Mandylubug Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 So, I have one boy doing great with their current math and another not so much... My girls are doing R&S Math and I think my oldest would do well with it as well (posted about the older math grades yesterday) Anyway, my question would be, do I pull the son that is the same level as my son to do R&S with his brother, or leave him where he is doing well? Also, since there are no workbooks just student texts in grade 3 of R&S math and IF I decide to switch both boys to R&S3... would you buy two student texts; or just lecture together and assign the problems from their text at individual times and share a text? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ga girl Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I do not presume to tell you what to do, but I was in a similar situation with my 2 boys. They are 2 years/grades apart and were doing the same math program and level. I had to do a different math curriculum with the younger one because my older son began comparing himself to his younger brother. This brought on sooo much self doubt for older son since he struggled to keep up and younger son was breezing through. It was much more work for me, but I am glad we switched to 2 different curriculums. Blessings to you as you find what fits your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I do not presume to tell you what to do, but I was in a similar situation with my 2 boys. They are 2 years/grades apart and were doing the same math program and level. I had to do a different math curriculum with the younger one because my older son began comparing himself to his younger brother. This brought on sooo much self doubt for older son since he struggled to keep up and younger son was breezing through. It was much more work for me, but I am glad we switched to 2 different curriculums. Blessings to you as you find what fits your family. awe, you are right about that. My oldest is only 11 months older than his younger brother. Younger brother is more mathy and just thinks and learns differently than my oldest. My oldest will watch his brother and just make comments about how jealous he is about how easy math comes for him! I could see the two separate programs as a blessing in some scenarios! Thank you for the mention! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I was not prepared to have my kids have different learning styles lol. Imagine my shock. Different kids, different programs. Good luck finding what works for your family. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 If one son is doing well with RS leave him there. Math is the one subject I try desperately not to jump around from program to program in. I have 4 dc I'm teaching and using 3 different math programs. As ideal as it would be to use one program, the realities are that it is more beneficial to customize to each child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeofakind Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I had hoped to use same programs and be able to reuse when the younger gets where my older one is- however my older does so well with a mastery approach and my younger does well with a spiral approach; I've gone back and forth if I should move her into MUS; but after some thought- why fix something that's not broken?!?! :001_smile: Good luck in your decision though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddle Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 My daughters are 3 years apart and have different learning needs, so they share almost NO curriculum:tongue_smilie: For math, my youngest uses MUS and my oldest is in Teaching Textbooks. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Man, that would totally blow my justification for spending so much on homeschool materials!!! ;) Too soon to tell here, but good luck in figuring it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) . Edited September 23, 2023 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 Something to consider, if you do switch to R&S 3, there's enough room to write directly in the textbook. I'd get each child their own and let them do that, unless you think they're easily capable of learning how to write everything on separate paper. The 4 book doesn't have enough room to pull this off, but the 3 does, easily. :) My Grace is doing exactly this with R&S arithmetic 3. She's advanced academically, but I don't think she's ready for all that scribing. To answer the question, if a child is soaring with a particular curriculum, and is actually learning it well, I'd only move him if I was fairly certain the next book would be a good match too. I prefer my kids using the same line of a subject, too, but only when practical. It streamlines. You make a great point about the writing. We actually struggle with the will power/will to write out problems from TT right now. However, it is more of a perfectionism/fear of failure issue and not so much an ability to write. He is a bit behind in math for his age and really needs to keep moving forward. I really want to find what teaches him and meets his needs well at this point and stick with it. That being said; this morning I told him that if he didn't do well with his current math and we changed math programs he would be writing out every single problem... Who knew he would be SO happy to work today?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I was not prepared to have my kids have different learning styles lol.Imagine my shock. Different kids, different programs. Good luck finding what works for your family. :001_smile: This is how I feel too. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but it is what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 So, I have one boy doing great with their current math and another not so much... My girls are doing R&S Math and I think my oldest would do well with it as well (posted about the older math grades yesterday) Anyway, my question would be, do I pull the son that is the same level as my son to do R&S with his brother, or leave him where he is doing well? Also, since there are no workbooks just student texts in grade 3 of R&S math and IF I decide to switch both boys to R&S3... would you buy two student texts; or just lecture together and assign the problems from their text at individual times and share a text? I struggled with this with my boy-girl twins and finally succumbed to the reality that they are at different places AND have vastly different learning styles. At first, I kept them with the same curriculum but taught them separately because their learning styles are so disparate. For all of us, keeping them together was a stumbling block in terms of learning. This past year I changed their curriculum and track, at least with respect to math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 do I pull the son that is the same level as my son to do R&S with his brother, or leave him where he is doing well? Give each child the curriculum that works for them. If one son is doing well with what he's currently doing, let him keep doing it. My kids are VERY close in age but are completely different. I started off trying to have them do the same things for every subject, but I learned that the best way to go is to choose each child's program based on what works for that child and not worry about what the sibling is doing. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGHEALTHYMOM Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 :lol: I have always had this problem from the get go! I have had a struggling learner and a gifted one that I actually taught together from the start. If something doesn't work ( eg. Spelling Zoo) I switch to accomodate the oldest. Right now, I am ditching their seperated Math ( they need more motivation from me anyway!) I just had to research and decided last night finally what we needed. I ordered Art Reed DVD's, sold all of our other math we have finished, games we used to play, and switching my younger crew to Singapore and manipulatives. I needed to figure all this out as my Nesting instinct is in full force, I am having a rough pregnancy and had a horrid year last year with surgery in Aug. One key in choosing the Art Reed is that my ds needs a teacher and would prefer a man, not the DIVE cd's we were using. At least I hope this helps! My dd who is 2 years younger can use it at the same time and although it wouldn't matter to me if they were doing different programs, I know they both need this one so it will be easier to start now and go on through the summer. Then we will see if they are ready for Algebra, and go from there. I will also try to use IEW with 3 and ROD & Staff with 3. I just ordered R & S 6 after much debate. We have grammar songs cd and book for everybody to listen to, Geography songs for everyone, and Omnibus 2, MOH 2, along with many books for history. I cannot use a strict IG after years of planning our own curriculum. I tried a few and looked at one to find out and won't do that again. I am still working on a realistic schedule and wish I had not wasted time looking at so many books for a particular program. But I have sold 2 boxes of great books, and gotten what we need here and on the way! My dh is :lol: but we talked and decided last night to get rid of everything we know we will not use and box up what we will use in the future, with only what we need now on our shelves. It will take a few more weeks since we are putting out a garden, and cleaning out the basement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Isn't differing curriculum the major advantage of HSing? If I wanted to fit my kids in a predefined box I would just send them to PS where they have to make do with whatever the PS picks for them, right? I thought it was a given that I would need to invest in multiple types/varieties of the same subjects to get the youngest 4 through school. But then again buying/browsing/studying different curriculum is the way I relax.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Give each child the curriculum that works for them. If one son is doing well with what he's currently doing, let him keep doing it. My kids are VERY close in age but are completely different. I started off trying to have them do the same things for every subject, but I learned that the best way to go is to choose each child's program based on what works for that child and not worry about what the sibling is doing. :iagree: Mine are close in age (right now one is 8 and one is 9), but they are complete opposites when it comes to learning methods. I've finally come to the conclusion this year that if it was a bomb for the oldest, the youngest will love it, and vice versa. Sigh. I wish we could use all the same stuff for both b/c it would save so much money, but really it just gives all of us a headache. And like another person said, the oldest constantly compares himself negatively with the younger ("I'm stupid" types comments etc. when he sees little brother whizzing through curriculum that he remembers as being so hard.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 well, the one that is struggling now with the program did love it originally. The other child would do well with whatever I picked. That is why I was considering changing both over to another program... But, I have decided to supplement TT with flash cards, etc. first and see if I can accomodate my oldest. I do think the slow, gradual building of facts that are reviewed with R&S would be perfect for him. However, I want to find a program that teaches him and interests him and stick with it. He has done great until now. All other was review of lessons taught in the past and now we are at his level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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