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mamaslearning
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| Posted: Feb 06 2014 at 1:11pm | IP Logged
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Well, I know this subject has been done a million times, but I need some fresh looks at an age-old problem. 
This coming Fall will be a new adventure for our family with 3 "official" learners at home (and the pre-K). Two learners has not been too stressful, but next year I will have a 5th, 3rd, and 1st. The rising 3rd is weak in reading, and I will begin teaching reading to the 1st.
I'm wondering where to combine? When did you stop combining?
Here's what I'm thinking of right now:
5th - she is mainly on her own (not independent, just not combined with brothers) except for family read alouds, music, art
1st and 3rd - combine for history, science, and family work.
Could I feasibly combine all three in science and history, or is that too large of a spread from 1st to 5th? 
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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jawgee
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| Posted: Feb 06 2014 at 1:41pm | IP Logged
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I do all of my kids (6th, 2nd, K, and PreK, when she is interested) in science, history, scripture memory, and composer/artist/ poet studies.
For history my oldest (and sometimes the 2nd grader) have supplemental readings.
For science I choose a curriculum for the oldest (in our case, Noeo Science), and all of us study it together. Interestingly, my 8YO is enjoying science more than the 6th grader, even though it is technically way above his level.
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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3ringcircus
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| Posted: Feb 06 2014 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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Noeo Science is definitely good for combining. There are notebooking pages that correspond to different age/reading levels.
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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Kelly
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| Posted: May 14 2014 at 9:38pm | IP Logged
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Absolutely. U can easily combine history to include all ur kids. Take a look at History Links by Wooly Lamb Publishing-they are made for just that purpose and are available from Creation to Middle Ages (maybe later by now-havent checked recently). Even if u r studying a later epoch they HVENT covered, i would still take a look at one if u can to give you an idea how to fold all ur kids , simultaneously, into the mix at history time. HL is very thorough, Catholic in perspective, and quite reasonable in price too-(making it that much more attractive )
Kelly in FL
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 3:53am | IP Logged
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Next year I will be combining history somewhat for the first time. My spread will be similar. I am using Mater Amabilis's plan for Our Island Story with all, but my oldest will have his own supplemental reading to do as well as the Roman history as outlined by MA. I will pull from Ambleside's Year 1 and 2 lists some to supplement for my younger set since they use OIS in those years. I plan to cover OIS in the next two years then do the same group for This Country of Ours, again following MA plans but possibly doing it is 2 rather than 3.
If this works out long term, I might add a year of Story of the World Vol 4 for a modern study and then perhaps A Little History of the World. And at that point could conceivably start the sequence over again!
I really like the idea of still following MA and Ambleside loosely since I pull most from them anyway rather than do a whole separate history program, but combining for listening to HE Marshall together will definitely take some weight off.
My middle child is also struggling with reading, so I am combining him with the youngest in using Sound Beginnings.
We also combine some for science and nature. It is the primary science for the littles but sort of bonus science for my oldest. He still has his own science and nature reading to do. Sassafrass Science has both younger and older supplemental reading lists that would easily make a full on science course for that spread of ages, though we have not used it so formally.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 7:22am | IP Logged
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mamaslearning wrote:
Here's what I'm thinking of right now:
5th - she is mainly on her own (not independent, just not combined with brothers) except for family read alouds, music, art
1st and 3rd - combine for history, science, and family work.
Could I feasibly combine all three in science and history, or is that too large of a spread from 1st to 5th? |
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I think you could do it. Finding an excellent living read aloud would be a start. Just consider starting everyone together from some common point in the day - we call it Morning Basket, but you could call it whatever you like! Parse up your week for your common time meetings, and some days read aloud from history, others from science. Do your picture study, morning devotions/liturgical year, prayer time during this time. Everyone work on the same memory work together during this time. Then, your 5th grader goes forward with her independent work (she might even have an extra book to read from history or science - independently and narrate to you later). And while she's doing independent work, you work closely with the new and emerging reader. (By the way, the morning read aloud time means that the littles have completed their coverage of history and science - you don't need to add extra to that. This means that after Morning Basket, you should only have to cover reading and copy work with the littles and they're essentially done!)
