For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, "multi-level teaching," it simply means that you are teaching two or more children of differing ages the same subject. Many subjects lend themselves to teaching this way. I teach science, history, and Bible to all of my children at the same time. I first read about this approach almost 5 years ago, and it made so much sense to me to teach them all the same topic whenever I could.

So the question you now have is, "How do you do that?" "How to you teach the same thing to your 14-year-old that you are teaching to your 4- and 5-year-olds?" Well, the simple answer is that I give them reading and writing assignments based on their ages. For instance, when we studied the American Revolution, we went all out with costumes and props for all the children, even the baby.

Each day I would read outloud to them while they colored and drew in their colonial notebooks. They would sit for hours as I read to them. I can remember being hoarse from reading so much to them during this unit. After we finished the outloud reading each day, the two older children had additional assignments that included reading library books on their own and writing reports. After they wrote their reports, they acted them out. This is where the costumes came into play.

I also tried to find appropriate picture books to read to the younger ones while the older ones were working independently. The poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere's Ride, has been turned into a beautiful picture book. My younger ones loved this book. They would ask me to read it, and then they re-enacted it with stick horses. VERY CUTE!!!

We also cooked colonial-type foods, and we had high tea every afternoon. This was a great time to work on table manners and read more books outloud. I think the younger ones will remember a lot of this when we go back to it and study it again in a few years. I know that it has made my daughter's high-school level history course easier.

There are many curricula that offer multi-level teaching through unit studies. KONOS is one of the largest and most comprehensive programs I have used. The lesson plans are divided into age-appropriate assignments, so you know what reading and writing to assign to what age child. Cadron Creek offers several different studies. Two very popular ones are The Prairie Primer and Further Up and Further In (which is based on The Chronicles of Narnia). I know there are other programs out there that lend themselves to the multi-level approach, but I have not used them, so I am hestitant to list them here without first-hand knowledge.

I think using the multi-level approach has brought our family closer. We can talk about what we are studying together, and they can remind each other of little facts that may have escaped someone else's notice. This year our daughter has been working independently on history and science, and she misses spending that time with us. So she has started reading outloud to the boys occasionally. 

If you would like to know more, please feel free to ask here in the comment section or email me at fiveblessings@bellsouth.net. 

Have a blessed day! Tami 

(Here is a page from our scrapbook.)