multiply children very close in age

[mommaof6blessings]

How do you teach children who are close in age? I have a 9, 8, 7, 5 and 3 year old. How would you buy according to this? My older two are great readers with little hands on help right now. I am confused on what and how much to buy.

[amysconfections]

I would first check each child according to the placement chart. Then group them according to that. Realizing that you will bring down some of the children to combine them. It would depend on their personality and maturity levels on how I would group them together. My goal would be to run 2 programs and that's all. You have alot of children who will all need you. They will all be on their own level in Math and English. Come back after you check the placement chart and let us know where they place. This is on the HOD Homepage to help you decide.
Steps for Choosing the Correct Program:
Program Selection Chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/program-se ... -chart.php
Consider the ages of your children and think about whether you'd like to combine them within a program or keep them separate.

Program Placement Chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
Note the program where each student seems to fit best, giving more weight to the areas of age, reading, writing, and math.

Scope and Sequence Chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php
See which areas of history and science study might best suit your family's needs, keeping in mind your student(s) ages and skill level.

My recommendation is to have at least 1 guide in between. So for instance if you decide on Little Hearts for His Glory for younger ones, then skip Beyond and do Bigger Hearts for His Glory. This makes a difference in how doable it is doing more guides. Some guides run back to back are too teacher intensive.

[mom23]

Amysconfections had great advice. When you're checking out the links in the post above here are a couple of other things you might keep in mind. How well do your children work together? Are they competitive in helpful ways (encouraging eachother to do better) or does one easily get discouraged if the other understands something sooner or does something more easily? You could feasibly combine the older 3 if they're similar enough skill wise. On the other hand, sometimes it works best to place your oldest one at their level and look at combining the next kids in line. Oldest children are sometimes just a different temperment and often work best at their own pace where they can take off and fly without waiting for the next sibling to keep up. When combining with HOD it usually works best to place the younger child at the guide they would handle comfortably and then beef it up for the older kids as needed.

[my3sons]

Hi there! The ladies gave such good advice - have you had a chance to check out the placement chart yet? We would all love to help you out if you can share your thoughts about placement with us! Looking forward to helping you out and making your acquaintance here on this lovely board!

In Christ,
Julie