One Mom Addresses the Question of Homeschooling Kids Close in Age…
My girls are 19 months apart. Call it laziness, but I just didn’t like the idea of teaching the same thing two years in a row. I didn’t want to plan for two different history or math lessons and I wasn’t sure what to do with my younger one while the elder started her kindergarten year. She was eager to learn and seemed to have the attention span to listen.
My homeschool veteran friend advised me to wait a little while longer on the first one and advance the second one, thus only needed to teach each lesson once. I was worried slowing the older one down would be to her detriment. And I also considered potential relationship strain between the girls if they were doing the same things in school when they were technically in different grades; would that be a big deal a few years down the road? Would it cause the strife between the two of them?
I hadn’t exactly decided how I would do it all, but I began with 100 reading lessons with my first. While we stretched out on her bedroom floor to do her lessons, the younger one played in the room around us. After 4 or 5 lessons, she asked for her turn. As I was about to pull the book from her cute hands, I stopped myself and decided to give her a shot at the reading lessons too. To my delight and surprise, she knew as much as her sister did!
It seemed that she had been listening the entire time and was ready to learn how to read.
When I introduced other subjects to the eldest daughter, the second was right there with us. I didn’t really expect her to pick up on all the details or really comprehend the lessons. I shortened her lessons and offered a little more help for fine motor skill development, but she has kept up with her sister for all of her subjects.
As usual, my veteran homeschooling friend was right. Taking my time with the eldest and inviting the younger along for as much as she can handle has turned out to be the best for us. Our little solution to the repeat-teaching has also turned out to match their personalities. My first born is young at heart and a slow developer, while the second seems to be miles ahead of her peers.
So, what does it look like now that we are a few years into our schooling? I have prepared myself to have to slow down the second one when she needs it. She is currently keeping up with the older one in reading, math, history, and science. They each use their own grade-level handwriting book and phonics curriculum. Our biggest challenge is my younger daughter’s attention span for the lengthy lessons. When I know she knows the information, I often abbreviate the length of her work. In all other areas of life (church, tennis lessons, etc.), she is in the group according to her age and has fun with her peers.
And as for my concern about their relationship, it is currently not a big deal. We have our days when my fourth grader pulls her fourth grader status over her sister like others do, I’m sure. When that happens, I either redirect them both or remind the younger one of her easy-pass on the shorter lessons. This seems to cut out of the negative banter.
Most of the time though, we don’t really talk about grade levels so it isn’t a big deal.
Sometimes the middle child gets the short end of the stick in most families, but in this case, she gets to take a walk down easy street. And as an added bonus, her older sister gets a classmate to work alongside. It’s a win/win for us all.
Lindsay Banton is a caffeinated mother to three great kids. She never expected to homeschool, but has found that it is a wonderful addition to their lifestyle and wouldn’t change it for the world. In addition to homeschooling, Lindsay works alongside her husband in campus ministry at a large university in Connecticut. She grew up in Virginia but has settled into life in New England, learning to love the long winters, cool springs, green summers and gorgeous autumns- and has built a boot collection to meet all the demands. She is currently blogging at www.oaksreplanted.blogspot.com