Combining Children

[abba12]

I have a question about combining students. My parents never combined my siblings and I, but I do like the concept. The thing is, how do the younger ones get to do what the older ones have done.

 

For example, memorization. Child 1 has been memorizing for two years before child 2 begins. They memorize the same verses, but child 2 has missed out on all the valuable verses from the first two years. When does child 2 get to do them?

 

Same goes for combining, say, science. Child 1 does biology and astronomy, then child 2 begins doing physics with child 1. When does child 2 do biology and astronomy? 

 

I thought perhaps child 2 does them once child 1 has finished and child 2 is studying alone, but there would be years difference between child 2 beginning and child 1 ending. You would need to buy a whole new curriculum for child 2 to do. Or in the case of bible verses, they'd become far too easy.

 

I guess it's partly because I am someone who loves sets and completing. I hate having a partial set of books on the bookshelf or only doing half of something. Do I just need to accept that those first two years for child 1 were good, but not nececary for child 2 to copy. I thought about combining art, but then worried that child 2 would miss out on, say, pastel art because child 1 did it in the two years before child 2 was ready.

 

Or, alternatively, do some of you do schoolwork without any combining? We hope to have a few more kidlets eventually, and the idea of teaching 4 science curricula is kind of overwhelming, though, I guess I should know better than anyone that, in actual fact, I would likely only be teaching two of those 4, as the older children can become independent.

[Mommy22alyns]

I say this kindly, because I did the very same thing, but you're overthinking it.   :)

[8filltheheart]

With the possible exception of some math, I have never even taught the same grade level or subject the same way twice (and I have been through all of them multiple times now.)  ;)   

 

FWIW, I have actually found it easier to teach most subjects separately.   I only combine my kids when they are functioning on the same level.   (I have combined a couple in math for a couple of yrs until the younger one totally surpassed the older; I have combined 2 for the odd novel or discussion, etc, but for the most part, teaching them individually is easier for me.) 

 

 

[momto2blessings]

They'll be fine:) For Scripture, the arts, etc. there are no set topics to cover. As long as they're learning its fine! For Science, I only have 2, but now that my eldest hit 7th she's doing Apologiz on her own pretty much and I'm cycling back for my youngest to complete some of the elementary books he was young when we covered (or letting him have some choice of topic).

 

Simply Charlotte Mason is a great site if you like to combine:) Blessings, Gina

[LEK]

We really only combine history (and all associated subjects eg art, mapping, literature... as we do unit studies based on our history), all the core subjects are seperate however we will be combining science as of next year when the younger one will be old enough to join in, atm she is just not doing "science" as a formal subject. For the other subjects they do the same subject at the same time (eg math is done by both at the same time) but using their own books etc.

[Guest aaalling]

I am combining a 2nd grader and a 5th grader this year for history and science.  Unfortunately, the 2nd grader is now going to hear about the ancients again because the 5th grader is coming back to that time period.  I didn't think about this last year when I taught them separately.  I just don't want to be teaching 2 different time periods.  As for science, I just haven't thought ahead enough about who will miss out on what.  I just have to keep my sanity!

[coralloyd]

I Combine for history, science, art, memory work, & Bible.

 

For history we are using SOTW 3, with lots of added American History books, right now. They all listen to me read aloud. They all do the maps. They all narrate out loud. We have a timeline we do on the wall together. However, I sometimes assign my girls extra reading on the curtain topic. My oldest is asked to write reports based on her extra reading.

 

For science we will soon be doing Sassafras Zoology together. My girls will be reading the God's Design: World of Animals, & Properties of Ecosystems; to go along with it. Oldest will write reports on these too. We did zoology when the girls were little, but since they have forgotten a lot. And since their brother hasn't gotten to do the fun butterfly, ant, frog habitats we are visiting it again. 

 

For art, we watch art dvds and everyone does the best they can at the level they're at. No pressure here.

 

For memory work the girls have always memorized the same verses and poetry. Now, I am having my son go back and learn ones that his sisters did. We do memory work at the same time and listen to each other recite. We use SCM's memory system (Ours is in a large three ring notebook). It works great because the girls still review the ones they did when they were little. There are verse I am having my son memorize, that the girls did not. They are learning them now since they hear their little brother doing them.

 

For Bible we use Bible Study Guides for All Ages. This works great because we all read the same passage of Scripture and discuss. Then they each have their own workbook, at their level. 

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[sagira]

My two older dc are almost 4 years apart. I only combine them in the following subjects:

 

Bible

Music

Art (my younger is actually surpassing the older in this regard)

Virtues

Habits

Nature Study

[Chelli]

My two older dc are almost 4 years apart. I only combine them in the following subjects:

 

Bible

Music

Art (my younger is actually surpassing the older in this regard)

Virtues

Habits

Nature Study

 

My children are all three grades apart. This list is exactly what I combine them for as well. Combining them for history, science, or any other subject does not work well. As I discovered this year when I went against my better judgment and tried to combine them for world geography and zoology. We are splitting up again next year.

