2 kids 6 years apart

[scrapbookbuzz]

Not sure if this question should be posted here or in the General Discussion forum, but here it is:

 

-Do any of you just have 2 kids, about 6 years apart?

 

I'm asking because this is my situation. This fall my daughter and son will be 11 and 5, respectively. My daughter is currently in ps but I'm seriously considering bringing her back home for school, for a myriad reasons.

 

Anyway, she will be in 5th grade and the little one will be a Kindergartener. How do I most efficiently teach the two? Any insight?

[jkwynn]

I have 2 that are almost 6 years (5.75, technically) apart - a 7 year old and a 1 year old.

 

This is just our first year of hs with the first one, so I can't offer any BTDT advice. :)

[scrapbookbuzz]

Maybe we can compare notes this year! :^)

 

We have homeschooled the eldest before, but that was when the little one was just a baby! Now that the youngest is jumping at the gun to start school it'll be a different scenario all together. As I was putting together a rough outline of WTM schedule, I see where a lot of 'folding in' can be done with the my ds.

 

I just wonder if anyone has BTDT.

[Lovedtodeath]

My son and daughter are almost 5 years apart. By the time he is in school I am pretty sure she will be 6 years ahead of him.

[Mandamom]

I did that for a number of years.

 

My oldest was always fairly independent from a young age. We worked together for a bunch of subjects, including read alouds and he would go off on his own to do other work. While he was off on his own I would work with the younger children. Surprisingly, it worked pretty well.

 

I think it would have been harder had they been closer in age or if the oldest wasn't so independent.

 

It worked really well.

[Mandy in TN]

I have a 15yo and a 6yo. I also have a 17yo, but he is almost entirely outsourced. However, when the older two were in elementary school (say 12yo and 10yo), the oldest was reading way ahead of grade level and the younger was a little behind grade level. So, the difference in the level of educational materials was quite pronounced.

 

When you have two children very far apart in capability one of the things that you can do is keep them on the same science and history topic. This way at least your brain is just jumping levels instead of having to jump topics. If you plan to do any sort of religious studies, you can also do those together as a family.

 

There are numerous programs marketed as adaptable to large families. Even though your family isn't large, you do have a wide age range. Programs like MFW, TOG, Christian Cottage Schools Unit Studies, Weaver, and Konos are actually designed to work with a large age spread.

 

There are also options that could be tweaked to work for both.

 

You could use WP AW with the older science package. This would be all for the K'er and life science for the 5th grader. Then, just add some geography that coordinates with the habitat for 5th grade geography.

 

A history option that I would consider is getting WP AS1 and adding in some of the books from WP AC.

 

A second history option would be to do HIH with both of them, but for the 5th grader the WP CATW readers. This would allow the 5th grader to help build the hideaways for the K'er. Frankly, I think a 5th grader would get more out of that much SOTW in one year than a K'er.

 

 

A third history option would be to use WP QAW for the 5th grade and just use MOH1 with the K'er.

 

Or- WP S&S with the younger learner's guide. SL1+2 might requiring a little tweaking down and a little tweaking up, but it could work with them both.

 

For science, other than WP AW, they fall just on either side of WP SSBB. I bet it would work fine. Also, you could use one of the Apologia elementary programs and let the little man tag along.

 

Is one of them an early bird or does one of them really like to sleep late? For example, since you only have two, you could let the older one sleep later, so that you can do reading with the little peanut one-on-one before you start with the older. I actually do it the other way around. I let my little man sleep later, so that the older two (especially the middle guy who still to some extent reports to me) get a head start. By the time the little guy gets up, I am ready to spend time alone with him.

 

Also, remember that if it is your dd first year at home, she will need some transition time (maybe most of the year). If I were in your shoes, I would want her math and language arts to be moving her ahead academically. However, I would seriously consider allowing history and science to be fun, lighter courses in order for you both to spend copious amounts of time reclaiming her spirit and joy as well as helping her find a place in the new family dynamic.

 

Just some thoughts-

Mandy

Edited April 11, 2009 by Mandy in TN

[EKS]

This is exactly my situation. I teach them completely separately. I schedule my 12yo's independent work (math problems, Latin translations etc) in the middle of the morning so that I can work with my 7yo. After my 12yo gets his independent work done, I give the 7yo independent work and then kind of bounce between the two if needed. I don't see any way I could teach them together for anything.

 

Using this method, the 7yo usually starts around 8:45 and finishes around 11. The 12yo starts at 8 and finishes by 1 with a break for lunch.

[Kfamily]

My dds are 6 years apart. My older dd is 12 and my younger dd is 6 years old. I teach them at the same time except the afternoon lessons are more open for younger dd. We school in the morning together and I move between them both. For example, while older dd is working on math or grammar, etc then I will take younger dd into the living room and we will have a math lesson on the floor or will read together. I do more of our shared lessons in the afternoon so while dd6 may participate with some of the lessons she may also go off to read on her own while we finish with something else. My dd6 is a bit of an exception in some ways. She is really not at a kindergarten level. This really has made this easier and more difficult at times. Honestly, I think next year will be a little harder since I have more work planned for her (she will be in first). There seems to be a balance in that just as younger dd needs more attention my older dd should be getting more independent. My two girls are really close despite their age (my older dd is very young still and my older dd is very old for her age:D) and enjoy having their free time together.

