Siblings close in age

[LillyMama]

Hi All-

 

I don't see much on this topic on here and I'm hoping someone can give me insight. I have a son and daughter 16 months apart in age, with my son turning 6 in July and my daughter 5 in November. For various reasons, my daughter is just as strong if not stronger in some areas of school, keeping pace with her older brother. In other areas she's nowhere close- like in story comprehension and logical thought.

 

I thought we'd start kindergarten when my son was 6 but he's ready now, and going so fast through things that we're planning on starting first grade ("real school") in either the fall or winter of 2012. I have NO desire to run two concurrent curricula next year just to keep my kids apart in grade. But I know my daughter will not be able to do all of the first grade level work.

 

What would be your concerns or comments about me having her do work a bit over her head, modifying as needed? My theory is that I can always repeat lessons first grade lessons with her as needed in 2013 and it makes no sense to buy both first and kindergarten curricula now and try to have both going at once. I'd rather have the same curricula going but allow them to pace themselves differently as needed.

 

My concerns are that if things are too hard, or she learns to fake things without understanding, I could make her hate school. Or make my son feel insecure that his little sis is doing the same work. Is it bad to admit that my pocketbock and laziness (not wanting to pay for or plan two separate lessons for everything) feels more important that those issues right now?

 

Thanks in advance for any insight and/or advice!

[Rosie_0801]

Welcome to the forum.

 

The usual advice given is to keep the kids separate for skills subjects like Language Arts and Maths, but keep them together and require a different level of output according to their abilities in content subjects like history, science, art, etc.

 

Rosie

[Hedgehog]

I think you need to teach each child according to it's ability. Anything else could be frustrating for all of you.

 

For example, DD9 is doing Saxon 6/5 with her older sister (they are two years apart) because that is what is appropriate for her ability level. DD11 knows that in other areas, like language arts (vocabulary and poem memorisation in particular) she's streets ahead of her sister. I emphasise to them that we all have different strengths, and we aim to do our personal best. Learning doesn't have to be competitive.

[Peela]

What Rosie said- and really it works well (mine are 17 months apart) because they need their own maths and English books anyway- and if one goes ahead in some areas, they can progress at their own natural pace. YOu could try putting them together first so that you can see if it does work and at least say you tried it- but you may find it is more hassle than its worth.

Mine were close in age but years apart in skill levels in maths and English- but my girl is the older.

But doing the content areas together is the whole juice and fun of homeschooling to my mind. Reading books concurrently, exploring history eras together, doing history activities and excursions. Science too. We really lived those history eras as a family and it was so fun. Not to mention all the wonderful literature. We spent a year studying Lord of the Rings and my youngest was only 11 that year but he was right there with us.

[FlockOfSillies]

My #2 and #3 are 18 months apart, and my littles are a year apart, almost to the day.

 

If your kids were going to a brick-and-mortar school, you'd have a pre-K'er and 1st grader this fall -- two years apart. So keep that in mind.

 

Second, many kids (not just gifted ones) go through spurts like the one you describe in your son, especially in Kinder. Look for your four-year-old to go through a similar jump in development. My first two started off like rabbits and have settled into a more leisurely pace. Some of that, I think, stems from the fact that the novelty of school wears off eventually. And oftentimes a kid will hit a brick wall in a subject where he was previously speeding along. In the case of my oldest, she's happiest doing everything at tortoise-speed.

 

Third, don't be too quick to throw away one of the primary benefits of homeschooling -- working with your kids where they're at in each subject. Giving any child work that is way beyond or beneath his ability is inherently bad. It would only frustrate both you and your child, and your fears about your daughter's response would likely become reality. Our kids are individuals, and one of the ongoing challenges in homeschooling (and parenting) over the long term is keeping the right pace with our kids -- not too slow, not too fast -- and that will vary from student to student. In my oldest daughter's case, she's 6th-grade-age, but enrolled as a 7th grader. But she's not doing 7th grade math, not by a long shot. (I started her a year early because she was very precocious, and that's what my parents had done with me. I didn't know any other way to handle it.)

 

Since your kids are young, you can help set the tone for your son in his attitude toward his sister's abilities. It's important for kids to learn the humility that comes from seeing someone else do better than they can do. Your kids will run into all kinds of people throughout their lifetimes who will be amazingly, shockingly, scary-good at certain things. How will they respond? With envy, or appreciation? You have the power to guide them into responding in a healthy way. You'll need to remind both of them that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. It's the way we're made and it's a good thing. It doesn't have anything to do with their innate value as people. That may not make it easier for your son, especially if he's as competitive and proud as mine. But hopefully the message will sink in at some point.

 

Finances are the least of your concerns, to be honest. Homeschooling is almost always cheaper than private school. Many curricula can be bought used and then reused for each student. I use several resources simultaneously with my 2nd and 3rd graders. I just keep Post-it tape flags handy to mark where each of them is in the same book. My 2nd grader is at the beginning of FLL3, and my 3rd grader just started FLL4. Both of them are using WWE2. They do SOTW together, and count the number of lines in their narrations to see who had more to say, LOL.

 

If you're really, really worried about conflict between the two kids, you can use different curricula to try to mask the differences. But I think kids are a lot savvier than we give them credit for. And with two completely different programs, there goes your money savings. Besides, giving your kids what they need, when they need it is way more valuable than the price of any book.

 

If you really want to save some money, you can hold off buying curriculum for the four-year-old. It may also help with the competitiveness issue. But I don't know how much you've got her doing, if anything. If she's begging to do school, keep it to 30 minutes a day at the most. Even if she's bright, she's FOUR. Barely four. About twelve weeks ago, she was three. Newly-minted four-year-olds aren't exactly known for "story comprehension" or "logical thought."

 

If she's not literally begging to do school, don't do it at all. Just read her lots of books and let her learn to count and write her first name if she's in the mood. (I can tell you right now I am not the last person who will be telling you this. Pace yourself. It's all new and exciting right now, but the long slog awaits you and your littles. Don't get there too fast.)

 

HTH.

[mooooom]

She has always kept up w/ them - in the beginning her fine motor skills were a bit behind - I used to write for her in her workbooks or hold her hand and do it together. I taught everyone to read separately, and math - we used the same curricula but everyone wasn't always on the same page )the boys included). Now I keep them all together (11th) and she will graduate with them - later on those small age differences really become non-existent (at least for us) especially when the girl is younger. There were probably times when she would wander off during read alouds (she got bored easily) and I'm sure things went over her head from time to time, and there are field trips she doesn't remember going on but overall I can't see how a little acceleration has harmed her in any way. She was always my competitive one, intent on keeping up, and is an awesome high school junior taking two dual credit cc classes this year and doing great.

[Mom0012]

My kids are two years apart and together we use Sonlight for our History, Science, Literature, and Bible. We have also used Atelier Art together and are currently using La Clase Divertida for Spanish together. My kids each have their own math program/level, and language arts materials. This works well for us.

 

Lisa

[JudoMom]

My #2 and #3 are 18 months apart, and my littles are a year apart, almost to the day.

 

If your kids were going to a brick-and-mortar school, you'd have a pre-K'er and 1st grader this fall -- two years apart. So keep that in mind.

 

Second, many kids (not just gifted ones) go through spurts like the one you describe in your son, especially in Kinder. Look for your four-year-old to go through a similar jump in development. My first two started off like rabbits and have settled into a more leisurely pace. Some of that, I think, stems from the fact that the novelty of school wears off eventually. And oftentimes a kid will hit a brick wall in a subject where he was previously speeding along. In the case of my oldest, she's happiest doing everything at tortoise-speed.

 

Third, don't be too quick to throw away one of the primary benefits of homeschooling -- working with your kids where they're at in each subject. Giving any child work that is way beyond or beneath his ability is inherently bad. It would only frustrate both you and your child, and your fears about your daughter's response would likely become reality. Our kids are individuals, and one of the ongoing challenges in homeschooling (and parenting) over the long term is keeping the right pace with our kids -- not too slow, not too fast -- and that will vary from student to student. In my oldest daughter's case, she's 6th-grade-age, but enrolled as a 7th grader. But she's not doing 7th grade math, not by a long shot. (I started her a year early because she was very precocious, and that's what my parents had done with me. I didn't know any other way to handle it.)

 

Since your kids are young, you can help set the tone for your son in his attitude toward his sister's abilities. It's important for kids to learn the humility that comes from seeing someone else do better than they can do. Your kids will run into all kinds of people throughout their lifetimes who will be amazingly, shockingly, scary-good at certain things. How will they respond? With envy, or appreciation? You have the power to guide them into responding in a healthy way. You'll need to remind both of them that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. It's the way we're made and it's a good thing. It doesn't have anything to do with their innate value as people. That may not make it easier for your son, especially if he's as competitive and proud as mine. But hopefully the message will sink in at some point.

 

Finances are the least of your concerns, to be honest. Homeschooling is almost always cheaper than private school. Many curricula can be bought used and then reused for each student. I use several resources simultaneously with my 2nd and 3rd graders. I just keep Post-it tape flags handy to mark where each of them is in the same book. My 2nd grader is at the beginning of FLL3, and my 3rd grader just started FLL4. Both of them are using WWE2. They do SOTW together, and count the number of lines in their narrations to see who had more to say, LOL.

 

If you're really, really worried about conflict between the two kids, you can use different curricula to try to mask the differences. But I think kids are a lot savvier than we give them credit for. And with two completely different programs, there goes your money savings. Besides, giving your kids what they need, when they need it is way more valuable than the price of any book.

 

If you really want to save some money, you can hold off buying curriculum for the four-year-old. It may also help with the competitiveness issue. But I don't know how much you've got her doing, if anything. If she's begging to do school, keep it to 30 minutes a day at the most. Even if she's bright, she's FOUR. Barely four. About twelve weeks ago, she was three. Newly-minted four-year-olds aren't exactly known for "story comprehension" or "logical thought."

 

If she's not literally begging to do school, don't do it at all. Just read her lots of books and let her learn to count and write her first name if she's in the mood. (I can tell you right now I am not the last person who will be telling you this. Pace yourself. It's all new and exciting right now, but the long slog awaits you and your littles. Don't get there too fast.)

 

HTH.

 

:iagree: There is some great advice here.

 

I've found it works best to look at each subject individually. The smallest gap I have is between ds11 & ds10 (13 months) and the largest is between ds7 & ds5 (21 months).

 

Everyone has always done Math on their own level, and they've learned to read on their own time table. We've always done history, science, and geography together. Everything else is up for grabs. For instance, my older three are all doing Sequential Spelling together. My older 2 are doing the same Greek, Latin, and Logic. Everyone is doing their own English grammar level this year. Ds8 & ds7 are 17 months apart, but because of personalities (ds8 is my most relaxed & ds7 is my most spunky), they've not been easy to combine so far, but as they get older I hope to combine them more like I've been able to do with the older 2.

 

Until last year, my ds11 & ds10 were combined in everything except math. However, ds10 was losing confidence and disliking school because he felt like he didn't catch onto things as quickly as ds11. So I had to separate them. It was a hard year; not because I had to separate them, but because I had to work to rebuild ds10's confidence. I was hesitant to separate them because of the time factor, but in all honesty I should've separated them the year before at least. It's worked to combine them again in a lot of things again this year, but they work independently on many of these subjects, so there isn't a direct comparing between the 2.

 

All this to say, combining is great if it's working. However, it's not great if it's not working. Only you can know if it will work for your kids, and what works one semester may not work the next :).

Edited February 16, 2011 by JudoMom

[fastforward]

I think you need to teach each child according to it's ability. Anything else could be frustrating for all of you.

 

:iagree:

 

My 2 older daughters are 14 months apart and they have completely different academic strengths and abilities. While it is time consuming and often frustrating to have two different grade levels going on in my home for such closely spaced children, it is what is best for my girls. If I tried to go faster with my 7 year old, it would be disastrous, as she needs to go at a much slower pace and needs much more assistance. Likewise, if I slowed things down for my 8 year old, she would be bored because the material I use for her sister does not fit her personality and is below her ability.

 

That said, my daughters do science and history together, with mixed results.

If she's not literally begging to do school, don't do it at all. Just read her lots of books and let her learn to count and write her first name if she's in the mood. (I can tell you right now I am not the last person who will be telling you this. Pace yourself. It's all new and exciting right now, but the long slog awaits you and your littles. Don't get there too fast.)

 

Good advice.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I haven't read everyone else's responses, yet, but my boys are 16 months apart, and I thought I was going to keep them separate for math and language arts, but once we got rolling, ds2 amazed me by picking things up so quickly and basically being able to do the same work as ds1. I give ds1 a few more spelling words, an extra vocabulary assignment and longer reading assignments every week. I thought I was going to do separate math, then realized ds1 didn't learn very much in math at public school in first grade, and ds2 was cranking out the math pages like there was no tomorrow, so I put ds1 back to 1st grade math and they now do math together and will probably continue to do so. Everything else we do together.

[RebeccaS]

Welcome to the forum.

 

The usual advice given is to keep the kids separate for skills subjects like Language Arts and Maths, but keep them together and require a different level of output according to their abilities in content subjects like history, science, art, etc.

 

Rosie

 

:iagree: This is what I do with my group. There is 18mos between #1 and #2, then 15mos between #2 and #3 and 9 mos between #3 and #4. They are all in their own, ability appropriate math and language arts. We do science, history, art, etc together and they do as much in each subject as they are capable of. I tried putting kids together, but in the long run it was super frustrating for the younger one in the mix and for myself. It just wasn't worth it.

[Carrie12345]

My girls are 13 months apart, and I try to meet both of them at their own levels in each subject. What that looks like for us is

 

Science- together

History- together

Spelling- together

Grammar- together

Writing- individual

Math- individual

Handwriting- individual

 

Science and History are pretty easy to differentiate as needed. It also helps me to look at this as their "first run through", where mastery is not the goal.

 

I do spend more time on Spelling and Grammar review with the younger, and the older jumps in for the main lesson.

 

We do consider the younger a second grader and the older a third grader, regardless of which materials we use. I've found that it tempers their competitive nature. ;)

[blondeviolin]

My older two are also 16 months apart. My oldest turns 5 at the end of May (girl), my youngest 4 at the end of October (boy). We're just gearing up to getting homeschooling going, but from my experience with my own kids, I'd echo everyone else's sentiments. Abby has always been interested in letters and sounding things out. Emmett shows more interest in numbers and counting. We're starting Abby's K year off very light with some phonics/spelling, math, and Five in a Row for the rest of it. What my son wants to tag along and do, he will be more than welcome to do...and I suspect with Five in a Row he will be able to do quite a bit...just not with the same level of understanding, learning, or retention.

 

I would suggest a LOT of crafts if your 4-year-old is BEGGING to do school. It can reinforce what your son is learning and help with repetition with what your 6-year-old knows.

 

I also agree that if your kids were in PS, you would have a first-grader (or maybe Ker depending) and a PreKer. My son is the same way with a late October birthday. I think it's a wonderful thing because it allows them to learn at their own pace without anyone expecting him to be kindergarten ready by the time he's barely-five. Instead, he'll be almost-six when he is expected to be capable of kinder work.

[LibraryLover]

I have two 15 mos apart. My mantra has always been "Everyone has their particular gifts." That is a simple fact.

 

Remember, too, that some people catch on to certain things sooner, but that doesn't make them gifted and the other child not. Everyone has their own pace, too, especially at that age. It's important not to take two intellegient children, and make one the Smart One and the other Not. They are individuals with individuals needs, and everyone has something to offer. I am sure you;ve got this particular aspect under control. lol JUst wanted to throw it out there. Most of us are familiar with taking on familial roles early in life that aren't quite fair. :)

Edited February 16, 2011 by LibraryLover

[TN Mama]

Welcome to the forum.

 

The usual advice given is to keep the kids separate for skills subjects like Language Arts and Maths, but keep them together and require a different level of output according to their abilities in content subjects like history, science, art, etc.

 

Rosie

 

Good advice. :iagree:

[kamom]

My oldest two are 12 months apart. The younger one being a girl. They are together in all subjects but Math. We all like it that way and it woks very well.

[VeteranMom]

My b/g twins are 9 and their brother is less than 13 months younger. I've moved my younger son up a grade in most subjects. They have the same science, history, geography, spelling, handwriting, and literature (they all read at the same level). All 3 kids are at different points in math, so I work with each of them on those lessons. Also, we use Wordly Wise and my twins are in the 3rd grade book and my younger ds is working on the 2nd grade book. My twins don't seem to mind having their brother work at the same level for most of the subjects. They've all done well.

