Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and up)

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farmfamily
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:20 pm

Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and up)

Post by farmfamily » Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:03 am

I am combining my girls in Bigger, more for MY convenience and sanity than because they both place exactly in that guide. However, as I look at the higher guides which are so much more independent, it seems that the benefits to me are much less: there seems to be much less reading aloud and many of the teacher-directed things would need to be done separately anyway. Book-sharing for independent subjects seems like it could cause trouble.

I THINK my girls would like to collaborate on projects & experiments, but recently these have been more hit-and-miss. They sometimes argue over who gets to do what or have the nicer medicine dropper (!) - and this is with me supervising!

So for those of you who are doing it - what do you think are the pros and cons of combining in the higher guides? Do you think it saves YOU much time and energy?
blessed to be married 17 yrs to my hardworking farmer dh, mom to:
daughter 13 MTMM
daughter 11 Rev to Rev
son 10 CTC

Enjoyed Little Hands, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, Res to Ref, and Rev to Rev!!

Mumkins
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Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by Mumkins » Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:51 am

I stopped combining in CTC. I had more been pushing my son along to be with DD. He did ok with Bigger. Preparing was a stretch, then CTC was too much. He's very bright and a good reader, but the writing was too much. I felt he'd get more out of it if the workload wasnt so high for him before he was truly ready. Plus, it gets so independent. I too was combining mostly for my convenience in the beginning. They fit together age wise in a guide, but as I said, the higher we went, the more apparent I was pulling him along. Another down side was book sharing since they both needed the same books all day. Plus, there was a bit of competition for who made the better whatever.

That said, if one has children both fitting into the same guide, it can be very bonding. Fun to do science together and make things. Nice to talk with each other about what they've learned. I just felt like I HAD to combine my oldest two to make things easier. But having done that, I no longer desire to do that with my littles.
7 awesome kids!

2 graduated
2 at highschool
3 coming home to homeschool in the fall💕
DD5 LHFHG
DS9 Preparing
DS12 RTR

We’ve enjoyed LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, Preparing, CTC, WG

Tidbits of Learning
Posts: 303
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:18 am

Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by Tidbits of Learning » Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:39 pm

Our personal pros and cons with dd's that are 13 months apart combined and not combined...
PROS
Cost (they share and I am buying 1 guide for 2 kids)
CONS
Bickering
dd13 is advanced and working 2 grade levels higher than dd12 in language arts and general writing/reading
dd12 is more advanced in science and math
They do not want the other telling them how to do things
Headaches for me with 2 hormonal girls bickering over school

So really my only pro is combining is cheaper for me. They were combined in BHFHG through CTC years ago. Then we went to charter school for 2 school years. In charter school, they were of course separated into their age appropriate grade level. dd12 took science 2 grades ahead of her actual grade as well as geometry and algebra in 6th grade. dd13 got to take high school courses for everything this year. So they really had gotten used to working at different levels and moving ahead in the subjects that they excelled.
I had intended to combine this year and beef up for dd13. It only took me 1 week with the cons above for me to order WG for dd13 and give up the combining altogether. With so much of it independent, there really is no need to combine if the kids are at different skill levels in subjects. The sharing does get iffy b/c you have to stagger the independent subjects for each of them and it just seemed to cause more grumbling especially since older dd reads in no time flat and writes as quickly. dd12 has to really think through the narrations and takes her time with writing so they were waiting on books from each other a lot.
Add in normal pre-teen/teen girl hormones and it did not save me time or energy as I had emotional messes on my hands while trying to school my 2 younger boys as well. I think having them in their own guides will bring peace to my house and I won't need as many tension headache pills. ;) They are a year apart in age but work about 2+ grade levels apart in several subjects. I feel 2 grade levels apart need 2 separate guides especially with girls at this age.
2020-2021
dd20, dd19 Grown and Flown :D
ds18-12th grade at hybrid school
ds14-8th grade MTMM President's Study and Science

farmfamily
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:20 pm

Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by farmfamily » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:30 pm

