do you combine with your kids lessons?

[kristinatucker]

I have a soon to be first grader and fourth grader - do you combine subjects for both of them?

 

for example - we do apologia science and we do it together as a group. I had planned to do the same thing for bible (christian light - not sure which level yet) and social studies (I think Christian light grade 3)

 

Should I be seperating them or do you do this too?

[usetoschool]

We do as much as we can together, generally science, history, art, geography, and anything else that is informational. Skill type things like math and reading we do separately, but even those I sometimes do word problems or literature stuff as a group. I am teaching kids from 7 to 11 years old. It is more fun to be able to discuss things as a group and contribute ideas, talk out loud about it instead of constant one on one with me, even if the group is small and some of the kids are young and have limited contributions - it is amazing how much they absorb.

[Amy+2]

I have always combined History, Science, Geography and when we used Shiller for math, I combined them with it too. I did however supplement with worksheets appropriate for their own 'grade' levels. I agree that the more we do together as far as discussion, activities, and such, the more they seem to absorb.

 

We also just rented Cozy Grammar from our library, and even though my youngest is not ready for it, he still watches and seems to take something away from it.;)

[Tess in the Burbs]

Mine are less than 2 years apart and would be back to back grades if in ps. So yes, we combine them in most everything. In fact for next year the only thing they won't do the same is math :-) *mommy doing a happy dance*

 

I have at times asked my son to write more (ie: science experiment he writes it down with my spelling help, but my daughter narrates it to me and I write it down for her).

 

It's easy to combine and then require more work from the older child. Go for it!

[kristinatucker]

Ok good! I was worried I was doing them a diservice by combining. Im sure once they get a little older this wont work but for now Im glad we do. I have a friend that was saying she does their seperate and I just feel like that is not going to work for us. I think I prefer to do it as if we were a class anyway and do it together at their ages.

 

thanks!

kristina

[swellmomma]

I combine the big kids almost completely, but dsK only combines with them for science, history and art. NExt year he will combine in geography and music as well. As he gets older more and more will be combined I am sure, but right now he is at such a different level then them it woudn't work to combine too much.

[Homeschooling6]

We are currently using a mix of CLE & R&S and do not combine. I moved away from a more literature based curriculum to textbooks because combining was not working for us anymore.

 

Believe it or not, it's actually easier for me to have everyone have their own curriculum.

 

My 3rd & 5th graders do most of their work on their own. My 1st and 2nd graders take turns with our tutoring times. My Kinder child only does phonics & math.

 

Read aloud time is done togther.

 

Blessings,

[LindaOz]

:iagree:

 

I'm with you, Linda. I find it easier and more beneficial for everyone to have their own curriculum too. They are all so different and approach things so differently that, for me, separate levels and programs allows them to progress individually.

 

We have together read-aloud time too!!!

 

Another Linda with 6! :001_smile:

[amyco]

My dc are two years/grades apart. We combine science, Bible, and Latin. If I had it to do over again, I would find a way to combine history. I was stuck on the idea that they each had to have their 4 year cycle perfectly...pfui. Would have been way better to combine them. As it is next year I'll need to separate them in Latin--ack!

[mommyrooch]

I also combine Science, History, Geography, etc. I'm a firm believer in multi-level teaching. Not only for my sanity but for the kids enjoyment as well. We enjoy our lesson times together.

I have a 10 year old son and a 7 year old daughter so they are 3 years apart. However, their ages don't matter for most subjects. For example, we just finished covering Pilgrims in American History. They can both learn about this at the same time. I just make their assignments age appropriate. I'll have my 10 year old write a small report on the Pilgrims then do mapping and I'll have my 7 year old do color pages and mapping as well. The only subjects that I do separate is Reading, Math and English/LA. Where my 10 year old can write short stories my 7 year old is still working on mastering reading. Where my 10 year old does multiplication, division, fractions, etc. my 7 year old is still in addition and subtraction. I know that many homeschooling families multi-level teach as well.

[JenniferB]

I have a 4th grader, and a K-1 grader (He's officially K, but works in 1st grade books). We started out the year with combining history (SOTW & some read alouds from Ambleside), science (Apologia Botany), Bible (reading from Golden Children's Bible), and memory (The Lord's Prayer, and Psalm 23). It was good and fun at times, but also frustrating at times. It became more frustrating than I was willing to tolerate, and we are now totally separate for everything.

 

The way I organize my day is that I give my oldest her independent work (what she can do with little help, which isn't much, but it keeps her busy in the AM), while I work with my 1st grader on his subjects. I try to get all his school done by noon. We take a lunch break, and then I work with my 4th grader after lunch for the rest of the day on the subjects that she needs me to lead. I do it this way because my 1st grader is a morning person, and my 4th grader is an afternoon person.

 

My 1st grader is gaining ground by leaps and bounds. He has gone from reading 3 letter phonetic words before we started this to wanting to read Amelia Bedelia all the way through (Of course, he needed help with this task, but he actually wanted to read it aloud on his own!). This is after just about 1 month of working with him one on one. He's also soaring in Math, and his listening abilities for sitting during read aloud time have improved, and he's using the terms and concepts he's learned from his science lessons in everyday life.

 

My 4th grader is also improving in spelling and writing, which are her weak areas. I can't really measure how much she has improved, but I know she is gaining ground in these areas, and I think it's the curriculum and the one-on-one teaching that is helping.

 

I really highly recommend working one-on-one with your kids as much as it is possible. It's hard work, but well worth the time that you can give to it. :001_smile:

[joannqn]

We combine history, science, and read alouds. Because my son is a visual learner, he has an extra copy of the SOTW storybook to follow along in and he looks over my shoulder when we are reading our science text. My daughter is an auditory learner so just listening works great for her.

 

Since we didn't settle on a history or science program until this year, things will get interesting when my daughter hits fr high. She'll have her own science but I'll still have her join her brothers for elementary science reading since she won't get through all the textbooks before jr. high. She'll also do SOTW4 with us in 7th grade before branching off onto her own history for 8th grade.

[Katiebug_1976]

I combine everything but math and LA with my K, 3rd, 6th & 7th graders. We use My Father's World, and everyone learns on their own level, but we're studying the same things together. This is working great for us!