Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Kudos to District 68 for Working with Parents of Multiples

Here is another Mom's story. Kudos to District 68 for including parents in the decision. This is a model of what we wish for every school district in Illinois.

I live in Woodridge, District 68 schools. Here it is up to the parents to decide what to do, but the school recommends splitting them. My boys started 3 year old preschool last year and we split them because it was clear to us that is what was best. One guy is the leader and the other guy sort of a follower and was a little behind in speech and other things due to a heart defect which was then repaired but the recovery caused delays in development. We knew he needed to be in a different class so he could grow without his twin around. the boys had no issues being split and are best friends at home.

I'm sure for other parents the decision is much more difficult. Although in some cases I think some parents just want it easier - one teacher, one set of rules, homework, etc. I often wonder how I will do Curriculum Night when my twins start Kindergarten and my oldest is in 4th grade. One hour, three teachers. But in my case, I have helped in the classrooms for my oldest son, PTO board, and have gotten to know the teachers so I don't think it will be too difficult to manage three kids, three classes. Parents of multiple singletons do it so I can do.

We plan to keep them split unless they specifically tell us they want to be together and then we'll discuss it. We might not have a choice in Kindergarten because if there aren't enough kids to make two AM or PM classes, they'll be in the same class. But after that, they are split again. That has been our experience so far.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Letter to the Editor

We recently sent a letter to the editor as part of our effort to raise awareness of the issues parents of multiple face when trying to determine school placement. So far, we know the letter has appeared in many places. Recently, parents of twins sent me these two links:

Champaign-Urbana News Gazette

State Journal-Register

Have you seen the letter? If so, please send us the link. We'd like to try to keep track of where the letter is published.

Monday, June 15, 2009

We need your stories

We're starting to speak with Illinois legislators. Many of them are asking about what is happening in their districts. We need to hear your stories about your multiples in school.

Was the school administration supportive? Did you run into obstacles? If so, how did you overcome the obstacles? Or did you overcome the obstacles?

Please send your stories to Shari at slcs48n1 at yahoo.com. Please let me know where you live so I can keep track of which elected officials represent your district.