My name is Tasha and I just started homeschooling my twin BOYS in September 2010. I am loving it, but am looking for advice from those who may have twin BOYS. And of course from those who do not have twins, but boys. I guess what I am wanting to know is am I expecting too much from 5 1/2 year old boys. Am I too strict or should I be more relaxed. With twins they feed off one another and it seems impossible at times to get anything done. Anyway SO happy I found this group and look forward to reading through some of the post after school today. I appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks, Tasha
Welcome, Tasha! I'm sure you will find the help you need here. I don't have twins myself, but my brothers are twins....they still feed off each other in their 30's. :lol:
Welcome Tasha. What part of TX? I grew up in West TX and miss it very much. I have 4 boys. My youngest two feed off each other. They are the best of friends and the younges copies everthing that the other on does. During "school" time I am pretty strict but we have fun. We have fun without the silliness that we have the rest of the time. I feel this is important because we can't always be silly and loud, so I want them to learn that now. Not much help, sorry.
Welcome! I don't have any experience teaching twins, but I my students are brothers 5 and 7 years old and they are handful. They are both best friends and arch nemesis all at once. I found that doing a minimal schedule with them, focusing only on whats important first helped a lot. We did beginning reading and phonics this summer when they were 6 and 4 respectively. 6yr finished the entire reading program and was reading on a 2nd grade level. 4yr made a huge leap in his phonic abilities and got 1/4 through the program. I did mostly reading with them but also some math. 4yr is still doing the reading program now as we cut back alot but he's reading a little. Once they can read well, it becomes a question of maintaining that skill but they can move on to bigger things. I dont know what all you are "expecting" from them at this stage. But I would say you can reasonably do 2 or 3 things each day. For example, you could have them sit at the breakfast table first thing and do a half page of handwriting each while you make breakfast. Then you could do your reading practice with them. Check my signature, right now there is a great program available for free. Its based on the method used in this book, which is very popular. You could work in a little living math each day invarious ways. Or you could do Verbal Math with the boys while you're making breakfast and then math would be out of the way in a painless fashion too.
Thanks everyone! I think maybe I am trying to have them sit at the table too long. Today we all got down on the floor and we did math puzzles together. I am hoping by splitting the "paper work" up and switching to more hands on I can break up the silliness.
Welcome! As a former teacher of young boys and the mom of two girls who are the same way (believe it or not), they NEED to be up and around. Sitting too long is a nightmare for them and for me. Sometimes we even did "seatwork" orally while they were rolling on the floor. :roll: Best wishes!
Thanks Jill! I changed up my structure this week and it has been much better. I guess I had this vision of them sitting down and doing work, but that was so not working. I am trying to think outside my little box.
Just curious...are you still homeschooling your twins? My boys are 11 and their sister is 18 months older. We are still at it, hope it has worked out for you!
I don't remember seeing this - thanks for the bump, and welcome Karen!! I have 4 boys, including the youngest who is a twin - but his twin is my only girl! LOL They are little though. My middle boys are only 14 months apart so we have some similar issues there, but - I KNOW! - it's not quite the same as two the exact same age. I do have boys though! We don't do a lot of sitting at the table kind of learning. Just doesn't work here. Kind of in a hurry but if anyone wants more info on how things work here, just lemme know and I'll update later! Welcome again Karen, nice to meet you! Hope you stick around as I'm sure your advice and thoughts would be widely helpful and wanted - especially by me!
I have 4 boys and they rarely sit.. ever. It works best if I follow their cues rather than stick them into my perceptions. Especially at that age!
I have four boys too! They never sit still and they are so curious about everything around them. It's a great challenge, but I love it!
(psssst... guys... this thread was originally posted in Jan of 2011, but a newbie bumped it this week. This post is still her only one, but I hope she comes back! Thought I'd point out the OP date. LOL)
I am from Texas and also have twin boys who just turned 7. I will say from my personal experience that doing lessons with them together just doesn't happen. Ever once in a while in the last couple of months, we've been able to do some handwriting together, but for everything else, we do it one at a time. I know this will pass and have settled with the fact that this just works best for us. Besides, we do so much stuff always together that it's nice to do something one on one. They do feed off each other and it is such a struggle to get them out of the "silly" mode to do work when they would try to do lessons together.
Wow, look at all of us here with twins! We have our own little "twin mommies" support group! LOL! :lol: I hadn't realized!!!
