The Latin-Centered Curriculum

I have 3 children and they are alll widely spaced apart. With my first child, I used Sonlight and read, read, read all the great Sonlight books. She really enjoyed them and she has always been a fabulous reader. My second child is more wiggly and doesn't want to sit still and listen to so many books. He likes them ok, but Sonlight is really too much for him.

I was actually so glad that he didn't want to do the Sonlight because I was thinking that there is no time in the day to to all the reading that two seperate Sonlight programs would require. And, again, they are so far apart in age that it seemed as if I had to do one reading for her level and one for his.

Then, one day a wise person told me to just read and teach to the older child. The younger children can listen in if they like and will greatly benefit from doing so. But it's no big deal if they don't sit still and pay attention, either.

I thought this was great, because I realized as the years went on, my daughter FORGOT lots of the stories that I had read to her. I was kind of miffed because here I was, reading all this stuff for years on end and she didn't remember it. Some, she did, sure. But I was feeling frustrated thinking of having to read it all over again to my younger child for him to turn around and forget half of it. So, the older ones hear material to their level and the youngers benefit from listening to material beyond their level. That is beneficial to them, even if they don't understand it all or remember it later. It's about exposure.

If the younger child has questions, the older child can answer. Answering will solidify knowledge for the older one and clarify for the younger one. When the time comes, you will be reading to that younger child when he is older and THEN he will know what is going on all on his own. But he will also benefit from having a rich language and vocabulary background from all those years of hearing books beyond his grade level.

If he is looking for material to be read to him at his level, it is great for the older child to read to the younger. The older child's memory will be refreshed of all the books she forgot about. And it's good practice for them to read aloud since they often stop that once phonics instruction is completed and they are reading independantly. It will free you up to teach other children and it will strengthen the sibling bond when they read together.

In practice, I read mostly to my older but I still read to my younger, too. I just love the little ones snuggling up and getting excited over "their stories."

But really, I wouldn't worry so much about "teaching" history and all of that to primary or even grammar chidlren. I would say expose it to them, sure, but I've long since noticed that the same things are taught over and over because the young kids do forget...and at their age, they can't study topics at great depths or details. Thus, things are repeated over and over year after year.

Kelli