to find my way. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thank you for you transparency. I have twin 9-year-old girls and 2-year-old boy/girl twins. Our younger twins were adopted last year, and it has been a whirl wind! (The last time I potty trained twins, I wasn’t trying to home school twins.) Thank you for letting me know that I’m not alone–that it is okay to have bad days and that I do actually have good ones.
Yes!! I am right with you! I am homeschooling my 7 year old and have 3 year old twins and a 1 year old. Some days I feel like I’m loosing my mind. The picture of your wet couch, the floor vents being pulled up…things being thrown down them, one of which was a real live fish from my daughter room!! Ack!!! I’m glad to see I’m not alone!
hello-
I’m a mom to 6 with the 7th due in a few weeks- we are doing catholic privet school right now and we hate it. Bottom line.
TERRIFIED to try homeschooling with so many and a baby. Everyone around me says I’m completely NUTS and that it simply can not be done. I have no really support system so I’m kind of in a discouraged place right now- compounded by being big and preggers and hormonal!! Lol
I will prayer for you. Could you pray for me??
Thanks in advance!!
Desiree
My son was 5 when my twins were born. He went off to Public school and I still had a hard time keeping up with the most important stuff ex: clean dishes, clothes and bathrooms. We ate a lot of frozen dinners! When he was in 1st grade he started asking to be homeschooled and I thought to myself, “That’s crazy! I can’t do that.” When the twins started school I started our homeschool journey, with him, and haven’t looked back. I started homeschooling the twins the next year. We wouldn’t change a thing. Every family is different and only God and yourself know what is best. Trust in Him and love on your kids. Have fun!
Reading your story hit home for me! It is hard and praying for each other is a great idea! Thank you so much for your story!
We live in rural West Virginia and we are currently in our second year of homeschool.
My husband and I have a 9-year-old daughter (Delaney) and 3-year-old twins (Uriah and Gabriella).
The twins are such a blessing but I always joke with people, saying that God must have thought I had a lot of patience.
Prayers!
What a timely article! I’ve been homeschooling for 13 years, but this has undoubtedly been my hardest year ever – trying to get it all done with our sweet little rapscallions (twin boys, age 2.75) underfoot. It helps to realize that it truly is a hard thing, and not just myself being wimpy (or old). Thanks for sharing!
Yes! Yes! Yes! This needs to be heard no matter how many toddlers you have at home. These slunk little ones are tiring in an I-just-want-to-cover-you-in-kisses-and-pull-my-hair-out sort of way. I have had toddlers and infants for the past 12 years and our homeschool day never looks like my ideal. I am finally getting ok with that. Sort of:)
Oh yes. When my twins were 2 it was like they were given a mission to find a way to get into their dirty diapers no matter what obstacles we tried to put in place to prevent it. We put footie pajamas on backwards but there are two of them and they would just turn around and unzip each other. We tried safety pinning the zipper of the footie pjs on backwards and they turned around and figured those out too. Then we ducktaped their diapers on under footies with safety pinned zippers and the got that off too. Finally, they just grew out of that stage. Then came the destruction and sneak into food stage and now at four years old they are slightly less tornado like. It is still incredibly hard to homeschool my oldest two (9 and 5) with the 4 year old twins, a two year old who is in the tornado stage and a four month old baby :). This year my oldest two are going two days a week to a Christian university style model school and then we homeschool m-w-f so for this season of life with a newborn it is a happy medium. I so understand!!!
I found your podcasts recently while I was desperately searching for some Charlotte Mason encouragement. The past few years for me have been like that roller coaster you’d really like to get off now thankyouverymuch. Comparison is definitely the thief of joy. I struggle with finding my own family standard and our own normal in the chaos. I have been SO blessed by your blog and some of the other bloggers, authors, and periscopers I’ve found through you. I have seven children, and we are currently waiting for a travel date in the adoption of our 4-year-old son from China. My oldest will be 14 soon, then we have a 12-year-old, a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old , a 6-year-old and identical twin 2-year-olds. I like my kids a lot. My twins were a surprise pregnancy (SURPRISE!), they developed twin-to-twin transfusion and were born at 25 weeks. I stayed with them near the NICU for 4-and-a-half months. Total miracle babies. I love them. What an amazing life. I know that in my heart. But, I definitely feel like the universe is laughing at me when I try to get through even the simplest school day. Hmmm. Who knew two babies would be so much louder than one? I still feel like I’m in that post-baby fog sometimes. There’s also a bit of the loneliness that comes with any hard thing that maybe not all your friends can relate to. I went through something very similar with our first adoption. Constantly adjusting your expectations to your reality. The twins are full of life and they bring joy to our whole family like the sun. :) But they also bring extreme frustration, chaos, exhaustion and a lot of soul-squeezing work. I love it! And I kind of wish it would get a lot less difficult soon. Anyway. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi there! I appreciate your post and just want to encourage you with a couple of things I learned with my (now5 year old twins)
1). It does get easier and actually it’s easier to homeschool my twins than it was my singleton!
2)don’t be afraid to get help. There was a season when I had someone come in a few times a week a few hours a day’ just so I could get in some one on one time with my big. It definitely helped my sanity!
Sarah! Love your blog and your book! I am new to homeschooling (we have 4 kids, and the oldest is 4). Our twins are 3, and we have an 8 month old as well. Have you ever read Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss? It was FABULOUS, and one of my favorite lines from it came to mind just now reading your post, and it’s just “For most children, a home environment is all they need to thrive”! I am sure there will be days when I have remind myself of that when we’re teaching more than one kid :-D
(The book is out of print now, unfortunately, but there are a few on Amazon left for about $50 I think. Sounds crazy for a book, but totally would be worth every penny)
Ok first of all, I have NEVER posted comments on anything but this is so God breathed that I feel I must. Thank you for your post. I texted a friend with older twins today for words of wisdom because most days I feel like I am drowning and instead of getting help, I’m reminded of a forgotten lesson plan. She immediately sent me here and it is soooo good to hear that I am not alone. I have a 9 year old (3rd grade), 7 year old (1st grade) and twin 2.5 year old girls. Homeschooling is hard if not some days virtually impossible. Plus, I don’t make the “sitting quietly, gentle spirit” children. They are everywhere, all the time….all the time. I have called poison control more times than I would like to admit and my house is one accident away from being designated as a superfund site. My friends tell me I should blog because my daily life is so funny it is unbelievable to the normal crowd; however, I’m afraid that public admission of my life would lead to a visit from child services. So thank you for your honesty and willingness to post because sometimes I do feel alone and it is overwhelming. But reading your blog, I am reminded that if I am being obedient to God by continuing my call to homeschool then I should not worry about the “daily how’s” because he will reward my diligence, perseverance and obedience.
I have just recently been introduced to you by a homeschooling friend if mine, and none too soon! I am homeschooling my first grader and have 2 two-year olds, one who is a new addition to our house through adoption. The chaos you described is present every single day at our house and I can’t say I have laughed about it (just cried) until I read your post. I really needed that today as I do feel like THIS IS NEVER GOING TO WORK! I’m so glad to know you are out there!
I so needed to read this tonight. I hopped over to your blog after reading adding the first few chapters of Teaching From Rest…for the second time. I have six kiddos, twin toddlers included, and I am expecting our newest addition in Oct. Can I tell you that I am scared.to.death of what our homeschool is going to look like? I mean, it’s already chaos, as you well understand. I am trying to remind myself that this is a season the LORD has called us to, and is therefore not surprised nor afraid for my kids’ education. Thank you, thank you for being real!
This is interesting to read, as I’m currently starting to home school my 4 and 5 yo daughters with one toddler boy – and twins on the way around the new year. At this point I know I can finish kindergarten with my 5 yo by November or so, and next spring is just going to be maintenance. God willing we will have a lovely Catholic single woman renting a room for 8 hours of help per week, so I’m hoping that will make this possible, but I figured it would be just plain hard since it already is! Thanks for your refreshing honesty and adorable pictures! Your boys are precious ?.
Oh my goodness, I tell people that twins are the best and worst thing that ever happened to this homeschool mama!! Mine are my seventh and eighth children, they are three now. Last school year I was ready to throw in the towel completely. I mean how bad can it be to skip a whole year of school (gasp!) I ended up getting as much help as I could find and afford. My Mom came one day a week, I had a teenager one morning a week, and one day a week I made the three big boys help big time! You seriously cannot do it alone. This may well be the hardest homeschooling year of your life!! Just keep that in mind and congratulate yourself for any homeschooling at all that you accomplish. My twin mom friends keep saying it gets better at age 5. Oh my!!
I homeschool with twins!! :) Well, they are a little bit older now, but they were once toddlers. Yes, it IS hard, and I still cry a lot; but I also get to pray a lot, too, so it’s a very, very GOOD thing. I have 4 kids, ages 12, 11, and 9 1/2 year-old twins. My boys were 1 and 2 when my girls were born–yes, I felt like a crazy person at times. I just listened to one of Elisabeth Elliot’s talks recently…she said to make a list of all of your weaknesses or areas where you feel like a failure…each one of these becomes a receptacle for God’s power. He can only pour His power into my weaknesses. Good stuff!! Raising twins and homeschooling are my two biggest struggles. If I felt strong and successful in these areas, my children might only experience learning from a confident mama, and not from a mama who needs the power and grace of God poured into her life daily. I’d rather they have that. More of Jesus, less of me. Yes!
Love this, and I am pretty much sure it also applies when you have a set of “almost irish triplets”, currently have 2 & 3 & 4 yr old toddlers ” helping out: while I homeschool my 6, 8 and 10 yr olds ;-)
It’s a challenge and I am taking these weeks right now to process what my goals and routines need to be to both include them and have meaningful time with my older ones too.
