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what books or materials would I need 2 of other than Grammar & Math? Thx!

Jennifer
mom to girl11(going to cs), boyjustturned10(Bigger), girl7.5(Bigger) and boy5(LHFHG next year)

Oh, and Dithor:)

Jennifer, I'm planning on combining mine in Preparing next year also and so far I pretty much just have one of all the books. I'll be watching with interest to see if anyone recommends doubling up on some books. I've been wondering how it will work out with them doing the independent history and science independently if they'll be able to share those resources ok. Oh, and I was planning on only getting one student book of grammar, so I'll be interested to see if others get more than one of those too.

Hi Jennifer,
Depending on how well your dc get along and $$$$ you might want to consider getting two copies of the longer independent readers. This year I have my 10ds and 8ds combined who get along very well and agree on when to swap and share the books. On the other hand, next year I am thinking of combining my 8ds with the 6ds. They do not get along well and I can see them fighting EVERYDAY for the books.

Blessings,
Adrienne

Adrienne, which of the books do you feel like are long enough that it would be worthwhile to own two copies? My dc usually get along well, but I can see that one might get a bit impatient if they have to wait too long for a book.

Adrienne will be able to best answer your question above, but I did want to mention a little idea. As the science is read independently, and there are also independent readers for history, maybe one could read the science and start the follow-up, and the other read the independent history and start the follow-up, and then they could swap books. Just a thought!
In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:Adrienne will be able to best answer your question above, but I did want to mention a little idea. As the science is read independently, and there are also independent readers for history, maybe one could read the science and start the follow-up, and the other read the independent history and start the follow-up, and then they could swap books. Just a thought!
In Christ,
Julie

That is the way I was hoping it would go and in theory, it really should work. My problem is I have one that is a much slower reader, drawer, and writer than the other. That could make the timing not work so well. On the positive side though my slower one has been getting up much earlier than his sister so he might be able to get it all done before she even gets up! He's loving the independence that he is gaining in school and loves getting up to get his work done early. That means free time earlier in the day and he loves that. I really don't want to get more than one of each of the books. It just seems wasteful in many ways, yet I don't want my dc to be frustrated either. I appreciate all input as I'm sure the OP does!

pjdobro wrote:
That is the way I was hoping it would go and in theory, it really should work. My problem is I have one that is a much slower reader, drawer, and writer than the other. That could make the timing not work so well. On the positive side though my slower one has been getting up much earlier than his sister so he might be able to get it all done before she even gets up! He's loving the independence that he is gaining in school and loves getting up to get his work done early. That means free time earlier in the day and he loves that. I really don't want to get more than one of each of the books. It just seems wasteful in many ways, yet I don't want my dc to be frustrated either. I appreciate all input as I'm sure the OP does!

We'll most likely be in the "sharing" position for many years. I think it's reasonable to give it a try with them sharing. You could always go ahead and purchase duplicates of some of the books if you feel you need them. I think it would be good for my two oldest to have to work together in that way!

You know, one other idea would be for dc to do something that was not part of their PHFHG school and then switch. Like I was thinking that I have each of my older dc take a turn playing with our toddler, as this is good bonding skills for them with him, and also as it gives me quiet alone teaching time with the other child. If you had younger children (like I see some of you do from your signature), you could go that route, and while 1 child was playing with the younger child(ren), the other older child could be doing their readings. We've found that taking this time out of their day to play with a younger sibling actually still makes it possible for us to finish earlier, as the youngest child is happily occupied, the olders have a break in their day somewhere, and each of the dc has a quiet teaching time with me too. If there were not younger siblings, just having one of the dc have free reading time, or chore time, or handicrafts time, or educational computer time, etc., for a block of say 45 minutes, and then having them switch, may be enough time to easily share books.

In Christ,
Julie

I agree Heart_Mom that it is a good thing for them to learn to share. My two have always been pretty good about sharing, but we've never had to share school books before.

Thanks, those are some good ideas Julie. I think allowing the free reading time or even the DITHR book time would be a good alternative. I've been toying with using the extension books too just as extra fun reading not requiring any assignments on them. I know they would both probably enjoy the other activities as well, but sometimes if I let them do other things that are not "schoolish" I have a hard time getting their focus back. It's strange, but I had to make sure that my ds didn't do any video games before school here recently. When he was spending time doing that before we did our school work, it seemed to dull his brain. It wasn't that he wasn't cooperative, he's my compliant one, but his brain just seemed to be off. It was a big eye opener to me as to what a mind numbing experience video games can be!

pjdobro wrote:Adrienne, which of the books do you feel like are long enough that it would be worthwhile to own two copies? My dc usually get along well, but I can see that one might get a bit impatient if they have to wait too long for a book.

Really the only two long independent books for History are Little Miriam of Galilee and Pedro's Journal. We only have one copy of each and the waiting is minimal. Because my boys are cordial with one another and have never had a problem sharing I let them choose when they do their independent history/science work (they like this freedom). My plan, if a problem should occur, is to assign the older (who is much quicker) with his independent history/science work at the beginning of the day and the younger with his independent history/science work at the end of the day.

Just from observation one book my dc would have liked to own two copies of is Draw and Write Through History. Because they both like to draw, they enjoyed spending time with this book. I noticed on many occasions when one started drawing the other became anxious to get started on his own.

Let me stress having only one copy has never been a problem for us. I would only consider two copies if you have EXTRA money.

Blessings,
Adrienne

AwaitingHisReturn wrote:
Really the only two long independent books for History are Little Miriam of Galilee and Pedro's Journal. We only have one copy of each and the waiting is minimal. Because my boys are cordial with one another and have never had a problem sharing I let them choose when they do their independent history/science work (they like this freedom). My plan, if a problem should occur, is to assign the older (who is much quicker) with his independent history/science work at the beginning of the day and the younger with his independent history/science work at the end of the day.

Just from observation one book my dc would have liked to own two copies of is Draw and Write Through History. Because they both like to draw, they enjoyed spending time with this book. I noticed on many occasions when one started drawing the other became anxious to get started on his own.

Let me stress having only one copy has never been a problem for us. I would only consider two copies if you have EXTRA money.

Blessings,
Adrienne

Thank you Adrienne! That is really helpful. I had thought that the Draw and Write Through History book would be one that they would enjoy having their own copy. I'll keep my eyes open for a bargain on that. I think they will probably do ok with the other books, but I think my library has Pedro's Journal so I can probably try to reserve it for when we need it.