Combining two kids to one MBTP level

My son reads like a pro.  My daughter just this week learned to sound out "cat". (Go, Miss L!)  So they aren't really at the same level, but I am using the same "level" of MBTP curriculum for both kids.  Right now, they are both in the 5-7 level.  I alluded to this in a previous post, but I tried for a while having my son in the 6-8 and my daughter in the 5-7, and it was too much for me.  The two levels didn't mesh in content very well, and I had trouble doing the work for both of them while they were both in that sadly-short-attention-span window each day.  Plus, we were new to homeschooling at the time. I probably should have allowed my son to "de-school" for a while after the unhappy kindergarten experience, but I was high-strung about things.  And probably my daughter just wasn't ready yet.  So we took a break of many months, during which I did a lot of research into homeschooling methods and curricula and my kids did Time4Learning on the computer.  We all relaxed during that period, and eventually the kids became less-than-enthralled with the computerized options.  So one day, I pulled out the MBTP again, with both kids doing the same lesson just to see how it would go. 

It worked!  The attention span window was open long enough to also do math or one other morning thing, and they were extra engaged because they like each other's company and can share ideas. I am lucky that the two of them are less than two years apart in age, that helps, but because the 7-year-old is clearly "gifted" and advanced in reading well beyond his grade (but a reluctant writer) and the 5-year-old is only now to the Hop on Pop stage of reading, so I was concerned I couldn't make it work as the were too far apart in skills. 

But I needn't have worried.  To bring the MBTP 5-7 up to my 7-year-old son, it is a simple matter to give him the "advanced" options provided in the curriculum, ask him for more writing, more advanced ideas, and give him more advanced books that go along with each lesson.  I usually do it on the fly.   My 5-year-old daughter gets the recommended materials and the basic options in the curriculum.  For example, in the social studies unit we are currently working through, which frequently asks for the child to look through internet links or geography books for pictures of how different people live, eat, and play, I put two or three applicable books of complementary content but different level on the table between them.  Almost always, they pick they book most appropriate for their own level: my son usually prefers this DK Geography of the World, and my daughter usually goes for the old classic, People by Peter Spier. 

I won't say that this method of combining will work for them forever, but because my daughter's reading is only getting better, I think eventually it might actually be easier.  We'll see.  Yes, my son often knows the answers to the questions before I ask them, but I think that would be true of almost any curriculum.  Because MBTP is not our only curriculum choice, he is stretched intellectually in other subjects.  Meanwhile,  MBTP fills in gaps I would not have noticed on my own, and is helping him make connections I might not have thought. 

Anyway.  Back to nuts and bolts.  Two kids, one level, this is what it looks like when they are each doing a "final project" on the same topic. 

The 5-year-old gets more verbal guidance.  The 7-year-old did more work with the presentation materials and more independently.  Those papers on the wall, hard to read in the videos, are his words dictated to me with his own drawings below to illustrate the concepts. 

I know MBTP is not for everyone. Yes, it's often discussing simple things that my kids already understand.  But, what's key for me, is that it is helping cement their understanding and draw connections to other parts of life while gently encouraging a variety of writing and expression skills.  Drills and workborks, while they have their place (for us, that place is just math and phonics) are not happy ways for us to develop skills.  And, it is not too difficult for me to implement and the kids enjoy it. That's as much as I can ask for.