Homeschooling my older children when my twins were toddlers was one of the absolute hardest things I have ever done. I felt like a failure and most days ended in tears. I questioned what I was doing almost every. single. day. But I also held on to what more experienced parents of multiples had told us! A good friend of ours had told us when we were expecting our twins that once the twins hit three everything would smooth out. I cannot tell you how many times I would lean over to my husband as we were falling over completely exhausted at the end of the day and say, “If this isn’t easier by the time we hit three years, I am going to personally assassinate our good friend.” :) But then we hit three and everything fell into place. It was the most amazing blessing. Education can return to the forefront and our house is no longer chaos all of the time, just some of the time. From one mom of twins to another, love those little darlings – soak it all up, and know that three is the magic number. :)
I needed this post this morning. I just completed my first year homeschooling (kinder and first for my original pair of “Irish” twins) with my second pair underfoot (a now 2 year old/9 month old set of boys), so while I don’t have actual twins I have two teeny tinies vying for my attention and making life seem impossible. Last year I did a very strict “curriculum in a box” which saved my sanity but is not what I envision our homeschool life being. So this year I’ve decided to ditch the formal curriculum and have the Charlotte Mason-y life of which I’ve dreamed. It’s all well and good until I actually started to plan and realized I may have lost my ever-loving mind. But this house is joyful and the kids are learning and loving and singing hymns of praise so I’m taking a deep breath and sallying forth. Thanks for the encouraging blog. I really enjoy it :)
But can you imagine doing it any other way??? The first year we started homeschooling, we had newborn triplets. Yes, it was crazy. But I simply cannot imagine how much crazier it would have been to try and send the big kids to traditional school. Think about being up all night with babies and then just as you get everyone to sleep at 6:00 am you have to start waking kids up for school?? No thanks! I’d rather snuggle in bed until 10:00 and read books together while we nurse a baby or two. Or imagine keeping your crying babies strapped in the back seat to sit in pick up and drop off lines at school when they should be at home taking a nap? Not to even mention the fact that I’d never have been able to volunteer or be involved in my big kids classes in any way since I had three babies to bring along. Homeschooling meant we could live by a schedule that was best for OUR family, and we could still be as involved as we wanted to be in our big kids education. So don’t let anyone scare you into thinking that just because you have twins, or triplets, or any baby at home that life will be too crazy to homeschool. The truth is quite the opposite. And now that the triplets are older, they are SUCH an ease and joy to teach, because we can teach them all together! So stay calm, and stay the course! There is sanity and many blessings on the other side of multiples toddlerhood!
Tha k you for writing this. I am getting ready to start my first year in the homeschooling adventure. I have an 8y/o son, a 6y/o daughter, a 3 1/2 y/o son, and 19 month old b/g twins. I am sure its going to be crazy, but I am praying it will be as awesome as I think it will be. Thank you for reassuring me, before it wver begins, that I am not alone. And that many awesome mommas before me have won this battle.
This was encouraging for me today! *sigh*…JUST what I needed.
As I type this I’m rocking and nursing my 15 month old twin to sleep. Only she forgot she should be going to sleep and she’s acutely aware that I’m trying to do something on my phone. So instead she’s blindly batting at my phone, alternating between swinging her fist and her foot. I’ve deleted a lot of g#gg6688?.
I am a mother of six incredible kids. The last two were a surprise at the same time. I have a third grader, first grader, kindergartener, three year old and finally the babies. Yow, right?
I was still getting a handle on homeschooling when I had number three so you can imagine where I am now.
It’s hard. Most days I can hold it all together. We eat, we learn (at least what life teaches), we live, we love. Then every once in a while someone will say something that makes me question myself (how on earth do you teach one, let alone three with twins and three year old under foot?!) and all that work I’ve done to be hold it all together just goes pfffffft.
But we press on because we know why we do what we do. We know that this little portion of our lives is a little crazy, but if we hold on it’ll pay off and we can “catch up” quickly soon enough.
So to all you busy moms, press on!
Thank you for sharing this post.
Your comment here just…. (happy sigh). Yes. We press on because we know why we do what we do. Well said.
I have 2 under 2 (a boy-2 and a baby girl – 11 months). I think about how some days all I’m able to do is keep them full and clean. Then I think about school and want to make beautiful lesson plans for my 6 yo and want to cry. I can’t even finish my meal before somebody poops. But then I see my little one wave for the first time or my sweet boy sings all the words to Jesus Loves Me at nap time (a child who didn’t say more than 10 words until his birthday). Then my heart melts. And my older daughter gets to witness these miracles. Sure, I’ve got my hands so full, but clinging to those little moments of revelation and laughter make my heart swell with gratitude that are mine to care for here and now. Thank you for sharing how hard and lovely this is.
I only have this to look forward to. My four-year old will start pre-school (home-school) this fall, while I try to figure out how to keep my two-year old and twin one-year olds busy! I’ve always looked forward to teaching my children, but my goodness… I’m nervous about the first few years with my twins!
Love this!!! I mean love love LOVE this!! Thank you.
I don’t have toddler twins (yours by the way are adorable, which you already know of course!). But I am in the same boat called, Overwhelmed. We all may have different challenges, but there are so many of us in this boat.
I have an Autistic husband, three Autistic kids, Depression and Anxiety. Everyone, everyday, is in a completely different place, have different and very specific needs, sensitivities, aversions, or tolerances. And we homeschool.
The balancing act is exactly as you quoted “hysterically funny and tragically frustrating.”
Sometimes when other moms complement me I feel it is so undeserved because they aren’t looking at my four day old dishes, marker stained walls, and putty stuck in the dog’s fur. And I feel a need to desperately make them aware that all is far from perfect here. But my sweet best friend often reminds me, those are not the things that matter. The complements are focued on our love for our kids. And so I try to be graceful and say thank you.
Some days it’s enough that everyone made it through the day safe, decently fed, halfway clean, but mostly happy. It doesn’t feel ideal, but then I remember that each day I can only accomplish so much, and on many days good enough is good enough. Even when my good enough seems significantly less than someone else’s. This is my journey not theirs.
You are on a beautiful journey, and raising kids is absolutely as much about the journey as the destination. It is insanely hard on many days, but it is important to check if it’s extra hard because of our own making.
And some pretty wonderful memories are made over frozen pizza. :)
Hmmm- I have 6 boys under 12 and just had my seventh baby, a girl, a month ago. My twins are 2. We built a house when I was pregnant with them, and we moved into it a week before they were born. We thought we’d be in that “dream house” forever, but we changed our minds and are just unpacking from our move to another state now. We are renting and will be building and moving -again. This is our 14th move in that many years of marriage. Right now I’m planning to put my two oldest boys in public school this year. Not that I don’t value all the creative free time they have- or the bonding time with their brothers when I’m just too frazzled to do anything but survive. We’ve mostly homeschooled, but we’ve also done charter school and public school when it made sense. The hardest thing with that (besides losing my helpers) is that a person who commits to homeschool almost needs to be converted heart and soul to homeschool. It is hard and it is a commitment. When you convert to the ideal of homeschool, you simultaneously reject the conveyer belt public school system more and more. – so, when a time comes that you feel public school is the right option, you feel like a failure who isn’t true to herself or her ideals-
We did 100% homeschool last year. It was a struggle, but it was a great year. I finally started to feel like we could keep the twins occupied with play dough or coloring to make it through devotional and family reading- but another upheaval with a move and a new baby with the 2 year old tornadoes throws everything off. My plan is to go back to homeschool in a year when the dust has settled, the twins are older and we aren’t in the middle of moving or building.
I think homeschooling with twins is doable. My biggest advice is limit media time and make books and paper available- even if you can’t be the one actually reading to or writing with your kids.
My twin boys are 10 now. There is no glimpse of the stress that was there when they were 2 years old and climbing on the kitchen table with Sharpies. It is so wonderful having twin boys (you know that part already), and you won’t have to wait until they are 10 for it to be easier. It will be easier at 3, and on and on.
You are an inspiration to me in many ways. I wish you could see my boys in action today so they could be an inspiration to you. Blessings, Lori
I have three under five and have found that productive one-on-one time with children is much more possible when working collaboratively with another mom or two. As a teacher by profession, I see the immense difficulty of managing lesson planning time and direct instruction time with toddlers/babies in the home (who require constant and vigilant attention). Some moms doubtlessly can pull it off without giving the older children’s education short shrift, but most of us are probably not that kind of unicorn mom.
So why not try a cooperative arrangement if you are frustrated? Find another mom who has children your age. Trade off on watching the littles and reading with or instructing the older children. When we had babies, another WAHM and I would take turns with the children each week so the other had a few hours of (relatively) uninterrupted productive work time. Seriously, Christian moms–don’t try to do everything yourself if there are other options available and other families who might be willing to walk this road with you.
Wondering right there with you. For me the biggest stress is that the next year is the second year of homeschooling high school for my oldest. Managing driver’s ed or reminding him to register for the PSAT feel more difficult than they should. My twins are 17 mos old, and my other children are 15, 12 and 10. Last year went pretty well, but I was spending lots of it tandem nursing. There was something pretty comical about having a conversation with two teenage boys about Plato’s Republic while nursing two wiggly one year olds. What’s working for us: 1. Schooling with another family twice a week (done this for years). 2.The kids do most of the bigger housework jobs. They can all vacuum, sweep, mop, mow, do bathrooms and laundry and dishes, but I am the only one who can keep us on track in our homeschool and give them appropriate feedback on their schoolwork. If I try to keep on top of the house myself, that essay isn’t getting graded! I do all the little housework jobs that only take a minute or two, then the kids don’t have to spend all day with me ordering them around on mini-tasks. I also do more of the cooking than they do, since I figure they need a little nurturing, too. 3. Schedule time not content for the 4th and 6th graders. 4. Get us all out of the house once each afternoon to see some green, except for winter, when it’s more like, laps at the community center with the stroller.. 5.Tiiight control on the toddler toys so there’s never too much out at one time. That one was a big change for me! Also, limiting the twins to a couple of rooms of the house during school, making it easier to keep an eye on them. Big kid stuff and toys have been banished elsewhere than those rooms.
