Moms of many, how do you teach your kids the same history, but tailor to their levels?

[Meadowlark]

I'm not even sure I can communicate what I'm asking, but here goes...

 

I will eventually be schooling all of my kids together, and know I want to keep them together for history, etc. I've looked at several curriculums that do this, but am having a problem with the resources being for too broad of an age span, example- 2nd-8th. How can what's appropriate for a 2nd grader, be appropriate for an 8th grade? Or do I just tweak for each child's age? That sounds so simple but I don't want to be doing too much of that either. That kind of seems like a lot of work, but would be worth iti guess if it allowed me to teach everyone together. I want to feel like the curriculum is usable and rich, as is.

 

Does that make sense?

[happypamama]

When we did Ancients last year, we used SOTW as our main book. I read it aloud to the kids; it was easy but enjoyable for the 5th grader, right on target for the 2nd grader, and maybe a bit above but enjoyable for the 4yo. I reinforced the material with read aloud novels, but also by assigning the 5th grader longer/harder/more in depth books to read, and by using a lot of picture books for the younger kids (though the 5th grader sometime followed along with those too). My rule for the littles for reading aloud is that they are welcome to join us or not, no pressure either way -- but if they choose to join us, they also choose to sit quietly and respectfully. Generally, they choose to join us, but occasionally they would rather play elsewhere, and I am totally okay with that.

 

If you require written work, you can have the older kids do more formal outlines or solid paragraph summaries, while the younger ones draw a picture, or dictate or write a couple of sentences. Youngers can do coloring pages too, if they like those. I printed supplemental worksheets and gave them out as appropriate -- sometimes just to the oldest child, sometimes to the two oldest. I am in a portfolio state, so we do need some samples of work, but I am also somewhat of an unschooler/relaxed teacher for the lower grades, so I wasn't too worried about output for my 2nd grader. Both older children did the mapwork.

 

This year, we are using History Odyssey, Early Modern -- Level 2 for my 6th grader, Level 1 for my 3rd grader -- and I am seriously in love. I love that they are more independent, that they can do their work without needing to wait for me to read it to them, and I love that they're learning to take notes and pick out important points. I also love that they are discussing the topics with each other. It wasn't a terribly cheap program -- I had to buy two programs plus four books (although one I already had, and one I bought the small portion that we needed instead of the entire Encyclopedia at once), but I bought the PDF versions, so I can reuse them, and I do think they will end up being economical in the long run (and that also means that I already have most of what they will need for next year's history as well). The only downside is that I'm not learning along with them, and Early Modern isn't my strong point. But check out HO; they will give you several weeks' worth of lessons as a sample.

 

For US history, the Prairie Primer might work well for a large family. We like it and would use it more, except that my oldest child went through a serious phase (like, a two or three year phase) from about 7-10, where she was crazy interested in anything early American, so she already knows much of the history and crafts that are in the PP, and I thought she needed more in the way of analysis, hence HO.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon

[bluemongoose]

We use Tapestry of Grace. It was made for moms with many kids who wanted to keep them in the same place of history, but at their own level. It is not a secular curriculum, but if that is ok with you, I highly recommend it! They do have 3 week samples that you can download and try.

[DianeW88]

I used Konos...it does it for you.  Also, teach to your oldest...the others will absorb what they need.  Trust me, it works.

[coffeegal]

We use Tapestry of Grace. It was made for moms with many kids who wanted to keep them in the same place of history, but at their own level. It is not a secular curriculum, but if that is ok with you, I highly recommend it! They do have 3 week samples that you can download and try.

:iagree:  The tailoring is done for me. :001_smile:

[redsquirrel]

I only have two kids but they are five years apart. I keep them in the science topic, but I don't keep them at the same level. I just can't. My 8th grader is doing algebra based science and my little one is playing with snap circuits.

 

The history my 8th grader does is not really appropriate for my third grader. I tried to keep them together in the history cycle but that feel apart. My younger boy started 'first grade' with year 2 of the history cycle and that meant that we were going to hit modern history (SOTW 4) in third grade. I just didn't think he would be ready for world wars and even a brief mention of the holocaust in third grade. Based on that I am really glad I made the decision to split up the history years. I makes administration a bit of a mess (I have two years of history materials at two different levels around the house) but I can live with it.

