I am new to this homeschooling thing and I am all excited and all, but I have one question. People have told me that I could do things with both of my children together. I have a ten year old and a six year old. How am I suppose to teach them things at the same time? Help me understand how this is going to be possible. Amanda G.
Typically they are referring to science & history type subjects where the *concepts* are not built upon another for example math facts. Usually you will just expect more from the older child as far as drawing/writing/reporting. Reading and math imho are the ones that need to be kept separate since they need each skill to go on to the next. Now...that doesn't mean that you can't sit down and read a higher level book to both of them, ok? I mean your phonics, spelling, comprehension, etc... Does that help?
Their are several curriculum packages that could help with this as well. Around the World in 180 days, Trail Guides to *** Geography (World, US, Bible), Considering God's Creation. These are all great. Sheila's right about Math and Language Arts, although you could use the same book with different activities. Kathryn Stout has wonderful resources on how to do this titled Comprehensive Composition and Critical Conditioning. These are more like guides for the parent/teacher as opposed to a curriculum. Hope I didn't ramble to much.
My kids are four years apart but a little younger than yours. Last year I taught science, social studies, art, music, PE and some Reading together. I read and dd read from the science/ss books and then they both answered questions and did projects/experiments. I also let them do art and music together...very easy. We read a lot together and dd even read some of her stories (from her reading book) to ds. You will be amazed at all you can do together.
I did history, geography and some Bible and science together the past couple of years. My kids are almost 6 years differnet in age from oldest to youngest. It's true that you expect less form the youngest and more from the oldest. We did a geography project where we sent a stuffed animal around the U.S. and part of Canada. We studied about the US states and Canadaian provinces at each place the stuffed animal went. We studied flags, flowers, trees, cities, capitals, etc. of each place and did the maps from each place. My youngest (age 6) found the places on the large US and Canada map, colored the individual state or province, and found the capital and any large bodies of water nearby (if any) and labeled them. My next oldest did all that, plus filled out a little form I found on-line that had info. that he needed to look up. My oldest did all that , plus he drew (he loves to draw!) the seal and/or the state bird and/or flower. If the seal was too hard to draw, we would print out a picture to put with it. We had the papers and things all spread out on our floor and every week or so we'd organize them and see how far we'd gotten and what still needed to be done. Oh they all also found and labeled the city where the stuffed animal's host family lived. It was a great project we did all together, but each child did different levels. That's just one example of what can be done with different ages. By the way, welcome! I hope you keep coming back---I love this board! Great people, lots to learn here, friendly and helpful! Ask away whenever you have questions, we're more than happy to help if we can!!!
Welcome Amanda to the board. You can teach Science/History together. I do it with my two they are two years apart. Good luck :lol:
My kids are 11, 9, and 5. I teach as much together as I can. As stated before, mostly history and science. Or you can pick a topic such as OCEANS and teach that. You read aloud stuff to them, then sort of give assignments based on their ability. THe younger might be coloring pictures (of ocean animals?) while you read about the different type of animals. The older one might be doing research at the library and writing reports. Just think how crazy you would go if you tried to teach ALL subjects seperate for all your kids! OF course, there are things such as math that really can't be done together.....
Howdeee from Texas Amanda Glad you found us...The other girls pretty well summed it up. :wink: Mine are 10, 8 and 5 and we do history, science, Bible and art together. So I look for something *grade level* wise that is right on target for my oldest. Then I give the younge two easier assignments such as coloring, retell or easier sentences to copy. My 8yo does less writing because of his skill level and my 5yo well he just *does what he wants too* :lol: Try not to get something too much over your oldest ones head so that you can *tweak* it for the younger children. Of course, read aloud time is for all ages...