[Loowit]

I am combing for some subjects for all three (3rd, 5th, and 8th graders).  Those will be history, Bible, art, music.  My oldest is doing her own science, and they boys will combine.  All other subjects they do individually.  We are using MFW and it goes through a cycle.  So they will all end up getting the same information with history, science, etc.by the time we are done.  Next year when DD is in High School, she will be doing her own thing.

 

When I first started homeschooling I did Abeka and liked it a lot but the year that I was doing both school age kids it was just too much.  I couldn't imagine what I would do when my youngest started too.  When I saw the idea of combing for certain subjects I loved it and haven't looked back.  I don't really worry if one kid misses out on something another got to do, that is just part of life.  If there is something special they want to try, I am open to doing that along with our other stuff.  Even combining they don't completely do the exact same stuff.  DD will read different books on the same history subject, but more geared for her level.  My youngest will have other books that are for younger readers.

[alisoncooks]

I like the idea of combining.  This year my youngest is in K, so we'll attempt to combine several subjects.  I don't know how it'll work ... we're doing Life Science/bio and some geography.  I think those will combine easily.  We also will do Bible and Art together.

[....]

If I had two students, I wouldn't bother combining at all.  You could easily teach two separately - that way you don't have to worry about the younger one missing out on something (like you stated in your OP).  I kinda feel the same way.  I don't want the younger ones to miss out on stuff, either.  

 

I have 4 kids, so if you want to know how we combine (just for fun):

 

6th grader and 5th grader are combined in everything but math.

3rd grader is taught separately.

5 yro is taught on her own.

Once or twice a week, we work through unit studies that I put together and all 4 of them work together on those.  They think those are fun, though and don't recognize them as schoolwork.   :tongue_smilie:   

[sagira]

I wanted to mention that even though I do not combine Math or Penmanship, they do it at the same time. Next year they will be in the same time period in History - Ancients. Dd6 will be doing SOTW and ds K12 Human Odyssey wifh Dorothy Mills books. He'll also listen to SOTW again. So when it comes to time periods, they could technically be combined. However, ds9 will be in sixth grade by then (and ds11) and dd6 will be in second grade (and dd7). This means what they're working on will be vastly different in terms of level.

[Walking-Iris]

When I combine, I don't usually mean that my younger children are doing the full course work, it means that my younger children are participating in our activities and projects at their level.

 

For example, I combine art.  All of my children , even the then 2 year old, did the Harmony Fine Art and Artistic Pursuits lessons last year.

 

I don't worry about my dd missing something some other year because it's art....you can't really miss something, and art isn't grade specific imho. So my 5th and 1st grader, and my 3 year old will be doing HFA 2nd grade. There's just more expected as far as ability for the older student. 

 

Math and language arts are usually separate, although my youngers can and usually will listen to a read aloud.

 

They have two separate sciences, but I combine by letting all the kids participate in the lessons or projects as they are able. Same with history.

 

Combining to me means presenting to all of them and letting them do what they can at their level, and giving individual attention to the child who needs it while the others are busy. Kind of like a multi-age classroom. Letting my 3 year old do what she can to help and learn while working on a history project or science experiment is better than trying to shoo her away  or put her in front of a tv babysitter. 

 

 

[....]

 

For example, I combine art.  All of my children , even the then 2 year old, did the Harmony Fine Art and Artistic Pursuits lessons last year.

 

I don't worry about my dd missing something some other year because it's art....you can't really miss something, and art isn't grade specific imho. So my 5th and 1st grader, and my 3 year old will be doing HFA 2nd grade. There's just more expected as far as ability for the older student. 

 

 

 

I don't know what the deal is with my kids, but I tried to combine art for a while and it was awful.  My 8 yro would see the older kids' work and start crying if she couldn't create something on the same level.  That's why we don't combine art.   :(   Maybe it's the middle child syndrome.

[Tanikit]

I have a nearly 6 year old and a 2 year old - this is how I see combining - it is there to save Mom time and for me it is also there so that I can have both my children near me at the same time. Obviously a 2 year old does not have a curriculum - I have started her on one for activities but its not like it matters if one day she does nothing. Still she is there for everything. She is reaching the age where my eldest started hearing a LOT of stories - there is not time for so many with the youngest which means that since she was born she has been combined with the eldest - everything I read to the eldest has been read also to the youngest whether she took anything in from I have no idea.

 

Will she miss something? Yes, she will - she is not hearing all the stories I read to the eldest, but then the eldest did not hear all the ones she has heard when she was 2. 

 

My eldest does BFSU and the 2 year old is along for the ride. At 3 my eldest did a lapbook on planets and we did some fun experiments on the water cycle at her level. Now when I do science with the oldest I go to the youngest section of our library and find the most simple book possible on the science and take that out as well - this way my nearly 6 year old gets to hear the basics again and my 2 year old hears something she can work with and that is short enough for her concentration - if she chooses to go and do something else then that is fine too, but she almost never does.

