This is the year that we have officially added Siah (7yo) into the AO rotation, and he will be doing not only y1, but y1 & y2!! Oh yeah! {high five} Well... not really both years. He'll be doing a combination of the two years in order to be able to slide up to y3 next spring with Bria. I'm very excited about that for lots of reasons. We shall see to those in this post.
Reasons for Combining:
- When I contemplate having all 4 children (someday 5) in separate AO years with our travel schedule/lifestyle, I begin to shake like a whole forest of leaves... under heavy storm!
- Because I combined the two older boys from the beginning, it's as normal as bread for breakfast in our house to share years.
- Siah was a much earlier reader than his brothers were and will be able to read many of his books independently this year (thus justifying for me, helping him along in y3 at 7.5yo). - I do not normally recommend this. I like to have a nice young 7yo at in y1! But, I think it's going to work for us. I plan to modify when necessary.
- Siah has become a very good narrator under the unofficial tutorship of his older siblings.
- Bria had her y2 abruptly interrupted by a long furlough, so she's perfectly set up to do a combined year with Siah (she'll read some books from the second half of y2, that I've decided he won't have to read, while he's listening to the books she's already heard).
- I can keep them together on the booklist, but at their own levels in math, copywork, dictation, etc.
Here's a sneak peek, click the link to see the whole thing.
Here's the proposed schedule, we're currently in week 4. :)
Here's the proposed schedule, we're currently in week 4. :)
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8 comments:
I'm really interested in how to do the combining thing long-term. My oldest two (6&7) are doing Y1 together, and it's going well. My next two are twins, so I plan to have them in the same year when the time comes. But I'm not sure how I'm going to handle having them doing their own readings and how narrations will work when the time comes. What do you do? Do they read and narrate separately, or do they both read and then one narrates and the other critiques? Do you have two copies of the books?
I totally get the shaking like a leaf thing! We have only just begun to switch over to Ambleside..I've been tempted before but never felt confident to tackle the 5 differnet year levels. Sounds like a good plan to combine some years...I think I'll be popping in here often to see how you manage it with your family! So far I'm thinking that next year we'll have a yr 2(7),yr 4(9),yr 6 (11), yr 8 (13) and yr 10 (15). Oh and one very active 4 year old! H-E-L-P!!! :)I am planning to combine the history though for the younger 3...any other tips for a beginner?
Excited to see another 'combiner'... My husband and I just decided that we will be combining our kids using AO. My son is doing Yr 0 now and will do Yr .5 next year. The following September, our daughter will be 4- so we will begin the Yr 0 rotation with them BOTH. DS will be redoing Yrs 0 and .5, but will stay on his own reading & math level...
We just decided that we want our kids in the same year. We can start doing AO year round once they reach middle school so DS can graudate at 18 having completed Yr 11 and DD will graduate at 16 having completed Yr. 12.
We're excited about our FAMILY-schooling, all learning together, discussing the finer points of literature and history and enjoying being together while the kids are young...
All the best!
We are using Ambleside 3 1/2 this year with my two older kids. It is my first time using it and I am really enjoying it. I have been trying to decide what to do next year with the kids as far as keeping them in the same grade or switching and also what to read out loud and what to assign. Thanks for the visual of what you are doing. We may need to talk! :L)
Amy @ Missional Mama
Hi Amy,
I love the simplicity of the schedule, this has just eased my task for me!!
HC
Hi Amy,
Im assuming that the numbers along the top correspond to the weeks, so does the schedule show all the readings covered in that week, and all the readings are geography, history, free reads etc? And from 'our week' on the left bar, Im assuming you do the geog & biog reads on wed, history on thurs? different to how i do mine...maybe easier, the simpler the better for me.
As for maths, are you just doing each page as it comes?
could i have your email i may have more Qs
HC
please e-mail anytime! :) the link to my e-mail is there on the pop up comment screen...
:)
I look forward to chatting with you!
Hi Amy,
Can you email me (umanas @ telus dot net) as I have some questions on combining that I am hopeful you can help me with. New to CM but have been reading nearly all school year long about the methods. I am having a tough time figuring out how to best combine things to make it work for our family. Hope to talk with you soon.
Holly
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