Combining Children and using TWTM recommendations

[tuzor]

I am wondering how I can teach multiple children but only using TWTM recommendations. Is it okay to combine my first grader with a fourth grader in science and history or should I just keep them separate. I know it's okay technically but I'm wondering if that's best. SWB if you see this question please respond. Combining would be easier for me however I wonder if the younger kids lose out.

[AMJ]

I think it would be fine to combine them! I will be switching from private school to homeschool after the end of this current school year, and I plan to combine my DD11 (currently 5th grade) and DD8 (currently 3rd grade) in most topics. Certain skills I will teach them on separate levels and require separate levels of effort (math, writing, spelling, grammar), but most everything else I will have them cover together. They are both reading on a similar level (DD8 is a bit advanced, and DD11 had vision function problems that slowed her down for a while, and still seems to have problems when allergies are bad) so most of their assigned reading will be the same. Content-based classes are easy to combine -- just teach the kids the same stuff, and require different levels of skills-based output (writings and such).

[Shannon in TN]

I'm planning on teaching my 2nd and 6th together in some subjects, too. The subjects will be history, science, and literature analysis, and probably latin (the 2nd grader will listen in on the cds but the 6th will do the work pages). The grammar, math, writing they'll probably do separately. I'm thinking if I don't combine subjects, we'll be doing school past dinner time and that's no fun. But as a pp said, I'll expect different levels of work out of them.

[Sweepy]

We do that. They do their own Math and LA but we do Bible (daily), History and Science (each 1-2 x week) together. Mine are younger than yours but what I do right now this is how we do the Science and History...DS7 dictates to me what he's learned, I write it out for him and he copies the 1-3 sentences. DD5 dictates what she's learned, I write it out on her page and she draws an illustration. Next "year" we'll move to him writing for himself, developing his own sentences and her doing what he's doing now. There's a possibility that he won't actually be able to do this yet as he does frustrate easily with ADHD and dispraxia. Either way, that is what I plan for the next step, when they're ready.

[thegeyser]

I tried to combine history last year with my 1st and 3rd graders, and I do think my 1st grader got short-changed. If you are doing SOTW 1, you should be fine, but we were doing SOTW 3, designed for kids 3rd-7th grade. It was way over my 1st graders head. This year I have decided to start my younger guy in SOTW 1 and continue onto SOTW 4 with my oldest. The AG for SOTW 4 says the themes are too mature for anyone younger than 4th, and there are virtually no books geared to younger children. I am going to keep them together for science still, but there is definitely a part of me that wonders if chemistry and physics are too much for 1st/2nd grade too. I just keep thinking about how nice biology/anatomy/botany will be next year when they are both old enough to appreciate the content. :)