What’s not working at all: Handicrafts, art projects, labs, field trips…. and outside classes and activities unless they are drop-off. Neither was I able to do much, if any, ‘lecture’ or ‘teaching’ on days that I didn’t have another adult around. It was pretty much all, do reading, do work, get feedback, fix, repeat.
And I’ve definitely had to work through feelings that I’m asking too much of my other kids.
I expect next year to be even more active, because I’ll be even more firmly in middle and high school territory as a homeschool teacher at the same time my twins get more capable of everything including mischief. Some of our dangerous and messy stuff is already padlocked! Never went there before :-)…
Hannah, this list is super helpful! I was blessed that last year, my kids older kids (ages 8, 10, 12, 14, & 16 then) picked up the slack for me while I was pregnant & post-partum. I wondered if I was putting to much on them, but in reality they probably were the reason my pregnancy went so smoothly. I saw they can do the big jobs and while they don’t “love” doing them they are glad to help if they can. I think you are wise to have them contribute so much, I will need to really assign the chores more clearly so they just get done w/out me grumbling.
My twins are just getting mobile, and we are banishing big kids stuff too. The 3 & 6 year olds are my big offenders it is taking a lot of dillegence on my part to keep things off the floor. I like your idea about confining them to just a few rooms while you school- are they in with you all?
We had to send my big kids to a group lab for biology this year or it would not have happened. I plan on doing the same for chem this coming year.
I am trying to work on oganizing my school year now and hopefully start early because I just am not sure how things will go with two babies/ toddlers for this coming school year…
Alison, yes, the twins are in with us during the school day. The kids study in the dining room and the living room and those are the areas I keep the twins in too. I just have all the other areas gated off. Starting early is a good strategy for twin interruptions for me too, for everything from making dinner to the whole school year :-).
Thanks for this post! We are not homeschooling yet–my oldest is only three and my twins are 1.5. But reading aloud time has been scarcer and scarcer around here as my twins enter toddlerhood, and I feel the lack of it. One of my twins has no patience and wants to turn all the pages right away … and they are always fighting over my lap. And I know it’s going to get harder before it gets easier … it’s good to know that there are others looking at trees in the same forest … and that there are mothers who have made it to the other side! :)
Thank you a thousand times for this post Sarah, and for including Angela’s quote as well!! It brought me to instant tears, to read how others of you are living lives of complete blessing and total craziness with all your littles – because I am NOT alone! I don’t even have twins (so not sure I actually qualify to post on here :)). Mine are 9, 7, 3, and 1, and these last two years of homeschooling have been so exhausting that I wonder if it has to be like this, or if I’ll be clinically insane before they reach high school. Sometimes people say things like, “while you work with the older boys, your toddler can be occupying the 1 yr old.” Right. Or, when I had hospital time with the 1-yr.-old, grandma carried on the basics of schooling the older two boys for 2 weeks. She said, “I’m amazed at how quickly they can be done with their school work!” And I just stared blankly at her, and tried not to yell that she didn’t have the 3 and 1 with her like I always do! Yet, I SO want to look back on these little years and think of good memories we made, of truth, goodness and beauty woven throughout. But some days that seems as far out of my grasp as a star. Thank you again for speaking hope and genuineness into this very hard spot in my life!
Thanks for your post! Life with toddler twins is indeed hard. Our twins just turned 2 and we have a 4 yo, 6 yo, 8yo, 10yo and 12 yo too. I have always struggled with unrealistic expectations, especially with homeschooling, and having twins has taken that to a whole new level! Having twins is hard, but also the sweetest gift from the Lord. My husband is good about reminding me of this fact. Thanks for the post again. It is good just to realize this is just hard. Hearing from others that having twins is tough makes me realize I am not alone. I appreciate the encouraging comments as well from others with large families. In the trenches with you
Thank you for posting this. I have felt so overwhelmed with our toddler running around. He will use anything and everything as a step stool to get on top of the kitchen counters, kitchen table, anything high and dangerous haha. I find it super hard to have any type of structured lesson with our 6 year old. I know he is still young but I still want to feel like he is at least learning how to read. Now I will begin the hard task of having our fourth baby around Christmas time, a crazy toddler and two that will need help with school along with the fact that it will also be the first time that I start everything over again for our middle child. I’m still not sure how to teach to her what her brother has already learned while still advancing his lessons. Anyway, thank you for your encouraging words and advice!
I can’t even imagine with twins. I have two girls (13 months and 2 1/2 years) and two boys (5 & 7) at home, and I find myself dealing with the girls when I feel I should be teaching the boys. Every time I feel a pity party coming on, I try to imagine either of my two little girls doubled …. 0_o
I most seriously wish you were my neighbor! Ever consider moving a few hours east? teehee I keep looking to you (okay, your blog) to get me through this year…and the next few I’m sure.
I’m trying to school an 8 year old and 6 year old — with 17m old and 6m old twins. Sound familiar?! I laughed when I ran across your blog while I was pregnant with my twins! And then cried…because I didn’t feel so alone, and I knew God had a hand in my “happening” onto your site…that for some reason I hadn’t found before then. Hm.
You make me laugh every.single.time I read your blog. Every time! For that, I am mightily thankful. And honestly, a little afraid… :-)
Every time I -think- we might be getting our grove back…we aren’t. And I’ve pretty much tearfully realized that any hopes I had for my own blogging is pretty much shot for the foreseeable future. Selfish, I know. But it was my one thing, for me, you know?! Maybe one day I’ll get back to it…
PLEASE keep showing me pictures of your craziness and sharing your heart. I need the laughs and the tears and the real.
I don’t even know where to begin… my oldest is 17ds, then dd15, ds13, dd10, dd8, ds6, dd3… oh & 7 month old twin daughters. Yes, we homeschool. Yes, this year was a bit of a disaster. Yes, learning still happened. No, my plans didn’t really work, but God’s did.
I find that I have been freaking out lately over what this coming school year will look like, and how can I possibly do this job. I had to stop last night and acknowledge that the freaking out is mainly due to lack of sleep, lol. I need to trust that God’s got this, and we just need to keep muddling along. I call it the “cookie crumb trail” approach. I can’t see the plan but just follow the crumb trail and you will get there.
I took my oldest to the local community college yesterday, to sign up for classes for the coming Sr. year of high school. It’s not what I wanted. I wanted the perfect classical high school homeschool ala MODG, but I know my limits. God gave me those two little monkeys, who will be toddlers for the next two school years, lol! So, as with each year, I let God do my school planning.
I am deeply greatly grateful for having so many older kids with having the twins. They love those baby girls and help out so much. My hat is off to all of you!
On a funny note, I ran into an old school friend at the grocery store check out. She had suprise twins a year ahead of me (I call it the “welcome to 40 gift package”). I asked her how things were, she said, I kid you not, “oh awful! Toddler twins are terrible! People tell you it’s going to get better; it doesn’t, it gets worse!!!” Hahahahahahahahaa!!! (I’m laughing because otherwise I would cry )
God bless ya’ll!
When I was pregnant with my twins, a couple of moms of twins told me that the first year is hardest, but then it gets easier. Well, it has been the opposite for me. The first 8 to 9 months of the twins’ life were easiest for me and when they started getting mobile, life got crazier and much more challenging! Whew.
Dear Sarah, thank you so much for this post. I think where you see the trees, I see the most beautiful forest growing. The trees are young but well protected by the older trees and each other. You could spread them about thinking they will get better nutrition from the ground, but then… What if strong winds come? And what of the loneliness?
I have6 children (11 to 1) and it is hard, but I am so thankful for this grace. I am learning more in one week than I ever have done at school or university. I am learning to love other than myself and my children are learning that too. My pride is kept under control and my hard heart is being softened every day. I am also learning to laugh (especially at myself)
I am so glad that you are prepared to go the extra mile and not only do the work but also write about it and encourage people like me – thank you!
I didn’t even *try* to do school with the older kids until my twins turned 3. (My older two were only 6 and 7 then, so it wasn’t a huge delay.) After 3 it was much easier–they got really good at playing together and not interrupting. The problem this past year, once they turned 6, has been convincing them to come in and settle down long enough to do their own work. :-)
Sarah, thank you for your honesty! Even though I don’t have twins, I have two out of our three children that have sensory issues. Even though they are 9 and 4, their needs are as constant as having newborns on some days. All of us can relate and appreciate the comraderie of all fellow homeschool Moms who are in the trenches, doing their best.
Oh Sarah, I remember those days! I had 3 kids 2 and under too. I could only really school during nap time. Then when we added the boys to school, they started at a later age than my oldest daughter. They didn’t read till about 7ish and I would have my oldest one take one twin while I took the other. We used Reading Made Easy back then, so sister, taught her brother to read. Oldest daughter became independent pretty quickly, she’s a voracious reader so that was helpful. But it was SO hard. I got a lot of criticism for not participating in more activities and field trips but I was so so tired. My husband used to travel a lot so I was on my own much of the time. Later, we started traveling all over Florida with him and it was great–free breakfast while they cleaned your room, then we would do some school, then jump in the pool (they learned to swim in hotel pools), then pb&j sandwiches I had packed and then they napped well and I would crack the curtain open and have some time in my Bible with an instant French Vanilla Cafe. That’s when we did our field trips.
