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Tailored to Fit
The Challenge of Homeschooling Multiples
By Teri Brown
Terri Camp, homeschooling author and mother, believes there is a way to individualize the instruction of multiples. As the primary teacher of her eight children, she has learned how to teach each child as an individual even though it would be far more convenient to give the same lessons.
"The only reason I can actually see to set multiples in the same mold would be for ease of the parent in teaching two children as one," says Camp. "In most cases, parental ease should not be a motive for what we teach our children."
Camp, whose first book, Ignite the Fire, has helped parents all across the United States individualize their child's homeschooling, believes that even though multiples have much in common, they were each created with unique gifts and talents. Being a multiple comes with some stigma already, as the parents tend to dress them alike, introduce them as one (i.e. "My twin John and James") and treat them as a group. "If we don't allow twins to have individualized programming, they may not fully develop the talents they have within them," says Camp.
"Purposing to individualize the multiples can only bring about a greater sense of worth in each of the multiples," she says. She believes that learning is often squelched when the student doesn't see the purpose in what they are learning or if their individuality isn't considered.
Sandy Foreman* of Scappoose, Ore., however, who is homeschooling three children, two of whom are twins, has had no problems tailoring instruction to each of her children's needs. "They have different learning styles and different abilities," says Foreman. "I am not homeschooling a singleton and twins. I am homeschooling three individuals, two of which happen to be the same age."
It can be tiring, though, she says, as she and her husband work different shifts. "The parent-to-child ratio is constantly one on three, and we are usually exhausted when it is our 'shift,'" says Foreman.