From Our House to Yours
‘Pop Back and Forth’ to Teach Multiple R & S English Levels Simultaneously
I thought I’d share how I teach multiple R & S English levels at one time! Emmett is using R & S English 5 in HOD’s Revival to Revolution, and Riley is using R & S English 8 in HOD’s USI high school. I like to have each sit at their own table in adjacent rooms, so they are not distracted by each other, but I can easily pop back and forth between them. Emmett sits at the kitchen table, and Riley sits at the dining room table.
I start with the youngest studying his oral review questions and answers.
I start by having my younger son, Emmett, study his oral questions and answers in his R & S English teacher’s guide. He is a visual learner, and reading the questions and answers in print helps him better retain the information. Usually within a few minutes, he tells me he his ready. I then take away the guide and orally ask him the questions. He rarely misses any, but if he does, I have him study the teacher’s guide again. Then, I ask just the one he missed one more time. It is amazing to me how much better he does on reviews since we have been doing this!
I pop over to the oldest to do his oral review questions, while the youngest silently reads his lesson.
Emmett then silently reads his R & S English pupil text lesson. While Emmett is silently reading his lesson at the kitchen table, I call Riley to the dining room table. Riley studies his oral questions and answers in his R & S English teacher’s guide. When he says he is ready, I take away the teacher’s guide and orally ask him the questions. Just as I did with Emmett, if he misses any, I have him study again and ask that question one more time. After this, Riley reads his pupil text lesson silently at the dining room table.
I pop back to the youngest to orally do his lesson, while the oldest silently reads his lesson.
About this time, Emmett is done silently reading his lesson. So, I pop back to the kitchen table. We then work through the lesson together orally. I often have him take a few minutes to ‘study’ and ‘think through’ his answers for a section before asking him to orally answer. It is amazing how much better he does then! Emmett can rush and be a bit of a ‘blurter’ otherwise. Having him study a section and think through his answers prior to answering them orally has helped him go from answering many questions wrong to answering almost every question right! As we are working orally through the lesson, I look ahead and mentally note which written part I want to assign him to write the answers for in his notebook.
I pop back to the oldest to orally do his lesson, while the youngest writes the section I’ve assigned in his notebook.
We keep moving through the lesson orally until Riley calls out to say he’s done reading. If Emmett and I get to the section I want him to write before Riley calls out to me, I skip the section I want him to write, and finish out the rest orally. Whenever Riley calls out to let me know he is done reading though, I quickly finish the section Emmett and I are orally doing and then have Emmett do the written section I chose for him to write in his notebook. While Emmett is independently doing his assigned written section, I pop back over to Riley. We work through his lesson orally. Whenever Emmett calls out he is done with his written section, I quickly finish the section Riley and I are orally doing and then have Riley look ahead to choose a written section to do in his notebook.
I pop back to the youngest to correct his written work and orally finish his lesson, while the oldest does his written work, and then finish out orally with the oldest.
I pop back to the kitchen table. Using the teacher’s guide, I correct Emmett’s written work and assign a grade for it. We then work through any remaining questions orally. Emmett is done, so I pop back to Riley’s dining room table. I correct Riley’s written work and assign a grade for it. We then work through any remaining questions orally. Voila! Both are now done with grammar, and in a fraction of the time it used to take me to teach multiple levels! Hooray! I know it sounds chaotic to pop back and forth, but it isn’t. It works great and is a real time saver! Maybe you’d like to give it a try!
In Christ,
Julie
