S/O: If you DON'T combine your kids for history and science, how do you do it?

[Laura Cook]

I am far away from needing to worry about this yet, but I am curious! How does this work with regards to your schedule, who does what and when? I am curious about the nuts and bolts of how you make this work. Thanks!

[Verity]

:lurk5:

[MerryAtHope]

Last year was the first year that I didn't combine for science. They did completely different programs (dd did books from SL 5 casually, ds did Apologia General). In the younger years I did it together because I was reading it to them, this year I split them so they could work more independently. My 5th grade dd would spend 30 minutes reading, keeping a notebook, and occasionally doing an experiment. My 7th grade son spent about 45 minutes, sometimes an hour, and did his work independently.

 

With kids as close in age as yours, I would probably keep them together until they were old enough to work independently, or until you wanted to split them for whatever reason.

 

For history, I still prefer to keep us all together, for now at least. We enjoy the discussions together.

 

Merry :-)

[Spock]

What we do:

 

We have a dry erase board on the wall. Each morning, I write a list of assignments on it (titles of books to read and what pages/chapters; the word "math" for math, "grammar" for grammar, "Spanish" or "spelling"; "Written narration" or "dictation" or "copywork" or "research paper"; etc.

 

My high schooler(s) read this list and start doing what they can do independently, in whatever order they wish. For any classes in which they need my input, I help them during a time that both younger ones are doing independent work at the same time.

 

For my elementary schoolers, I try to start with the classes they do together (Bible, spelling, and sometimes a read aloud). After that, I tell one of them to choose one of the things he/she can do alone, while I work with the other. (This was much more challenging when they both needed me to read aloud history, literature, and science. At that point I often chose just one of them to do each month, rotating through the subjects.) Now, they do their science independently, unless there is an experiment, and even then they can sometimes do it alone. They can also usually read their history and literature independently.

 

So, I work with them individually for math, grammar, dictation, and listening to oral narrations. I am also available for input on written narrations as needed. I only sometimes have to read aloud history, or take turns reading literature with them. (My 5th grader will probably need me to buddy-read the original unabridged Oliver Twist next spring, and my 3rd grader will probably need me to buddy-read Jungle Book at first, for example.)

 

Of course, now that they read their history books for themselves, I have to be careful to pre-read them for inappropriate content. This Country of Ours, for example, requires so much editing and re-wording and adding/taking away paragraphs in some chapters that even as a read-aloud it was getting to be too much work. Since my 5th grader will be reading US history alone this year, I had to replace it with library books on various topics. They aren't on the same challenging vocabulary/syntax level, but they are still a more suitable choice in these circumstances.

 

Last year I really struggled, since at the beginning I had to read aloud two full sets of history, science, and literature, and also spend a lot of time pulling my oldest through algebra. This year will be MUCH easier: my oldest has graduated, and my two young ones can both read much of their work alone. (My second son has worked mostly independently by choice since around 2nd grade.)

[coffeegal]

My older children are working through History Odyssey. I purchased the e-books, printed up the yearly plan, and put each into a color coded report folder. The child and I are able to mark up the plan, cross off what has been completed, and generally make a mess of the plan throughout the year. I did the same thing with my oldest's science lesson plan for general science. My younger children are reading through graded science textbooks, and just read the next chaper and answer the questions. It's actually cut my teaching time, since adding in history and science to our individual discussion didn't add much time. I no longer have to plan for an additional hour for group studies. :D

[Embassy]

To put it simply they do the same topic using different living books.

[Laura W.]

We're just starting our new school year. I wanted to combine everyone, but after trying that last year knew the pace of history and science would be too much for my twins (they just started 1st grade). So now my dc are combined into 2 groups.

 

This is our schedule:

 

start around 9-9:30 am

-Bible and FIAR with 1st graders (3 yo, 3rd grader, and 4th graders all sit in during this time, and 7th grader begins her independent work) - approx. 45 min.

-Bible with 3rd and 4th graders - approx. 15 minutes

-short break while I get out math and LA materials

-math/LA with 1st, 3rd, and 4th graders (4th grader is pretty independent, but still needs me close by). 1st and 3rd graders need one-on-one. This segment of our day lasts 1 1/2-2 hours

-read-alouds/history/science with 3rd, 4th, and 7th graders (read-alouds daily, history 3 days/week, science 2 days/week) - approx. 1 hour

-wrap-up/discussion time with 7th grader (includes more in-depth history and science readings/discussion, logic, and some LA)

 

Blessings,

 

Laura

[Closeacademy]

When I've tried to do programs where we combined for history and science or other subjects school took twice as long as when I don't combine.

 

What I do is this:

 

I use Oak Meadow.

I work with my oldest first and my youngest last.

When I am done working one-on-one with a child they then have independent work to do.

 

With Oak Meadow science and history in 2nd and 3rd grade does not happen every day and they are fairly short fun lessons. With the 5th grade, my dd can read the text herself and we go over the questions together. Most of the projects are simple but thought-provoking. Oak Meadow is all about teaching a child to think.

 

:001_smile: