CathyCDK Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I have 2 daughters, ages 11 and 9 that I have always homeschooled. The younger one has already caught up to the older one in reading and language arts skills, and is catching up to the older one in Math. She is less than a half year behind. My older daughter can do her Math, she just doesn't want to. My younger daughter has a better attitude, and works efficiently, so moves at a quicker pace. Up until now, I have resisted teaching them together, just so there wouldn't be competition. My oldest is at grade level, and my younger is almost 2 years above grade level. In May of this year, we adopted 3 siblings, now ages 6, 5, and 4, who are now being homeschooled too. Homeschooling is a bit more busy and time consuming now, lol. In order to simplify my teaching time, I am reconsidering combining my two oldest, so that they are together in all subjects. What positives or negatives might we experience? I've thought of going to a more topical lesson, percents, for example, and teach the concept together, and have two different curricula for their assignments. What if my younger continues to outpace my oldest? Would I hurt her by keeping them together? Well, I thought that I'd bounce the idea off y'all and ask for feedback. Blessings, CAthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Check out the recent blog post on http://www.mathusee.com on this exact topic. I'm trying to link but for some reason it's not working. It's on the home page so it's easy to find, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I don't think it would work. Your younger one will likely keep learning quickly, so even once they're at the same grade level, the younger one might keep moving forward at the quicker pace and pass the older one. Holding back the younger one is not a good idea. They should both be at their own pace. You don't hold back a strong football player, gymnast, or pianist. Why hold back a kid strong in math? I would pick math materials that require the least teaching time from you (ie, I wouldn't use something that requires you to be with them the entire lesson), and I would also not be afraid to put them in different materials. For example, perhaps the older one could do CLE and the younger one Singapore? Then it's harder for them to compare with each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 It could work. It just depends on the kids. I had to keep my twins separated starting at about age 9 because they were too competitive. Well, the one who had learning disabilities was too competitive. The other ended up joining her older sister in most subjects when they were 12 and 14. (a bit older than your two are now). Math is the one subject they remained separated in. :lol: It meant my 12 yo working on high school level material at an early age. It has turned out to work fantastically well for them. They have become the absolute best of friends with no rivalry between them. It helps that they each have areas where they can outwork the other--A is better at Biology/C is better in Chemistry. In the case of my twins, the one was always outperforming the other which didn't go over so well. So, I would suggest looking very closely at their personalities and abilities. Will the younger motivate the older to try harder? How will the older handle it if the younger consistently outperforms her? Will it cause her to just quit trying altogether? It is a hard move to make. The unknown territory is terrifying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I don't think it would work. Your younger one will likely keep learning quickly, so even once they're at the same grade level, the younger one might keep moving forward at the quicker pace and pass the older one. Holding back the younger one is not a good idea. They should both be at their own pace. You don't hold back a strong football player, gymnast, or pianist. Why hold back a kid strong in math? I would pick math materials that require the least teaching time from you (ie, I wouldn't use something that requires you to be with them the entire lesson), and I would also not be afraid to put them in different materials. For example, perhaps the older one could do CLE and the younger one Singapore? Then it's harder for them to compare with each other. :iagree: CLE is a great curriculum for minimizing teaching time and maximizing progress. It works well for my struggling math student as well as my mathier one. I would definitely consider it for your older dd. I agree that a different program for your younger to avoid comparison may be a good idea. FWIW, my two closest in age (18 months) are the two most different in HOW they learn. I do not combine them in any core subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 CLE is a great curriculum for minimizing teaching time and maximizing progress. It works well for my struggling math student as well as my mathier one. I would definitely consider it for your older dd. Yeah, I've seen my friend's daughter's progress, going from struggling math student that had ZERO confidence, to excellent math student just oozing with confidence and ready to tackle harder stuff (including Singapore's CWP! :D). It's been very cool to see in the past year that they've used it. My friend started a level back from her daughter's actual grade, but now they're catching up and moving to grade level very easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) I think it depends on the personalities of your kids. I have a friend who has combined her 10yo and 12yo in math and it seems to be working out okay. However, I have twins, and I had to separate them last year, even though they're both working at pretty much the same level (both in Algebra this year). One was just a little faster on the uptake, and it caused tears and drama every day. If that dd had been older to boot, I can't imagine... I have another friend whose younger ds has caught up and is about to pass his older sister. She put older sister in different math curriculum altogether so it wasn't so obvious. That sister has a personality more like my twin who I switched out. If my other twin had been the one who had needed a bit more explanation/teaching, I probably could've kept them together - she doesn't have the same competitive nature. Edited October 14, 2011 by matroyshka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 My advice is to teach the content subjects together and the skill subjects separately. Kids move at different paces for math. I would not try to teach them together. If you insist on keeping them together, you could get to a point where one is being held back and/or one being dragged along too quickly so that they stay together. If you teach them together for a while and then one outpaces the other, that could engender resentment. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 As you can see from my signature, I think it's a great idea. My first dd is a bright girl, accelerated but more interested in using her extra time to pursue other interests than to move much faster. My second dd is very gifted, though, and can progress quickly. Several years ago, they ended up at the same level. My younger could probably go ahead some more, but instead I have broadened her math experience, using AOPS materials, MATHCOUNTS competitions, etc. And really, doing Calculus her freshman year is probably fast enough; I'm not sure I'd want her any more ahead than that. This allows me to challenge her, but keep them together. By grouping them in most subjects, I have the time to spend really teaching them, reading their books, discussing, finding outside opportunities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CathyCDK Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Lots of food for thought here, and I have a better picture now. Thank you for your comments. I'm not sure how it will work out for us yet, but I have a new perspective. In the meantime, I need to find a way to streamline the rest of our subjects to make time for one on one time. I have two distinct levels of students for history and Science, and 5 individual Math levels and 3 reading levels. Using Tapestry of Grace will eventually allow me to teach everyone the same history topic at the same time, but for now, my littles are still too young for that. And the funny thing, my older girls don't want to miss out on what the youngers are doing, so all 5 of them are doing that. Blessings, Cathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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