Who doesn't combine their kids?

[musicianmom]

I know I'm breaking the "Don't look too far ahead" rule of homeschooling. But I can't help but wonder if it's possible to have each child doing their own thing instead of trying to combine, say, a 4th grader, 1st grader, and K-er.

[coffeegal]

Yes, all 4 of my school age children do their own thing, even for history and science. :001_smile:

[crl]

I can't combine my two since DD will be going into 2nd and DS is going to do Pre-K (4 yr old). They are just so far apart in skills that I can only combine them for Bible. Though DS does tag along during some of the history and science activities.

[Storm Bay]

Not only do I not combine my dc, for the past few years I usually have them working in entirely different rooms. Not only are they all at different levels, but they like to fidget/hum/whistle/sing, which is distracting for everyone else. Plus, they don't get along equally well every single day. Of course, mine are 15, 12 & 10 now. When I first pulled my eldest out of ps at 8, I often had her & my middle one working in the same room at separate tables. We had two preschool tables in our kitchen in different corners so that they didn't face each other. Later, I moved my eldest upstairs & had my middle one & youngest working at those tables. Finally, they moved to different rooms.

 

fwiw, my older two are very good at learning a number of things independently, particularly as they get older. Ds needs the most teaching due to his auditory learning style.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Karin

[Elfinlady]

Not only do I not combine my dc, for the past few years I usually have them working in entirely different rooms. Not only are they all at different levels, but they like to fidget/hum/whistle/sing, which is distracting for everyone else. Plus, they don't get along equally well every single day.

 

:iagree: I have a 3rd grader and a 7th grader, and they love to pick at each other, or band together to try to avoid school. :D

[Storm Bay]

:iagree: I have a 3rd grader and a 7th grader, and they love to pick at each other, or band together to try to avoid school. :D

 

 

Right. I forgot to add that when they are getting along they tend to fool around & play. They do this anyway almost every time I have to be on the phone.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Right now I do not combine. I have a rising K'er, a rising 3rd grader and a rising 7th grader. My 3rd grader and 7th grader are on the same time period, but my 3rd grader does SOTW and my 7th grader MOH. Now that being said we DO combine read alouds. They ALL sit in on that. They are just to far apart for me to consider combining anything.

 

 

Now next year I will have a K'er and a pre-schooler, the following year a K'er and a first grader, so will I combine some stuff they do? Maybe. (Probably) but I will have to see how I feel about it then. They are only 16 months apart so I can see combining history, science, health (especially since they are both boys), bible and geography- but no math or english.

 

But before I decide one way or the other, I have to make sure my youngest will be ready (at k) for all that. He might not be. If that is the case, then no, I will not combine.

[rafiki]

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[jentancalann]

I absolutely don't know how to combine. I'm going to try my best to combine science this year (SL 5) for my 7th and 4th graders, but other than that, I've tried and just can't do it.

[Spock]

The only two I have ever been able to combine were my 1st and 2nd (15mo apart). They always did the same Bible, literature/reading/read aloud, and history. They also did government/economics together. Until Chemistry they did the same science, but at that point my oldest didn't have the necessary math skills for chemistry and took geology instead.

 

My third was obviously too much younger to combine with them (6.5 years between the 2nd and 3rd, almost 8 years between the 1st and 3rd).

 

For reasons I have never been able to figure out, I have never been able to combine the 3rd and 4th (16mo apart) for anything but Bible and read alouds. It works for a few weeks, and then it all falls apart.

 

So, this means that when we start school on June 29 I will have 3 different programs in almost every subject. (I will have a 12th, 5th, and 3rd grader.)

Edited June 16, 2010 by Spock

[Ellie]

Y'all, "combining kids" is such a new, funny-sounding term.:lol:

 

The rule of thumb is to teach the oldest dc and let the littles come along. I suppose you could say that is "combining" them, but I've never heard it referred to that way until recently. :)

 

Of course you teach children at their own abilities for English and math skills. Teaching them together for history and science is much more do-able, which is why and how products like KONOS and the Weaver and other similar ones came about: homeschoolers wanting their dc to learn *together* as much as possible as opposed to following the classroom model of each child doing a box of books by himself all day just like school.

 

But it isn't a law. If it works for you, it works for me.:)

[Mrs Mungo]

I don't combine my kids, they all do their own thing. It's easier for me.

[Dinsfamily]

I'm not planning on it. My 2nd ds is much less mature than my oldest (even comparing at the same age) and they have very different academic personalities. I think that it would be unfair for him to drag him along with his older brother. He does sit in on all of our read-alouds voluntarily, but doesn't grasp material at a level I'd consider adequate. I'd rather just do things at his pace when he's ready. If their birth order were switched, it might be a different story. Funny thing is, they are both advanced learners but in different areas. That wouldn't matter much in content areas anyway. I might be able to combine him with his younger brother but it's too early to know. I'm just taking it one year at a time for now.

