By Amy Trayer
When you first walk into the 4 year old class at Explorer Preschool, you will probably see 25 very busy children building blocks, looking at books, writing in journals, eating a snack, painting, dressing up, riding bikes, making mud pies in the playhouse or playing with the classroom pet rat, Dolly. What you might NOT notice right away is that there are SEVEN sets of twins in the class. Yep, you read that right - over half the class is twins. It doesn't end there. Two out of the 3 teachers in the class are a twin and 2 parents in the class have identical twins. Twins definitely rule in this preschool classroom.
Why so many twins in one class? Let’s just say word travels fast in the twin community and a few years ago several of us who had twins quickly spread the word on the Gemini Crickets online forum about this fabulous parent participation preschool. The play-based, developmentally appropriate curriculum and parent education is why you come to Explorer. Reality is as a parent of multiples (or even two small children) preschool can be quite expensive so affordable tuition is a big draw as well. We didn’t all know each other ahead of time – there were two new families that just happened to register and that just happened to have twins also. This class was destined to have many multiples!
Seven sets of twins on the class roster meant we had more children than parents. Scheduling 6 working parents in the classroom per day could get a bit tricky. Each parent of twins works double (2 times per week, instead of 1) and luckily we have a fabulous class rep who does all of the scheduling AND who happens to be a twin herself AND has a set of twins that graduated from Explorer’s 4Day class 2 years ago. Thank goodness our class rep is a twin “sympathizer.” We all breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone could manage this crazy schedule, she could!
It’s been so much fun seeing all the twins in action. We have a great mix of boys and girls: 2 sets of g/g twins, 2 sets of b/b twins and 3 sets of b/g twins. They are all fraternal too! Having a sibling in the class is definitely an advantage, but it’s also important that they create other friendships as well – something we are all working on with our children. All the twins have been split up into different small group times and more often than not, they choose to sit next to someone other than their sibling during whole group times.
Other than having to work double in the classroom, having twins in the 4Day class means double the laundry! Each child wears the Explorer T-shirt 4 days per week which means 8 shirts that need washing plus some extras (coming home messy means a good day at school). Most families carpool and luckily I was able to find two other moms with cars as big as mine that can fit 4 booster seats.
Personally, I have really enjoyed watching my boy/girl twins grow and change over the last 3 years at Explorer. This is the first year I’ve watched them be more independent from each other. My son, who in the past would want to play only with his sister, is now seeking out other children to play with and creating friendships. They will start kindergarten next year and the big question for most parents of multiples is whether to keep them in the same class or separate them. Some schools already have a policy in place, but our home school does not. I probably won’t know what my preference will be until the end of this school year because something tells me my twins are going to change a lot in the next few months.
If you do visit the 4Day class at Explorer, you might not notice the 7 sets of twins when you first walk in because each child has a unique personality. What you will notice are the 7 tired parents of twins who are working double time because being at Explorer is so worth it!
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Explorer Preschool will be hosting an Open House on Monday, January 31, 2011 from 9-2.
Original post to Mad About Multiples.
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