 

There are an infinite number of books, and infinite number of things to learn for every child but there is a limited amount of time for each child too - the older will not do more than the younger, he/she will just do different and that is fine - they are different children. The younger will not lose out - they pick up on many things that the older had no hope of even being exposed to at the same age and that is their advantage - the older gets individual attention and the younger gets a ready-made sibling. At some point you will have to stop having children - who will show that last child what it is like to be pregnant and have a younger sibling? For that matter who will show the oldest what it is like to have an older sibling. It'll all be ok - really.

[2_girls_mommy]

We rotate using the 4 yr science and history rotations.  So we do ancients one year (last yr in our 2nd rotation, odd was 5th grade, younger was 3rd grade.)  They are both in the same time period, so read alouds, videos, and projects are together.  Older would listen in to SOTW readings that I read to younger.  But odd had a lot more reading and writing to do on her own w/out me and w/out the younger.  The younger did grammar stage work, the older did logic stage work from WTM.    We were in a biology year for science.   We did some units together at home, w/odd doing more written work.  If we had an hour of science time, odd could identify and draw 3-5 birds in her notebook and list their habitats, calls, scientific names, and diets, etc.  Younger could only do 1-2 in that time period.  We did all nature walks to identify together.  Then both took a class at co-op that fit in the biology category, but at their own levels.  So they did separate work that way, but still covered the same basic topics.  Odd did dissections, lots of bookwork, younger had a science notebook, did more drawing, etc.

 

Since we go on a 4 yr rotation, they will all cover the same topics the same # of times.  They will be in different grades.  Odd had a biology year in 1st grade and 5th grade.  ydd has now had it in 3rd and will have it again in 7th grade....  They may not always use the same materials, but the same topics will covered at their own levels, and I keep it all straight by having them in the same subject areas.

 

Art works best to do it together.  We dealt w/ydd thinking hers wasn't good enough when she was in K, but we worked a lot on that attitude of doing our best and recognizing that her sister was older and their work was going to be different.  We don't have a problem anymore.  We just had to work through it.

 

Memory work: we do it together, but older has an extra list to work on.  So they are all working on the books of the Bible together.  They review the presidents and the states from past years together.  This year they will go back to the kings of England for middle ages.  But older also has to memorize some dates of major wars that younger doesn't have to get to until middle school.

[8filltheheart]

Deleted my snark

[abba12]

Thank you all for your responses. I guess I get caught up on the 'recommended ages' printed on the books, and my OCD nature hates to see something incomplete. I still wonder what I will do further down the track but I suppose, for now, I just need to let it go and see what happens instead of planning for something years away. And also trying to remember the good thing that gets done is better than the best thing which does not. If I am honest with myself, I would find it very, very hard to run a K'er and a 2nd grader on different art/science/other 'extra' curriculum.

 

But thank you also to the ladies who said they keep subjects separate as well. Despite being two grades apart my sister and I never did science or history together when we homeschooled, and I guess I needed the reminder that it is possible, and also much easier once they're reading. Perhaps I need to figure out my own three or four year cycle for combined subjects in the younger grades, and then let them go their separate ways as they get older and can do the material much more independently.

 

It's given me plenty to think about anyway

[KathyJo]

We just study the same topics the same year. That means that although everyone is doing Modern history this year, they're doing it at different levels. The youngest two boys will have the same spine which someone will read aloud, while the older boys each has his own spine. With science, physics this year, my older three have spines to read on their own while my youngest son will mostly just see and hear about the experiments which we'll do together. Younger boys will read the same books that the older boys read, but perhaps at a slightly different age.

 

We have a family Bible study, then there are individual ones depending on age. For things like Bible verses, it's easy to have just a master list of verses, and each child starts at the beginning and goes on to the end.

 

Combining doesn't have to mean everyone does exactly the same thing all the time. Developmentally speaking, it's probably impossible to combine everything without holding one child back while pushing another too hard in some subjects.

 

I think part of this question is the difference between using curricula and using books. For most subjects, we just use books, and they have a broad age-range. Curricula, OTOH, can be very tied to a developmental stage, and so must be used at the appropriate age. Our preferences--books vs. curricula--can dictate how much we can combine.

[ByGrace3]

We combine in foreign language, Bible, history, and science. I adjust expectations and ouput for each. All three of these we complete in a four year cycle -- science and history via the WTM so each child will complete each subject at each level just maybe not in the same order-- ie. everyone will get the four year grammar stage cycle in history and science just not ancients and biology in first. A far as Bible memory, we just keep plugging along adding new verses but bring old ones back into rotation so they are review for some, new for others, and everyone ends up with them memorized. My youngest wont necessarily be "combined" into the orders when she is of school age...maybe we will do the same "topic" but maybe we won't. For my older two it has worked well though. I can't imagine teaching the content areas separately. Math and LA get done individually though.