 

I have always thought if I had more kids between these two I could keep the grammar stage kids roughly together and the logic stage kids together and just keep rotating through. But for most subjects, I find each kid needs very different things from me.

 

The good thing is that while the younger kids need you, the older ones become more independent. I only work one on one with my 8th grader for about an hour a day. The first part of the day he is pretty much self sufficient. That gives me time to work one on one with my third grader all morning and get him done by early afternoon.

[boscopup]

I don't have "many", but even just schooling 2 (3rd one tags along only if he wants to), I found combining difficult when I was putting it together myself. Last year, they did separate Sonlight cores, but this year I wanted to combine. I used a Sonlight core for my 4th grader, then pulled books for my 1st grader. It wasn't really fitting well though. Then TOG did their free unit offer for October, so I jumped on that. This is exactly what I was looking for! The kids are in the same time period, but they have their own books tailored to their own levels. The older students go more in depth than the younger students. So while we're doing year 4, my first grader isn't being introduced to all the horrors of world history. He's focusing more on inventors and very high level "what happened", while the older student starts to learn more about what exactly happened. I have teacher notes I can read to get the summary version of what all levels are learning, and I have discussion questions to use with 6th graders on up through high school (not using those yet). So my kids really are learning the same things (older student learns what the younger is learning and then some), and it's easier for me to keep up. In this manner, the 2nd and 8th graders really can stay "together". They just have their own books, and the 8th grader goes much deeper.

 

I can't see how using the same books with all kids would work. Even with only a 3-grade spread here, read-alouds for my 4th grader were above the head of the 1st grader, and read-alouds for my 1st grader lacked depth for my 4th grader. It just made sense to give them separate books. But they both learned some of the same things. When we opened up with the 1900s, they both learned about Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers. My 4th grader also learned about Theodore Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. So they had common ground, but the 4th grader's reading went more in depth - it was at his level, while the 1st grader's reading had less depth and was at his level.

 

Basically, TOG picks topics for everyone to learn, then finds books at appropriate levels for those students. Higher levels have more topics. I'm sure you could do this yourself. It's a lot of work, but you could do it. :)

[OneStepAtATime]

Trail Guides to Learning actually has reading selections for several levels of students (a middle school supplement, plus early readers along with middle and upper elementary).  The worksheets are also set up so you only print out the sheets appropriate for age/developmental level of your child.  The Teacher's Manual also is structured with a code you can tell at a glance which assignments, experiments, activities, etc at which depth are for which level of child.  You can do read alouds for the youngers and silent reading for the olders but all are getting content based on the same theme and subject.  It is an amazing system and has a terrific support group on Yahoo.  Some parents that are using it have said their prep work, besides any activity materials that might be needed, is only about 15 minutes even with multiple levels of children, yet they get tremendous depth in the learning and understanding of the big picture of history along with all the amazing details that are frequently lost in a textbook situation.

 

 That being said, my daughter hates history so I am moving her to more of an art history/science history theme as others have suggested.  I highly recommend this though.  I LOVE this program.  It interweaves so many things and you can do it all with several ages.  They have done the prep work for you.  You might want to check out the blog at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers (tongue in cheek title).  Kris gives a great review that will help explain how it all works.

[dbmamaz]

I have two, and they are 7 years apart in age.  I started history when they were in 2nd and 9th.  I read a text which is just a slight stretch for the younger one, but very accessable, to both of them.  Then I assign reading from a more advanced book for the teen.  The first year, which was a whirlwind trip through world history, he just read it.  Now he reads and writes an essay about each chapter in his book.  It takes some work to coordinate them, and I give him other social studies assignments when he has no corresponding readings

[BakersDozen]

 

 

8th and 2nd wouldn't truly be combined in my house.

This is true for us as well.  While all of my dc are studying/learning about the same time period in history they are not doing the same program.  My 7th grade students have their own textbook they read from/take notes on and I discuss that with them every day (takes about 10 minutes).  Other than that, they are on their own for doing maps, Further Study research, literature, etc.  I take more time with my younger ones as we use History Pockets and other materials.  I have a lot of read-alouds as well as movies that can be used for all the grades/ages.  So while some aspects of our history (or science) might be done together, the majority of it is not despite the common focus.

[daisies72]

We are in our first year of Story of the World and doing The Ancients. I am teaching it to my Kdg, 3rd, 4th, and 8th grader. My 3rd and 4th graders seem close in 'level' although my 4th is a bit beyond my 3rd in writing, needless to say my Kdg and 8th are quite apart. We absolutely love Story of the World, its activity book and test booklet. You can tweak it and it even tells you how, referencing other resources, for example Usborne World History Encyclopedia. My kids write and draw every day during History, their levels of writing vary a lot but I've noticed my younger kids trying to write more, like their 8th grade sister. We have tried other ways to teach History to all of my kids & it was all just so "separated". I love how we are all in what we are doing together & my kids all do what they can, yet are everyday encouraged to do more.

 

And I must add, that I was public schooled K-12, and never learned anything from world history, only American History!! So I as a mom & teacher am having so much fun teaching Ancient Egypt right now!

[Meadowlark]

We are in our first year of Story of the World and doing The Ancients. I am teaching it to my Kdg, 3rd, 4th, and 8th grader. My 3rd and 4th graders seem close in 'level' although my 4th is a bit beyond my 3rd in writing, needless to say my Kdg and 8th are quite apart. We absolutely love Story of the World, its activity book and test booklet. You can tweak it and it even tells you how, referencing other resources, for example Usborne World History Encyclopedia. My kids write and draw every day during History, their levels of writing vary a lot but I've noticed my younger kids trying to write more, like their 8th grade sister. We have tried other ways to teach History to all of my kids & it was all just so "separated". I love how we are all in what we are doing together & my kids all do what they can, yet are everyday encouraged to do more.

 

And I must add, that I was public schooled K-12, and never learned anything from world history, only American History!! So I as a mom & teacher am having so much fun teaching Ancient Egypt right now!

I will need to give SOTW another look. I had no idea that it had an activity guide and all of those extras. It just may be what I'm looking for, and it was right under my nose!

 

So, my next question is...what do you do when your younger kids are old enough to join in, but you are on level 3 for example. I know I want to start the 4 year cycle when my kids are in 3rd/2nd...which means they would be on level 4 in 6th/5th, and my other 3 will be 2nd, 1st and K. Would I teach the youngers out of order then? (I know MFW for example just has the youngers join the cycle when they hit 2nd grade). But, does it make sense to study it chronologically is possible? or would I just have them join in wherever we are?

 

Oh, and what do you do when live done all 4 levels? Go back and cycle through again? I'm sure this is all explained Ipin TWTM, but I don't have it (just requested my library to buy it!) Thanks!

[bluemongoose]

TOG is also chronological. When a child is ready to join in, they just join wherever we are at. So DD being the oldest started with year 1, DS joined in year 3, and DS2 joined in year 4. Both DSs will get to cover year 1 next year for the first time when we loop around and study it again. The way I see it...they are quite young when they start joining in, when they are older and it matters more, they will be in Chronological order.

[boscopup]

So, my next question is...what do you do when your younger kids are old enough to join in, but you are on level 3 for example. I know I want to start the 4 year cycle when my kids are in 3rd/2nd...which means they would be on level 4 in 6th/5th, and my other 3 will be 2nd, 1st and K. Would I teach the youngers out of order then? (I know MFW for example just has the youngers join the cycle when they hit 2nd grade). But, does it make sense to study it chronologically is possible? or would I just have them join in wherever we are?

 

Just fold in the younger kids wherever you are in the cycle. Go chronologically from there. This year, I'm doing year 4 (modern history) with my 1st and 4th graders. My 1st grader hasn't had any prior history (except Biblical history). No, he's not going to understand everything and make connections, but this is his first pass. Next year, we'll wrap back around to ancients, and he'll get 4 years in chronological order by time he's finished with 5th grade. If we continue with the 4-year cycle in high school (I'm not making any plans for high school yet - my oldest is only 9!), it's ok if they hit Ancients in 11th or 12th grade instead of 9th. In fact, some of the Ancient readings are more difficult and would be better suited to the older grades.

