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rose gardens
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| Posted: March 30 2006 at 11:15pm | IP Logged
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My twins will begin homeschool kindergarten next September. I'm wondering if any of you homeschool twins? Do they work independent of each other, or do you teach them together? I'm starting to give thought to the next school year, and I'd love to hear what other homeschoolers do with twins.
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Mare
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| Posted: March 31 2006 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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I've got triplets who will be starting K work next year. Right now, they sit in on our art, music, history and science lessons with my older dd.
Per my dds requests, I am working on phonics and math with them now. I tend to work with each child individually when we do these subjects. Yet, there are times when I see working with them all together, such as reviewing lessons, is beneficial.
Peace,
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Rachel May
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| Posted: March 31 2006 at 12:36pm | IP Logged
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Mine are in 1st grade right now and are my oldest.
We all sit down to the table/couch together 4 mornings a week for about 1 and 2 hours to do math, phonics, memorization, religion and art. Those are the subjects I concentrate on because they are those included in my Mother of Divine Grace syllabus, and I think that's pleanty for now. Maryland also requires that I teach music, social studies, more language arts, science, and health.
As a general rule, the twins are on the same lessons for math and phonics and do them together with the littles participating as much or as little as they choose. When I used 100 Easy Lessons for reading last year, we did that individually, but this year we use Sound Beginnings which is easier to use with more than one at once without being a workbook, per se. They do need individual guidance on how to hold a pencil or form a letter, but they are usually working on the same thing.
Memorization and religion we do as a group--even the baby is trying to learn the I Have a Dream speech--since they get more reinforcement that way. For reading practice we all sit down and each reader takes a page. For the other subjects we play games, listen to CDs, sing songs, go on nature walks, formally record routines, or go on field trips.
I'm starting to do try a unit study approach since it's easier to incorporate all ages and subjects into them while pursuing the kids' interests, but when I'm worn out we go back to the table.
My observations about my twins: Mine are identical so I'm seeing that they learn differently but tend to be at a similar level. I wouldn't expect this if they were fraternal esp boy/girl. Also, they are boys so they have suddenly become very competative. They are currently trying to see who will finish his math book first. 
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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rose gardens
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| Posted: March 31 2006 at 4:02pm | IP Logged
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Rachel May wrote:
| I wouldn't expect this if they were fraternal esp boy/girl. |
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That's what I have: fraternal boy girl twins. My girl twin practices writing letters and tries "reading" from books she knows. My boy twin isn't nearly as interested in typical school work, nor does he have the same fine motor skills ability, but he is competitive.
I definately want to work on their reading lessons independently, but I wasn't sure about the rest. I tried "pre k" with them together this year. But since having a baby a few months ago, I direct most my homeschool teaching energy toward my 1st and 6th grader. (You could say we "unschool pre-school"  )
Unit studies may be a good approach, as next year I'll have four to teach. Yes, our class size will double.
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rose gardens
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| Posted: March 31 2006 at 4:14pm | IP Logged
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Mare wrote:
I've got triplets who will be starting K work next year. Right now, they sit in on our art, music, history and science lessons with my older dd.
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Wow! You have triplets! You have my admiration.
Even more amazing, they're preschoolers, and they sit!
Mare wrote:
Per my dds requests, I am working on phonics and math with them now. I tend to work with each child individually when we do these subjects. Yet, there are times when I see working with them all together, such as reviewing lessons, is beneficial.
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Are they on the same lessons, just working independently?
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Shari in NY
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| Posted: April 01 2006 at 8:56am | IP Logged
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My twins are fraternal boys and will be ten in May. I try to keep them together in lessons as much as possible. Math, religion, history and science are easy but reading and spelling have been hard from the start. One twin reads very well and the other,well...doesn't  so he has individual reading lessons. My older kids had to work on their own alot while I was teaching these two to read but it was good for them in the long run as they are very independent learners now. If you have older kids I would concentrate on phonics/reading with the twins and let them absorb as much as possible from read-alouds and other lessons with the older kids. I think that is all the younger ones really need. My youngest has even picked up 3rd grade math from listening in to the Saxon lesson of his brothers!
Shari in NY
mom to Kedron,22;Tegan,20;Sam,17;Adam and Joe,9 and Ken,6
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Michaela
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| Posted: April 03 2006 at 1:21pm | IP Logged
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rose gardens wrote:
| That's what I have: fraternal boy girl twins. My girl twin practices writing letters and tries "reading" from books she knows. My boy twin isn't nearly as interested in typical school work, nor does he have the same fine motor skills ability, but he is competitive. |
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Your twins sound similar to mine.
Nathan isn't interested in the formal sit down lessons. Olivia begs for her ETC, HWT, and math workbooks constantly. Her fine motor skills are more advanced than her twin brother. It's the competition that keeps Nathan focused because Olivia will definitely let him know when she's ahead of him in a book. ...or tell him he wrote something incorrectly, then he gets a certain look in his eyes, (let the competition begin!) he'll fix it and try to one up her on something.
LOL A prime example is when Olivia wanted to learn her numbers 0-100 with flashcards. She begged every day for at least a week or two to go over the deck. I had promised both of them a pack of gum (a big NO in this house) when they could identify and write their numbers 0-100. Nathan never bothered to try. The day came that Olivia could identify all the numbers and daddy would bring her reward home after work. Nathan realized she was getting the reward....he asked to go over the deck...and by the end of the day my DH had to bring home two packs of gum because Nathan was so determined not to let Olivia win or do better.
They are never mean to each other about it. It's just very noticable how they react when the other has grasped a concept. I don't worry when Nathan doesn't do as much as Olivia because somehow he always keeps up.
I gently remind them that both of them are very good at something. Nathan doesn't like to write, but is a math wiz. Olivia loves to write, but math doesn't come to her as easily as her brother.
Teaching them is actually easier because of the competition. They are able to compare their progress and decide on their own it's time to give extra effort because SHE can do it....or HE can do it.
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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rose gardens
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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Michaela wrote:
They are never mean to each other about it. It's just very noticable how they react when the other has grasped a concept. I don't worry when Nathan doesn't do as much as Olivia because somehow he always keeps up. ...Teaching them is actually easier because of the competition. They are able to compare their progress and decide on their own it's time to give extra effort because SHE can do it....or HE can do it.
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Thanks for sharing. Your story encourages me. I worry because my boy twin doesn't seem very ready for formal learning. (If we had to send him to a "regular" kindergerten, I'd be tempted to hold him back--except that I would not put twins in different grades.)
Right as I read your post, my daughter was singing her ABC's, and then I heard her factually state to her twin brother , "I know my ABC's. You don't know your ABC's." Hmm, I'd planned to work with him on letters recognition over the summer--maybe I should take advantage of his competitive nature and use this as an opportunity to teach him his letters.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Got twins?