My boys are now 17yrs old. Let me share with you what lies ahead! We schooled using AO’s booklists but I combined the kids in the same time period and we went through history using Truthquest History guides and reading aloud. We also had afternoon tea time and read a different genre everyday. We had such rich, amazing discussions. I did have to utilize some online helps as they got older. I really wouldn’t worry about formal science till 7th/8th grade. We did lots of nature reading and I assigned each child lots of reading. We did do Latin with Prima Latina and LC but had a hard time getting over the Southern accent (I am a Spanish speaker). We did use Teaching Textbooks. I was juggling babies and toddlers during this time too.
The hardest part was my own autoimmune issues. It kept me from being able to do a lot of outside activities. But our school was really rich. We focused on reading lots and widely. Each of my olders have gone on to dual enroll in their junior and senior years while continuing to read, and they have done fantastic.
Now with my younger set of children (there’s a big gap because I was a bit traumatized by the twins), I cannot recreate that wonderful experience. Now I’m shuttling older kids everywhere, my 11yo has learning disabilities, and my toddler watches way too many videos. I’m having to get some fresh vision from the Lord as to what our schooling will look like, and let go of a lot of my preconceived plans (having to use a tutor for math for first time ever). Hubby still travels, I’m still dealing with health issues, and now we have my father in law with Alzheimer’s living with us. I still see mostly trees some days but I’ve been through enough to see it will all work out. Because I seem incapable of fleshing out the perfect CM education of my dreams, I’m having to hand God my dreams and let Him make something beautiful and different. But I have to fight the voices of insecurity as I see all the pretty big pictures and homeschool plans. Relationships come first, I must tailor to the specific needs of my children while tailoring to my own ability to carry out certain curriculum under our circumstances, focus on character and their living the Lord, and READ aloud! Sorry so long winded! It is weird to be on this end of things!
An avid read aloud family here since babies were born. My oldest is 9 (girl) and my boys–twins–are 8. Yes. Hang in there! The Lord gives much grace. My read aloud tip for those early years: a captive audience is best. I strapped them into booster seats at lunch time and read while they ate (for example) :-). Someone told me when mine were little: it doesn’t get easier but it gets better. Very true. Their days of pulling every book off the bookcase and then triumphantly standing on the pile are over. But we’re still a force to be reckoned with!
My twins were born nearly 13 years ago. I had a 4 year old and a 2 year old and was planning on homeschooling. Many told me I was crazy, and maybe I was, but I wouldn’t trade that time with them for anything! I have learned that although the days are LONG, the years are short. I cannot believe that my boys are now 17, 15, 13, 13! Enjoy them and try not to sweat the little things.
Hi Sarah,
I never had toddler twin boys, but the first year I attempted to homeschool was when my youngest (boy) had just turned 2 years old and my girls were rising 1st and 3rd grade. It was nearly impossible for me because I had (I’m sure) one of the most adventurous, dare-devil little boys on the planet! He was always getting into everything…to the point where I would wake up each morning and think to myself, “I wonder how many times I will save his life today?”. The only homeschooling we accomplished was maybe 30 minutes a day and that was outside at a park while he played and the girls sat with me.
The next year, he did preschool 3 mornings a week and that helped some, but it was still SOOOO hard. We actually took a break from homeschooling for a long while and put them all in school so I could simply breath again…they all ended up going to a sweet local Waldorf school. The time has come to try homeschooling again and he is now 5 and things are much more manageable. I understand to a point of what you’re going through…only it seems as if things are doubled for you! Hugs!
sarah davis
I am a homeschooling mom of 7. My youngest are 7 year old twins. No wisdom or suggestions here. Just encouragement to keep plugging along and enjoy them. From the pictures I see I think your twins are numbers 4 and 5? If so I will tell you that I found when I added child #4 life became exponentially hard. So if you added #4 and 5 at the same time… girl! Whew! I’m sure, quite sure, life will even out for you again in time. Phil:4:13 is true. You can do it and you will be very glad you did!
When my twins were 10 months old, I started homeschooling my oldest child for kindergarten. I also had a 2 1/2 year-old still in diapers. My oldest has autism spectrum disorder, and in addition to a full curriculum, I planned to do autism therapy with him every day. I had set for myself many impossible tasks, yet kept saying, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle! Of course that was me, not God, who was putting all those expectations on me.
I do wish I could go back and counsel that younger perfectionist self of mine and give her a hug! And then help her ask for help. :-)
The good news is that twins more than make up for the trouble they cause in their first three years of life. Mine are almost 8, and are both clamoring to help me with the new baby we have in our house now!
This is so awesome in about a million ways. :) My husband keeps saying, “Can you imagine how great it will be to have two strapping 15 year old boys to help us when we move or build a fence or whatever?!” :)
That’s the spirit!
We have a 7, 6, 5, and 22 month twins with a baby on the way. I can’t even express how much reading that I am not alone in this has relieved major stress! (I’m tearing up writing this) My biggest concern is that I know there’s a community out there that is going through this really hard phase, but I feel like my husband doesn’t believe me. My biggest prayer is that we both be on one accord with one another when it comes to expectations on what our homeschooling should look like. Thank you for your honesty :)
I can so relate…surrounded by trees, trees, trees and more trees here too. Hoping and believing for a forest :-)
For me, it all became REALLY hard when my two youngest stopped having naps. Suddenly our daily golden hour of read-aloud time disappeared.
Its hard to say to the older kids “Sorry guys – I’m not going to be able to get to read-aloud time with you for another 4 years or so….”. Its a fine balance between the needs of little ones and older children who are needing to be taught. There is a limit to how much they can do independently while Mama is vacuuming up the dirt the two year old just shovelled through the open window (happened yesterday)
My little people are not the variety who will happily play/entertain themselves while I read to the older kids. I’ve discovered its not that easy reading aloud while chasing toddlers who are about to hurl a bottle of milk all over the floor..again…(happened yesterday too). No matter how much one-on-one time I give the littlies, they still seek out maximum mischief and destruction opportunities when Mama is trying to teach the bigger kids.
I dread the giving up of the nap. My older two didn’t nap long and my babies are getting harder to get down. One will only fall asleep nursing, but I desperately want to wean them.
Because, yeah, it’s not like I can quit reading to my bigger kids just because the little ones make it hard. I hate interrupting kids when they’re busy, but I feel like we have to jump on all opportunities before the babies start yelling again.
Praying for you (and your sweet hubby too), Danielle! God’s got this.
I don’t have twins but I do homeschool two special needs children while running a preschool out of my home and there are days I think “what on earth am I doing?!” I have a teaching degree. I’ve taught 24 first graders in high pressure situations yet what I do every day in my own home is hard. And it’s ok that it’s hard. Sometimes I need extra coffee and a moment “getting our art” ready around the corner from our play room so I can take a breath and give myself a pep talk. And at the end of the day I am done. It’s good to hear that it’s not always easy but it is worth it!
Getting art ready- that’s hilarious. I just hide in the bathroom- my kids are going to grow up wondering why mama had to use the potty so often. :P
Oh.my.goodness. Sarah. Your comment about how your kids are going to grow up wondering why you have to go to the potty so much….so funny. I assume you bring chocolate with you, right? Lots of chocolate? :) I don’t have twins; but our youngest is highly sensitive, intense, and from all indications…gifted. Giftedness brings its own set of challenges.
Anyway…some days I just want to hide out in our bedroom for awhile with a stash of chocolate and a nice warm mug of coffee. :) We’re at the end of our school year, and I am honestly spent. I really appreciate your transparency. Reading your post was very encouraging!
I loved this, but I’m still convinced that I’m failing way worse than you! I’ve been homeschooling for 4 years now. I have a 12, 10, and twin 2 year olds (all girls) and I’m pregnant with our 5th (and final). I’m barely trying any more. Homeschool used to be my passion. I loved it, even though I was FAR from perfect, but ever since I got pregnant (I’m 15 weeks today) I just can’t bring myself to care. It’s all been put on the back burner. Survival is our #1 goal. My twins are hard…beyond hard…nearly impossible, and of course completely adorable too. I could tell you tales of all the mischief these two can get into in a single day, or list all the reasons I just can’t do it any more, but what I really need is a change of attitude. Can you please just inject me with some of your optimism? Can I borrow your will to get out of bed and touch a book again? If anything, it’s nice to see someone else struggling and striving to overcome. Thanks for sharing! :)
Have you seen Julie Bogart’s homeschool coaching service, Emily? She might be just the one to inject you with some hope and perspective. :)
http://coachjuliebogart.com
Pregnancy is hard, really hard, especially the first months. I find it harder than having a newborn. I’m pretty much useless until 20 weeks. I stock my freezer beforehand. Hang in there!
Michelle is right – the first part of pregnancy is so difficult. Don’t be too hard on yourself – hang in there, Emily!
Thank you for your encouraging words! It seems this article was written for me today! We homeschool our kids (14, 7, 6, 4) while juggling our crazy, on-the-move, one-year-old twins. Peope always say that it must be easier now they are a little older and I laugh like a crazy person! This article was very centering for me and not much is lately. Thanks!
I think we need to be neighbors, based on the ages of your kids! :)
Thank You for your article. One, two, three, or nine all of it’s hard I come to find out. My struggle may not be your struggle but struggle and stress is hard on anyone and everybody at times. I didn’t have twins but I had my children close together and everyone used to ask if they were twins. I have literally blown in a paper bag and really it works! You are blessed:-)
I’ve never actually REALLY blown into a paper bag (yet) so this made me giggle. :)
It’s so encouraging to read all the posts here! I’m one of the few I know that has so many littles that are all young so it’s nice to hear that there are others out there and that you know it’s just plain hard! And that’s ok! And it won’t last forever, it just feels like forever. We’re planning on starting homeschool this fall and I’m a little terrified at the idea. I will have a 5, 3, 2 and 6 month old. And the oldest is still the hardest. Good luck to you all out there, you can do this!