 

So my oldest follows the 4 year cycle starting from 1st grade. My middle son will follow it starting in 2nd grade, and my youngest will follow it starting in K (sort of - tag-along if he wants to). So if we continued the 4-year cycle all the way through, my youngest would be doing Ancients in 12th grade, which is perfectly fine. I have no problem with that.

 

You are still teaching chronologically, even if the younger kids jump in in the middle. ;)

 

[Amy M]

I will need to give SOTW another look. I had no idea that it had an activity guide and all of those extras. It just may be what I'm looking for, and it was right under my nose!

 

So, my next question is...what do you do when your younger kids are old enough to join in, but you are on level 3 for example. I know I want to start the 4 year cycle when my kids are in 3rd/2nd...which means they would be on level 4 in 6th/5th, and my other 3 will be 2nd, 1st and K. Would I teach the youngers out of order then? (I know MFW for example just has the youngers join the cycle when they hit 2nd grade). But, does it make sense to study it chronologically is possible? or would I just have them join in wherever we are?

 

Oh, and what do you do when live done all 4 levels? Go back and cycle through again? I'm sure this is all explained Ipin TWTM, but I don't have it (just requested my library to buy it!) Thanks!

 

I was just going to ask if you had TWTM. :) It was a life-changer for me, as well as these forums! SWB explains how to tailor the history for each level while keeping them all together with SOTW as the spine (or whatever company you want that follows a similar pattern). She just says to let the youngers join the cycle wherever they fall. And then you keep the cycle going all the way through high school, just adding more expectations in writing and literature. For example, the LG stage would hear SOTW and add lit at their levels. There are lit suggestions, narration helps, mapwork, coloring pages, and activity suggestions all in the activity guide. If you want you can also have them read from Usborne. Then logic stage reads Kingfisher in addition to SOTW and outlines the history. They read harder literature written by authors of the time period, either in an abridged fashion, or actually starting to read primary sources. You also read the lit, and have literature discussions with them. TWTM is such a helpful resource to explain all this; you really need to read it if you can get it!

[2_girls_mommy]

I follow WTM almost to a T for history and it works great.  I have one in logic stage, 1 in grammar stage at this point.  They are in the same time period of study, but they have different work and different spines.  Though mine can and do listen in to the same read alouds.  The older has been through the 4 volumes of SOTW, but she occasionally listens as I read it aloud to younger.  But she has her own work to do.  But when I go to the library to request a stack of books from the SOTW A.G. I am only getting from one time period, thankfully.  My mind would be on overload if I was trying to put two studies together at the same time all year long! dd11 does a lot more reading on her own.  And I have a 4 yr old along for the ride.  On units(chapters) that are relevant to her, I get picture books on the topics that she and dd9 can enjoy together.

 

Read WTM history for grammar stage, then for logic stage, and then the part about starting in the middle and combining students.  It explains it all very easily, plus gives reading lists for all age levels that correspond to the time periods.

[Meadowlark]

I follow WTM almost to a T for history and it works great. I have one in logic stage, 1 in grammar stage at this point. They are in the same time period of study, but they have different work and different spines. Though mine can and do listen in to the same read alouds. The older has been through the 4 volumes of SOTW, but she occasionally listens as I read it aloud to younger. But she has her own work to do. But when I go to the library to request a stack of books from the SOTW A.G. I am only getting from one time period, thankfully. My mind would be on overload if I was trying to put two studies together at the same time all year long! dd11 does a lot more reading on her own. And I have a 4 yr old along for the ride. On units(chapters) that are relevant to her, I get picture books on the topics that she and dd9 can enjoy together.

 

Read WTM history for grammar stage, then for logic stage, and then the part about starting in the middle and combining students. It explains it all very easily, plus gives reading lists for all age levels that correspond to the time periods.

It's good to know it is working so well for you. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the book. My library ordered it last week!

[MinivanMom]

I'm going to be the dissenting voice and say that it hasn't worked for us. I don't feel that I can combine children that are more than 2-3 yrs apart without shortchanging the oldest one (who needs the most challenge). I think combining is a great idea, but if you take it too far then you lose the individual instruction that could be one of the primary benefits of homeschooling. Following the same history/science rotation can work, but if you are tailoring it well then at some point widely spaced children will be pursuing their own course of study even if they are studying the same topic at the same time.

