keirin Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I have boy/girl twins that I am going to start homeschool with next year. They will turn 5 in July and be doing kindergarten with me. Can anyone offer any insight on homeschooling twins? I'm especially concerned about starting handwriting and reading with my son. He isn't as interested or able to do handwriting - his fine motor skills haven't developed as well as his sister's. My daughter is totally ready and able to do this, but I'm concerned about giving her what she needs without making her brother feel like he isn't doing enough. If I modify a curriculum to let him do less writing, is it going to create problems? Anyone have twins with different abilities and interests, and how did you handle that while homeschooling? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I guess the best advice I can give you is that reading and writing are one-on-one instruction. I had to do this with my boys. One of them is hFA and that meant a lot more work on writing instruction, reading instruction and comprehension instruction. We did a lot of tracing letters as I recall. And painting. That seemed to help my son with his control better than anything else. Math can be one-on-one as well. There wasn't anything independent about teaching them from K to almost fifth grade. Probably the biggest thing both of them had to learn was that they couldn't interrupt when I was working with one or the other. They had to be patient. Another great tool I found was my whiteboard. That helped a lot in teaching narration, reading, writing and math. It's fun, though! I've got a ready and willing group for discussions now whenever I want one. Some things we do look very "school-like" because honestly, so many things end up being lecture format. It's just a little different teaching a class of two instead of one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 And welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.Ivy Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I'm all ears on this too. I have boy/girl twins turning 5 this fall. And the girl is definitely more mature in some areas than the boy. It will be interesting to see how how this works out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) Welcome! I had one ready much younger than his twin. I ended up delaying academic work for both and then finally starting a bit earlier than I might have if my later developer had been my only if that makes sense. Over all, I skewed our start more toward the one not ready and then we eased into it then. We just played and read books and similar stuff in what would have been K just as we did for preschool. I don't regret that, but I don't know that doing it differently would have been catastrophic. I taught PS for 10 years and my main concern was having both kids see themselves as competent learners who enjoyed "school" at that age. I think it's extremely common for girls to develop school ready skills quicker than boys, so hopefully someone with boy/girl twins will chime in. But my two are different with nearly opposite strengths and weaknesses. I did and do teach them each individually for subjects like math and all the LA (phonics, handwriting early on right up to today's grammar and composition). This way I can adjust lessons/assigments and emphasis to each child and no one is answering questions for his brother. This also helps manage/reduce comparison. If that were a major issue, I would even use different curriculum for each child. I do tend to use the same base curriculum for both just for teacher convenience and cost. However, individual lessons mean I can add supplemental curriculum or adapt to my learner easily. I have one who does quite a bit more math than his twin, including supplemental curriculum. I pick shared curriculum with the weaker in the subject child in mind if that makes sense. For example, my first phonics curriculum was working for child A but not for child B, who was a struggler in that area. I switched to something to fit B and used it for both. I did the same with math and spelling at certain points. Edited February 12, 2016 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keirin Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 Wow, I never even really considered doing math and phonics individually... I'll have to think about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Y Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I have identical boys (who are now 16). I basically did phonics separately. We used Explode the Code. Their skills were fairly similar, but not always. There is always a direct comparison with twins because you have 2 children the same age at the same time. I tried to avoid comparison. If they would've been really off on their skill level, I probably would've picked 2 different phonics programs just to mask that. It was easier in many ways because I always read the same stories to them at the same time and, later, I always had group math and English classes because their brother just older is only 17 months older and was a bit on the academically delayed side. My first 2 children were 17 months apart, the older being a boy who wasn't crazy about school and a girl who loved it. I always taught them together because their skill level was similar.....but keep in mind the girl was YOUNGER. Your boy/girl are the same age and this may cause a noticeable incongruence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Don't try to keep them in the same level if they are performing differently, and don't be afraid to use two different curriculums for the same subject if needed. My twins differed greatly in writing ability (I'm talking about paper writing, not handwriting) and we had to approach things differently with each. Now as Juniors, they are only doing the same thing in Chemistry. Everything else is