Synchronizing Certain Subjects for Kids One Year Apart in School?

[jljohn]

I have three children--a 6 YO daughter (will soon be 7), a 5 YO Son (just turned 5), and a 1 YO daughter. My older two are 20 months apart in age, but they are slotted into 1st grade and kindergarten, respectively. So my daughter is an old 1st grader and my son is a young kindergartner.

 

I am homeschooling both of them this year, and while I will teach certain subjects separately--Phonics/Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Math--because of their differing abilities, I am pondering the wisdom of synchronizing their progress in the three linked disciplines (linked in the sense that they are taught as chronological parallels): Literature, History, and Science. As we progress through the Ancients this year, reading various editions of Homer, Virgil, the Histories, etc., working through SOTW, Vol. 1, and diving into the Biological studies, my son will want to be involved just as much as my daughter. And if I don't synchronize now, I'll be trying to repeat the Ancients next year, right alongside the Middle Ages.

 

Is there any reason not to allow them to progress through these linked disciplines together? What concerns would you have? Thanks!

 

Jeremy

[NotSoObvious]

I have twins, but they are at least a grade level apart in academics, so my situation is a little different but I can share our experience.

 

Almost everything but language arts and math can be done together. You just might have different expectations with regards to reading and writing within the shared subjects.

 

It's VERY wise to sync as much as you can. It will be much more beneficial for your kids, too. We do SO much with history because we are all learning about the same thing. I can't imagine trying to teach different years of history and getting as much enjoyment out of it as we do now.

 

I think you'll find families with more kids at larger intervals still share many subjects- even if they are accessing the material at different levels.

[Pamela H in Texas]

You definitely should try to keep them together.

 

We have three together so are basing our cycles on my middle one. This year, we're doing a zero year, then next year we'll be on ancient history and biology. IF we got to keep the baby, she'd be in 1st grade when the middle one is in 5th so we'd do the same time period but different levels.

[sleeplessnights]

We have kids in 3rd, 1st, and K (and an almost 4 year old). After working on keeping the older two together for content subjects the last couple of years, knowing that I'm really teaching the oldest and the younger is just getting exposed to the subject, I've finally decided that we're just going to assign everyone their own history and science. For example, I love MP's Greek Myths guide for 3rd, and my 1st grade boy is enjoying the stories, but he's not getting everything that my 3rd grader is getting out of it. He would love it in 3rd grade. I could combine my middle two (16 mos apart), but they are further apart academically.

 

To do this, everyone is going to work a little more independently, but I believe they'll get a lot more out of it individually. We still do a lot of read alouds together and in groups. We don't tie our read alouds to our history, we we usually jump from topic to topic.

 

Maybe as they get older we'll combine students into a "class," but for now things have been working out better if we keep them separate.

[nertsmommy]

My two oldest are 17 mos. apart. I am doing math and language arts separate. I am combining science, history, art, music.

[coffeegal]

We switched over to TOG for this reason. My life is simpler if everyone is studying the same topic. :001_smile:

[OK Family]

I have a kindergartner and a first grader. They are 13 months apart. Last year my youngest didn't do much schoolwise so she is a bit behind her brother. They have different levels in math and phonics. I try to combine them as much as possible though.

[FO4UR]

Absolutely combine wherever you can. That close in age, you can probably even combine some of those skills. (Grammar, spelling...) Many of those subjects are repeated every.single.year. and starting 6mo early for one and 6mo late for the other (for the sake of combining) is going to have zero impact upon their long-term understanding of the subject. I'd only separate if/when it becomes an issue.

 

 

Mine are 26mo and 14mo apart, respectively. My older 2 combine for grammar, latin, sometimes spelling when the stars align. I have all 3 in the same history/science rotation. At this point, I do supplement with things just for my 6yo - things like picture books that I read to the older ones when they were littler. (Even though my middle child is actually closer in age to the younger...she's closer to the older in academics.)

[momofkhm]

I have three children--a 6 YO daughter (will soon be 7), a 5 YO Son (just turned 5), and a 1 YO daughter.

 

I am homeschooling both of them this year, and while I will teach certain subjects separately--Phonics/Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Math--because of their differing abilities, I am pondering the wisdom of synchronizing their progress in the three linked disciplines (linked in the sense that they are taught as chronological parallels): Literature, History, and Science.