[Rosy]

The way it's worked for us (they're all <18 mo. apart) is to do content subjects mostly together and skill subjects at everyone's own pace. What that looks like for us is:

 

Read-alouds: completely together, choosing books that will appeal to everyone

Bible--together, but curriculum is leveled

History--together, but the younger girls don't get a whole lot out of it

Science--at our homeschool co-op

Math--everyone is at their own level

Spelling--ditto

Writing--we do WWE together (except DD10), olders do longer sentences than DD6

Reading--everyone is at their own level

 

I don't *try* to pair anyone up, but as we've gone along I've found that there are things they can do together.

 

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in not pushing formal schooling in the early years, so my advice is just to stick to the basics with your son (reading/phonics, math and writing) and let your daughter listen in and follow along as much as possible. Also, do as much reading aloud as you can stand, and include books about historical figures and scientific principles as well as stories. You'll know when they're ready for more--it feels like a dog straining at a leash (and if you never get to that point, you start gently introducing new subjects a little at a time around 3rd grade).

 

Have fun!

[SailorMom]

My sons are 14 months apart. One went to PS this year, but from 1st on, they were homeschooled together.

As has been said, we did everything together except math and language arts. There really isn't a huge difference in any of the other topics.

It worked out wonderfully :)

[coffeegal]

#1 and #2 are 12 months, 3 weeks apart.

#2 and #3 are 18 months apart.

I could not join the 3 in LA and math because the abilities and personalities were so different. It ended up being easier to separate all 3 in all subjects, although sometimes I still dream of grouping them together again. :001_smile:

 

#5 and #6 are 16 months apart. I will work them in LA and math separately, but I'm seriously considering grouping them in history and science both for the ease, but also for the fun of projects and field trips.

[jujsky]

My kids are 13 1/2 months apart (DS is older). DD was just ready for school. She was 3, almost 4, when we started her on a K curriculum. It's been interesting to watch them progress. Once we hit first grade, DD was well ahead of DS in reading. We switched from Calvert to K12 in 1st, and because they teach phonics differently, DS was lost. I spent the entire year teaching them at different phonics levels (I started DS out in K semester 2, and DD in 1st semester 1). DS eventually caught up, and over the summer he must have matured, or something clicked or whatever, and now he is a stronger reader than DD. I had them at the same level for everything else, but phonics we did separately.

 

DS started out stronger in math than DD. This year something has flipped. DD is flying through 2nd grade math, and DS is struggling. This year they're doing everything together, but working at their own pace in math.

 

Keeping them at the same grade-level, but working at a different pace in some subjects has worked well for us. I think each kid is getting what he/she needs, and it gives me a much lighter work-load than trying to teach 2 different grade levels.

Edited February 16, 2011 by jujsky

[FO4UR]

My middle dd is 26mo younger than her big brother and 14mo older than her little brother.

 

dd eaves drops in on her big brother's lessons...learned to read, add and subtract, and various other things by osmosis (simply being there). She then teaches her little brother (whenever he'll cooperate with her plans:lol:)...she was teaching him number bonds w/ Cuisenaire Rods while I did math with ds8 this morning.:D

 

I teach to my oldest and then fill in the gaps I see with my youngers. dd5 has her own math and handwriting workbooks. She's very adamant about having HER turn with me sitting by her helping her with her work. (So it's important to have some things separate.) However, I have to do very little actual *teaching* at these times b/c she has heard it all before. My ds4 likes having his turn too. I don't do any real pencil/paper work with him yet, but it makes him very happy to have a short lesson now and then. If he didn't *want* to at age 4, I wouldn't do a thing schoolish.

 

 

I will say, at these ages it is difficult to do more than 1 kid at a time with the skill subjects. For the major part of every morning, I'm at the table with 1 while the other 2 play. I just rotate them through...when one needs a break I call in another... Another thing is that dd5 is ahead of ds8 in reading and it's VITAL to have them reading to me in separate books to avoid comparison as much as possible.

