How to: Family School with Your Speller
Lately our crew of four kids (ages 6, 8, 10, and 12) has been doing something we call family school—and it has completely changed our homeschool days. It started out of pure desperation. I needed a simpler rhythm. Fewer transitions. Less pulling materials for four different kids every hour without sacrificing real learning.
And somehow… it turned into what I can only describe as literal magic.
Each day we do one subject together, and we’ve started using Dare to Homeschool Your Speller Units as our whole-family anchor. If you’re thinking, “Wait… how does that work with a speller and siblings at different levels?” I get it. That was my question too.
So here’s exactly what we do—and how you can try it in your own home.
The Key to the Magic: Start With Intentional Motor
Before we watch, read, or “do school,” we start with something that sets everyone’s nervous system up for success: intentional motor.
Right now, our go-to is weighted ball slams, plus a few reflex integration activities. All the kids do this. Not just the speller. Not just the child who’s “wiggly.” All of them.
Because here’s what I’ve found: when we begin with heavy work and organized movement, everything afterward goes smoother—attention, regulation, participation, even mood.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re talking a few minutes. Quick, purposeful, consistent.
Here are the exact exercises we’re using this month:
Then We Watch the Videos + Listen to the Read-Aloud (Together)
After motor, we move into the shared content: the unit videos and the read-aloud.
Most days, my kids are not sitting still at a table for this.
They’re in the lycra swing. They’re bouncing on a yoga ball. They’re coloring. Building with blocks. Rolling around on the floor. Half the time it looks like nobody is paying attention.
But here’s the thing: my spellers rarely look at the screen. They rarely look like they’re “listening.”
They are.
Trust me.
If you have a speller, you already know that attention can look very different than what we were taught to expect. Listening while moving is still listening. Learning while regulating is still learning. And when I stopped fighting that, our days got so much better.
Next: Hands-On Activities That Everyone Can Do Their Own Way
After we watch and listen, we do the hands-on activity from the unit. This is one of the biggest reasons these units work for our whole family: the activities are built to be accessible, flexible, and actually engaging.
This is where “family school” becomes truly inclusive.
For example, if the activity requires writing:
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my typical learners might write answers on paper
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my spellers might spell the answers
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or point to options on a whiteboard
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or choose from choices I’ve written in bigger print
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and sometimes (depending on motor control that day) they’ll copy the answer afterward
And the best part? Everyone is doing the same topic—just at their own access point.
Hands-on projects, matching games, mini board games, and interactive activities show up often in our unit routines, and they’re not random “busy work.” They’re chosen on purpose to support learning and participation for different kinds of learners, but especially spellers.
Last: The Spell Lesson (Customized by Age + Ability)
Then we wrap up with spelling.
Spelling can look radically different between a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old—and it can even change day to day depending on regulation and motor control.
Here’s what it looks like in our house:
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For my 6-year-old, spelling might mean 3–6 words, depending on her motor control that day.
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For my 12-year-old, we usually do 2–3 paragraphs of spelling. My goal is 4 paragraphs a day, but we’re building up to that.
While I’m doing spelling with my spellers, I keep my typical learners busy with something independent—often a copywork/cursive page connected to the unit topic, or another “on your own” school task or burning some energy in the play room. That way, everyone is engaged and I’m not juggling four totally different needs at once.
“But What About Individual Subjects?”
Great question—and yes, we still do individual skill work.
In addition to family school, each child also does math and language arts at their own level. In our house, my spellers use Dare to Homeschool Your Speller’s math and language arts units.
Family school doesn’t replace everything. It anchors our day.
It gives us shared learning, shared conversation, shared experiences… and honestly, more joy than I expected. Everyone is more regulated when we start with family school.
Why This Works (Especially for Spellers)
If I could boil it down, I’d say this:
Family school works because it’s built around access and quality time.
We start with regulation.
We learn together through rich input (videos + read-aloud).
We make learning tangible with hands-on work.
We finish with spelling that’s individualized and doable.
Want to Try This in Your House?
If this sounds like the kind of homeschool rhythm you’ve been craving—one that includes your speller and keeps siblings learning together—you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to test it.
The easiest way to try family school is with a short, done-for-you unit that already includes everything you need: the shared content, the hands-on activities, and the spelling support that can flex for different ages and abilities.
That’s why I recommend starting with our 5-Day Winter Olympics Mini Unit.
It’s a perfect “trial run” because it’s:
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short enough to feel doable (just 5 days)
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exciting enough to hook a wide age range
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structured in a predictable routine (motor → watch/read → hands-on → spelling)
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designed so spellers can participate meaningfully
You can use it exactly the way we do: one subject together each day, kids engaging in their own way.
If you want to see what “family school” can look like in real life, start there. Try it for five days. Keep it simple. Let everyone learn together. Then decide what you want to do next.
Learn more about Winter Olympics Mini Unit HERE
P.S. right now you can get $10 off the Winter Olympics unit using coupon code: WINTER10
