Homeschooling twins

Hi! My name's Deb and I'm the mom of 7-year-old twin girls, a 9-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old girl. I have a question for any homeschooling moms of twins out there. What would you recommend for kids who just don't want to do their work (or chores, or getting dressed). We homeschool year-round with a month off in the summer, so the new year has already started for us. The older two will do their assignments, but the twins seem to be feeding off of each other's misbehavior. I've tried time-outs, taking away privileges, early bed-time, etc. I need some fresh ideas. One twin worked on the same worksheet for three days last week before finally giving in and doing it. A couple of days later the other twin refused to do her schoolwork all day long. I'm fighting all day long to keep them doing their work. If I leave the room for a moment (have to pee sometime LOL), the twins and the 9-year-old jump up, run around, and get into trouble. Sometimes I think they're triplets--they're only 18 months apart. Meanwhile, the 12-year-old is just sitting in the other room quietly doing her work. I've tried putting one twin in there with her, but without locking the door it just isn't helping. (-;

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Deb

 

With my older boys, their extra activities (sports, tae kwon do and hs co-op) are the big things they want to do. Well, those things aren't permitted until school work is done. Not taking them to TKD often gets me in the gut as we are paying for that (and paying alot) no matter whether I take them or not. We also have a pool. So when we school during the warm months, there is no swimming until school work is done.

We are starting formal schooling with my DD this year. She will be starting all the same activities as her brothers. So, I will be doing the same with her.

The above doesn't often change the attitude (at first), but things get done. After a while the attitude changes as well, because the kids know what the consequences are and that I will follow through with them. I have made my oldest son (a brand new black belt at the time) actually go and sit on the sidelines to watch the class he wasn't permitted to be part of that day because he threw a fit about some reading he had to do.

Here is another site I found recently. We are hoping to move soon so I have waited to start this program. But I am going to start it no matter what when we start schooling. I can so see all my kids getting addicted to it and trying to earn more and more! It gives them an adopted online kitty that they can 1) play games with, 2) buy cloths, 3) buy stuff, etc. But in order to do this, they have to earn points through doing chores. You as mom (or dad, grandparent, whomever) make the chore list. You can put anything on there from doing math facts for 10 mins a day to being nice to your sister.

http://www.handipoints.com/index.php

This summer we had already started a "reward" program for chores. They get stickers for chores and when their page is full they can turn the stickers into cash. I don't get them in trouble now for not doing chores. I give their chores to one of the other kids, so the other child can get more stickers. I think someone getting more, irks them even more then either 1) losing the stickers or 2) losing privledges. This obviously last bit won't work with school work But it might help you get the house cleaned

So we should have an easy transition to the Handipoints program when school starts.

Editted one last time to add: Sorry, I didn't answer the question about HSing twins. Mine aren't quite old enough yet to start with the schooling

 

I'm not really home schooling yet, but I was home schooled, and definitely know about trying to get out of work. I think this is one of the biggest challenges to homeschooling. I would say one of the most important things to do is never ever let them get away with not doing their work. Another thing that might work is to have a time limit on each subject. At the end of the time, count anything that is not completed as incorrect, then grade the rest. Good grades are rewarded, and the work that was not completed has to be finished after everyone else is free for the day.

 

I am sure part of it is twin issues and feeding off of each other, but I think a lot of it is the age and maturity level of the girls. Your post described all of last semester with DD. Right as the official school year wound down she FINALLY started working for me. Needless to say we didn't take summer off, just went to school-lite. We have already gotten into the new year with a full course load. I have found my child will still work for stickers. If she makes it through the day without whining and/or driving me crazy then she gets a sticker for her book. I have also found that if I sit in the room with her through her tough subjects of math and language then she is more willing to keep working if I dissappear after that. She is still very easily distracted and has a hard time focusing for more than 15-20 minutes at a time so we take breaks often, and she tends to stand and move around a lot while doing each subject. I don't try to keep her bum in a chair because I know it is a fruitless effort. Only on days that she is majorly stalling/refusing to work, is she ordered to remain seated. A thought came to mind, could you let them school anywhere they want in the house as long as they are working, but as soon as they start goofing off they are "required" to sit at the table with mom staring at them? Obviously this won't work on subjects they really need your help on, but maybe staggering their schedule so that you can come to their school zone during tough subjects. Just a thought. I am still trying to get my twins to write their name so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

 

Jenn- had some awesome ideas. We went through this with Ben last year too. That is why we are doing a major overhaul of our homeschooling choices (our whole approach and curriculum)this year. It's got to be age related. Ben was 7 until after school ended. My sister had the same issue with her 7 yr old. But with 2?! Oy! I can imagine how hard it must be to keep them on track.
I would really start rewarding good behavior as much as possible. Any good behavior. Maybe once they are on the other side, they might not want to "mess" around so much.
Huge Hugs on making it through the year!

 

I've had the same issue with my three kiddos! My older dd is just 20 months older than the twins... darn it I thought these issues would disappear by age 7 and 9!! LOL. They seriously feed off each other whenever I leave the room!

My only suggestion is that perhaps you need to put the kids in control of their education a bit more. It's sounds counter intuative, but maybe your curriculum choices are working for you but not for them. Perhaps if you negotiated a bit more with them as far as what they want to learn and how they want to approach learning it along with the agreement that in turn they must do 'x, y, z' of what you require of them (you can fill in at least the basics that they miss out on) they would then take a bit more ownership of their own education.

I've found that even giving my 5 year old a bit more say in what we 'do' first will motivate her for school.

Also, perhaps there is just too much seat work going on....maybe you need to add more variety or just a different approach to try to spark a little more love of learning in them so that they will in turn be willing to 'eat their veggies' every once in a while with the seat work. ????

I guess my philosophy with my kids when they are driving me nuts is "If you can't beat them, join them." I give in to their nuttiness and just throw a little crazyness into how we approach learning. It takes more planning, creativity, and spontaneity on your part....along with a willingness to try a new approach, but it might reap the rewards of a more positive learning experience for the kids and a less frustrating one for you.