So this year I will have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, PK & Pre-PK . . . I am a little nervous about having both lower & upper elementary children & starting Tucker in PK & having a 2 year old!  WOW!  I know PK is not a "HUGE" deal, but it is for us b/c Tucker is in need of a plan -- which I have!  In fact, I think I have the wrest of their lives planned out.  lol . . . well, at least their homeschool lives! 

Now that Tucker has started school & Taylor is becoming more independent I really had to have a plan for the group.  I have been asked, "how do you teach them together?"  First of all, I don't teach EVERYTHING together; however, I do teach as much as possible together.  I have several reasons for this -- most importantly, there is only so many hours in a day -- we can get more done (I can cover more subjects) as a group & there is more free time for the children.  Second, I have been surprised at how much the little ones can learn from the bigger kids & even the two older children from each other.  Also, our children love being together, they love learning together.  Having said this, the topic is the same -- the work load is not (always). 

Penny Gardner, a mother of seven, author of A Charlotte Mason Study Guide and Italics: Beautiful Handwriting for Children offers this advice regarding how to combine subjects with a range of children:
“Subjects such as history, art appreciation, science, literature, nature study, and anything else that mom is reading aloud can be combined with two or more students. They may take turns narrating those topics. I have done this with three students who were between first and sixth grade. Older students (5-6th grades) may write some of their narrations independently, while mom listens to the younger ones.”

Subjects such as math, beginning reading instruction for the first grader (while the older child reads independently), and perhaps handwriting, including copywork and dictation, may need to be worked on with each child individually.

What subjects do I teach as a group?

• Bible/Character
• History -- using living books, non-fictions read aloud, historical fiction *using literature guides
• Science/Nature Study
• Art/Music Appreciation
• Geography
• Latin
• Vocabulary -- this is mainly from books we are reading or from literature guides to a history book.  If the definition is short & there aren't several I will have both children copy them.  Otherwise, I only have my younger child copy the important ones with shorter definitions.  OR I will have my older child look up & copy  the definition & explain it to my younger child & he has to copy the word & draw a picture to fit the definition.

What do my children do individually? (*Independently as well)

• Reading(UG*)/Phonics
• Language(UG*)
• Grammar*
• Writing
• Handwriting/Copywork*
• Art (Drawing)*
• Spelling*

To see what I use for all of these subjects please see my post on our curriculum.

Here is the History Plan for our house:

I know that "life" happens, new curriculum is developed, homeschooling views/goals change, ect., but this chart gives me an idea of where we are going with our history studies & which children I will be teaching together vs. independently.

Year

08-09

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

13-14

14-15

15-16

16-17

17-18

18-19

19-20

20-21

21-22

22-23

Taylor

5 AH (Expl. -1800)

6 AH (Westward)

7 AH  (Civil War)

8 AH (1865-Current)

9 Ancient

10 Middle Ages-1800

11 1800-1900's

12 1900's-Current

Tyler

2 AH Expl.-1800

3 AH (Westward)

4 AH  (Civil War)

5 AH(1600-1800's)

6 AH (Westward)

7 AH (Civil War)

8 1800's

9 Ancient

10 Middle Ages-1800

11 1800-1900's

12 1900's-Current

Tucker

PK Little Hands

K Little Hearts

1 Countries & Cultures

2 AH (Expl-1800)

3 AH (Westward)

4 AH(Civil War)

5 AH (1865-Current)

6 Ancient

7 Middle Ages/Renn.

8 Early American & World History

9 Ancient

10 Middle Ages-1800's

11 1800-1900

12 1900's-Current

Trevor

P-PK Little Hands

PK Little Hearts

K Countries & Cultures

1 AH (Expl.-1800)

2 AH (Westward)

3 AH (Civil War)

4 AH (1865-Current)

5 Ancient

6 Middle Ages/Renn.

7 Early American & World History

8 History of Science

9 Ancient

10 Middle Ages-1800's

11 1800-1900

12 1900's- Current