twins or same grade level, how to...

[JABarney]

Hello. My twins are five and we are in our first year of homeschooling. In preparation for next year, I am wondering how other moms with children the same age or grade level actually "do" narration excercises - ie SOTW etc. For example, I will read to both at the same time, but then wonder if they should be separated to tell me what they heard - so that they can not be influenced by what the other says OR if hearing what the other says is actually beneficial. I am not sure if this makes sense, and perhaps I am over thinking as I want to "get it right". I also notice that they are starting to look at each others workbooks when we are doing math. I want to promote cooperation and teamwork, yet also want to promote independence. Thank you for sharing anything that has worked/not worked for you on your journey.

[RoughCollie]

I homeschooled all of my triplets for 7 years and added my DD, who is 1.5 years younger, to the mix for 3 years. This is what I did.

 

For anything that had oral narration, I would have them take turns. In the SOTW activity book, review questions and summaries are not done only once per chapter, so it worked out fine.

 

For example, DS1 would narrate the first selection. Then DS2 and DS3, and later DD, would jump on the bandwagon and add any facts DS1 had missed. I'd ask the review questions - one child at a time. If that child did not know the answer, I'd choose another child to answer the question. We'd review the material until everyone knew the answer.

 

I gave oral tests on the chapters using the review questions in the activity book, separately. First, we would play history-o-rama. I took the review questions and each would end up answering all of them, taking turns. If someone didn't know an answer, another kid would answer the question and earn the point. They each received 1 point each time they had the correct answer. The one with the most cummulative points at the end of three sessions of history-o-rama got 5 points added to his/her test grade. The kids loved that game and I used it to review science, too.

 

We watched history videos for that age group from Schlessinger Media, which we borrowed from the library. They narrated every video and I'd type up what they said. The kids would take turns being the first narrator, and then kids #2-#4 would add their 2 cents worth. At the end, they had a complete composite written narration with everything important (or not so important) in it.

 

We read most of the books listed in the SOTW activity guide and did a lot of the activities, too. I did not have them narrate the books because I also used FIAR, which they absolutely loved. In 4th grade, when we stopped using FIAR, they would narrate the book I had selected for literature from the SOTW activity book. By that time, the narrations were individually written.

 

I did not let the kids look at each other's workbooks when they were doing math or any other workbook. That was so I could tell where a child was having a problem -- I did not let them help one another with math or discuss the math to figure out the correct answers.

 

We did a lot of math together in class before they did the assignment and they would take turns coming up to the white board. Kids love writing on whiteboards. If someone got an answer wrong, invariably someone else knew how to ge the answer and they work the problem and explain it. Kids love to play teacher, too.

 

I did let them share finding the answer and look at each other's work when we were using manipulatives or playing other math games that I either thought up or purchased.

 

 

 

Hello. My twins are five and we are in our first year of homeschooling. In preparation for next year, I am wondering how other moms with children the same age or grade level actually "do" narration excercises - ie SOTW etc. For example, I will read to both at the same time, but then wonder if they should be separated to tell me what they heard - so that they can not be influenced by what the other says OR if hearing what the other says is actually beneficial. I am not sure if this makes sense, and perhaps I am over thinking as I want to "get it right". I also notice that they are starting to look at each others workbooks when we are doing math. I want to promote cooperation and teamwork, yet also want to promote independence. Thank you for sharing anything that has worked/not worked for you on your journey.

[JABarney]

Thanks for the reply. I will figure out a system and you provided lots of ideas. Even though I am new to these boards they are very helpful.

Thanks everyone.