Does anyone have twins where one child is quite academically gifted and the other isn't and/or does anyone that have twins teach their kids at different levels? Just curious. ;-)
That's a good question! I don't have an answer from experience, but I'm sure that it is very very possible to have twins on different academic levels.. I mean why not??? They don't have the same brain!
I am a twin, and though both of our IQ's are above average, I did much better in school than my sis. Our learning styles were so completely different that she did not do as well in the school setting. I would certainly think it possible that they would not be ready for the same things at the same time or even learn the same way. They share looks (if identical), but not brains.
Well. . .my question isn't really if it's possible. One of my twins is showing signs of being very gifted. I have another child who is gifted as is my dh, some of his siblings, and his dad. His dad is truly an incredible man, IMO. . .but okay I digress. Point is, the high IQ thing runs in the family. But as I'm sure you know, twins are a little different than singletons. It really seems to be no problem for my oldest that my son, who is younger, will surpass her in math and really, already has. But I am kind of wondering how one might react if the other is gifted very visibly so. . .if that makes sense. I'm wondering from other twin moms if there were ever issues in homeschooling them or if you just did it the way you do everyone else. I have a few years to go. . .they're pretty young still. I'm just curious.
OOh! Something I actually know something about! At least I think I do.. hahaa! I have a set of ident twin boys who are 7 and a half. Now, ones measurement of intelligence depends on the test given, right? So although one twins may seem highly "Gifted" compared to the other twin, it all depends on what scale we use to measure, right? So find another scale. Find what the other twin excels at, even if it is not academic. Because heck! Einstein couldn't find a brush if they taped it to his head! hahaha! But he had something he excelled at at the twin who may be "Left behind" in the academic scale, may whoop up on the other twin using a different scale. My guys: one twin is excellent at math and the other is an incredible reader..... This has caused problems, in the past and here is what happened.... Early on, back in public kindergarten they compared themselves VERY often. Like everyday... They had different teachers with different teaching styles and one twin always had paperwork to bring home to show off and put on the fridge, whereas the other twin's teacher never seemed to have anything for him to bring home. Eventually there was a huge difference on the fridge of things to show off and the twin with nothing on the fridge became angry. (They did not stay the whole school year, I took them out) Meanwhile I had to supplement with this... When they came home from school, twin "A" would show me his work, and hang up what he wanted to show off... Twin "B" would describe for me what he did and I would have him draw it for me. He was quite pleased with that and his attitude changed... But they will always compare themselves, and when one excels at something, even video games, they other tends to adjust his speed to allow the other twin to keep up. We have had many discussions about how God gave all of us unique gifts for HIS reasons, that we may never understand until we get to Heaven. But they are 7 year old boys, and when they are not competing, they are slowing to help the other one catch up... However, there is one constant in my research about twins..... Identical or not..... they are no different than any other sibling group, in regards to "Who is stronger?", "Who is smarter at math?", "Who is more studious?", "Who is more atheletic?".... They are simply easier to compare, because they are going through their changes at the same time. As their mother, I have to be there to remind them of all of this, because they will go goofy comparing themselves, until I turn their heads and direct them back on the path of being proud of their unique talents. I also directed them to help each other. The one who loves math, helps his brother, when he has a problem, the one who is a wiz at reading helps his brother, when he has a problem. It gives them a sense of "Partnership". So, my point to all this babbling is that, yes.... anyone with twins has the same problem you do. Which isn't really a problem, it is a situation...and it is the same situation every mother with more than one child has... all her children will have their strengths and weaknesses..... I "think" you may be worried that one twin will develop a complex about how he/she is different from the other twin? (I may have read it wrong). If you are, I would say you have a valid reason to worry, but please understand that it is simply an issue of shining light on what the other twin excells at. Then they end up having their "Own Thing" that they a re good at, and the competition (if any) should dissipate over some time. So, please don't worry. So far, you have described a VERY normal set of siblings! Yea! (Gosh, I am sorry for making this so long!)
Wow Jen.. I loved reading that! What is funny is I don't have twins.. just my "Irish Twins".. and they are exactly like your twins! They compare each other all the time.. the younger one is way advanced because he wants to be like his sister, the older one slows herself down so that she is "equal" to her brother. Honestly to watch their relationship with each other it is almost like looking at hubby and I in a mirror. We do what we need to to keep the other parallel to each other, but also accept that each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses.
I hope that there are not difficulties arising over the differences between the twins. They are different than singleton siblings in how they relate and compare themselves to each other. I am imagining that there would be room for drama here. My kids are not old enough to compare themselves acedemically yet. Hmmmm , but I am guessing that might be right around the corner. Something to think about. My mil was a twin. She and here sis lived to be 91.5 and 89.5. The last few years of there lives we took them to Twinsburg Ohio for the Twins Days Festival. We talked to gazillions of twins there. Its hard not to. LOL Anyway, it seemed to me that in many sets of twins, that one will take the lead and one will sort of follow in most areas of life. It seems almost like a division of labor type of thing. Even if you have a set of twins with equal intellectual capacity in all subjects, they might not have the same interest, drive, ambition, etc for those subjects. They are different folks and won't necessarily use there talents in the same fashion. Also, even with "identical" twins, there are large genetic variations. Although they have the same set of chromasomes, there was crossing over during replication, and also with many large regions of the genome, one or the other chromosome is left inactive for that region. This is random and in one twin the maternal xsome is active and the other the paternal in each and every cell of a given cell type. In cells that differentiate early in development, an entire cell line could be quite different from the same line in the twin.
I do not have twins, though I always wanted them. I have worked with twins in the past , younger aged up to 10 yrs, and there is always one that is ahead of the other, one will have more sportsy tallents than the other too, God made them unique even in thier sameness, kinda cool eh?
Thanks jennifererix. . .that was insightful and helpful to think about. I wouldn't say I'm worried. . .but I'm more curious as to how other homeschooling moms handle such situations specifically with twins. Personally, I find that singletons develop waaaaaaayyyy differently than do twins on a social level. It's hard to explain other than to say. . .it's that twin thing. So while I'm not worried, I like to hear what other M.O.M.s do. You probably already know this. . .but I have 5. . .ages 8, 6, 4, and then the twins are 2. They are actually 2 1/2. I will not have any of my children 'tested' unless I need it to get them into something. So it's not like there's an official test that says one is and one isn't. So really, maybe the other one will come along with something else at a later point. Who knows? ;-) My pedi has confirmed what we had suspected with my son (the gifted one) and I haven't brought up this new array of abilities to my pedi yet but no doubt it will be a topic of conversation at our next visit. In any case, thanks for taking the time to write the book! It is good reading! It is helpful bc I know no one irl who actually has twins.