different. One is in Algebra 2, the other in Pre-Cal, etc. The biggest thing is to make sure they know that they will each have different strengths and weaknesses and that doesn't mean one is smarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 its a good time to start the conversations that people mature at different rates and use examples other than them (ie do you know babies that have crawled or walked at different ages, but now all of them do? or some kids talk later than others? or potty train at different times?) it helps them see real-life examples that can be applied to their own lives (handwriting or whatever). I kept my triplets at the same level, and with the same curriculum because it was easier for me and we didn't have huge issues. Yes, dd liked handwriting better than the boys and still does, but they kept up. one ds was better in math early on, but the others kept up, and so forth. if there were huge gaps between them, then maybe something different would have been done. but they were close enough. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MommytoFour Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I don't have twins, but I do have three kids within 6 months in age (and fourth who is only a year older) -- blessings of adoption. We do math/phonics/handwriting individually and everything else as a group. The only time they do any math together is when they are doing math games. It's worked well for us so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Split them up! I have boy/girl twins plus a son who is only 12 months older than them. My twins are very much on the same level and have always been able to do math and LA together, but my other son is YEARS behind them, level wise, despite being a year older. I was never going to be able to combine all 3 of them, although technically, they're all 2nd graders. I do math and LA twice, once with twins, once with older DS, and then we can do read alouds, science, history, etc as a full group.I do have to spend a lot of time talking about how everyone learns every skill at different paces, that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, etc to discourage competition, but splitting them up has been a good solution overall. If my twins' skill levels ever diverge enough (one feeling pushed, or one feeling like I'm dragging them to slow down), I'd happily split them up as well. I don't think twins should be treated any differently than other siblings in that regard. We homeschool so that they can work at their level. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Don't try to keep them in the same level if they are performing differently, and don't be afraid to use two different curriculums for the same subject if needed. oh, yes, this! At one point my older son was fussing that the twins were further ahead in the same math curriculum than he was. But they were all working right where they needed to be. So I switched him to another (similar) curriculum! They were still working ahead of him, but the difference was that it was harder for him to TELL since the scopes and sequences varied some. Huge help! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKWAcademy Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Like others have said, it's normal and fine for them to be on different levels. I tried too hard in K and the beginning of 1st to keep them in the same programs and lessons. But, one does better at math. They are now in totally different math programs. They each have their strengths. Fortunately, there hasn't been any competition between the two. I did manage to keep them in All About Reading at the exact same level. So their reading levels are very similar. Likewise, although my son's handwriting and spelling abilities aren't up to his sister's level, they do the same lessons. Sometimes my son just needs more time or help. I don't actually separate my kids for anything (except independent reading, I don't want them to hear their twin and then regurgitate the words instead of reading). When it is math time, they do different things. I take turns introducing the topic. It helps that one kid does MUS and can watch the video. But for one-off things, like a separate money section we're doing, they stay together. I think I'd lose my mind if I taught the same thing two different times in the same day. Honestly, I think having twins must be easier than moms who have to juggle several different grade levels. At least the way I do it seems fairly easy and streamlined. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I split mine in math in 2nd grade. Now everybody does math at the same time, but in different programs, including younger dd. Other than that they mainly work together. I would do handwriting and reading at the level each one is at, perhaps just by modifying expectations. The one who was "ahead" in math didn't stay ahead, same with reading. Nice that you are starting out in kindergarten, things can evolve organically as you move along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lb20inblue Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I have 5 year boy/girl twins that I am currently homeschooling. I think the most important thing to do is to experiment. Do what makes sense for you and your kids. I tried math/phonics separately and it didn't work. Thinking back, my kids just love being together and because they are different genders, they intuitively understand that they are different but still twins. We ended up doing math together but splitting up for I see Sam readers. Also, let them do projects together. My twins love working together to measure furniture or plant some seeds. Ramp up slowly. There are many subject we want to teach our kids, but kids need time to just be kids. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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