How to Combine Subjects for Different Grades
Description
Brittany contacted us. She has two younger children in primary grades, a toddler and a newborn, and wants to give them a thorough academic education. She's willing to do the major subjects separately but wondered if she could combine other subjects, like science and history. Combining students in different grades is a question we frequently get, and we discuss it in today's podcast.
Show Notes:
Put your kids in community soccer, baseball, or softball. Use your town's dance academy or gymnastics program, or give them piano lessons. Place them together or separately, do whichever is easier and works for you.
Science and Social Studies can be combined, certainly in primary grades K-3. They are minor subjects and often don't involve any testing or challenging assignments. Combining is clearly easier when students are no more than one or two years apart in age. In my experience, it is also easier when the boy is the older child. Little girls often can concentrate better than boys – but you know your children.
Religion is a content subject that deserves special consideration. On one hand, it is easy to combine grades. After all, every grade has the same seven sacraments and Ten Commandments, but consider the rules of your parish since certain grades deal with sacramental preparation.
Reading: In the primary grades, students are learning sounds, sight words, and reading. It is not uncommon for siblings, close in age, to work together and grasp concepts more or less simultaneously. But you may need to be flexible. Be observant and accommodate developmental skills progressing at different rates. Reading can be a very flexible subject, and you don't necessarily have to move the student up a level. If the older child has mastered a particular grade level and can do much more, go to a public library and get extra books. Seton has a recommended reading list on their website, linked below.
English is one subject that I generally advise against combining unless the older student is going down a grade. Some of the concepts are pretty abstract. For example, objective, nominative, and possessive nouns and pronouns require higher-level thinking skills.
Math is a very straightforward subject – either a student grasps a concept and learns his facts, or he does not. If you have a little math whiz, combine classes with an older sibling. You cannot enrich math, and it makes no sense to hold a child back.
Summary: Use how they perform in primary grades to decide whether or not to continue, but take it year by year. Material becomes more detailed and advanced, and homeschool programs often have increased testing and reports. A 3rd grader may be able to read and comprehend 5th-grade science but be unable to take grade-level tests.
I hope this helps you, Brittany.
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Homeschooling Resources
Seton's First Grade Supplemental Reading List
Seton's Second Grade Supplemental Reading List
President's Council on Sports and Nutrition
Note: We share these links for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute an endorsement of the site or its content.
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