It may sound like a lot of code words when you’re just starting out in the homeschooling world, but once you learn about organizing your day around couch time and table time – you’ll be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner! This is one homeschool mom hack that you’ll want to consider if you don’t already. It really will simplify your life and make homeschooling much more enjoyable for everyone.
My posts contain affiliate links.
Homeschool Scheduling Challenges
Once you have more than one child in the homeschool mix, things get a bit more challenging. Instead of having one child that needs to be taught history, you now have two, or three, or four or more! And instead of just one kid that needs to learn his math facts, you now have multiple – and they’re all at different levels! Plus, you might even have a baby or toddler that has their own schedule.
So, what’s a homeschool mom to do?
My best tip is to organize your homeschool day around couch time and table time.
Homeschool Couch Time & Table Time
If you can think of your homeschool subjects as being in one of two buckets, it will greatly simplify your planning and efficiency.
The two types of subjects are couch subjects and table subjects.
Couch subjects are the content subjects that multiple ages can study together. These are your group-friendly subjects that you can do together on the couch. This would include things like history, science, art appreciation, read-aloud, Bible, Bible memory or catechism, foreign language (at the younger years). The couch subjects are included in what many families call morning time.
Table subjects are the individual subjects where students study at their own skill level. Table subjects include math, language arts (phonics, grammar, writing), and handwriting.
As you can tell by the names, the couch subjects work well with everyone on the couch learning together. It can be a wonderfully cozy time to learn together – even with toddlers and babies in the mix!
Table subjects are best done at the kitchen table, for example, where each person can focus individually on those core subjects that need tackled at their own level. If everyone works at the table, mom can then navigate around and help everyone as needed during table time.
Homeschool Mom Hack
So a homeschool mom hack is something that will simplify your homeschooling – and this will! If you’ve never considered how you could possibly homeschool multiple kids with varying levels of learning, then organizing your day around couch time and table time is a great start.
If you can organize your day into two main parts (couch time and table time), then it really takes the overwhelm out of figuring out how to fit it all in – especially if you have lots of kids.
Plus, you can more easily homeschool multiple ages together when you use couch time and table time scheduling.
Listen to the Podcast – Homeschool Couch Time & Table Time
On episode 249 of the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast, we talk through this life-changing homeschool mom hack of organizing your homeschool around couch time and table time subjects.
More Homeschool Scheduling Help
Need more homeschool scheduling help? Check out these blog posts and podcast episodes.