 

I would definitely have them together for the subjects you listed. I would think about always having them together. I kept mine together until the older one was ready for General Science (7th grade). Then the younger 2 were together until (again) the older one was in 7th grade. BUT y kids are 3 grade levels apart. With only one I might keep them together all the way through.

[Ellie]

It is pretty common for hsers to teach the same history and science to all their children. Older children do more complex activities/assignments than younger dc.

[marbel]

I can't imagine not combining where possible! Can't see any downside as long as one is not stressed and/or one is not bored. Writing and extra reading can always be adjusted.

 

My 2 - 18 months apart - were synchronized in everything for while. After a time they diverged in (as others have noted) math and English. Now for the first time they've diverged in science but they are working fairly independently on that anyway. So we're down to doing history, Bible, and Latin together.

[Mommy22alyns]

Absolutely, I'd combine science, history, and lit. My girls are 2 years apart and I combine them in everything but LA, math, and foreign language.

[ladydusk]

Agreeing with everyone else. My three are 32 months apart total, and we do skill subjects individually and content separately.

 

I work with them one-to-one on math, grammar, spelling & reading (2 days each) , writing, Latin review (they watch video for instruction independently), penmanship.

 

Reading is assigned and they narrate back to me.

 

They do their content at their own level of ability, so, for example, my 5 yo does a 1 sentence narration, the 6 yo does at least 2 sentences, and my 7 yo dictates at least 3-4 sentences or writes her own 1-2 sentences. I expect their art to be at differing abilities with my 5 yo still doing somewhat unrecognizable pictures and my 7 yo to have much higher quality, etc.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Combine where you can. You may find having a girl and then a boy the academic difference seems greater these early years. I have a boy and then a girl and they did the same levels for years. I am now pushing ds to his own level and dd to her own level. She could do his level but I don't want her going to college early, so the reason for keeping them in own grades. We have always done history/science/Bible together. But as we go into middle school I am trying to pull them apart.

[Wheres Toto]

My younger two are exactly 23 months apart. My son is also accelerated in math, while my younger is working right on level. I combine them for everything except math and language arts. It works out great.

[jljohn]

Thank you for all the rapid responses. I'll plan on teaching at least those subjects together and see where else I can double up. I appreciate the input!

 

Jeremy

[Mimm]

I teach as many subjects together as possible. My kids are 18 months apart, but fortunately, my 9 year old is pretty ahead. She's supposed to be just now starting fourth grade, but she's somewhat ahead in math (about halfway through her fourth grade math and on track to be well through fifth by the end of the year). For everything else, she does exactly what her sister does. This is the first year I am combining so much. Last year we combined a lot but I would have easier assignments for her. If her sister was writing three paragraphs, she had to write two. Her sister would read a section and have to outline it, but she would just have to read it. By the end of the year, I had increased my demands on her to the point where she could almost do the same. She still doesn't write as easily as my 11 year old but I think that's a personality thing. She's a bit of a perfectionist so "rough draft" isn't in her vocabulary. She also reads a little more slowly (but my 11 year old just swallows books, so my 9 year old's reading is certainly not a problem.)

 

Anyway, it's not hard to have slightly different demands for them. The main thing is that you don't want to overburden the younger child but you may find that he catches up quickly.

[Susan in KY]

Mine are 17 mos. apart. I combine almost everything now, but it took a while to get there. By middle school, certainly, you will even be able to sync language arts. I always did from the time my younger could write without an issue (end of 3rd/beginning of 4th), but I just expected more out of the elder of the two. It was amazing to me how much the younger rose to the expectation, but then she has a personality that thrives on that. She is a very good writer today. We used Emma Serl, though, which doesn't start them on formal writing until 4th grade.

 

I can't imagine the wasted time if I had to teach them separately.

[dosducotes]

My girls are 15 mos apart. I try to sync as many of their subjects as possible. I usually give my older daughter supplemental activities if she seems bored and I spend more one-on-one time with the younger one if she is struggling. I may turn a reading assignment into a read aloud or vice versa or let them dictate instead of writing. We do everything together except for handwriting and music.