Moms of multiples tell it like it is

Our identical (we think?) twin boys are in 1st grade now. While their speech issues hinder their spelling, they’re still performing above grade level in language arts. But math is where they really excel. This fall, G’s standardized test scores for math were the highest in the class, well above the 99th percentile threshold. Right [...]

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This afternoon, I received an email from my daughters’ school informing me that a spot had been secured in Mrs. G’s 1st grade classroom for our daughter M. She starts Monday. Mrs. G is a great teacher, and a warm and lovely person. I once ran into her at the grocery store and we chatted [...]

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When I told you that my twin daughters were now in separate grades, many of you provided very thoughtful, thought-provoking responses. The bulk of the opinions were on the side of keeping M and J at the same grade level, rather than having J skip 75% of kindergarten and 25% of first grade to become a [...]

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I thought that once we’d decided that to place our twins in public school and in separate classrooms, we could sit back and let the kindergarten year unfold. Some of you may recall that getting M and J into their kindergarten classes was a little stressful. Fortunately, both their teachers turned out to be skilled [...]

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J was just invited to her first birthday party since we moved to El Paso. The invitation came from a classmate. I assume the entire class was invited, since this was J’s first week in the class. Even before I read the invitation, I reminded M that this was one of the things that was [...]

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Who knows best whether your multiples should be placed in the same classroom or separated at school? You, right? For our family, separation in kindergarten was the right answer, but it’s different for everyone. Many educators and school administrators believe that same-age siblings should never be placed in a classroom together. I would argue that there is no one-size-fits-all solution [...]

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My four-year-old twins go back to school in three and a half weeks. 24 days, in fact. What, you think I’m counting? While I hate to wish away the summer, this one will not go down as one of the best on record. My kids need routine, they need structure, and they need some time [...]

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Last week, my pair of three-year-olds started preschool. Did you hear that heavenly chorus bursting forth from your computer? That’s coming from my house.  Five mornings a week, we hit the car drop-off line, and in they go to their bright, beautiful Montessori classrooms.  And yes, that’s plural.  My three-year-olds are in separate classrooms. The [...]

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