I don’t have twins, but I have children 12 months apart. It IS hard. I have another child just under 2 years older. They are 5, 3 & 2 now.
Wow. I have trouble just keeping pants on them all! I so relate to that picture above of the twins looking down the vent that they removed! Ours are all duct taped down now. Yes…really pretty….duct taped to carpet… hard wood, and tile…they’re all taped down now!
LOL- keeping pants on them all is a real challenge. :) I’ll have to tell my husband about the duct tape. He may just do that!
We have that problem with one of our vent covers, too. And one day, I discovered the twins had started shoving duplos down the vent. ARGH! There may still be a few in the vent, but my 10 year old son tried his best to reach every one he could. The duplos are not allowed upstairs anymore. I guess we’ll have to try duct tape too.
Hi Sarah! It’s Caroline, we met at the Denver Homeschool conference this past February. You’ve said it exactly, and I read this while absolutely thinking what you’re writing, this is SO SO hard. My only answer right now is to try and plan for help for the upcoming school year. I have a woman who is doing nightschooling and is able to come over for four hours, and clean and watch kids, so I’m really hoping that’ll help. I need any additional tips, though, so be sure to keep posting. I guess your posts have helped to keep me in reality- I might otherwise be scheduling way more this upcoming year ;)
Nightschooling! Brilliant!
Thank you! Our twins ar almost three and the plan is to start homeschooling our oldest (their brother) in the fall. I feel like every minute of the day I am “securing the perimeter” to make sure the twins are not into something they can hurt or get hurt by-why do they always find the knives or permanent markers first when the break into the kitchen? This gives me hope and encouragement because all I see is trees too…trees of messes and throw up (the twins have a stomach bug now) and diapers (no, mine aren’t potty trained, yes, many their age are). Thank you for being honest, God used it to affirm that He will provide the strength I need to do what He has called me to do, and it will be hard, but that’s ok. I’m looking forward to your posts on when you start homeschooling the twins, that will be a great adventure.
My 3.5 year old isn’t potty trained. I don’t know if it makes you feel any better but I feel you, at any rate. :)
So glad I got to read this. My oldest boy is 4, the twin boys are 2, and we have a baby due in 2 weeks. Thank God for the twin mom community- I honestly feel so alone and stilstill wonder why I was entrusted with twins. It’s so hard. My 4/year old loves school and I just hope we can keep it up :). You are all in my prayers.
I’ll pray you through the final weeks of your pregnancy, Rosie!
I’m so glad you wrote this. We are homeschooling with an 18 month old and these past few weeks I’ve been questioning if I can continue. It’s so hard to keep him from destroying everything while trying to teach my kids. The only time we seem to have is naptime and I’ll be honest, I need that time to just recharge my batteries! So, these past two weeks we have taken a break and I feel so much better and now reading this post I feel less alone. This homeschooling quest is not easy, but knowing others are experiencing the same kind of insanity is reassuring that we can continue. Thank you for sharing your story.
I struggle with that too! I really *need* a mid-day break to have the fortitude to last an entire day, so I’m loathe to give up the babies’ naptime as my quiet hour.
Sending you a homeschooling-mom-of-twins fist bump. It is hard and funny and loud and messy and you feel like you are the only one and you get to feel overwhelmed and joyous at the same time. You are crazy and you’re blessed and you’re crazy blessed. Wonderful blog!
Blessed and crazy blessed indeed. Thanks for your comment. :)
Sarah, this is so encouraging! I relate so much to twin moms, even though I’m not quite there, but had 5 kids in under 6 years. My youngest are only 15 months apart and are 2 and 3 now, but it feels like insanity trying to accomplish school and keep them from tormenting each other and/or destroying the house. It’s hard knowing you just have to focus on the fundamentals and reading aloud and letting so much of the other stuff that is touted to make homeschooling great because your days are just so busy. I hope to make it through these tough years!
Yeah, okay, so you basically have a madhouse with that many in under 6 years. :) I agree- that’s one of the hardest things for me. Simplifying our curriculum for my sanity’s sake often means that we only focus on the fundamental (read: boring) stuff, and the fun stuff takes a back seat. It’s something I’m struggling with still.
Thank you for your realism- it’s so refreshing!!! I’m currently expecting baby number 9 in just 7 weeks & while we don’t have any twins, I’ve been pregnant or nursing for over 15 years straight. Seriously changes my “want to dos” lists! :) I’m more at peace with the craziness & getting less done because I see the fruit of doing the next thing, focusing on the basics & reading a ton! But sometimes my “do everything” personality still rears its head. :) Gods teaching me much through this parenting & educating- much indeed!
Yes, me too- I have been softened by motherhood. Doing the next thing is a beautiful thing, though, as long as I remember to do just the next thing and not get overwhelmed by everything else. :)
Thank you, thank you! It is hard! And fun! Tears!
I have a 1st grade son, b/g 3 year olds, and 1 year old son (2 next month).
Not sure why my pic is a strange little monster…
Those automatically populate if you don’t have a picture on file at WordPress. :)
I so needed this today. We don’t have twins but we have 8, 7, 5, 3, 1 and new baby in November. Homeschooling is hard with littles underfoot period. How can I homeschool well when I am constantly trying to keep the littles out of trouble or the 1 year old off the table. By the end of the day the house is a mess and I’m exhausted and life just feels much much too chaotic right now. There are so many areas that need changing that it just feels like too big of a task to homeschool and take care of the littles and take care of a house…etc. So thank you for the encouragement, these days are hard. I’m glad I’m not alone.
They ARE hard! Thanks for your comment, Jessica. 8 as your oldest! That’s really hard. It gets substantially easier when the oldest one turns 11, I think.
I invested in used carseats to have in the house for times like “read aloud” or Mama’s shower. I had no older trustworthy siblings to rely on with 4 under five and the youngest two were “Irish Twins”. The kids knew that the carseats meant 15 minutes of no mischief and a snack. I even brought them with me into daily mass. I needed daily mass more than sleep or air. They say in the carseats until the sermon. Then they got breakfast, (granola bar and a sippy cup of milk.) At the “Our Father” they got our of the car seats to pray, walk up to communion and bless everyone with their perfect smiles. They still had calm left in them for the last few minutes of mass. :-) They were not in those carseats very often, but during shower time, or other instances of safety, they were worth their weight in gold.
Homeschooling is messy, but it works. We are formed in the furnace of family life and love.
Oh gosh, I love this. “We are formed in the furnace of family life and love.” Amen.
Not a mama of twins here (I have three kiddos ages 8, 11 and 13), but I just wanted to stop in and say that homeschooling in general is HARD. And we as homeschooling mamas should be giving ourselves permission to NOT BE PERFECT and not trying to live up to that idealistic vision in our heads (which has no margin for reality). It’s okay to admit that this is a daunting challenge we have undertaken, and sometimes it’s just flat out overwhelming. But it is also such a beautiful thing! We get to share ourselves (even the not so amazing moments) with our children and let them see how the refining of character is a lifelong journey. We can show them how to embrace the imperfections of life and enjoy the twists and turns we take on this path. Yes, homeschooling is difficult at times; ah, but what delight in others.
*talking to myself as well*
And to all the homeschooling mamas of twins…my hat is off to you! You are amazing!
Thank you for this, Jenni!
Yes, I loved what you said, Jenni. Thank you so much for the encouragement.
Thank you for this. I have twins (8), a five year old, and twins again (2). I can relate and needed to hear it. Thanks! !!
Oh my goodness. A friend just sent me a link to this post saying, “..thought of you. Hope it’s encouraging!”. Umm couldn’t be more perfect for me right now. I just started homeschooling a week ago with our oldest. She’s 5 and a half and starting kindergarten. I have a 4 year old son and twin girls who are 19 months old. Oh, and I’m 30 weeks pregnant with baby #5. The twins are at such a tough age right now. Wanting to do EVERYTHING, but not content to play by themselves AT ALL. I close the gate in the den so they will hopefully play in the playroom, but they just stand by the gate and scream the whole time. And when they are in the homeschool room with us, they want in my lap, or shove toys in my face and scream to get attention. Oiy!
Sooooo appreciate hearing your perspective. Thinking I will be checking back here regularly when I need reassurance that I’m not completely cray cray! :-) Thanks for the pep talk…
You’re not! Unless I am too. And that’s entirely possible. :)
A to the MEN. I waffled between laughing and tearing up reading this.
I’m off to hug my (now 7 years old!!) twin boys …. if I can escape the preschooler and toddler for a moment!
:)
Praying for you Sarah and myself as well. I don’t have toddler twins but I have a 2 and 4 yr old boy tornadoes. They make our homeschooling day with my 11 and 9 yr old loud and messy….but they also bring such joy and delight. Lots of tears and lots of love. I too listened to your talk with Cindy and it made me take a real hard stop on all school for the month of June. It has been hard on me because I feel so much pressure and guilt that my 11 yr old is behind in Math and my 9 yr old is still struggling to read. I really needed the break from school just to enjoy the swimming time and reading time together. Just enjoying each other. They grow so fast I keep telling myself to enjoy it.
Sounds delightful- and just like we’re doing here. :) I had no idea how badly I needed it!
I have just five children of corresponding ages to yours Sarah only I have a single where you have twins. Even without having twins the fifth child has tipped the balance for me and it is so hard! does that make me a lightweight?
Have you read” a squash and a squeeze” by Julia Donaldson? Reminds me of me me and babies. Each time I have another I see think of how “easy” it was when I had one less. Thought I might borrow a friends children for a few days so I when I gave them back my five would seem a breeze !
I haven’t read it– I’ll have to go hunt it down now. :)
Ha! About borrowing your friend’s children – when I was feeling quite overwhelmed a few months ago, that’s what my husband suggested – that for one week, I homeschool my own kids along with my friends kids and then go back to just my own 7 kids. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed after that.