 

 

All 3 crowd the couch when I sit down to read. History, science and literature are all a family affair at this point. We do lots of oral narrations, and I make sure each child gets their turn at telling back. This part of our schooling is very laid back, which is a good thing b/c the 3R's with 3 young dc is enough to exhaust even Supermom.:tongue_smilie:

[Susan in KY]

Welcome to the forum.

 

The usual advice given is to keep the kids separate for skills subjects like Language Arts and Maths, but keep them together and require a different level of output according to their abilities in content subjects like history, science, art, etc.

 

Rosie

 

:iagree:whole heartedly! Mine are 17 months apart. I have been homeschooling them since the beginning. When they were younger, I had to separate them for math and language arts because the age/ability difference was huge. I did separate 1st grade with my ds (the elder of the two) and half a year of 1st with dd. Then she was pretty much up with him in all areas except math and writing. (She had trouble with her fine motor skills.) Now that we are nearing the end of elementary, she is neck-in-neck with him and giving him a run for his money. It keeps him motivated and she just cruises along doing what she does (she's very bright and has no clue that she is!). Being up with him gives her a bit of a challenge. They still have separate math in Singapore, but they work together in Life of Fred. Everything else except spelling is done at the same level.

 

This year, we've been using MFW's (My Father's World) Creation to the Greeks, and it's been my friend for combining their work. We have done MFW since Adventures, but this is the first year I have implemented it more or less as written, and that we have enjoyed all of it.

 

Even if you can't start them out together now, you can end up with them together for more and more things as they grow. Let your son move at his own pace. Don't push your daughter now. She's too young. It's not worth it at the end of the day—you'll wind up with a bigger headache than meeting each one's needs individually will give you now.

 

A friend said to me on Sunday, "I wish it weren't so, but whenever something is convenient for me, it almost always means it's not right for my kids." While it doesn't apply in all cases, it certainly does apply in this one. Set your sights on combining them for nearly everything around the end of your youngest child's 3rd grade year. Until then, what Rosie said!

[Remudamom]

Our four youngest are only 18 months apart. At first we did everything together except math. The older they got the more we split up classes. It was not a big deal to do things on the same level. In fact, my dd that is 18 months older than the triplets did so well that she began college at 16. Never seemed to hurt her.

[Sherry in OH]

I agree with Rosie. Keep them together in history, literature, and science. Separate them for math, handwriting, and reading/phonics.

[teamturner]

My twins are 21 months older than my oldest dd. Their ages now are 11 and 9. When we started out homeschooling they were 4.5 and 3. What I did in those early days was Five in a Row together. Once the twins were Kinders, we still did FIAR and added in math, handwriting, and reading lessons for the boys. DD still did reading time and FIAR with us on the couch. And we did all the FIAR activities together.

 

Once the boys were in 1st grade, we switched to SOTW Ancients for all 3, the boys did their own reader books, MUS Alpha, new handwriting level, and FLL. My kinder dd did her own level of MUS, reading lessons, handwriting. She did some of the FLL with us.

 

It was not hard to let them stay at their level for reading, math, handwriting and keep them together for history/literature. And as far as financing them at different levels, it really isn't that much since you can reuse many of the teacher materials for the next child and just purchase the workbooks, which you have to do anyways.

 

At their grades now, 5th and 4th, we do history, latin, spelling together. I held the boys back one year in latin and started them together. I also waited a bit to begin writing and they are taking 1st year IEW at co-op. We kind of split the difference in spelling. They have their own grade level materials for math and grammar. All 3 are taking zoology at co-op together.

 

As you go you just need to access each subject/child and see what's working. I wouldn't try to put them together in things like math and handwriting, but certainly you can do literature and history together easily.

[LillyMama]

Holy Cow! I (the newbie) forgot to subscribe to my own post and I had NO idea there were this many responses. I want you all to know that I read each and every word and thank you for each giving me something to think about.

