by

Margie Downey and Shirley Quine

Home education is a viable and excellent option for teaching twins. Single and multiple children thrive in home education. It was until this century the way most people were educated, and still works beautifully.

Academic scores are higher nationwide by 30-37 percentile points for home school students across all subjects on standardized achievement tests like Iowa or Stanford (Home Education Across the United States by Brian Ray, 1997). Twins, even at different grades or health concerns, can still school and socialize together through home school. Children develop critical independent study skills in home school, so vital in higher education. Universities not only accept, but seek out home school students and offer scholarships (examples: Harvard, Texas Tech).

Children who have been home taught also show movement into the highest levels of intellectual reasoning at significantly younger ages than their age mates ("Reasoning Abilities of Home-Educated Children," Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy, vol. 3 Issue 4. 1988: 562-568).

Many research studies have been conducted which show that home educated children excel academically. These research findings point to the value of this unique education for any child, but twins may have special needs which can be met by the custom approach of a home teaching situation.

Our friend, Jeanne Corley, is mother of a teenage public school honors student and elementary home educated identical twin girls. She feels, "I believe in home schooling your children because they become closer to each other and to their family as a whole. Your children get more personal attention when you home school."

Twins have the special bond to each other which needs to be dealt with carefully. By allowing that bond to continue to develop and deepen, the children's emotional security is enhanced. Home educating twins gives the important, yet unpredictable, time necessary for emotional development. As twins learn and play together in the security of their home, their social development and extension beyond themselves, their families, and close friends can progress as their maturity level increases.

Socialization is geared to becoming kind, responsible, wise adults like mom and dad without the intermediate stages of peer dependency on classmates. Parents extend their years of significant influence and training in the child's development. Also, parents are the moral and spiritual guides as the children grow socially.

Ó Copyright 1998 Margie Downey and Shirley Quine. All rights reserved.

Home school is a safe, happy, supportive environment. Home school provides more hours of creative playtime or personal development in music, sports, hobbies, etc. Fewer carpools and an adjustable and flexible schedule suit a busy twin family.

Both mom and dad lead, decide on, discipline, and reward home school students. This is good for the marriage of parents of twins after the strains and bewildering adjustments of the early years with two little babies. The delight in discovery and sense of accomplishment are similar: first steps walking, first words, learning to read and write, calculating arithmetic, successful science experiments, and goals set and achieved. You don't want to miss those special moments in your twins' lives.

Siblings can stay close emotionally, yet flourish independently. This is nice for large families with broad age spans, or a family with just the twins.

Normal, gifted, and special needs children do well in home school. Many ADD or hyperactive labeled children have bloomed and learned in home school, catching up to grade level in one or two years of home education. One of Margie's five children is visually impaired, but is actually a grade ahead and possesses confidence and social skills.

Life skills are taught in home school by the parents' examples and by practice. Many home school families also own businesses including students part time to build fiscal, business, and public relations skills.

Open houses, association monthly meetings, and graduation ceremonies give public recognition for accomplishments of home school students.

No one has a greater vested interest in the success of twins than their mother and father. Nor will any other individual ever exert such great influence over twins as their parents. All these reasons give cause to consider home educating your twins.

From Margie Downey's study of 744 home school families* in North Texas in 1998, we observe:

Families with twins: Group 1- 5%; Group 2- 4%; Group 3- 2%; Group 4- 2.2% (previous year 3.4%)

Years as home school: average 6.5 years

Families with firstborn twins: 27%**

Two parent households: 95%

Age span of children in family: minutes to 19 years; average 7 years

Number of children per family: ranges 2 to 9; average is 4.0 children

Families with 3 to 5 children: 86%

Total home student population profile: 44% male; 56% female

Twins home student population profile: 39% male; 61% female

Membership in home school organizations is 100%. They join only one, active group at any time. They consistently leave twins groups and join home school organizations when the oldest children begin. Only 8% were known to be members of a twins and home school group concurrently.

Other notes: The moms are doing a great job, but have low esteem and confidence. They consider their families unique from other home school or other twins families. They have NO spare time, but freely help with causes they deem important. They are active church members. They believe home school has been good for their marriages and family closeness between siblings, and between parents and children. They recommend it to other twins families and plan to continue. They want to contact other home school twins families, but have previously been unable to find each other.

*Due to confidential, detailed family profiles, we know there is no overlap of twins families in the 1998 survey.

**Therefore, 73% of the families surveyed are already in home school when twins are born or begin home school. Many are very busy families with twin babies and preschoolers when they begin teaching school.

Ó Copyright 1998 Margie Downey. Used by permission.

