How do you decide whether to teach your children individually or together as a group? Most homeschooling families will use a combination of these for different subjects, but here are some things to consider before you decide.
*Does your child do better with one-on-one teaching, or do they thrive in a environment with their siblings and/or peers? Some children do not do well competing with others academically. Others need the healthy competition that a group atmosphere can bring. Sometimes it takes trying each of these teaching situations out to find out what will work best. Also consider that different subjects may require different approaches to teaching. Your child may do well in a group setting for math, but not for writing. Homeschooling is all about getting to know your child and his or her needs…it takes some time to do this!
*Are your children at similar levels academically? Through trial and error, I have found that my 4th grader and 2nd grader can’t be combined in many subjects. Why? They are just too far apart from each other to make it work. When I tried to combine them, one was always ahead and one always felt like they were catching up. It wasn’t fair to them to learn this way. Separating them has allowed them to work at their own pace and has provided a much more peaceful environment in our homeschool.
*How much time do you have available to teach? This can be a big factor to consider when deciding on group vs. individual learning. Sometimes it becomes necessary to teach children together because of a lack of teaching time. Just carefully consider which subjects will be most easily combined. These are usually subjects other than math and language arts. Some curriculum companies make it easier to combine children in subjects like history and science by allowing you to teach the same topic but at a different level.
What ends up working for your family is completely up to you. In our family, we separate everything but history and science, which we are doing as a family with KONOS
How do you teach your children? Do you lean more to individual learning or group learning?
Come check out some of the great posts about homeschooling essentials from my Crew-mates!
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Jennifer @ Royal Little Lambs
Sarah @ My Joy-Filled Life
Debbie @ Debbie’s Homeschool Corner
Lisa Marie @ The Canadian Homeschooler
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Dinah @ The Traveling Classroom
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Water on the Floor 