Group study with different grades?

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Mom23, Oct 7, 2015.

  1. Mom23

    Mom23 New Member

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    Hello everyone! I have a question that has been on my mind for some time and I am hoping you all can help me understand!

    I have a 2nd and 4th grader homeschooling at the same time and a toddler learning as well. I would love to combine a couple of our studies, but we generally do everything seperate. How can I combine the 2nd and 4th so we can do history together and maybe science? Really, my question is, how does testing work? My 4th grader has lots of tests and quizzes. Do those generally just not get done? How can I keep the 2nd grader on track and interested in learning all those names and dates? How long can you really combine the ages when it comes to learning together? As history gets more and more detailed, how much should I really expect the 2nd grader to remember? We use Abeka history and I just don't see how it would be possible to do it as a group, but I would love to!
     
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  3. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    I wish I could help, but I've only ever done individual studies. Even when I was schooling Other People's Kids, everybody had their own, and I seldom had any two on the same level of a subject at the same time. Currently, I have only my two grandsons, one in fifth and one in kindy/first.
     
  4. eyeofthestorm

    eyeofthestorm Active Member

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    Okay, LOTS of questions there. Now, I have three kids - ages 12, 10, and 8, and this is our third year of doing history together. Here's a rough idea of how we do it.

    We all read/listen to the chapter/stories (or watch a video) together. By this time, with my youngest reading very solidly, we read round robin, each person taking a paragraph.

    My oldest does the tests as is. My 10yo does the tests open book. My 8yo does, too... but mostly because he is ready and willing. The older two did *not* do history tests at that age at all.

    We all do mapwork together... the youngest gets a little help from the older ones.

    The youngest really likes to color... or at least, look at and talk about the pages. (None of them have ever been into coloring.)

    Projects are kind of "as appropriate." My 10yo created a series of vehicles all based on a specific time period last spring. He used some computer programming language. Much of the time, I really couldn't follow what he was doing or the point of the programming, BUT... he talked about all the vehicles, what they were... he was very clearly motivated to get the period specific details right, so I knew he was on the right track.

    My oldest is really good at responding to open ended questions and writing out his responses.

    So.... while we are all talking about the same events/person from history, we mostly do NOT all do the same work/activities.

    Hope that helps some.
     
  5. MagnoliaHoney

    MagnoliaHoney New Member

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    We only do LA and Math separately every thing else is together.

    I have never done Abeka, I think it's more strict then what we do. We do not do testing. No need for testing.. I'm there with them, I know what they know or don't know.

    allinonehomeschool.com I tried at first, and that gave me a idea of how to combine all those subjects with different ages. Of course you just have less expectations of the youngers, it's ok if they don't remember all the names and dates. Most of these things will be covered again... at least 3 times, sometimes 4, before graduating. So it is ok. :) For now we are using Rod and Staff... and other religious materials for learning such. And it works out just fine for us.
     
  6. 2littleboys

    2littleboys Moderator

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    If you want everyone working together, Abeka isn't a good fit. You can very easily combine history and science if you use curricula that is designed for multi-level groups. Suggestions for history are Story of the World (for early elementary) or Mystery of History (written for middle grades, but adaptable for K-12), and for science, I suggest either Apologia (written by topic) or Berean Builders (written as a chronological history through sciences). We've used all of these, and I recommend all of them. We use Mystery of History as our spine, but my history-loving older son has read through Story of the World for fun. We started off using Apologia for science (my older son went through the elementary series twice with one book per semester, younger one once by semester), but we switched to Berean Builders for my younger one when the older moved up to middle school in Apologia.
     
  7. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    Hi, I'm Jackie and not on much anymore! I've graduated two, and it's different just having one! My oldest two are two years apart, and then my son is three years behind. I would often combine science and history. Like 2littleboys, I used Mystery of History with all three. Apologia didn't have science for the younger grades then, so we used something called Considering God's Creation, and also a series called Great Science Adventures. But I know there's so much more available now than what there was!
     
  8. OvercomeSchool

    OvercomeSchool New Member

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    We do together school every day for about an hour. I choose things that I love and that I want the whole family to experience. That means it usually isn't part of their "school" textbooks, rather it's Scripture memory, a classic novel, or a Shakespeare play. We might play a geography game. If we are spending time with a historical novel, I might go easier on the busywork part of history that the kids do by themselves. We get the family part of homeschooling, but I don't have to figure out a complicated way to get everyone on the same page with formal subjects.
     

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