Thanks for your responses both of you. Tidbits - you crack me up! I don't know whether it is early hormones or what but dd9 definitely has mood swings and dd7 seems to aggravate her on purpose. I am starting to think about separating them for school. We enjoyed working on projects together much more before, and skill wise they really fit in different guides.
blessed to be married 17 yrs to my hardworking farmer dh, mom to:
daughter 13 MTMM
daughter 11 Rev to Rev
son 10 CTC

Enjoyed Little Hands, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, Res to Ref, and Rev to Rev!!

8arrows
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Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:49 pm

Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by 8arrows » Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:13 pm

Cons: Sharing books
Pros: Everything else. I combine for my sanity and because I love it. I love having us all on the same page in history. We discuss the read aloud books throughout the day. We compete in little history quizzes together. I am grading the same narrations. There are limits though. Since I have a somewhat large family, I combine sets of children. I am combining my 11, 13, and 15 year olds, but I am not including the 4, 7, and 9 year olds in that group. When I do combine, I may have the oldest do a different science. I may give the youngest a few passes. I have been doing this long enough to know where we need to end up. Each family has different dynamics and different personalities. That is one of the many things I enjoy about HOD. It works for combining--or separating. Next year I am separating out my oldest for just a year to meet her graduation requirements. Then we can come back together for her senior year. She is looking forward to it (no more lost books by the boys); I am not. I just see it as more work. I have an inkling that although she will enjoy having her own books, she will miss our time as a group.
Melissa, wife to Jim for 28 years
3 graduated, 2 using US 2, 8th grade dd using Missions to Marvels
Isaiah 40:11 ...He gently leads those that have young.

farmfamily
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:20 pm

Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by farmfamily » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:08 pm

Thanks for weighing in, 8 arrows. I'm glad you posted since I remember from other posts of yours that combining has worked really well for you. The point about grading the same narrations (only having to be familiar with one set of books' contents) is something I didn't think of.

In my somewhat small family, I have one "excluded" from the shared history of the older two. So far it doesn't seem to bother him, but I'm not sure if one day it may - or maybe he will prefer doing his own guide. I know I will have to pray and think more on this combining question...
blessed to be married 17 yrs to my hardworking farmer dh, mom to:
daughter 13 MTMM
daughter 11 Rev to Rev
son 10 CTC

Enjoyed Little Hands, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, Res to Ref, and Rev to Rev!!

sahervey
Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:46 pm

Re: Pros and cons of combining in the higher guides (CTC and

Post by sahervey » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:33 pm

When I first brought my kids home, I put all 3 of them in BHFHG. Honestly, the main reason was that we just couldn't afford another set of curriculum. I bought most of BHFHG used, too. At the time, my kids were in 1st, 4th, and 5th. The following year, they were all combined in PHFHG. Looking back, I have no regrets about that. Since I was new, I am glad I chose to combine them. It was so easy, to not have to track 3 different guides.

However, this last year, I stopped combining. I just thought that the skills were too challenging for my youngest. So he is now in CtC, which I'm spreading over 2 years. He'll be a 4th grader when he is done with it. Then, I will put him in RtR for 2 years, too. So, he should be able to do all the skills needed by the end of the guides.

I did keep my older two in the same guide. They ended up skipping CtC and going into RtR. I'll continue combining them. My 6th grader is on my 7th grader's level in LA and math. In fact, he's surpassing her. So, I don't anticipate un-combining them.

You should do what works for your family. If you continue to combine, you just have to be mindful of where they're supposed to be at what age/grade. You're the mom, and you know what they're learning, but most importantly, what they're capable of. Good luck to you!
Amy
Married to a Navy Chaplain
Mom to 4: Addie, Joel, Silas, and Lincoln
AH2
World History
MtMM
Bigger

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