Breaking Through The Noise | 5 Days of Homeschooling Twins

5 ​Days of Homeschooling Twins – Part of the 5 Days of Homeschooling Blog Hop

​Breaking through the noise

5 Days of Homeschooling Twins a contribution to the 5 Days of Homeschooling Blog Hop hosted by my friends at the Homeschool Review Crew.

If you have twins you have probably noticed that you are not the arbiter of all things as far as your twins are concerned. In their eyes, their twin know much better than you…about everything. How do you intervene in order to teach them? That is what I call “Breaking through the noise.”

My Twins Give Each Other Permission All The Time

When my twins were toddlers, my husband and I took them on a road trip to Denver so that I could speak at a conference (those were the days that we were market analysts). When the conference was over a couple of days later, my children were ready to be home again. Hotel living was not for them. They had seen the Komodo dragons at the Zoo, played in every playground we could find, and colored in all their coloring books. My husband and I were packing that evening so we could get an early start when we heard my daughter say, “Bye-bye!” This was followed by the sound of the hotel door clicking shut. We ran to the door and managed to both get out without a collision only to discover that my son, little rascal that he was, was trying to push open the door to the parking lot. When we grabbed him up he started crying and told us he was going home, just him and his stuffed puppy.

I know he never, never would have tried that without the approval of his toddler sister. After that episode we had to watch carefully for times when one child would give their twin permission to do something that generally requires adult approval. For my twins, getting permission from each other is more of an endorsement that getting it from us. This can make some things tricky, but you can make use of this twin attribute in your homeschool.

How To Break Through The Noise

You can say something is true but if one of the twins disagrees, you have really only two choices:

1. Wrong Choice: Overpower the conversation by saying, “It is true and that is all there is to it.” You may appear to win the argument this way, but why are you arguing with your children? And what are you teaching them this way?

“Because I said so,” even if it works teaches your children not to think critically. It teaches them they need to suspend their own judgement and take anything on faith that anyone declaring themselves to be an authority figure feeds them. Now, faith is important, but not blind faith in other people. I don’t know anyone who, when they think about it, wants that for their children.

I try to avoid Choice 1 as much as I can and then only use it in life or death situations like, “look out for that car coming at you!” This way my kids are much more likely to respond when I really need them to.

2. Only Viable Choice I Know Of: Explain your reasoning and be prepared to back it up with evidence instead. This is the option I try to use whenever I can. That way I can guide my kids’ learning while allowing them to question and try out their own critical thinking skills.

What are some ways you come to terms with being your child’s teacher?

If you have twins, do you have trouble breaking through the noise as well?

See you tomorrow!

Want to read more ideas and tips about homeschooling? Hop on over to the next wonderful blogging homeschool mom and read about a different aspect of homeschooling!