This is almost EXACTLY how it plays out in my home with combining. Our morning common time covers an even bigger spread than you have - from 1st to 12th grader this past year....next year it will be 1st - 8th as the spread. So I know it can be done.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 5:31am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
everyone together from some common point in the day - we call it Morning Basket, but you could call it whatever you like! Parse up your week for your common time meetings, and some days read aloud from history, others from science. Do your picture study, morning devotions/liturgical year, prayer time during this time. Everyone work on the same memory work together during this time. Then, your 5th grader goes forward with her independent work (she might even have an extra book to read from history or science - independently and narrate to you later). And while she's doing independent work, you work closely with the new and emerging reader. (By the way, the morning read aloud time means that the littles have completed their coverage of history and science - you don't need to add extra to that. This means that after Morning Basket, you should only have to cover reading and copy work with the littles and they're essentially done!)
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This is close to what I hope I can work out for our morning time this coming year. My oldest at home will be in 10th, I also have a 1st grader and a few in between, plus a toddler. I think the only way I'm going to survive  is to have some subjects together.
The key for me is to remember this part of the quote from Jen:
This means that after Morning Basket, you should only have to cover reading and copy work with the littles and they're essentially done!)
I am notorious for doing a subject together then feeling like the kids all need to have their own work in that subject as well. It defeats the purpose and everyone gets overloaded!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 5:37am | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
My middle child is also struggling with reading, so I am combining him with the youngest in using Sound Beginnings.
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I'm planning to do this as well, Lindsay. I was a little worried at first how the older child would take it but he doesn't seem to be bothered at all. I like Sound Beginnings because it isn't "cutesy". The older child feels just as comfortable using it as the younger. I also like AAS for this purpose, but this older child has already been through a couple of levels and it doesn't seem to be sticking. Maybe being with his little brother, and possibly helping his little brother along will help to seal it for this older child.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Angel
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| Posted: May 21 2014 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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I had 4 in grades 1st- 5th this year (10 yo, 2 8 yos, 1 6 yo) and that's pretty much how we did it. The 1st grader gets a little leeway in how much he listens to when we read aloud, and I try to add in books for him and my 3 yo at a different point in the day (usually before bed, when they're settled down). My 5th grader is dyslexic and just started reading this year, so it's only been in the past few months that I could give him books to read on his own and have him do them independently. So mostly we have always *had* to combine because I just don't have enough hours in the day to read aloud to everyone separately.
We do a group time in the morning, too. How much you can get done will depend on the attention span of your littlest ones, in my experience. If my 6 yo didn't have the 3 yo to constantly battle with, we would get a lot more done, KWIM? I try to have something out for them to do while they listen -- coloring books, play-dough, etc. (Duplos, blocks, and trains are in the same room but with boys, playing with those often entails explosion noises.) But by giving their hands something to do, they can listen longer and combining goes better. We combined Latin for the 10 and 8 yos, but the 6 yo listened in and learned some of the Latin prayers, too.
As far as when you stop combining... well, that answer may be never in some cases. My 11th grader and 9th grader combined for a course in history/literature/religion this year, which was far easier for me because I only had to write out the assignments once and post them on a blog. If I can choose a family read aloud that will work for high school on down, then I will.
And on the other hand, sometimes you can see, when you get into the day to day of things, that it would be better to separate kids in certain subjects just because they would *like* to do something different than their sibling. I have identical twins and the temptation is to combine them in everything. But in the practice of things -- and with my teenagers, too, who because of their abilities have been combined in almost every subject (variously) over the years -- I've come to see that the kids do like having their independent subjects, too. Not just copywork, but books to read, projects to do, etc. This doesn't mean that you have to have everyone on different periods in history, different topics in science, though, because even kids on the same level can be handed different independent assignments according to their interests, that fit into the same broad scheme. And if you're gathering them in for a few good family read-alouds, then it's easier to keep up with it all for you. That's what I've found anyway.
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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Topic: Combining