The thing that makes the biggest difference for us is curriculum choice, a gentle predictable schedule and perspective. When my children were younger I could be involved in leading every subject and taking pride in that. The more children that came along, the more I realized I had to search out for programs that were strong and that I believed in. I didn’t need to recreate the wheel since there were already so many great programs out there! My 6 children are now ages (almost) 14, 12, 10, 7, 4.5 and 2.5.
I still have high goals and ideals for my children but I can also accept when I need to put the book down and pick it back up tomorrow without feeling behind or like a failure. The bottom line is that they are not going to remember what we were studying or reading about that day but they will remember that their momma put down what she was doing because they needed her.
Blessings, Kim
That’s a great point. High goals and ideals paired with a good handle on reality is the best mix, I think.
Which curriculum, might I ask? :)
Well:) we use Sonlight ( one core for the older ones and one for my younger ones), IEW for writing, MathUSee for math(!) and some Catholic Heritage Curricula for language/spelling/Pilgrims of the Holy Family. I chunk my older ones into the same group whenever I can too!
So I don’t have twins, but I do have a 1 year old and it has made our homschooling days (with my 13 and 11 year old) much harder than before I had her. Add on to it that I am a perfectionist and it is really hard. With that said, thank you for the post. I feel like a whiner saying it is hard with just one and only 3 kids but it is my reality.
Oh please don’t! I almost posted the same. I’m pretty much out of the woods with my twins, but my 2 year old ~ ugh! He really is a rouser and stuff is out of control. It’s hard and I still have to apply the same to the situation. God bless you and thankfully those big ones can help.
You are most certainly not a whiner! 1 year olds make homeschooling very… lively… no matter how many there are!
Oh, and Sarah, I love the picture of you with two babies on your lap while you look at a book with one of your big girls. I have so been there also. Too bad it only lasts about two minutes :)
Exactly. :)
I have some practical advice for the couch if it’s microfiber and you have water spots. Grab a spray bottle, fill it with rubbing alcohol and saturate any spots, doing a section at a time if it’s widespread. Then, take a clean sponge and scrub with some muscle. It comes out lush and beautiful when it dries.
I will be praying for you during this tough time. Always, the more we invest, the better the return. My 5 year old twins are amazing. They are simply amazing. My husband said that watching them grow up will make it all worth it.
That rubbing alcohol trick really works! I have used it before MANY times. :)
Wow- really? Can I pretty much do entire cushions, do you think? (ahem)
And… no diluting- just straight rubbing alcohol?
Yes, Straight rubbing alcohol and I have done whole cushions before. My kids are 9, 5 and twins are 4. I survived the toddler years and homeschooled. My couch hasn’t fared so well ;-) Hang in there.
Yes, I did my husband’s entire double wide recliner. No more microfiber for us! Embarrassing.
Thank you, Sarah, for writing this! I cried, because it’s so true. And thank you to the rest who have commented about toddler twins! The only person I know who tried to homeschool with twins put her kids in Catholic school, so I’m really glad to hear from people who have done it. You don’t know how glad…
That was me with the “hysterically funny and tragically frustrating.” My twins are 22mo, and my older kids are 4.5 and 7 (tomorrow).
For those who offered suggestions, I do have a mother’s helper for the summer, but it’s really, really hard finding help during the day during the week during the school year. Plus, I can only foist them off on somebody else for so long because they really just want me, and I can’t deny them that for they are the reason I’m home.
I keep hearing to relax about the homeschooling, but if we relax any further we’ll be unschooling, and I’m not sure I’m ready to go there. Seriously – six words to copy and one page in the math workbook and some read aloud time, that’s all I’m asking. And my poor 4yo stuck in the middle – his big sister gets my attention for school and the babies take what they need, but what he really wants is to cook or garden with Mom, but Mom’s always in a hurry in the kitchen and the garden and “not today, but you can watch.” “Mommy, I don’t want to watch – I want to help!”
Wow I really understand this kid in the middle thing. Mine are almost 6yo girl, 3.5yo boy, and 15mo girl. This past year I did kindergarten with my oldest and my youngest was 6 months old at the start of the school year. The girls really did need/take a lot of my attention and it was hard on my son, who was simply adjusting to being a middle child anyway. And, we only did about 40-60 mins of schoolwork 4 days a week! But with the baby taking two naps a day (or more, now it’s one) and only after her birthday being content to sleep on her crib–she napped in a carrier on me for her whole first year. Yeah. — it was hard on him. Recently I’ve devoted two nap times a week to solo time with my son (no chores, cleaning, computer or working out, some of which is what I normally try to do during nap time)– reading or playing whatever he wants. We started at the end of the school year and it seems to help a bit. I agree with the other commenter about a mother’s helper not always being the solution. They want me. And I want to figure out how to help everybody’s even if it isn’t perfect.
yes – how to help everybody even if it isn’t perfect.
I’m also trying hard to get solo time with my middle child. I used some of my precious mother’s helper time the other day to play Legos with him. Naptime is already our read-aloud time, and I always have something special for him first. My twins napped in my lap for nine months, and it was only around 15 months that we got a reasonable nap schedule with some baby-free time. Just in time because that was when we really began to need it!
Ha! I can understand the “if I relax anymore than I’ll be unschooling, and I’m not sure I’m ready to go there” because that’s me in a lot of ways, too. I like your idea of devoting a couple of naptimes a week to your older son. I wonder if I devoted one naptime each week to each of my big kids… that would be good! I need to think on that.
7 is really young. I think what you’re doing is probably plenty, because you can cover a lot at that age by reading aloud. Honestly, none of my 7 year olds (6 of them so far) have ever done much more than that. If your 7 year old reads, that’s a bonus; none of my 7 year olds have ever read (all of my kids were late readers), so we usually just kind of loosely did math in every day life and prioritized reading instruction. (I say “reading instruction” like it was a thing, but really it has always been me floundering through programs trying to find one that worked.)
I know what you mean about feeling bad about the 4.5 yo in the middle, though… I feel the same way about my 5 yo. I’m always in such a hurry when I cook that I haven’t done a good job of letting any of my kids into the kitchen much. I’d really like to figure out how to change that.
Thank you for the perspective, Angela! I think I needed somebody to tell me that 7 is still really young. She does read, voraciously, but she doesn’t really write yet… and while I know it will come, I see what the kids at our parish school are doing…
I’ve heard a few comment about the cooking participation think so I thought I would chime in to share what helped with us.
I don’t let them interrupt dinner prep (because then dinner would take forever!) but instead my kids help with the baking. That way they know they can learn/help with kitchen stuff but it’s in a way that is less overwhelming for me. So that’s bread, cookies, popcorn and any other healthy snack we might do like dehydrated snacks (but my dehydrator is packed right now). Just those. And not every day! The beauty of them helping with snacks is that it isn’t very frequent necessarily. Then when my oldest (a boy, 9) can do those all on his own start to finish we’ll bump things up (and he can be teacher too) and add more (I’m a little behind on this area of life skills with him, him being a boy and having littles….). This was way better than doing nothing or going crazy because there ware hot things on the stove and it was a zoo in our kitchen… (because babies get hurt in zoos without fences….) :)
Hi Sara,
i love all that you have to say and appreciate your honesty. i have 10 kids with twins being the first born. The twins are now 24 with 8 after that. i remember back in 1995 when i first started homeschooling and had so many little ones and was so stressed out. Now years later i have such wonderful memories of that time and wish i would of just enjoyed just “living life” Our last 2 kids are adopted, but are the same age so sometimes i still get just as frustrated and stressed as i did way back when. ( I am a slow learner!) All that to say, give yourself grace, dont beat yourself up over what you havent done because it is true…it goes by really fast. 5 of ours our graduated (i cry every time, it never gets easier) and i have 5 more to go that i thank God for. So hang in there and know this mom over here in southern California is rooting for you! p.s. i am so bummed there will be no more podcast this summer. Listening to you is like a B12 shot my friend……love, cristy eirich
This is gold. Thank you so much.
(And when the podcast comes back in August, it’ll be weekly. So… soon!) :)
I have 8 year old twin boys, a 4 year old girl, and a 6 month old girl. I’m know what you’re doing it is hard, because it was hard for me with my twin boys when they were toddlers and we were NOT even yet homeschooling. I can’t imagine trying to homeschool with toddler twins around. So just the fact you’re doing it has be applauding you! I think it’s hard homeschooling with just one infant, I know two are a challenge. My guys used to climb the piano, climb the stove (!?!) and had me climbing the walls! Ha! But such good times and such great pictures to treasure. Always stop to get a picture of the mess, it’s worth it! Even though my twins came first, it does get better and as you already know, it goes fast. Twins are a unique and amazing and fun and tiring experience. Try to enjoy it in the midst of the mess! I know it’s hard sometimes! :)
I love your advice to “always stop to take a picture of the mess, it’s worth it” because YES! Plus, I seem to be a calmer mother when I’m responding to a mess, after I’ve taken a picture of it. Looking through the lens gives me some perspective, or something.
Yes – I take pictures of the twins’ messes, too. I agree it makes me calmer and helps the situation seem more like a comedy than a tragedy. :)
Hi Sarah – Just happened upon your blog today. I have older kids now, but at one time I had a lot of littles at the same time. I can only say that it was a good thing they were cute and said hilarious things! Many times I thought I was insane for home schooling and many times I looked up the street a the school there and wondered what they would do if I just showed up at the door and said, “Here they are!! School them!!” I never did because whenever I came close to weakening something would happen that would show me how incredible home schooling is. God gave me goosebumps sometimes. It’s hard, lots doesn’t get done, there is NO easy fix for entertaining toddlers, and you just have to make it through!! But make it you shall and you will be so HAPPY you stuck it out. I have four in college now and three still at home and they have done great. We laugh about all the insane things: my oldest son even reminded me that one year in March he suggested that we just “call it a year” an d I actually considered it for a minute!
