Curriculum for K and 2nd?

[faiths13]

Is there a curriculum that would actually work for K and 2nd grade? My boys are going to be 5 & 7 in the fall. My 4 yr old hasn't been ready to do any kind of school, or even sit still. But I think he is finally ready. Im just not sure if it is a good idea to try to teach those age ranges together or not.

[Walking-Iris]

You could likely combine them for science and history, art, nature study, maybe even read alouds.

 

I'd just keep their language arts and math separate.

 

 

[ItoLina]

You could likely combine them for science and history, art, nature study, maybe even read alouds.

 

I'd just keep their language arts and math separate.

My kids will be 5 and 7 in the fall and this is my plan. We will see how it works out in reality. This will be my first year trying to incorporate 2 kids into school time (beyond busy bag type activities that my younger one had been doing to the school table along side us)

[GSOchristie]

Mine will be 5 and 7 in the fall, too.  We will be doing The One Year Bible, SOTW, Science in the Beginning, and CC together.  Math, reading, handwriting, and spelling separately.  My 7 YO will be answering the SOTW questions in a notebook and reading the extra books independently and 5 YO will be doing them orally and I will read to him.   

[GSOchristie]

My kids will be 5 and 7 in the fall and this is my plan. We will see how it works out in reality. This will be my first year trying to incorporate 2 kids into school time (beyond busy bag type activities that my younger one had been doing to the school table along side us)

 

Me, too :).  We are testing the waters this summer, I had forgotten how long it takes to do everything with a pre-reader.

[Ellie]

KONOS, Volume 2. It's everything except English and math skills--Bible, history, geography, science, arts and crafts, drama literature, all while studying godly character traits such as obedience, attentiveness, and orderliness. One volume can be used for two years (the second year you do the character traits again but do different activities).

[Susie in MS]

I like the idea of KONOS. I also like Five in a Row. 

 

For a free week long unit: www.fiveinarow.com

[EmseB]

I will have a 5yo and 7yo as well.  We are doing history (SOTW 1), Bible (Covenantal Catechism 1), and science (Nancy Larson 1) together.  I'm slightly worried about how to blend them both together and not have one dominate the conversation over the other, or have one just repeat what the other one says.  I figure we'll get a rhythm going at some point though, and for those subjects, I plan on my k'er mainly just tagging along.

[amyc78]

I will also have a Ker and 2nd grader- we do Bible, CC, Readalouds, History, Geography and Science together; separate studies for Math and Language Arts. We are doing US History next year and will do most of it together, although I will beef up the 2nd graders work with VP self paced and independent reading.

[kiwik]

I afterschool but WWE1 is working with ds5 and ds7. Ds7 does more advanced copywork but they are about the same for the questions and narrations.

[simplemom]

Just finished K and 2nd. Combined them for all arts/crafts, read alouds (for lit, history, and science), poetry, music study, and light science. We loosely did MFW K, combining for Bible and Science, and my Ker liked the worksheets. My youngest just soaked some from our family read alouds, while my oldest was asked to narrate the history and science read clouds. We read lots of fun children books from FIAR type reading lists and MFW K booklist. Each day, they each did separate LA and math. I worked with one individually while the other was occupied with a worksheet or handwriting page. My Ker did much less than my 2nd grader.

[SkatingMom]

Have you looked at Moving Beyond the Page? You could combine quite a few subjects.

[Aiden]

Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace both are designed to combine kids--SL only kids close in age, like yours, and TOG kids of any age.

 

Sonlight Core A may work--it would be read alouds, more world cultures than history in that core--or Core B or B+C (B is the first in a 2-year series of world history, B+C is a condensed 1-year version). Core A is labeled for K, but many use it for 1st grade. B is labeled for 2nd, B+C for 2nd or 3rd. It wouldn't be too difficult to go with the lower core and supplement if necessary for your older, or an older core and not expect your younger to follow the more advanced books. LA would be ordered at the kids' individual levels. Science A should be fine for both of them, from what I understand--no personal experience using it. You'd order whatever math you wanted at whatever levels are appropriate.

 

For TOG, your kids both would be LG, so they could do it all together, with grade level differences being mostly your different expectations for them. You'd need to add in another science, which they could do together, and phonics/LA and math at their own levels.

[Amy M]

I was also going to suggest FIAR, MFW Adventures, or SOTW.

 

This year I'm doing K and 2nd. (We school according to the calendar year.) I wouldn't make your Ker do anything beyond the 3 Rs. That in itself can be exhausting for that age, especially squirmy boys. But if he wants to, let him tag along in history and science, etc. with the 2nd-grader. My Ker will sit with us for most SOTW2 and Apologia Swimming Creature readings as well as music appreciation, but hates to take part in anything art. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I have a 5 and 7 year old.  Together, we do Story of the World (older child does a narration from it, both do the coloring page and map), Five in a Row, art projects, and science books, as well as family read-alouds.

 

Simultaneously, they do copywork (each at own level), independent math (Cuisinaire rod play for 5yo, 10 whiteboard warm-up problems for 7yo), and memory work. 

 

Separately, they do:  math lesson, reading lesson, language arts.  Sometimes, 7yo's reading lesson is to read to 5yo.  Two birds with one stone!  lol.

[HappyClassical]

My older two are similar aged. We are doing CLE bible, Spanish, Art, Music, History, and Science together. The younger one will just be doing more coloring pages and activities, and the older will have added copywork, and more challenging additional activities. Math will be RS A for the younger and RS B for the older, much slower pace for the younger. My DD will do reading pathways and younger Phonics Pathways whichever older will help "teach" - we already do some of this now. Grammar and Writing is strictly for the older. So, essentially - I try not to use different curriculums for the different kids, just adjust the levels and amount of work.