 

I have been combining my oldest 2 (ages 8 & almost 10), but next year my third (almost 6) will be joining us. There is just no way to include her (even in a tagging along/glean what you can way) without shortchanging the oldest (who is in need of a lot more challenge at this point). I am going to have the oldest start working more independently while I combine the 8-yr-old and 6-yr-old for history, science, and read-alouds. I feel like my oldest has a foundation already so she can work more independently. I will be moving into the role of discussing literature, supervising science experiments, using Socratic questioning to help her think about the larger historical themes, etc. There just isn't a way to combine an advanced 10-yr-old with a 1st grader in a way that continues to challenge her. I could have them study the same topic while using different resources to make it easier on myself, but I don't think that's really combining in the sense most people mean. Instead, I am going to let her pursue topics that don't necessarily line up with what the younger children are doing.

 

 

[robsiew]

I'm using Truth Quest this year with my younger 3.  They are 11, 9 and 8.  I guess they close in age, but they are very different ability levels.  I really am enjoying TQ as I can just get books at everyone's different level.  The older one reads her own books, I read to the younger 2 boys.  I did get the notebook/lapbook materials and the kids complete mini-books for each of the topics we study.  That's a nice way to record what they've learned.  They are pretty open ended books so the younger boys just write at their level and my dd writes at her level.  So, they all are basically reading about the same topic, just at their level.  My son is doing something completely different this year so he's not in this mix.  This has been the first method that works for everyone.  We've done SOTW and MOH in the past, but I usually lost someone along the way.  I love the flexibility of choosing books that interest my particular kids and the ability to spend more time on something if they want or less time on things that don't interest them as much.

[KeriJ]

Below is a post I wrote recently about how we use Simply Charlotte Mason to combine my kids for history.  It truly has been our best year.

 

"We are primarily using it just for history, geography and Bible. I started by reading through this series of posts.

 

We are using Module 4 this year.  I actually purchased the family guide that they sell.  But now that I see how it is laid out, I truly use it as just a guide for my own schedule.  

 

I have a K, 3rd and 5th grader.  The family spines for history were a little over their heads, so I substituted for those.  But basically, I read a book with the whole family, my youngers narrate orally, and my 5th grader does a written narration.  Later in the day, I read aloud a chapter from a book from the 1st-3rd list, and my 5th grader reads from her list.  (I've substituted HOD books for her also)

 

Once a week is geography. We read from the geography read-aloud, and then do a map drill.  SCM has a very simple system for map drills.  This paragraph is taken from a page on their old curriculum guide.  It's hard to find, so I copied it here:

     "A once-a-week map drill can also supplement your geography readings. Give each child a blank map of the region you are studying and provide a detailed and labeled map of the same region. Instruct the child to label a few areas of the region, being careful to copy the names correctly from the detailed map. The next week, give the child another blank map of the same region and instruct her to label as many areas as she can remember. Once she has labeled all that she knows, display the detailed map and check for accuracy, then have her label a few more areas carefully. Continue this routine each week, and over the course of the year she will become quite familiar with the regions studied using this gentle method."

And we are listening to Geography Songs in the car.  I can't believe how many of these they have learned just from riding in the car.

 

I purchased a membership to notebookingpages.com when it was on sale this summer.  We use it for written narrations.  They have different versions of each page for each age, as well as some coloring pages.  I print out a page for each child.  My 3 year old and K'er color while listening.  My 3rd grader draws and writes a few sentences.  My 5th grader does a full page narration.

 

We are also using Draw and Write through History whenever there is something that matches what we are reading. (drawing and copywork)   And we are using the Middle Ages portion of the CC timeline song as well as any of the CC history sentence songs that match what we are reading. (I have my own version of the timeline cards which we are hanging in the hallway as we get to each one)

 

Daddy does the Bible reading with them in the evenings.

Honestly, it has been our most enjoyable family history/geography/Bible year!  No stress.  Lots of reading, narrating, drawing and singing."

 

 

 

[Excelsior! Academy]

We combined for years, now it is much tougher. We have a pretty large spread, though. For combining I would do MFW, ToG or reading and having each child write or analyze according to ability.