Sunday, April 7, 2013

Redshirting? Separation???

My mother is funny.  She always worries about Harmon but never about the twins "because they have a little twin world".  It is true in some ways.  My twins have a very unique special bond that I can't ever describe.  They communicate with out words.  They drive each other crazy but can't stand to be separated from one another.  The twins just have a world that is all their own and I mourn that as they get older this bond is slowly waning.



Now we have some big dilemmas though.  Namely the question of redshirting.  The twins were born on August 28th.  The cutoff for kids born in TX or NM is September 1st.  This means that if the twins had been born 3 days later they would not be eligible to go to school until they were almost 6. Instead they are the youngest in their class.  I have two nieces born on the same day and my sister in law loves it.  My niece Sienna is very precocious and being the youngest in her grade is not a big deal.  

It is different with my twins though.  Primarily that my nieces were not premature.  Rachel and Cally though should have been born at Halloween time.  I feel sad that they are the very youngest in their school.  They attend a wonderful little parochial school that houses Pre-K 3, 4, and kindergarten in a 1 room setting where each grade gets it's own corner.  The educators are challenging but very kind and the whole school just is in love with my little curly haired critters (and Harm of course).


So the question at hand was should they repeat Pre-K 3 or go on too Pre-K 4.  The principal and their teacher had a surprising answer for me.  Rachel should move forward to the next grade (Pre-K 4) and Callum should repeat Pre-K 3.  Separating twins by grade???  That just seems so weird but it probably would only be for one year.  Rachel will repeat Pre-K 4 and than they would go to kinder together.  That is what the plan is.  


The concern is that Rachel is performing above the class level and needs to move on but I am worried what if she is still performing above level and shouldn't be redshirted.  Can you redshirt one twin and not the other???  That sounds incredibly wrong.  At the same time I don't want to delay Rach and I also don't want to push Cally to a level he is not ready for.  Childhood goes so fast.  I don't want him struggling.  The one thing everyone agrees on is that they need to be in separate classes so they don't use each other as a crutch.  They are so used to always being together that they don't know how to be apart at this point.  


So what the answer will be, I don't know.  It is just one of the big decisions that needs to be made right now and it makes me sad b/c it means the twin world might be broken a little more.

1 comment:

  1. That is a crazy hard decision to make! I never realized how difficult things like that could be with twins. Though I only know them through you, it seems that Callum really probably isn't that far behind Rachel, he just likes to coast and slack a bit. Honestly, that boy reminds me of a surfer! :) Just mellow and goes with it. I have cousins (boy and girl) who are twins, and though they are as different as night and day, each having their own interests and friends, that bond can never truly be broken. I think your twins will be fine, and that you will make the right decision. Good luck and as always, you are in my prayers!

    ReplyDelete

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Redshirting? Separation???

My mother is funny.  She always worries about Harmon but never about the twins "because they have a little twin world".  It is true in some ways.  My twins have a very unique special bond that I can't ever describe.  They communicate with out words.  They drive each other crazy but can't stand to be separated from one another.  The twins just have a world that is all their own and I mourn that as they get older this bond is slowly waning.



Now we have some big dilemmas though.  Namely the question of redshirting.  The twins were born on August 28th.  The cutoff for kids born in TX or NM is September 1st.  This means that if the twins had been born 3 days later they would not be eligible to go to school until they were almost 6. Instead they are the youngest in their class.  I have two nieces born on the same day and my sister in law loves it.  My niece Sienna is very precocious and being the youngest in her grade is not a big deal.  

It is different with my twins though.  Primarily that my nieces were not premature.  Rachel and Cally though should have been born at Halloween time.  I feel sad that they are the very youngest in their school.  They attend a wonderful little parochial school that houses Pre-K 3, 4, and kindergarten in a 1 room setting where each grade gets it's own corner.  The educators are challenging but very kind and the whole school just is in love with my little curly haired critters (and Harm of course).


So the question at hand was should they repeat Pre-K 3 or go on too Pre-K 4.  The principal and their teacher had a surprising answer for me.  Rachel should move forward to the next grade (Pre-K 4) and Callum should repeat Pre-K 3.  Separating twins by grade???  That just seems so weird but it probably would only be for one year.  Rachel will repeat Pre-K 4 and than they would go to kinder together.  That is what the plan is.  


The concern is that Rachel is performing above the class level and needs to move on but I am worried what if she is still performing above level and shouldn't be redshirted.  Can you redshirt one twin and not the other???  That sounds incredibly wrong.  At the same time I don't want to delay Rach and I also don't want to push Cally to a level he is not ready for.  Childhood goes so fast.  I don't want him struggling.  The one thing everyone agrees on is that they need to be in separate classes so they don't use each other as a crutch.  They are so used to always being together that they don't know how to be apart at this point.  


So what the answer will be, I don't know.  It is just one of the big decisions that needs to be made right now and it makes me sad b/c it means the twin world might be broken a little more.

1 comment:

  1. That is a crazy hard decision to make! I never realized how difficult things like that could be with twins. Though I only know them through you, it seems that Callum really probably isn't that far behind Rachel, he just likes to coast and slack a bit. Honestly, that boy reminds me of a surfer! :) Just mellow and goes with it. I have cousins (boy and girl) who are twins, and though they are as different as night and day, each having their own interests and friends, that bond can never truly be broken. I think your twins will be fine, and that you will make the right decision. Good luck and as always, you are in my prayers!

    ReplyDelete