Thanks for this!
Yes, I echo Christine. Thank you so much for this, Denise. It’s so encouraging.
I don’t have twins. My kids are ages 7, 5, 4, 18 mo, 2 mo. It is so hard. Particularly with the last two close in age, it has really made it challenging to homeschool. My older two are at the learning to read stage which requires one on one time which is especially difficult to fit in in the chaos. But working on letting go of expectations and enjoying the ride!
The learning-to-read stage is the hardest to manage when there are littles about. It just takes so much of your time and attention! I know with my son, I let almost everything else go so that we could put 100% of the (little) time we had toward that endeavor. Because once they’re reading, EVERYTHING else is easier. You’re at the toughest part right now, I think.
These pictures are wonderful, Sarah! I appreciate this tiny glimpse into your days. My three year old was completely entranced as well and wanted to se a video of them in action *grin*
I will be keeping you and other moms with twins and lots of littles in my prayers!
Oh goodness, I’ll have to post a video soon. :) They are such a riot.
I have three little boys, ages 8,6, and 3. It’s the three-year-old that has made me tear my hair out when trying to have school. He’s an instigator and a distraction.
Have you considered preschool a couple of days a week? My in laws moved near us over a year ago, and they take my little guy two mornings a week for a couple of hours. This has been so wonderful. My guy gets the attention that his preschool heart craves on his level, and we can get enough done that I can keep from despairing on the other days.
He will grow up and become more able to be a part of what we’re doing with school. I see signs of that already. This is something that is just for a season, but I’m thankful that I have the help for this season.
Next year the twins will be 3 and Posy will be 4, and I think preschool would be a GREAT idea, especially for a couple of mornings a week so I could hit the more intensive subjects with my big kids. Right now, the twins are too little and Posy isn’t too tricky to keep an eye on, so I think it will be more helpful in about a year.
Good idea! :)
You moms with so many little ones are amazing. I only have one little one and twin fifth graders. But would you ever consider a babysitter for the littles for a few of the mornings in order to have some focussed school time? I keep seeing various people talk about read aloud and audio books when you are tired but how do you do that if you have a plan to get through x chapters of science or math or poetry or whatever subject? How do you get back to pushing forward and when do you make the distinction, because life with littles can put moms into the “when you need a break” category pretty regularly.
Yes! My littles are downstairs with a babysitter at this very moment while I grab a few minutes’ peace. :) I need to think about the best use of time for next year– what to do with my big kids when I have extra hands to help me with the toddlers.
(P.S. I’m not sure how others do it, but I tend to schedule my time, not my content. So rather than schedule ourselves to get through a certain number of chapters in a book, I’d schedule 20 minutes 3x/week for something, and we’d just get as far as we could. It keeps me saner to do things that way. Not sane. Just saner. ) :)
I am glad you are getting a moment’s peace :) Your kids are adorable. I love the idea of 20 minutes of a subject x times per week but I go back and forth between that concept and the urge to push forward with lessons in a particular curriculum. We are finishing out this year with 4 chapters (!) in our history curriculum left undone. And of course we did take some rabbit trails into other historical things during the year, so I realize we did learn something but I can’t help but feel stressed that we didn’t finish a particular curriculum. I start asking myself if my kids really “graduated” from 5th grade. So I guess I am trying to search for that happy medium between accomplishing everything on the list and having sanity in our schedule.
I *only* have four children…8, 6, 3 and 9months and spend much of my time feeling overwhelmed. I take my hat off to you, Sarah; that you can homeschool (in whatever form it takes – good days and bad days), blog and run ReadAloudRevival! You’re doing great and your realism is encouraging over here in my relatively small family. I love your messy day posts – makes me feel as strengthen in my homeschool walk as your super organised updates! Philippa in England.
“Only 4” makes me giggle. :) Four is quite a lot, you know! (and of course you know!)
Indeed! It’s all relative, I guess. :-)
Hi Philippa, are you in St Greg’s Pocket in the UK? I am over here too, I “only” have four children too! Haha!
I joined the pocket but not much activity has happened, but I am still hopeful…
Hi Rachel! St Greg’s pocket? I’ve not heard of that before. Do fill me in!
If you look on Like Mother Like Daughter (Leila Lawler’s Blog that she does with her daughters) you’ll find an explanation there. It is an attempt to link up Catholic mothers and there are a handful of us in the UK who read Leila’s blog who have signed up. I am near Manchester by the way, are you a Brit too or from elsewhere originally?
I just clicked over, reread that post, commented under Angela (yes! Exactly! She’s so right!) before reading most of this post and how much her comment helped you. It just is so hard. Thank you for saying so. You have older children to help some, but they also have more school work and activities. I wish I hadn’t been so hard on myself when mine were this age. Looking back, there is so much I *think* I’d do differently. One is combine more subjects. Another is gentle firm habit training for the olders as I could. An other is live in the moment.
It is hard to get up and pray or pray together. It is hard to read aloud. It does get easier, and harder. Right now all I have is honesty. No answers.
That’s really encouraging. It helps to be reminded that it does get easier in a lot of ways, and harder in others.
I think I could say that to a brand new twin mom. Those early weeks of sleep deprivation are OFF THE HOOK, and they are hard in the hardest way possible. It gets easier. And it gets harder. Because now? My twins can move of their own volition, and that’s a whole different kind of hard. :)
Combine more subjects, gentler & firm habit training, live in the moment. Good stuff, Amanda- thank you.
Yes, and right now it’s so physically demanding as you chase them about. And that will eventually calm down, though mine are super energetic and need lots of exercise or they will find trouble.
Things got easier with my twins when they learned how to read. At that point they would actually sit down sometimes ;-). And of course, it definitely made homeschooling easier. Nothing really compares to the first three months of having twins or that toddler period when they suddenly become mobile and are always trying to go in opposite directions, but I think that twins do always present challenges to us as parents that single kids don’t. My twins are 9 now, but I just figured out this year that I could *not* combine them for math or any other kind of seat work. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure that out, as our seat work sessions were always like a baseball team pizza party when everybody was at the table together, but when I finally put them into different books at different times, our mornings went a lot more smoothly. But it had never occurred to me to do that before because they were twins. It just seems like twins need a lot more out-of-the-box thinking.
Of course, sometimes it gets easier/harder in the sense that if you’re having a big family, your twins may not be “the end”. And I think that exhaustion can become cumulative and also surprising, especially when you hit the teen years with some of your kids while trying to also parent little guys. I think that the basic mom urge — whether most of your kids are little, big, or mixed ages — is to just keep trying to power through. But at some point, you have to stop and recharge. Raising a big family is like a marathon, and I think it’s probably helpful to think of it that way in terms of pacing yourself in order to make it through in one piece :-).
YES! My twins are #’s 8 & 9, and I have 3 teens. It is a stretch sometimes meeting the teens emotionally. I have also found it trying at times, especially when the twins were new, to deal with all the coming and going in my house due to my oldest 3 kids. Seriously, I developed a twitch in my eye due to exhaustion- even though i was getting some sleep!
I love having babies with teens in the house, it reminds me that they were once so little. It helps me to love them more ;) The teens are also comforted by the babies. Nothing compares to the unconditional love of a baby, especially when you are an emotionally out of sorts teen haha!
Alison
Mom to 9dc
Oh, this post made me laugh and cry,,,,, It is hard because it is hard. Oh, thank you for that affirmation,,,,, and the reminder to let go of the little things. I keep meaning to ask you about that book you were reading,,, The Large Family book, because I am desperate to figure this out –
The twin (or multiples) thing is something you get only if you have lived it,,,, like most things,,, Day in and day out 24/7 with no respite from the laundry, the need for groceries, the shoes that don’t fit,,,,,,, While my twins are a little older, and I no longer worry about them breaking out their bedroom window and going to the park,,,, or drowning in the pool (for the most part), they are still loud, DIRTY, bouncing off one another, vying for that spot on my lap, vying to say prayers with me first, needing one on one attention for phonics, etc.
And I long for that guide and encouragement, thank you Angela for your comments and insight! And Sarah, who is the patron saint of twins, perhaps we should be praying up a storm to that one?!?! God bless you sweet woman!
It was Large Family Logistics– unfortunately, I think it’s out of print. It’s good, though I admit that I’m starting to seriously doubt that what I need is any certain “system.” I think I’ll do better by creating a good-enough flow for our day and then bathe the whole lot of it in grace, realizing that it’s not supposed to run smoothly or look tidy. :)
Saint Cosmos and Saint Damian- pray for us!
My kids are 10.5, 8.5, 6.5, 4 and 11 months. I agree that it’s less about the “perfect” system and more about a flow. I’ve found that me being disciplined is most important…going to bed at a reasonable time and then getting up with alarm BEFORE the kids, having a dinner plan, and being diligent in making sure the kids pitch in and help with chores. We listen to books on CD in the car everywhere we go and at “rest time” (read mom’s sanity saver) the kids listen to audio books or read to them selves if they are able. No matter if you have single or twin toddlers, they are a tough crowd!! We used more workbooks this year than I prefer (from Seton and CHC) because I can’t do it all as I would like without losing my mind. The kids like the independence! Looping has helped and Saxon Math with Dive CD’s to do the teaching. Not to mention the assignment notebooks!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! It’s hard to let go when you’re brimming with more ideas than time to implement them. Hugs and prayers for you and all the readers especially the 5 and under crowd!!!
