Science - combine children or do individually?

[alisoncooks]

Which do you prefer to do for science?

My DDs are close in age (2 years apart) and next year my youngest will be in Kindergarten. At that time, I'm planning on starting a more formal approach to science (it's been hit-or-miss up until now). I've been planning to combine them using Elemental Science and keep them together up until 6-7th grade.

 

However, now I'm wondering if they would be better met doing science on their own level... (i.e. picking up something like BJU Press science for each of them, separately).

 

Thoughts? Do you combine science or keep it separate?

(I am planning on combining history, up until middle or high school.)

[Lori D.]

Really depends on the specific students. A huge factor is: do the siblings get along doing things together? If they will spend the whole time fighting or competing, not much is going to be learned about science... Child personalities and attitudes sometimes force working individually rather than combining.

 

However, it sure is easier on mom/teacher to combine whenever possible! And I think students benefit by working cooperatively -- discussion can ensue, and everyone sees different points which get brought out when working together. Also, logistically, it's easier to do "big" projects and hands-on.

 

And even if everyone has to have science at a different level, to at least be all doing the same science topic is *huge* for helping mom/teacher keep sanity.

 

Totally JMO, based on our experience, but I think it's fairly straight forward (and preferable!) to keep 2 who are 2 years apart together up until somewhere along about 7th/8th grade (as long as you're not having to deal with serious attitudes or LDs). However, most of the time, somewhere in middle school or by 9th grade, the older one needs more advanced science than what younger sibling can usually handle, unless younger sibling is advanced.

 

 

Our experience: our 2 DSs are 20 months in age, and were technically 1 grade apart, but 2 years apart academically. We were able to do science together all the way up until they were 7th and 8th grades. At that point, I separated out science to help older DS start working at a higher level in prep for high school. They did not only separate science programs, but did separate science topics, which was a lot more time-consuming for me, but we managed without too much stress, as I did not also have youngers to school, too. And the following year, when younger DS was 8th grade, he was able to do what older DS had done in 8th grade, so that was repeat/review for ME, and I only had to wrestle with the new science program and topic for older DS now in 9th grade.

 

For high school, it's nearly impossible to keep siblings together for science unless they are working at virtually the same level of reading/thinking/analysis and at the same math level, as the farther into high school science you go, the more advanced the topics are to wrestle with, AND some of the sciences require that the student also have accomplished higher math (Alg. 1 or Alg. 2) in order to successfully do the Chemistry and Advanced Chem. or Physics.

 

Just my 2 cents worth! BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Lori D.

[Syllieann]

Mine are 24 months apart and I searched high and low for something that I thought I could fold the younger into later. I just couldn't find anything that I felt was appropriate for k and 1st and also for 2nd and 3rd without big compromises. So, im going to start bfsu with my oldest for now. i hope to be able to combine for upper elementary and the middle years though. If there was something like apologia that wasn't young earth I might be able to combine younger. I'm kind of hoping sassafras might give us that option.

[lmrich]

For science there is so much set up and pre-work for you that I would do it together. I think it is more fun to do experiments in a small group anyways. Two years apart should not matter for along time.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Mine are 20 months apart and I have kept them together. It's been great. I plan separating next year when the oldest is 6th grade. Younger gets a free year if whatever she wants next year.

 

It's been nice to have it together and made things simple on me.

[Walking-Iris]

I have a 4th grader and a Kinder and a 2 year old. I keep them together topically although the 4th grader can obviously read and write and do more advanced experiments/activities. It's easier for me to keep all of them doing the same thing (as in "learning about our body" for example) and to provide materials about that topic at their respective levels than to have one kid doing anatomy and another chemistry and another etc. and having to juggle that many different lesson plans.

 

My little ones don't have a hard time at all participating in whatever my older ds is doing. Last year he participated in all of our chemistry experiments even if some of what we were reading was beyond him. I just let them do what they're capable of doing. ScienceWorks has been really helpful for me to put together a quick lesson plan that keeps my Kinder happy while I go deeper with my ds.

 

 

[Wheres Toto]

Mine are 23 months apart and I keep them together for everything except math and language arts. If I did them separately I would have to cut way down on projects and activities since it just wouldn't be possible to do everything times two. They both get a lot out of it when we do it together although I may have my son do slightly more - like reading aloud lab sheets or notes.

[Farrar]

Read alouds and hands on explorations and experiments are the heart of science at our house. There's no way I could structure that for multiple subjects. Even if my kids were pretty far apart, I think it would be the one subject we'd do together. Actually, after Christmas, we'll add a pretty small 3yo to tag along with us on our experiments day.

[Syllieann]

Read alouds and hands on explorations and experiments are the heart of science at our house. There's no way I could structure that for multiple subjects. Even if my kids were pretty far apart, I think it would be the one subject we'd do together. Actually, after Christmas, we'll add a pretty small 3yo to tag along with us on our experiments day.

Is this a DIY type or do you have something you follow?

[Farrar]

 

Is this a DIY type or do you have something you follow?

 

We DIY science. I used to post about what we were doing on my blog, but I have fallen off doing it lately. Basically, we pick topics then read piles of library books, do narrations, and have an afternoon hands on day once a week that we share with another family. Right now, I have three 8 yos and a 5 yo for the hands on day. We work at the level for the older kids, but the younger boy can participate just as much and gets a lot out of it.

