The Joys and Challenges of Homeschooling Many Kids
BY Anelle Richardson
I can still clearly remember my adamant insistence in high school that I didn’t want any children. Even after my husband and I got married, I first said only one child, then two. And here we are: Eight children later, and so grateful that God’s plan for us was different. My first introduction to a large homeschool family in real life was a sweet missionary family where the mom had 11 children and her daughter and son-in-law had 5. I, astonished, rudely shared my opinion that that was CRAZY. Both of them were so gracious and told me that they are so grateful for their family and were blessed. More than a decade later, I tracked them down through a friend of a friend of a friend to apologize for my harsh words, and we laughed over God’s sense of humor, since at that point, we had 6 children with a 7th on the way.
My husband and I met in college, fell in love, got married after we finished studying, and set out on a great adventure to backpack Europe for 4.5 months. Quite adventurous, but nothing could have prepared us for the large family homeschooling homesteading lifelong adventure that we embarked on after that and are still navigating with God at the helm.
It has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs (definitely more ups than downs), and I have found buckets full of truth in the statement, shared wistfully by moms of grown children, that the days are long, but the years are short. We have 8 children: Seven boys, now ages 27-16, and one girl, age 13 (or as she says: “almost 14”). And no, we didn’t stop because we “finally got a daughter”. We homeschooled in South Africa, Canada, and have been here in Texas for the past almost 6 years and we’re about to enter our 25th year of homeschooling. We love it here and, God willing, would love to stay here forever. Our children, still at home, certainly consider themselves Texan!
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
We started our homeschooling journey shortly after our second child was born. At that point, we still thought that we would only have two children, and I threw myself into researching the best curriculum, the best way to teach children, etc., etc., etc. Our poor guinea-pig eldest was, at the age of 2, thrown into the deep-end of his mother’s enthusiasm and quest for greatness. As our family grew, our vision for homeschooling changed. When we started out as unbelievers and planned only two children, our goal was to raise exceptional academic, hot-housed children who could regulate their emotions and be a benefit to society, but exceptional first and foremost. This changed as we started walking with the Lord and our family grew. Although, we definitely still wanted the last two goals, hot housing went out the window (thank goodness!), and there was a shift from “exceptional academic children” to a strong foundation in academics, focusing on their strengths and helping them conquer their weaknesses, so that they could do anything God called them to do in the future.
We want to raise children who are resilient, who stand for what is right, and who grow to be contributing members of society
After much prayer and discussion between Trevor and I, our homeschool mission was crafted: We endeavor to lead our children to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind and to love their neighbor, including their family, as themselves. We commit to working with them to love learning and to have a strong academic foundation, so they’re equipped to do whatever God calls them to. We want to raise children who are resilient, who stand for what is right, and who grow to be contributing members of society. When I started homeschooling in South Africa in 2000, homeschooling was in its infancy, with it only being legal for 2 years at that point. Those were the days of not taking your children out during school hours, few support groups and co-ops, and not a lot of curricula available, especially in South Africa. I am so grateful that we met an amazing group of homeschoolers who love the Lord and shared with us faithfully. The one thing all these mamas told me was that with many little ones, it would be wise to combine some of our learning to learn together as a family.
They were correct, and we were so blessed to come across Five in a Row, a curriculum that immediately spoke to my love for reading good books. As our family grew, it turned out that unit studies that we could do together as a family were definitely the right way to go! We have continued some form of that over the years. I was a little (okay, a lot) sad when we put away the Beyond Five in a Row when our youngest outgrew it, but unit studies still play a huge role in our homeschooling. This year, with only 3 of our children still being homeschooled, we are planning to continue studying Logic together and adding World Geography. I can’t wait! Some of my favorite memories of homeschooling lie in reading with our children. In the early years, we would have the children do a quiet activity while I read aloud to them. The older ones would soon forget whatever they were doing and become engrossed in adventures of times gone by or in lands far, far away, the middles would listen and play, and the little ones would become increasingly louder until I had to remind them to be quieter. I love that our children, grown and almost grown, still remember the stories we read and the lessons we learned. I was pretty careful in choosing our reading material because I wanted our children to have examples of siblings treating each other well, people following God’s calling, those who overcame adversity, and walked in integrity.
I want to make it clear that there is NO perfection here
In a large family, it is imperative for our children to be teammates and not rivals. I cannot begin to count how many times we read Bible verses pertaining to brotherly love, and 1 Corinthians 13 was read over and over and over again. I love how that carried over to chore time (most of the time) and building a servant heart, not only towards their many siblings but also leading to opportunities to volunteer and reach out to those in our community. It looks different today with our children sharing in different ways and us only occasionally volunteering all together as a family, but I am grateful that these lessons stuck.I want to make it clear that there is no perfection here. There isn’t always song and dance (thank goodness, as some members of our family are fairly musical, but the others not so much… I’m included in the latter group), everyone isn’t always kind, the reality is that chore time can still sometimes be a struggle. Wherever many people dwell together, sometimes they just get on each other’s nerves. And sometimes I’m just tired and don’t want to deal with heart issues, only to be reminded to not grow weary of doing what God has called us to do. Living with so many personalities sure builds character. I remember a specific time when two of our children shared a room. One was (and still is) a person who needs a little more time to “become human” in the mornings, the other woke up with joy in his heart and a song on his lips.
Some of my favorite memories of homeschooling lie in reading with our children
It made sense for them to share a room in our home, especially since no-one was getting their own room at that point, but it took many teaching and learning opportunities for them to figure out a way to co-exist happily for that first hour of the morning. Finding a daily rhythm that worked for us required, and continues requiring, adjustment as we go. Whenever in doubt, I go back to the homeschool mission statement to remind myself what is most important and how to adjust things to stay the course. Sometimes it is trial and error, and especially as the children are getting older, some are graduating, and some are moving out, our homeschool and life planning look different In the early years, for example, we read children’s Bibles during evening family devotions, and then we suddenly had children who needed more than a children’s Bible.
So after reading the basic kid version, we would read from the Word and dig deeper with the older ones while the younger ones colored or drew. As the age range grew, we still had family devotions with something for the younger ones and “middles”, and then, once the little ones were in bed, getting more in-depth with the others. Now, with all teens and young adults still at home, we have family devotions in the morning before my hubby goes to work, since evening activities mean that not everyone is home most evenings. As a young mom, I was completely unprepared for parenting, but even more so in raising a large, Christian, homeschool family. I felt like everyone else had it all together. It was during this time that an online friend (if you’re old enough, you may remember the yahoo groups where you would get an email digest of discussion once a day 😀 Yes, I’m that old…) sent me a DVD of a recording of a show they watched in the US: The Duggars’ “14 Kids and Pregnant Again”. Oh, the children were so well behaved, the mom spoke in this sweet, kind voice and never seemed to lose her temper, they all sat around their table happily learning, and her husband seemed so involved in everything they did. I felt like this was what we had to strive for. Trevor wasn’t so enamored by this family as I was. He reminded me that we saw only a small snippet that was heavily edited. Between God, Trevor, and real-life families, I realized that I only needed to emulate Christ. I reflected recently that it is no different today for anyone doing anything outside the norm: The medium has just changed to social media, where we get sucked into the “what looks perfect” when it really isn’t.
If I could do it all over again, I would choose the same, but I would have read more books, sweated the small stuff less, and sang off-key with them more. Because, truly, the days are long, but the years are short
When we had 6 children, we moved from our homestead in South Africa to Canada. I was totally unprepared for the cold, and moving into the city into a smaller house and a tiny yard was hard. The upside was that there were lots of homeschoolers, and getting involved with the homeschool community helped tremendously with making friends. One of my dearest friends from Canada is another large homeschool mama, who really encouraged me tremendously, as we entered the teen years. Within a year, we realized that we needed more space. We moved out of the city, and although we didn’t homestead (couldn’t imagine doing it with the extreme winters), we had some land and a little more breathing room.
After a little over a year in Texas, we were forced to move as our landlord was selling our rental home. It is a story for another day, but God provided the perfect homestead for us, and it is here where we live life and homeschool as a family today. We added rabbits, chickens, sheep, pigs, cattle, and goats to the mix. We started a small business making all-natural goat milk soap and other products, and love that our children are a part of it in various ways. I always tell them that we’re like those old agricultural families that had dozens of children to do all the farm work… they don’t find my joke as funny as I do!
Looking back, I’m so grateful that God had other plans for us. I can’t imagine what life would have been like with only 2 children and living in the city, the way I had planned it. I’m grateful that we can teach our children about God throughout the day, can be on this educational journey with them, can raise our own food, and live life with the people dearest to my heart. We miss my older kids desperately, but I’m so thankful for the years we had together as a homeschool family. If I could do it all over again, I would choose the same, but I would have read more books, sweated the small stuff less, and sang off-key with them more. Because, truly, the days are long, but the years are short
This article first appeared in the Fall 2025 (September) issue of Texas Homeschool Magazine.
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Anelle Richardson
Anelle has been married to her husband, Trevor, for 28 years and is mom to eight children — seven boys and one girl. Nearly 25 years into homeschooling, she has taught her family across South Africa, Canada, and now Texas. What began as a life she never planned has become one she wouldn’t trade — full of faith, family, and the beautifully imperfect rhythms of homeschooling and homesteading.