As of November 1999, these results held consistent as Margie’s newsletter mail list grew. The noted change was in the growing percentage of young twins’ moms who considered or researched home school for their children, if it was presented by a twins mother or the Home School Families of Twins newsletter. Just receiving information greatly increased the interested people in any home school or twins group, and in their leaders. Also, moms of school-age twins who had left twins groups began to circulate again with preschool twins moms, specifically to be an encouragement toward home schooling. The potential influence of networking and organized effort is fantastic, as mothers of firstborn twins receive the opportunity to consider home school and interact with experienced, mature mothers.

The most complete profile of home schooling families with multiples is available in the HSFT Survey 2000 report, located in the Research section of this web site, or available in print by mail from HSFT. Enjoy 20 pages of photos, charts, graphs and original and respected data to answer your questions about home schooling, families with multiples.

Home schools in the United States have resources to connect your twins with every good opportunity public or private education provide, and enable you as the parent/ teacher to avoid the negative aspects of them (guns, alcohol, drugs, sex, rebellion, New Age, one-world and humanistic philosophies, occult, etc.)

Many complete and partial curricula are on the market for pre-k through high school. The cost is usually 10% of a private school education. You choose the books with as little or as much structure as fits your teaching style and the twins' learning styles. You have confidence that you are covering all the needed subjects for the grade. Courses are planned for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners with highest quality materials prepared by experienced educators. State and regional conventions occur year-round to provide shopping and dialog before your purchase. Standardized tests and umbrella schools are also available.

In North Texas, for example, we twins MOMS have additional opportunities for home school science labs (k-12), general physical education, ballet/ tap, sports leagues (for everything but football), Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, Cotillion, 4-H Club, ACSI competitions (Asso. of Christian Schools International), Texas State Fair, professional internships, field trips to everywhere, open houses, community and foreign mission service, cooperative classes among home school students one day per week on selected courses, language and music study, and the list goes on.

Usually, a home school is defined as a mother teaching her own child(ren). Sometimes dad, grandma, or a non-relative is the teacher. The facilities may be the kitchen table and living room sofa, or a totally equipped school room made from a bedroom or den. We have taught multiple siblings in home education with multiple grades for many years- Shirley since 1980 and Margie since 1987. Teaching twins the same grade is easier to prepare as the teacher and interactive not only between mom and student, but also between twins. There is also the freedom in home school to speed up or slow down the material for different needs of each twin.

Twins may also need special attention to their specific learning styles. These needs may be minimal and therefore easily overlooked by a busy classroom teacher of 17 to 22 children to instruct. The mother who has observed her children since birth is already aware of many of their strengths, weaknesses and needs. Therefore, she can adjust the education offered to her children to meet their needs.

Besides the three R's (reading, writing, arithmetic), we have included biographical history, western civilization, foreign mission service, fine arts training and field trips, a home business, as well as extensive science labs. The plans for the year, the budget, and the daily how-to's we pray over and ask God's guidance.

Multiple students can have their own student books or workbooks, but require a purchase of only one set of teacher materials, lesson plans, and answer keys. Sometimes you can get them second-hand in like-new condition. Many publishers permit making copies of a student book for additional or subsequent students, or offer discounts for multiple copies.

You do not have to obtain approval from the school board or local school of you as the teacher, your home school, or curriculum. Most local officials understand and support home school, some do not. Start your school first without their interaction or potential obstruction. Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is the legal watchdog and defender of home school rights across the USA, along with various state organizations. HSLDA also has surveys of the largest population of home school families to date, and has counted 1.5 million home school students in the USA. It cites their growing trends, profiles, and test scores.

Getting started? Write to HSLDA for a list of state and local organizations and the laws in your state, plus much more. Talk to home school families you know. Attend regional conventions to hear speakers and shop before you buy your books. Get local twins MOMS in your group to consider home school, too, so you could share school for a day or even a lunch hour each week, or plan field trips together. Start talking to the twins' grandparents early to help them gradually consider the notion and get their help. Plan where you will conduct the school day. Read books about home school. Remember, home school is a loving extension of the great job you are already doing for your twins. Kids love it!

The materials are as fine as any private school offers. The parents get to screen books to find curriculum supportive of their own world view and beliefs, rather than feeling like the children are subject to "morals," fine art," literature, historical revisionism, and mathematical incompetence to which they object. Twins and other home school students may obtain a fine classical education with the intent of college preparation at a fraction of the cost, time, and hassle of other education choices.

Now that Goals 2000/ America 2000 has been installed as new federal regulations of teaching and testing, home school is a last bastion of freedom for still providing the old fashioned 3R's- reading, writing, and arithmetic - and a precise knowledge of history, patriotism, western civilization and the arts, great literature and inspiring biographies, and wisdom. Home schools are free to teach religious education, too.

Home school is less stressful academically, socially, and physically. Sickness can delay home school without disrupting the year, as the family adjusts the workload or schedule to complete the year. Pulling an "all-nighter" to complete a project by a class deadline is rare because of the regular discipline and accountability. Socially, the parents can continue to screen the children's friends and outside influences. Children in home school have more hours in the day to play and have fun because the work can be completed quickly. The fatigue of boredom, dull repetition, or "dumbing down" the class is not a big concern in home school because of the flexibility and variations possible with a small number of students.

