Interview with Jane Seymour About Twins in School
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What has been your decision regarding school for your twins? Are they in the same or separate classes? They were in different classes when they were in public school. That was good because they were able to develop different friends. A lot of their friends are actually mutual friends. Now they’re in a private school; in this school, the way they do the curriculum, some classes they are together and most of the classes they are not. But Kris has always been more advanced in math than John. Math comes to him really easily; you show him a math thing and he gets it instantly. John however is more methodical and math is really hard for him, But [he is] really creative in terms of creative writing and art projects. They both do very well at school. They both are academically good. Not extraordinary, but A’s and a few B’s. But math is really the main difference. I think either you’re born with a math brain or you’re not. I’m not and John isn’t. And Kris is. Kris also is a natural chess player, John isn’t. I’m not. I would say John is more like me. He draws on his artistic side, on the creative side. Also, testing is a nightmare for him. He can know all the information, he can do it very well in class and get A’s for everything in class, and the minute he’s put in a situation where it’s a test, it’s harder for him. What guided your decision to have them be separated most of the day at school? I just thought it would be good for them. They are together all day long anyway, they’d be together in the play room, in the playground. I just thought it would be good for them to develop their social skills rather than relying on having one another to hang out with or to share in whatever was going on in the class. So I actually think it’s good. I think they have a chance to feel independent, to feel that they’re a person in their own right rather than being just a twin. They develop their own relationships; they make their own friends. In the U.S., many states are passing "twins laws" -- legislation that ensures that parents of twins have a say in their childrens' classroom placement. What is your take on this legislation? Do you think it is warranted or necessary? Clearly somebody must believe it is necessary otherwise they wouldn’t bother passing a law. In my experience, in every school that the children have been in (they’ve been in 4 or 5 different schools), the experience from the teachers and in the school has always been that as much as possible it was good to put twins in different classes. When it comes to a school like the one we’re in right now where occasionally they’ll be in a class together, it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. I think obviously there are people who seem to think there needs to be a law, but every school that my kids have been in, the teachers have always wanted to separate twins. In terms of the private school, I’m not adamant about it. They actually do share a couple of classes together and of course it makes it easier with us with homework because they will have the same assignment. It’s the same thing with sports teams. My gosh, it’s hard enough running them around to the teams they’re in and the practices. If they are at different times, [different teams]… it’s very hard to watch them. But if there’s definitely different skills levels, or you know now they’re doing different sports, then obviously it’s a logistic nightmare. But it’s one that you do. I think all people that have more than one child [do it]. You make friends with other people in the team and you take it in turns to get there. By Pamela Prindle Fierro, About.com
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