I have a friend who homeschools her 5 children, including 12 year old twins with special needs. She constantly tells me when I run to her for advice that routines don’t work – a rhythm does. She has a rhythm for her day, not a routine. It’s been immensely helpful to me in thinking about my day.
Weren’t St Benedict and St Scholastica twins??
Yes! There is a children’s book called “The Holy Twins” that is about Scholastica and Benedict.
Thank you for this! My b/g twins will be 2 yrs old next month. I started homeschooling our then kindergartner (now second grader), when they were 2 1/2 months old. Staying consistent with School has been our biggest challenge. I ALWAYS feel behind, on everything. I basically do damage control all day long! If I can get anything else done, its a major win! I love the idea of looping , and This year I’m giving myself a “grace year” allowing myself to go with the flow and rest, Focus more on people rather than tasks or schedules. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that I have twin toddlers, and our homeschool is going to look drastically different from someone who doesn’t. We are louder, messier, a little less structured and a lot more chaotic. But, Jesus and these crazy twins have been working on this planning, task oriented mama and I’m gradually becoming more and more ok with that!
I love this comment, Ashtyn, the whole lot of it. But especially:
“our homeschool is going to look drastically different from someone who doesn’t. We are louder, messier, a little less structured and a lot more chaotic…”
I think a big part of myself finding peace is just being content with that reality. It’s hard, but it’s good!
We have baby twins. #6 and 7. The other 5 are between 2 and 12. The babies are 4 months. It was a tough pregnancy and recovery. After a previously productive two years, we only finished 40% of our work. Ouch.
And it sounds like we have more fun times ahead. Love your blog and honesty.
There are four children under four in our home right now. We’ve never had so many littles, and two are newborns!
WOW. And I thought my “3 under 2” was a lot. Audio books. That’s how I’m thinking you’re going to get through your next chunk of time. :)
Well, 3 under 2 is a whole lot! We do love our Scribd membership!
What is a Scribd membership?
Scribd is a membership site/app. $10/month gives you unlimited access to their collection of ebooks and streaming audiobooks. They have a LOT.
I love finding those further down the path too! And that is getting harder as my oldest hits high school this fall.
I have no twins. However I have a full house of children – we just found out the gender for baby #9 yesterday. Son #7 is on his way! His two sisters are so outnumbered. This will be my 6th boy in a row. When he is born this fall (yep, during the homeschool year) my children will be the following ages:
14 (girl)
11 (boy)
9 (girl)
8 (boy)
6 (boy)
4 (boy)
3 (boy)
2 (boy)
newborn (boy)
It’s back to four boys age 4 and younger again.
The homeschooling advice I share with others:
1. Multi level teaching is essential. Anything you can teach to more than one of your children at a time is a help. An example – next fall instead of teaching separate science lessons to each child I have the 9th grade high schooler doing Apologia Biology. The next closest child in age will be 5th grade. He and the rest of the children will do God’s Design for Science (the green books this year, Plants, Human Body, and Animals) all together as a group with momma.
2. Character training and chore training are more important than academics! Get those hearts close and point them to God. Then put those little hands to work caring for the family to lighten your load. My job is to work myself out of a job. If I’m still doing most of the housework, cooking, and laundry then I’m not doing my job. I need my promotion to manager and trainer – I oversee, I come alongside to teach and show children how to do the work, and I praise liberally.
3. Read aloud – and use audio books when you need a break. One good book read together and discussed can be a full day of learning and inspire us to explore more truth, goodness, and beauty that is related to something we read.
4. Enjoy every moment, laugh often, and keep the wonder alive.
Love all of this, Tristan. You are such an inspiration to me!
I want to say that I *might* be done with my paper bag breathing soon? At least nobody has flooded the bathroom in a couple of weeks… And when they pee in their underwear, at least they do it in the yard where I don’t have to clean it up! But yeah, dealing with toddler twin terrors + the sleep deprivation from a baby + two older kids with actual needs that they mostly have to take care of on their own… It’s been rough. Prayer, grace, and coffee help. And a community of twin moms who’ve been there or are in the trenches, because sometimes you just need to vent to somebody who gets it!
Oh Sarah, your photos make me smile so much. Every time I see a picture of your sweet twins conspiring together, I just giggle. My favorite today is the one where they have removed the vent cover and are looking down the hole (hopefully not for something they dropped???). Your family is so precious, what a joyful, exciting life you lead!
yes – older kids needing to meet their needs on their own. I alternate between guilt that they had to grow up so fast and pride in them that they are able to be so independent.
I definitely understand the older kid angst! I like to tell myself (and them) that they are so lucky to have all these babies to love on. Ahem. It’s true! It just might not seem that way when I toss a “make your own lunch. I think there’s watermelon somewhere in the kitchen?” over my shoulder as I’m schlepping babies upstairs for their naps.
Love your post and your honesty! I have 5 children from 19 to 3. Yes, the 3 year old has been a huge blessing and huge challenge to homeschooling as well. It does get easier. This too will end. Don’t feel guilty about “make your own lunch” days. All mine have been “make your own lunch days” for years. As soon as they can make a sandwich, run the microwave, and use the toaster oven, they are on their own. The kids are learning great kitchen skills in the process!
My name is Sara and I have 8 month twin boys, a 3 year old girl and an 8 year old girl… I am homeschooling or “trying” to homeschool my eldest one :/ I just had major abdominal surgery after the pregnancy I had :/ life has been chaotic but so glad I found this blog to read all these stories… thank you for the encouragement.
I am not sure how I will get through what is left of homeschooling my third grader but may the Lord give me strength.
Did any of you have a succesful homeschooling at the end of the road?
Hi Sarah! I’m 29 and I have five children and a baby boy due this October. Their ages are 5, 4, 3 , 2 and 1. There’s not that much actual ‘schooling’ that goes on, but when I do try to even read aloud, it can be a little chaotic! Often they’ll all fight over which book I should be reading, someone is having a meltdown on the floor, someone needs a diaper change, someone is hungry. Seems it’s always something and yes, it can be really really hard at times. Sometimes, it’s great and I can read a story just about everyone agrees on or I can practice reading with my five year old (at least for a few moments)! Usually though, it’s just loud and very busy around here. I love all these precious babies, but like you said, sometimes things like prayer, reading, and cooking can be really hard to find the right moments. Praying for you! Please pray for me!
You got it, Kari. :) And thank you for your prayers!
Wow! How do you get through the fighting over toys and for your attention? I have a 2 year old and 1 year old and they are always fighting over the same toy!
Yes, yes, yes a 100 times. My twin boys, Alistair & Emerick, are the same age as yours. I’m exhausted & angsty often even though they are an enormous delight. I NEEDED this. Your words are so true that it’s as if you took notes from my head & then just threw it up on the blog. I have three boys 5 & under & my days are just so very, very physical & loud. And that’s ok. I love my guys tremendously. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m over the moon grateful for being at home with them….BUT I need to stop thinking about other moms’ situations & how they don’t know what’s it’s like & how it would be easier if I had three singletons. None of that thinking is getting me anywhere. Whew. Got that all out there. So grateful for you, Sarah. Thank you for writing this!
You are in an especially tough situation, Ashley, because your oldest is only 5! I don’t know how you do it!!!
(And anyway, anyone without twins doesn’t QUITE know what it’s like. So it’s okay to think that, I figure. A lady recently suggested to me- when I expressed frustration about the twins pulling all of the books off the shelves- that I just teach them not to do that. I think I may have stared blankly in return.)
I don’t even have twins and I gave up on “teaching them”. I just moved the shelf and used a basket and the floor (mostly the floor).
Beahahahahhahaah!!! I remember having dinner with my 3 boys who are now 4, 3, and 1 and my grandmother and it was noisy, as usual, and I smile and said ‘some day it we’ll have a quiet dinner again’ and she said ‘you can have one now! Just takes discipline.’ And I just stared blankly at her. What?! Then I remember her kids were 6 years apart and one of them was quiet naturally. I don’t have any naturally quiet kids…I love my Grandma to peices, and usually anything she says is gold, but no. I could have a lot of miserable people at the table, or we can have a loud and boisterous dinner. BLESSED WITH BOYS!!
LOLOL I would have stared blankly, too! My twins used to take all the books out of the bookcase and then one of them would take out the shelves, so that we would actually, literally have to put the entire bookcase back together. Several times a day. I think they were about 18 months old and I was very, very pregnant. (And you know, that K-cup picture? There were no K-cups when my twins were little, but another of my kids collected them when he was about 3 to use in his toy kitchen and I cannot tell you how many times I would find coffee grounds smashed into the carpet even after I *thought* I had grabbed all of those things and thrown them in the trash.)
Anyway, Sarah, I was very humbled to see my comment pop up on your blog, because I certainly don’t feel like a wiser mom – I’m still in the trenches figuring all of this out, too — but I’m glad if something I said could help! :-).
Hang in there…
“It feels so hard because it is so hard.” Such a basic statement, but very true. A friend called me out of the blue a few months ago to say more or less the same thing: “I just want to encourage you that if life is challenging and it feels like a huge amount of work having so many little ones, it’s not because you’re doing something wrong. It’s just because it IS hard and that’s ok!”
I was homeschooled from 1st Grade through highschool graduation and plan to homeschool our kids, but our twins are not yet school age. I have so much respect for you for educating older kids while parenting lots of littles at the same time. It’s a lot of work even without the homeschooling element! We have twin two year olds, a just-turned one year old and our fourth due in just a week or two. Four kids two and under (two with mild special needs) is a lot! The only other person I know who has had four kids two and under is my friend with quadruplets. She’s my encouragement when things get very hard and I need a picture of the future – she came through with flying colors and her herd of tinies are now a smart delightful pack of 14 year olds.
What a treasure of a friend you have. I’ll be praying for you in these final weeks of pregnancy, Sarah! :)