They are 13 months apart and work together 90% of the time anyways. I used First Language Lessons/Writing with Ease with my first. After Level 4 we moved onto Rod and Staff. I will do the same with these two. I had planned on using MUS but that curriculum is no longer an option so I am looking for a new one. I am leaning towards Teaching Textbooks since I am now using it with my oldest (first year with it) and it starts at Grade 3 (i plan to buy grade 3 math). Oldest seems easiest since she is five years older and is off doing her own thing with school unless it's a Read out loud or the bible section. After she is done she presents her work to me and tells me what she learned. So far it's working. My little dual which are now not so little are the ones that give me a run for my money.
I combine Rylee and Reagan in everything other than math and language arts. I feel it's important for me to focus on their own levels there. They each have strength and weaknesses that are completely different. I also feel it's important that they feel like an individual.
The more you can combine, the better! Mine are 3 years apart, but they'll be combined on science and social studies as much as possible through the years.
I still teach the LA and Math one on one but they will be on the same level of curriculum. We are together but split between a hands on activity, PC time and actual texts time.
You described how we do things almost exactly! I have a 2nd and 3rd grader this year too. My sons are 11 1/2 months apart. (No, not planned that way but certainly has been a blessing!) We combine most everything as well except my youngest is not on the same math level as his brother anymore. It has definitely made things a lot easier to have them doing most things together. Plus, it's more fun for all of us.
My 3 boys are 17 months and 13 months apart, they are technically (public school) starting 5th, 4th, and 3rd. We do seperate Math and LA, but combine evereything else - History/SS, Geography, Science, Spanish and Latin. Definitely helps to combine as much as possible! And we always do the higher level, so once my youngest could read and keep up, he immediately went into like 3rd grade material. Apologia Science is great for our set up!
I would say go for it! It is more difficult as they get older, but I am combing my 14 and 15 year olds' grammar/spelling (writing is on a different level for each) and their art and music. The youngest is only eight, so she works on her own stuff most of the time.
Why am I often a dissenting voice? It must just be my contrarian personality! While I do see undoubted value in combining some lessons, I would suggest that it's important for the older child to know that they are older and more advanced. For some classes, maybe the older child can do more advanced things. While I don't believe that self-esteem is the be-all and end-all, a child who is one grade ahead in years should feel that they are ahead academically.
I agree, Steve. My oldest is expected to work at a higher level even in the classes they do together.
Steve, when Phillip was only 3, we planted flowers for my mom for Mother's Day. Dad went to put fertilizer on them. Phillip asked what it was, and my dad replied "Plant food." Phillip explained, "Oh, no, Grandpa! Don't you know plants make their own food from the sun?" Now, Rachael could have told Grandpa that this was called photosynthesis; she might have even explained the Latin roots of the words. But Phillip had the idea down. THAT'S why I try to teach across ages. (But not for every subject!)
I actually think that there is benefits of teaching "content" subjects together. Jackie gave a good example. I also make sure that we use a variety of resources.. books, picutres, games, videos, hands on activities, etc., so that it hits all the kids interests and puts the same info into their brains a few times. Jackie gave a great idea of why. But I do feel that each kid should have their own math and LA on their own levels.. and with curricula that works for that child. Many times the best fit for one isn't the best fit for both.
Phillip could also tell you that, when Evil Prince John in the Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood sucked his thumb and cried "I WANT MY MOMMY!" he was talking about Eleanor of Aquitaine!
Yep, that. I really didn't much plant to teach my two boys together when I started this homeschooling journey, as they are 3 years apart. But the younger always WANTED to be around when I was teaching the older one. He soaked up a LOT of stuff that way. People are constantly commenting on their large vocabulary, especially the younger one's large vocab, it's because I read the same big-worded books to them. I do expect less attention span from my younger son. I do expect less in-depth comprehension from him. But he is 3 years younger, 3 years less mature, 3 years less developed mentally/academically. And even at 5 and 8, they both understand this on a certain level that I expect a bit more from the older one because he is older. Like everyone else we do separate math and phonics. It's nice they both do phonics on the computer alone for their base so one will do phonics lesson while I do math with the other. Then I review the phonics with the first and they switch subjects...but often times one will sit in the other's math lessons
My kids are 2 years/grades apart, but do a lot of their work together. They do math (dd has trouble with math, son catches on quickly), grammar, vocabulary, spanish, and history together. Science was together until this year when my dd started high school. They have different spelling list and different expectations for writing. My standards for my kids are tailored to their maturity, talents and needs. Working together works somewhat like tutoring - one helps the other when he/she doesn't understand. I step in when neither one understands the concept.
I wish mine were closer together so I could combine more. As is we do Bible, Reading, History, Science for the older DD & the younger usually watches for a little while at least. When she is older it might be easier to combine.
I find I'm combining less and less and my boys get older. They are two VERY DIFFERENT learners and I finally decided to customize even further so they can learn the way they learn best. This next year I'm doing their geography and computer science together, some of Bible, some math, and some science. Their history will be completely separate except for DVDs. I am thinking of possibly combining them for literature discussions next year though. We shall see.
I'm all for combining wherever possible as well. That said, individual attention is a must. My middle two are ps-aged for 3rd and 4th grades; they are 14 months apart in age. I'd been grouping them together and doing most things together most of the time. I'd figured that when my older son did K, his brother did K at 4. That when my older did 1st grade, my younger picked up enough to be ahead of the K-curve. That when my older started 2nd grade, we could concentrate on learning to read with the 1st grader and pretty much keep them together for most of elementary school. Now, admitting that we had the intrusion and distraction of a super difficult pregnancy, 2 moves in a year, and then the birth and infancy of twins... My younger son completely got left behind. He missed more than I'd realized, but THOUGHT he'd gotten it. I'm talking things like phonics, and addition - he got the "a says /a/" and the counting and addition facts to 5 or 6 down, and thought he'd mastered it. So we tried to move forward all together and then I started seeing problems. In combining these subjects at the beginning, my younger learned just enough to fake his way through. So, I'm taking responsibility for his being behind. He's aged to enter 3rd grade (only by a couple of weeks though - his 8th birthday is Monday), but almost all of his school work for this year is 2nd grade. He's a full academic year behind, and I can honestly say that I should have worked with him more during the year we took mostly "off" because of the twins, and it isn't his fault, but he is paying the price and having to play catch-up now. I feel bad because sometimes it makes him feel badly that he's not "really" a 3rd grader, and he wants so much to move forward and do the next thing when he's just not ready. So combine away! Make sure the younger ones are actually picking things up, and not just getting enough to fake it. Separating math and reading is always a good idea; I thought I'd separated enough. But to this day we ALL (including my 8th grader) do history together, share several read-alouds, do some science projects together, and things like that. No more on the math and language. We've had to move to some more individually directed curricula because of this, but it's going well so far! Has been a good year, considering it's our first back in a little while.
My DD is 13 months older than my twin boys. We do EVERYTHING together except for math. She does TT 4 and they do TT 3 (they're 4th and 3rd graders). It makes things so much better and works really good for us.:angel:
Earlier, I forgot to mention this point. Girls and boys learn very differently. (Indeed, that's one of the struggles we had with the local elementary school, where the boys were taught as, and expected to behave like, girls. Surprise: every student in their gifted program was a girl!) While a bit of a generalization, boys are more full of energy, prefer hands-on and running around, and just can't sit still. Girls are more 'diligent' and organized. We never combined teaching for our oldest two (21 months apart), and the different learning styles were perhaps as much the reason as their different ages.
