Combining a bright 4yo and avg. 6yo...

[Sue G in PA]

That sounds horrible, I know, but by my adjectives of bright and average I am not making a judgement call on my kids...just trying to describe the situation better :) I have dd4 who already knows her letters and sounds and can sound out CVC words fairly well. I had planned to do MFW K with her b/c I already have it. Ds6 knows most of his letters and sounds, can copy short sentences, write his name but does not read well at all yet. He can sound out some CVC words but it is difficult for him. I want to combine these 2 as much as possible. My four oldest are going back to ps so I will only have the 4yo, 6yo and my toddler at home. Should I/could I put the 6yo in MFW K w/ the 4yo, focus on getting him "up to speed" in reading and wait until next year to do something like HOD's Little Hearts? That is my gut instinct. I don't want to overwhelm myself or him and he really must focus on the basics this year. All else at this age (for him) is gravy. I figure we can get in some basic History through books (read alouds), do some map skills, history, science,etc. through the books in FIAR (which I would like to incorporate). Does this sound like a plan? I don't think MFW K would be too easy for him. I also plan to add some ETC books b/c he does like them. Any advice? Thanks.

[Aurelia]

You know your children best and if you feel that's the best plan for them, then definitely do it. I think you would be doing more harm if you just tried to push the older one through something he isn't ready for just because of his age.

[lapsetmom]

I think it sounds great! I do a lot together with my soon to be 4th grader and 2nd grader, and it works well for both. It makes learning so much more enjoyable for them when they get to do things together.

[FO4UR]

I've got a very bright 4yo who is *almost* at level with my 6yo in many areas.

:lurk5:

[Ester Maria]

It depends on how sensitive are your children, particularly the one you're "slowing down" with to study together with a younger sibling. Two years is not a big difference, but the older one's ego might be a bit hurt, he might feel less special or smart and take it negatively. At the same time, the younger one might feel pressured to do things above her grade level, and feel bad if she fails at understanding something quickly.

 

My daughters are less than a full year apart (which gets crazy every year in that small period, less than a month, in which they're same age), which is a really small difference, but yet I feel it's important for the older one to know that she's a grade above (even though we don't strictly stick to the grade level materials, and they're both technically a year or two ahead).

Math is the only subject they really fully do together, but that's because they both get it perfectly and have no problems with it, and the younger one has an extreme interest in math and wants to do stuff beyond her grade level, while the older one doesn't care about it, so they do it together (plus the younger one does some extra stuff for her own joy and with dad). For everything else, they never do stuff fully together, because the older one's ego can't stand it. They're okay with discussing stuff and casual chats, but not with going through the identical materials on the same level, even though the younger one could catch up with her sister in most of it, even all of it, if needed.

 

I wouldn't call any of my daughters average - they're both very intelligent, actually, and have always done more, and better, and deeper - but they certainly could do the most together, even the whole curriculum, they could work together with no problems, but I don't want to hurt my older kid's feelings (she's such a sensitive child!) and make her feel "less smart", or to pressure too much the younger one. They sometimes read the same books, but that's the most I'll get. Even if I do the same material with the younger one (esp. in science, my younger daughters seems more science-oriented while my older one is totally humanities-oriented), I can't do it while they're both together, or the older one sinks down (she won't say anything out of politeness while her sister is there, but I totally get she doesn't like it). So we handled it the way that the younger one does extra stuff with her dad, stuff she's specially interested in and more math, and doing stuff with dad somehow doesn't count as "learning" in their eyes, so it's okay and nobody feels hurt. At the same time, I do more literature with the older one one-on-one.

 

So... I don't know. For me, it doesn't work without hurting one child. For some other people, I've seen it working wonderfully and kids enjoy it. In my house it only creates tensions and depression, cause I have one beautiful, smart and soooo sensitive and insecure child so I need to be extra careful with her and make her feel special enough to have her own "grade".

[Sue G in PA]

Okay, that is something to consider. My 6yo got extremely upset last year when lil sis was shouting out answers to "his questions" before he could. I had to finally separate them so she wouldn't upset him. I want him to feel smart, because he is. I want my 4yo to keep her motivation for learning. Perhaps I need to revamp this a little bit. He could participate in the science, art, music to MFW K but do a different LA/phonics. He has a math book to use already and dd4 will simply do the math in MFW K. Hmmm...back to the drawing board. Thanks for mentioning that possible obstacle b/c I do have a feeling it will be.

[ElizabethB]

You could try Webster's Speller with your 6 year old and also have him "help" the 4 year old with her phonics. Then, he would be spending more time on what he needs to work on and also feeling helpful. I would also have a few words during the 4 year old's lesson where the 4 year old is the only one allowed to answer.

 

You could have them both watch the talking letter factory to get the sounds down.

 

The 2 letter syllable blends in Webster's Speller are easier to learn than CVC words but will eventually be useful in 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 syllable words. Also, someone having difficulty learning often benefits from learning to spell, it gets the info into their brain better and is just a deeper level of learning, as they are learning both decoding and encoding instead of just decoding.

[campmom]

I have a 6 year old and 4 year old and what you have described is exactly what I am going to do with my 2 this year. I considered MFW 1 but decided on K, I will move on into more ETC 1 when we finish the Get ready books. We are also using SWR, and I'm going to do Right Start A along with Abeka 1st grade math ( because I have it) I also am going to add some Living Learning Books Science level 1 the units that go along with mfwk scince topics, & Fiar. We are going to make a sort of mini lapbook for each topic because I really wanted a way to organize the work they are going to do. I'm very excited about the year. I always try to praise each childs strong qualities and I don't compare them. There are some things my 4yr can do better than the 6 yr. But there are all some things the 6 yr can do better. Somehow we manage to keep a balance and have not had any problems so far. ( we did prek/k together last year. Also I'm not going to call it k- call it 1st if you want , call it k/1 thats what I'm doing. It fits everybodys needs that way.

[campmom]

I just wanted to add that my boys are 15 months apart they know one is older than the other - but I"m not sure they know that one should be in a different "grade" than the other because I have always done everything with them together, part of the reason I homeschool is for the relationships it forms between siblings. This past year when my 6yr old needed to move ahead and the 4 yr didn't I just moved ahead with the 6 but never made an issue of it. The 4 yr old just sort of listened in- then one day he just started reading the same stuff and was caught up. I will continue to customize their learning as needed while still "schooling" together. I hope that makes some sort of sense.

[KathyBC]

This is exactly what we've been doing: combining eager-beaver little sister with late-bloomer older brother. He's quite a bit ahead with math and science so we keep those separate. We do history/geography, Bible and L.A. together. She's passed him in reading now, which has created some issues, but that is life, I guess.

[Amie]

Well, I can't answer your question about MFW, but I just wanted to share that my Mom did this with my younger brother and sister. He is about 20+ months older than my sister and my Mother began homeschooling them at the same time using the same curriculum (the sister was just ready to join in at a younger age). She kept them together as long as possible. He eventually passed her math (though she remained better at writing) and then a couple of other things as well--there was a gap between them eventually. They have both now graduated--he graduated "on time" (18) and she graduated one year later than him (but a year early according to ps schedule--at 17). Anyway, this probably doesn't help you at all, but I just thought I'd let you know that it has been done before with success. ;) Oh, and they are very close, b.t.w. You know your kids better than anyone and I'm sure you'll be able to "feel it out" as you go.