I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do this.

As a MS teacher I taught two sets of twins from the same family and the parents insisted that their kids have the same schedules every year. The kids were okay individually, but together they were super bratty and got into a lot of unpleasant situations with other children. This was a super bigoted family, so the kids together allowed them to defend all the mistakes the kids made. Anyway, all other twin parents I’ve worked with have wanted their kids to be randomly assigned classes.

Hi there!

Just wanted to follow up on this. What happened with the twins? Did they stay together or were they separated?

During the 21-22 School year I noticed my principal allowed twins to be in the same classroom to reduce exposure risk.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of twins, I feel they are far better off being in different classrooms. Mine have been separated since K.

As A twin I think my brother and I being in the same classroom has worked out for us. The competition between us helps us out in the school and to strive.

Anonymous wrote:This is my first time posting. Did you have to fight the school to keep the twins together? They are separating mine and they are in distress being apart. They like to cheer and encourage each other and do not make trouble.

I'm a kindergarten teacher in MCPS. The classes have been assigned, so if you want them together, you need to call the school on Monday and request it. Be polite but firm. Acknowledge the concerns of keeping siblings in the same class, but state your observations about your own children. Most principals will want to avoid the prospect of having conflict with parents before the school year even starts. The default is to separate, so it's not as though they've made a stand by doing so at this point. If you request, it will probably be rearranged with no trouble.

I had always been on the "generally best to separate" camp until this past year when I had twins who had been through a ton of change in their lives over the previous months, and their parents wanted them together for some stability. There were a few issues with them needing to learn how to be classmates at school and siblings at home (ex: it might be ok at home to wrestle with Larla, but we can't do that at school). And by the end of the year, it became clear that they would do really well to separate in 1st grade and have the chance to develop friendships apart from each other. But ultimately, I think it was a good choice to keep them together for kindergarten, and thankfully their parents were on board with splitting the next year. I will say one of the things that made it a pleasant experience was their parents being very communicative and open to following up about behavior, reinforcing that home rules and school rules are different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a set of twins in my DC's 4th grade class. Evidently they band together a bit and make things unpleasant. Can't figure out why the parents would want it that way -- school definitely separates by default.

You know all twins are different, right? My girls thrive together in school and do not make trouble. They save all of the fighting and bad attitudes for home!

I can assure you that you don’t know this for sure. Kids do and say different things in front of adults than they do at lunch, recess, work groups, etc...

My kids are boy girl. They are very different in appearance, interests, even friend circles. They've had teachers and subs who were shocked to find out they were twins ( our last name is very common; you could have more than one in a class who were unrelated.)

Twins come in different varieties. There shouldn't be a blanket rule.

Anonymous wrote:In our school by default they separate the kids, but they will keep them together upon the parent’s request. I would call to ask to set up a time on Monday to speak with the principal about it, and if that person won’t budge, ask what the process of appealing that decision is.

There shouldn't be a question until 3rd grade because it's up to the parents but 3rd grade and up it really is up to the principal. Ours was flexible but have heard others are not. Same policy as PP's school where they separate by default but will put them together upon request. I do know some middle schools can be flexible too. A set of twins in DC's MS had all their classes together.

Anonymous wrote:This is my first time posting. Did you have to fight the school to keep the twins together? They are separating mine and they are in distress being apart. They like to cheer and encourage each other and do not make trouble.

School hasn’t started yet - have you let them try it? They may like being apart more than you or they realize at this point.

In our school by default they separate the kids, but they will keep them together upon the parent’s request. I would call to ask to set up a time on Monday to speak with the principal about it, and if that person won’t budge, ask what the process of appealing that decision is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- I found it in case its helpful to anyone else:
https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2010/education/title-7/subtitle-1/7-120/

PP here. Thanks for posting that... interesting link. Looks like it holds weight for grades K-2 but leaves a bit of wiggle room for the principal. Interesting that it's state level and has a clause to forbid a county board from setting their own policy.

Yes, principals always have complete authority to run things however they want. They will often hide behind rules but it is most often their choices that matter.

This is my first time posting. Did you have to fight the school to keep the twins together? They are separating mine and they are in distress being apart. They like to cheer and encourage each other and do not make trouble.

Mine are in K. They asked me if I wanted to keep them together and I said No. I had split them up in Pre-K since they clung to each other and didn't make friends with other kids prior to that. They see each other at recess, so they seem to be ok. But they still have difficulty making friends. First assessment came through and one has 'P' for Collaboration with other kids.

I have twins and am in the MoCo school system. The school left it up to me. I kept them together for K/the transition into ES and then split them in first grade. No one in the school had any problem with that. Hopefully you will get to do whatever you think is best for them.

The law that the previous poster mentioned (also enacted in other states including Virginia) was based on a metastudy about ten years ago that indicated that keeping twins together in the early years led to less stress, and fewer teacher resources being used, for the most part, though not in every case. This is basically the same as if your child has a good friend from preschool in their kindergarten class. It gives them a sense of assurance and comfort that translates into better behavior, and less time expended by the teacher in providing comforting, promoting friendships, etc. I kept my own set of fraternal twins together through second grade, and it worked out really well. They are male/female, so formed separate friendship easily, while, according to their teacher, frequently making eye contact with each other across the room. One of the twins has a chronic health condition, and this was also helpful in reducing stress related to this issue as well. My twins are currently in tenth grade, and still study together and help each other with homework. They only actually have one class together, but most of the classes are the same (different sections). I've also spent far less time helping them with their homework over the years than their older singleton sibling.

Every set of twins will be different, however, and their might be competition for friends if both are the same gender, or if the twins academic abilities vary significantly.