 

To clarify, as my sleep deprived and addled brain did a poor job of doing last night... I'm comfortable with the pacing of the skill subjects. We have K curricula in math and phonics and handwriting, some of which she does with us and some she doesn't. I have no problem continuing or even re-doing these next year with her when my son moves onto 1st. I'm comfortable letting her go slower and she sometimes gets up and goes and plays and ends up a few pages "behind." (I only bought her books at all because they were $.50 and she liked to color/scribble on them. Little did I know she'd actually do them...) But when we add content subject curricula next year, I know she's going to want to do it with us in some capacity. I think it feels silly to purchase a K curricula as they seem so disconnected from the 1st-6th. The real continuous curricula seems to start in 1st grade... As you all mentioned, content subject work can be modified, so I'm not going to buy a specific K history curriculum, I'll just let her do what she can with the 1st. My gut tells me she'll probably always be a year "ahead" in the content things, but I'm going to just wait and see what really happens. I guess I just wanted permission not to buy her her own special history book.

 

My daughter (4) isn't really begging for school as much as she's just a human sponge. She started teaching herself to read before her 4th bday so I started doing OPG just to make sure she learned some phonics rules. And she stole her brother's K level math book, hid in the bathtub, and taught herself to add two digit numbers in an hour. At three. But she's a horrible student, in the public school sense, in that she does not like to sit still and interrupts. Because she's 4. Ironically her age is more noticeable in the content subjects, because, well, she's 4. I hadn't thought about the fact that some of this would slow down, so I'm grateful for those who pointed that out. I keep thinking once she's fully fluently reading things will REALLY take off, it hadn't occured to me she might get bored once the novelty wore off. So I'll stop picturing where I'll keep her Nobel Peace Prize in Physics... Haha..

 

You've all also given me some great insight on competition and sibling rivalry. It's definitely something I want to keep my eye on and be sensitive to. So thanks for your thoughts on that.

 

Thanks again, all you wonderful ladies. I appreciate the time you all took to answer and give me some of your very valuable time.

[Citrusheights5]

I have 2 exactly like that. They are my 6 and 5 year old, who are 15 mos apart. Nate is absolutely brilliant, and reads and adds because "he has too". Miles on the other hand is brilliant in every other aspect of his life other than academics. Less because of their ages, and more because of their styles, my hopes of teaching them both are long gone. Nate is prone to being able to "fill in the blank" perfectly with little understanding, and Miles can never "fill in the blank" but have perfect understanding. So although I teach them both the same, Miles has to fill in the worksheets in order to improve on that area, and Nate must give narration, even in math, so that I know he truly understands.

 

The same is true with my older two who are 18 months apart, and I am guessing the same will be said about my last set of two who are 11 mos apart.

[Tess in the Burbs]

my kids are 20 months and we do history, science, latin, art together. They do their own language arts and math together. My younger is a girl and strong in language arts so we had hoped that could be together but they have different strengths. My dd likes to write and my ds hates to write. so we will be having different programs in the next years to allow them to flourish in their own areas. My dd doesn't like history and science like my son so we do it together but I expect more from my son...above and beyond. He's older and it's in interest and he steps up to the plate in that subject.

 

I have had crazy ideas about being together....working toward that goal, only to have to step back and start over. just keep them separate in language arts. combine the rest but expect more from the older.

[Night Elf]

It can also depend on the children. Some of our worst homeschooling times were the times I tried to keep my two youngest together. They are 20 months apart. They were highly competitive in anything they shared. I homeschool to meet their needs, not mine, so keeping them separate was a no-brainer after I saw how it wasn't going to work. We've never been the model sit-on-the-sofa family sharing lovely story books or discussing World History.

[Dawn in OH]

My oldest two children are 16 months apart in age. They are also an older boy and a younger girl. We started them both on Kindergarten work when our son was 6 years and 3 months old, and our daughter 1 month short of five.

 

For the most part, the two children were capable of the same work, although each had different strengths and weaknesses. My daughter was not as ready to read as my son. So we just didn't put a lot of pressure on her. We let her practice reading with her Bob Books, but we were slightly more relaxed with her reading practice than with his.

 

Science and History were basically just me reading to the children and discussing topics, so there were no issues there.

 

My daughter did much better with handwriting and anything artistic than my son. His motor skills seemed to be behind hers.

 

She could memorize things (days of the week, months of the year, phone number) much more quickly and easily than her older brother.

 

Both children progressed in math about the same.

 

They were both capable of the same Language Arts work, although my daughter caught on to things a bit more quickly, but not so quickly that we couldn't slow down and wait for her brother to catch up.

 

Combining Kindergarten for these two children was no problem at all.