 

I do plan on semi-combining for science. I'm going to cover the same material but at different levels. They will fall into the same program every once in a while.

[mcconnellboys]

I think it's a lot easier to combine, where you can. My boys were six years apart in school, so I did not combine them, but it was hard.....

[HollyDay]

Each of mine has always had their own math and language arts, but we have combined everything else. Until my oldest hit 7th grade, we could do history, science, latin, logic, geography, etc., together. Now, each has their own core subjects and their own electives.

[3lilreds in NC]

You know, I've always tried to combine mine, as they are only a year apart in age. It works well for most things, but as we get more into CM, their development varies so much in different areas, I may have to separate them. I'm not sure yet. In theory, Emma should be able to do most of her reading on her own next year, so that should make it a bit easier. Abbie is very resistant to doing that, so if I could get Emma going on her own I could work with Abbie to see what the deal is and if remediation or encouragement is needed. It's just that I could not picture reading 2 sets of books every day... maybe I was overestimating how much time it would take but I feel overwhelmed regularly anyway and having them in separate years seemed silly. But, Emma is a more advanced reader and Abbie is more advanced in math so I am considering separating them and seeing how it goes.

[ALB]

I'm not really planning to, other than we'll probably do read alouds and Bible together (and any fun crafty, hands on activities I'd imagine). When I let go of my goal to combine at all costs, it made everything easier and I could finally choose the curriculum I wanted without having to worry about that aspect. But, I only have 2 right now. If we have more, maybe I'll change my mind!

[LauraQ]

I've gone both ways with my 2. Honestly, trying to adjust one level to work for 2 kids *too* far apart in age can take more time than just working separately. I think it's most helpful for much younger children since they are more time-intensive for the parent/teacher. Once kids are older, ability-appropriate levels can be even more important (such as for credit for high school transcript) even in content areas, not just in skill subjects. Fortunately, they are also much more independent in their work, so it becomes easier to have each do their own thing in more subjects. You can also combine children in *some* subjects and still have them work at their own level in other areas, and how many subjects they do each way can change over time as your needs and their needs change.

[mommyofthree]

There is an eight gap between my oldest and youngest. I've never thought of combining them, and probably wouldn't know how to do this successfully.

 

I schedule each child so that they are not working on teacher intensive subjects at the same time.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I have combined my sons for the last year, but I found it totally does not work. We are so far above the younger's head that I am sure he didn't get much out of it. Not that he needed much in K, but I don't want him to miss out on all the fun books for younger kids.

We are seperating for this year, 5th and 1st. I also have a 2 year old, and I won't even try to combine her now that I know it doesn't work for us.

[NanceXToo]

I've got one going into 5th and one going into Kindergarten so I'm definitely not combining them!

 

They will both be using Oak Meadow (we used it this past year for fourth grade and loved it), but they will each be doing their own grade level/curriculum.

 

With that said I'm sure some of the nature and craft projects might have them both interested enough to at least attempt to be involved with, even if it's one from the other one's grade.

[StartingOver]

I didn't combine on my first go around, the children were to different ( now 22, 20 and 18 ). I can't see combining with my little ones either. I can't imagine slowing Quince down to wait for Emma. But it will be easier this time with just two !!

[twilkin]

I combine my dd15 and dd13 for history, lang., spelling, writing,and science and then they do their own math. Then my dd9 does her own thing and finally my ds5 and ds3 combine their work. I can't imagine how much reading and work I would have if they all did different things. I find my time hard-pressed just with three schedules.

[Pretty in Pink]

I'm using TOG, whose main selling point is its ability to combine kids. That said, they aren't reading the same books so they aren't really combined. Maybe I just forgot how to do it right or something, IDK. My 11yo takes his books to the sofa and I'm reading aloud from different books to my two middle boys. They're covering the same topics but rarely do they work together.

 

It's the same for science. Same topics, different books.

 

They do work on expirements and big projects together.

[LindaOz]

I used to combine but got to the stage where the younger kids were struggling, and I decided to separate them so each could work at their own level. This was much better for us. Next year, we will likely have 6 different SL Cores on the go, which sounds scarey, but doable.

 

Having said that though, we do have some together times in our school day. We join for Bible and some read-alouds. We also have a 'family-study' on the go, which at the moment is MOH. I like having something that we are all doing together. This works for us... :001_smile:

[Violet Crown]

It's hard to combine my 14yo, 7yo, and 2yo for anything other than activities and some read-alouds that have higher levels to them such that big sister enjoys listening in (Tom Sawyer, The Peterkin Papers, The Wind in the Willows, etc.).

