Success Tip #1 – Combining Subjects for Different Grades

Editor’s Note: Seton Magazine Editor Mary Ellen Barrett and Catholic Homeschooling Veteran Ginny Seuffert have recorded scores of fun and informative podcasts for stay-at-homeschooling moms like you. Their insight and perspective can help and may change the way you homeschool.

A recent SAHM Podcast discussed a method homeschooling families can use to manage their course load more efficiently. This alternative approach involves combining subjects for students in different grades.

“Is it possible?” and “How do you do that?” are questions Mary Ellen and I often get. We recently discussed these questions in depth on the podcast. Here is a summary of our conversation:

How to Combine Different Grades

Recently, Brittany, a mom with two younger children in primary grades, a toddler and a newborn, messaged me.

Brittany 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.

Art, Music, and Phys Ed

These can always be combined. You can keep it simple and enroll your kids in community soccer, baseball, or softball. You can 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.

English

“I generally advise against combining this subject 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

Teaching and learning math is very straightforward – either a student grasps a concept and learns his facts, or he does not. Combine classes with an older sibling if you have a little math whiz. It makes no sense to hold a child back.

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 your MySeton, click the yellow notepad.

Religion

This subject 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 specific grades deal with sacramental preparation.

Science and Social Studies

These 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 easier when students are no more than one or two years apart in age. I found it easier when the boy is the older child. Little girls often can concentrate better than boys – but you know your children.

Is This Method for You?

Use how your kids perform in primary grades to decide whether or not to continue, but take it year by year. Consider that material becomes more detailed and advanced, and testing and report writing will often increase. A 3rd grader may be able to read and comprehend 5th-grade science but be unable to take grade-level tests.

About Ginny Sueffert

Ginny Sueffert co-hosts Stay-at-Homeschooling Mom, a podcast for Catholic home educators, with Mary Ellen Barrett. Ginny has written five books for Catholic homeschoolers, appeared on EWTN, and lectured on homeschooling across the United States. She and her husband, Ed, are the parents of twelve children and expecting grandchildren 35 and 36.