[Syllieann]

We DIY science. I used to post about what we were doing on my blog, but I have fallen off doing it lately. Basically, we pick topics then read piles of library books, do narrations, and have an afternoon hands on day once a week that we share with another family. Right now, I have three 8 yos and a 5 yo for the hands on day. We work at the level for the older kids, but the younger boy can participate just as much and gets a lot out of it.

 

Thanks, your blog is very helpful. The approach looks appealing for when I need to add my younger in. Would it be reasonable to use the janice van cleave books for the hands on stuff for the youngers too? I think I saw it listed as grades 4-8 at rr but not sure how flexible that might be.

[Farrar]

 

Thanks, your blog is very helpful. The approach looks appealing for when I need to add my younger in. Would it be reasonable to use the janice van cleave books for the hands on stuff for the youngers too? I think I saw it listed as grades 4-8 at rr but not sure how flexible that might be.

 

 

Oh sure. Not everything in the Science for Every Kid series will be great for younger kids, but many of the experiments are. I generally just take out all the library experiment books on a topic and pick through to see what I can do easily, or what will illustrate something well, or what will be good actual scientific exploration. In general, I have found that materials intended for upper elementary and middle school are easier to simplify when needed than it is to beef up materials for younger kids.

[Donna]

When my boys were home, I combined Science and History. They are 23 months apart. I just had the older one provide a higher level output in his writing and projects.

[2_girls_mommy]

I have a 4th grader and a Kinder and a 2 year old. I keep them together topically although the 4th grader can obviously read and write and do more advanced experiments/activities. It's easier for me to keep all of them doing the same thing (as in "learning about our body" for example) and to provide materials about that topic at their respective levels than to have one kid doing anatomy and another chemistry and another etc. and having to juggle that many different lesson plans.

 

My little ones don't have a hard time at all participating in whatever my older ds is doing. Last year he participated in all of our chemistry experiments even if some of what we were reading was beyond him. I just let them do what they're capable of doing. ScienceWorks has been really helpful for me to put together a quick lesson plan that keeps my Kinder happy while I go deeper with my ds.

 

 

This is what we have done up until this year as well. Then I spend time w/the younger working on her narrations for her science journal, while the odd can do additional reading and do more written work like definitions, lab sheets, etc.

 

The only reason I stopped this year is that that a co-op class was offered for each.. If I was working at home, we would have done them together again this year. But I don't use a specific curriculum. Like PP, I just get books for each on the topics that are appropriate.

[coffeegal]

My oldest 2 aren't even 13 months apart. We separated for a time, but I've found it's easier to have the kids on the same page in science. Last year we studied earth science, while this year we're studing biology. The younger 2, 3 1/2 years apart, are working together in biology as well. Dd is doing extra reading and writing short reports, while ds is reading the basic information and creating notebook pages. I've found it reduces my stress level to keep track of 1 or 2 science topics rather than having 4 children all over the place.

[boscopup]

My two currently are not combined, and really my oldest mostly reads library books, so I'm not actively teaching science, but... When we did do more formal teacher-driven science (including BJU), I let the younger one tag along, and he did do pretty well with it. I can't combine for history (they are worlds apart in level of understanding), but science is much more doable - the younger one can at least pick up bits and pieces. So basically, I picked science for the older one, then let the younger join in and learn what he could.

 

My younger one has science included in his Sonlight core, so he just does that right now.

 

I'm sure by middle school, my oldest would need a separate science if doing a formal curriculum. But we could at least do somewhat similar topics.

[kb44]

I combine, a lot, especially for hands on. Or, I do the two olders, and the two twins in a group, depending on the topic.

[NittanyJen]

We do a combination-- I have more details in my blog (a set up and a follow up on how it's been going, for Bio this year). On Monday, I teach them an overview of the week's topic together. On Wednesday, we do the main labs together, though there is the possibility for individual projects (although when I tried that in chemistry, they always worked on each other's labs out of interest-- older would help younger with his labs, and younger would watch older with his labs; they would both watch any demos, and I would just ask them different kinds of questions-- older got questions about what drove the reaction, whereas younger got more questions about what he saw and what he thought happened).

 

Through the rest of the week, they have separate reading assignments, different expectations for notebooking and presentations, though they are working on similar themes. As we work each week up the chain from bacteria through cnidarians to molluscs to arthropoda, younger might focus more upon finding out about habitats, individual animals, body plans, and so on; older reads about adaptations and compares how different body plans and different modes of locomotion and sense organs and feeding and reproduction systems change as we move across the different phyla and increase in complexity. Older DS incorporates more information about early biochemistry-- photosynthesis, ATP, oxygen/CO2 cycling, nutrient cycles, etc into his readings and notes in any given week.

 

It has not been difficult to teach to two different levels in this manner.

[Zoo Keeper]

My oldest two are combined in science/history/Latin and my younger two are together in science/history/Latin. The toddler combines himself into everybody's business... :tongue_smilie:

 

My older boys are doing (most of) SL science E (and some of God's Design Chemistry) this year and loving it, while the younger two are doing SL science A. We have also had a good time using God's Design Science (here's a post I wrote), and it would be easy to combine your girls into that, if you are looking for a YEC science.

[...................]

My dc are 22 months apart. We are loving doing Apologia together this year! It's fun to learn together. It is part of what bonds is as a family. In fact, now that they are older and their interests are diverging, having several subjects which we study together seems an extra special time. I'd like to keep together for Science until my son starts 7th grade Apologia.

[alisoncooks]

Thanks for all the feedback! I'm definitely leaning toward combining the girls.

Now my dilemma is determining WHICH curriculum I want to use with them!