We do morning lessons, take a lunch and outdoor play break and then come back for more lessons. We try to finish no later than 4:00.

 

HTH

Edited April 11, 2009 by Kfamily

[motherdear]

I have five boys: now ages 27, 25, 23.5, 22, and 12. When the 12-year-old was just starting out the older ones were almost done! Somehow we manage. I also have a friend with 14 children-from ages 2 to 24. You would think she'd use something easy like LIFEPACS, but no, she uses Sonlight and unit studies! She never ceases to amaze me!

[Chris in VA]

With that age spread, I wouldn't even attempt to keep them together. I started homeschooling with a 9th grader and a K'er. Granted, they were 10 years apart, not 6, but I still think 6 years is too far to do more than just "surface togetherness." For example, they could both be in the same spot in the history rotation or on the same topic for science, but none of the materials would be the same.

 

In fact, for K, I'd just focus on reading and math. You could throw in some fun art, science or music activities. Now, you could do nature studies together, because you could take the same nature walks together but have the kids draw and write in individual notebooks. The K'er could draw, then narrate to you, with you acting as scribe. The older child could draw, then look up the Latin name, write up her own description, etc. Field trips could also be roughly the same, but with a different emphasis or different resulting work.

 

Remembering that K takes so very little time, you might want to make up some things the K'er can do independently--activity boxes, science boxes, etc. I wrote out my 9th grader's work schedule on the white board by his desk, and he crossed out stuff as he accomplished it. I met with him for discussion and to teach certain subjects. During his "teaching time" his little sister completed a task of some sort. Sometimes she used stamps to "write out" a very small list of words, or colored a picture, or did a chore. Sometimes she just went to her room to play by herself for a short time.

They both knew they could interrupt the other's lesson, but discreetly and respectfully.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, it's been a while, but I believe that I would set up some of my son's written work that I knew he could do on his own and allow him to work on that while I did school work with my little. So I'd go over the directions and tell him what to do, then leave him to do it. I started in first grade, rather than K.

 

Your little could also do writing practice, cutting practice, coloring work, stringing of beads of other fine motor skills work which is quiet at table with you while you work with your older child.

 

Sometimes they listened to books on tape or music CD's together, although for most things I kept them apart because my older son was doing work that was so much higher level than what I was covering with my little guy.

 

If I couldn't get time in the day to read aloud with my older son, then we would often do that reading in the evening.

 

Another thing you might do with them together is allow your older child to read some of the read alouds for the younger, giving that child practice in reading aloud but also getting needed reading covered for the younger.

 

I also had some Bible stories/games, songs, etc. on video, CD, and computer that I could plug my younger child in to so that I could get time alone to work with my older child.

[mominbc]

I have a daughter who is 11 and a 4 year old boy. I have been doing preschool/kindergarten with my 4 year old this year. I agree with a previous post to use some curriculum that can combine the 2 ages. We used Winterpromise Animals and used both the older and younger resources and some additions for my daughter. The 2 of the them loved it and my 4 year old was thrilled to do school with his sister. The other curriculums suggested in the previous post are great options as well. Having said that we do the core subjects seperately.

[mom31257]

Mine this year were entering K and 6th. It has been challenging, but worth it. We did MOH this year because it specifically had activities by age group. I think it was a little above my ds's head, but he has enjoyed some of it. I tried to do his science topics around what she was doing. That helped, especially with some of our field trips this year such as our trip to the Hunstville Space Center. It really was the only thing I could combine. I will say that my dd has taught my ds some topics on her own. When she was doing Algebra equations, she made up simple worksheets for her brother and taught him how to solve equations.

 

My dd is very independent and learns easily. She starts her work by herself in the morning while I work with ds. We then go over any questions she had. I read history to them while they eat lunch. Any history or science activities come after lunch, as well as reading/literature discussions that I have with her. She does a lot of independent reading for history or pleasure in the afternoons or evenings. We usually do school 9 to 2 at the most.

[LadyAberlin]

My sister and I are 7 yrs apart and my mom had me working mostly independently and she kind of delayed academics with my sister. So by the time she really had to sit down with her I was at the point she could just throw the books and me and I could go from there.

[chaik76]

I can't help because of the ages of mine...but they are six years apart! I have a seven-year old and a one year old. I'll obviously not be combining them in anything! Right now, while the oldest does independent work I play with the little (or let him scribble). Eventually I'll probably have oldest do independent work while I work with school stuff on the little, and then switch.

[skaterbabs]

There are 5 years, 6 months between my two youngest children, and seven years between the youngst and eldest. It's easiest to have them doing entirely different things, it really is. DD will do math while DS #1 does grammar, or vice versa.

[Tree House Academy]

I have 2 kids who are 4 years 2 mos apart. I find that teaching them is a BREEZE. My older is very independant (other than a few subjects) and my little one takes very little time to teach. So..I get my older started by explaining math to him and such, then I let him go. If he has questions, he asks, but otherwise, I work with my little one while my bigger one is working on the stuff he can do alone. When I finish with my younger, I do whatever needs to be done with my older. It is a wonderful setup having them so far apart. I don't know how people do it when they are bouncing back and forth between the two the whole time. :)

 

ETA: I do not combine my kids at all. We do Heart of Dakota each on his own level.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Tree House Academy