 

I did try combining handwriting last year in a desperate last-ditch attempt to provide dd14 with legible writing, and she was game, but today her penmanship is as bad as ever while dd7 has a beautiful cursive. Ah well.

[Amber in AUS]

I have decided not to combine mine at all. Basically i am mapping a course of study for each subject and they will each move through it as fast or as slow as need be (we year round so not everything lines up perfectly).

[Mommy22alyns]

My girls only really combine for read-alouds at night. For right now it's just simpler to have them each doing their own thing.

[Ester Maria]

I used to combine mine minimally - they're less than a full year apart so they could do some minimal study together in an area or two, however, as they're entirely opposite personalities, the gaps between them have become too big for them to truly profit out of that combining, so now they each do her own thing and occasionally assist each other, but don't directly work together. :)

 

ETA: Oh, and an another vote for separate rooms. Works WONDERS.

[Laura Corin]

I don't. Well, we have done history of art and music theory together. For everything else, they just are too far apart and work in different ways - I never managed to pace combined learning correctly. I tried it with science, history and French.

 

We all work in the same room - well, sometimes I take (or send) a child away to concentrate - just on different topics.

 

Laura

[Closeacademy]

I tried keeping them together on most subjects a few times and it always ended in disaster. They both like it best and I like it best when they both have their own work to do. It keeps things interesting, more relaxed and everyone is happy working on their own projects.:001_smile:

[RegularMom]

I'm about to "un-combine" my girls for the next school year.

 

They've always worked at their own levels in math and language arts, but I had them working together for history and science, and it's just been difficult. They're too different from each other, and my youngest can get a little bossy and competitive, which causes my eldest to shut down completely, resulting in an unhappy, frustrating situation in which no one was actually learning or retaining any information.

 

So, I'm going to try keeping them separate for all subjects this coming year and see if that helps. I suspect it will. I talked to them both about it and they were relieved to hear it.

 

I also like the idea that they'll both go through the history cycle at the right age.

 

I suspect that it will end up being the same amount of work for me, but hopefully my efforts will be more focused on teaching rather than just keeping the peace. :)

[Guest aquiverfull]

I have a 11 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old, and 1 1/2 year old in my homeschool. I've been driving myself crazy trying to plan with combining them. I was planning on trying to combine them in history and science.(Future planning, I only have the oldest in school right now) However, the more I think about it, the more I think I shouldn't bother trying to combine them. The age difference between the oldest and the little ones is just too big.

 

I'm not sure I want to do ancients with my younger girls right away. I'm considering several years of American history with them so it's just not going to work out. My oldest is getting more independent and enjoying doing her history readings alone. In my case, I think it will work out to have my oldest doing her own and possibly I can combine the youngers since the age difference is much less.

Edited June 16, 2010 by aquiverfull

[G5052]

Even though I have only two, I split them up for all but our daily read-alouds for 5th and 7th this last year. My older one is intellectually very much in the logic and early rhetoric stage, and my younger one is faintly in the logic stage but works very well independently. So it made more sense to really push my older one with his own studies and let my younger one advance at her own pace.

 

We'll do the same this coming year. Prior to that, I always combined them for history, science, reading, Latin, and Spanish.

[Homeschooling6]

My children are all about a year apart. For the last two years we haven't combined. It was getting hard gathering my little brood, so history and science were not getting done.

[Storm Bay]

 

So, I'm going to try keeping them separate for all subjects this coming year and see if that helps. I suspect it will. I talked to them both about it and they were relieved to hear it.

 

I:)

 

 

Sounds about right for our house, too. My dc don't want to study together.

 

btw, I enjoy your little saying about trees & electrons in your sig line.

[RegularMom]

btw, I enjoy your little saying about trees & electrons in your sig line.

 

Thanks. I borrowed it (with permission) from a friend of mine on a different board. You can borrow it too, if you like. :)

[Storm Bay]

Thanks. I borrowed it (with permission) from a friend of mine on a different board. You can borrow it too, if you like. :)

:D THanks, perhaps, if I ever do a sig line I will borrow it. I'm waiting until I see some quote that strikes me as one that fits. This is hard because I'm so eclectic.

[NicA]

It is really nice to see that not combining works for so many people. We haven't started history or science yet since my dd will just be starting K in the fall, but the idea of combining just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I want ds to do the 4 year cycle from the beginning, not just tagging along with his sister wherever she is in the process.

[kpnick in nc]

I've been thinking ahead as well since I will have a 4th grader and a 1st grader (in 3 years). I like the idea of combining, but I also like the idea of children going through everything 'sequentially.'

 

I'm glad to see so many doing both! This helps me see that I don't really know what I'll be doing in three years in that area!