SOTW - Should I stop and combine kids?

[Shahrazad]

So, as a little background, I used to homeschool (pre-K, K and 1st) with my eldest and then both of my children went to PS when I started working a lot. We ended up withdrawing them when school was canceled due to COVID19 and I am leaning toward keeping them home from now because homeschooling has become doable and we are enjoying it. We began using BYL (levels 4 and 1) as the foundation of our curriculum and I added other things to supplement. Very quickly, it became apparent that we are really only using BYL as a booklist but the two levels use two different levels of SOTW (Ancients and 4). We are continuing to use SOTW even though we aren't implementing much of the actual BYL day-to-day and really like it but I am wondering whether it is a good idea to run two different levels simultaneously because it seems like I am making extra work for myself rather than focusing on going deep on one or the other? My sons are 10.5 and 7 (soon to be 8 ) and the eldest is really enjoying SOTW 4. Would you recommend: 

a) Continue doing both kids separately in 2 different levels.

b) Combine both kids in Ancients and continue up together (stop SOTW 4)

c) Go through SOTW 4 with my older son, stop SOTW1 with the 7 year old or do prehistory with him, and then have them together in ancients next year as history for both.

Thanks in advance!

[wendyroo]

We are currently doing choice d) have all the kids go through SOTW 4.

We have used SOTW since my oldest was in 1st.  I have just folded the younger kids in as they were ready.  This year I am reading through SOTW 4 with my just turned 11 year old, my 8.5 year old, my 6.5 year old and my 4 year old...though the youngest tends to wander in and out of listening.

Some of it is definitely over the 6 year old's head, but he just colors the coloring pages from the activity book while he listens (as do all the kids) and takes from the readings whatever catches his fancy.  I've actually been really impressed with how much the younger kids are learning and what connections they are able to make.  Obviously they don't understand all the intricacies, but that is okay because I am just aiming for exposure, vocab building, fodder for discussions, etc.

One reason I really wanted to read history aloud to all the kids together this year is that next year they will all be studying the same time period (ancients), but not together anymore.   Next year my oldest will be in 6th grade and will need (and be ready for) a more middle-grades presentation of history.  He will be reading more independently, outlining and writing summaries, making a timeline, studying original sources, etc.  Even though all the kids will be studying the same time period, it will no longer be as much of a shared experience - so I really wanted to foster that this year.

Wendy

[hs03842]

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Edited June 8, 2020 by JoyKM

[kiwik]

I'd combine them both in Ancients next year and do a prehistory unit with both for the rest of this year.  My kids are on the sensitive side and I skipped modern history altogether.  My oldest is at school so ds10 and I will get to modern history when he is about year 8/7th grade.  

[Miss Tick]

4 hours ago, kiwik said:

I'd combine them both in Ancients next year and do a prehistory unit with both for the rest of this year.  My kids are on the sensitive side and I skipped modern history altogether.  My oldest is at school so ds10 and I will get to modern history when he is about year 8/7th grade.  

I like this idea. We have done a prehistory thing over the summer before starting ancients, so doing it now would convey the information and still leave a summer break. We go from the Big Bang to the evolution of humans.

[Shahrazad]

Thanks all! I think I'm going to do prehistory and then combine them for Ancients next year. In the meantime, I'm gonna let my eldest do SOTW4 though because he's really in to it and wants to keep going but its definitely too much for my younger son.