Socially, home school students are confident and competent, polite, expressive, have high morals, and speak kindly to others. Home school students are also marked by respect for adults and peers. They are leaders with independent study skills so important for college and graduate work. (Harvard is recruiting home school students as one of their two top-priority target markets.)

Money saved through home education rather than spent on private schools can be saved and used toward skyrocketing college expenses.

Margie: 1. You can do it.

2. The materials and opportunities are in place for you to give your twins and other children exactly the education you hope for them, right at home, for less money, and to the delight of the whole family.

3. You are competent to teach in home school, and do not have to have a degree or teaching certificate.

4. Begin to consider home school an extension of the outstanding parenting you are already accomplishing now. Why entrust your precious twins at age five to some other teacher, some unknown and progressively hostile curriculum, and a possibly dangerous school culture, when all the good in education you want for your children can be accomplished from your own wonderful home school?

Shirley: As a mother of 18 year old boy- girl twins, home educated throughout their elementary and high school years, I would highly recommend this educational opportunity. My son and daughter have been so happy learning and growing up together. They love, support, and encourage each other in all their endeavors. They have been best friends since birth and remain so even as they have developed into independent adults.

Intellectually, morally, and spiritually they lead their traditionally schooled peers. Although they share many things in common, they have been able to develop their own areas of giftedness. They have become lovers of the best western culture has produced in the areas of music, art, and literature.

As their mother, I have had the delight of seeing them learn, watched while understanding brought light to their faces, and known relief when they have overcome obstacles which blocked their paths. Our relationships are satisfying and full because of all we have shared through the years. As they move out from home into lives of their own, I can release them confident that I have imparted to them what was really important for life.

for Home and School, Macaulay, Susan.

Crossway Books, 1984.

Government Nannies, Duffy, Cathy.

Noble Publishing Associates, Gresham, OR. 1995

(re: America 2000)

Home Grown Kids. Moore, Raymond and Dorothy.

Word Books, Waco, TX. 1981.

Home Schooling for Excellence, Colfax, David and Micki.

Warner Books, New York, NY. 1988.

HSLDA surveys and books including

The Right Choice, Klicka, Christopher

The Right to Home School, Klicka, Christopher

The How and Why of Home Schooling, Ballmann, Ray E.

Crossway Books, Westchester, IL. 1987.

You CAN Teach Your Child Successfully, Grades 4 to 8,

Beechick, Ruth. Arrow Press, Pollock Pines, CA. 1988.

Home Schooling Today magazine

P.O. Box 9596, Birmingham, AL 35220

Tel. (954) 962-1930

Practical Homeschooling magazine

c/o Home Life, P.O. Box 1250

Fenton, MO 63026-1850

The Teaching Home magazine

P.O. Box 20219, Portland, OR 97294

Tel. (503) 253-9633/ FAX (503) 253- 7345

HSLDA

Home School Legal Defense Association

P.O. Box 159

Paeonian Springs, VA 20129

Tel. (540) 338-5600

NOMOTC

National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc.

P.O. Box 23188

Albuquerque, NM 87192-1188

Tel. (505) 275-0955

Margie Downey

Home School Families of Twins

1112 Eton Drive

Richardson, TX 75080-2905

Tel. (972) 234-6818

Introductory Packets

Richardson Home School Association

P.O. Box 6097

Richardson, TX 75083

Tel. (972) 414-4779

(This asso. has over 500 families.)

Margie Downey is the wife of Mike Downey, Th.M., founder and president of Global Missions Fellowship. Margie has served in foreign missions since 1975. She has taught their five children at home since 1987. Their twins are identical girls. Margie authored Diamonds, a poignant and lavishly illustrated 5-volume history set. She also wrote Families on Mission Trips. Margie has held positions of service in both twins and home school organizations, including Texas Mothers of Multiples convention chaplain and TMOM home school volunteer coordinator. Margie is the founder and senior editor of Home School Families of Twins, a bimonthly newsletter.

Shirley Quine is the wife of David Quine, M.Ed., and mother of nine children, including boy- girl twins. She has taught their children at home since 1980. Through their educational business, The Cornerstone Curriculum Project, they publish their highly acclaimed math curriculum, Making Math Meaningful, as well as Adventures in Art, Science: The Search, Worldviews of the Western World, and Answers for Difficult Days. They recently co-authored the challenging book, Let Us Highly Resolve: Preparing Families to Enter the 21st Century.

© Copyrighted by Margie Downey and Shirley Quine, 1998. All rights reserved, including duplication in any form. International copyright is secured. It is also available in print with photographs for $2.00 postage paid, from the authors.

ISBN 0-9663485-2-4