Hi Beth,

Thanks for your comments. These kinds of requests typically come for 2 x Primary School age children - say a Grade 2 and a Grade 5, so there is usually a difference in ability in English, just given their school experience. A 7 year old may have seen little more than vocabulary along with some basic structures, while the 10 year old will be working with much more. To be honest, I don't see that as a big problem, given that dealing with mixed ability levels is part and parcel of any group setting. It's the huge difference in their interests and abilities in general - manual, problem solving, and so on, that I find difficult to manage. What I've seen happen is either the older child becomes bored or irritable with the younger one, or the activities are simply beyond the grasp of the younger one.

That said, mothers manage to entertain their flocks, and I have no doubt there are plenty of teachers who manage it too. I suppose I could too, if I had unlimited time to prepare parallel activities, or an unlimited budget to buy a series of course books (they often have reasonably parallel topics ) - but of course, I don't have either. I try to stay away from course books anyway, since they already get plenty of those at school.

Anyway, thanks again for your ideas - it was great to have someone else's thoughts to mull over. And no doubt I'll keep mulling on it!