3 year old august born twins starting school in September

[busbybabe1]

Hi. Having been quite blasé I am now terrified of my two month prem twins starting school this September. Delay isn't an option, that ship has sailed, so now i need to focus on getting them ready.

The positives, they recognise their own names, letters and numbers. Are starting to count properly and sequentially count to 20. Have started trying to write. They never stop talking. Love books and stories. Are pretty much potty trained except at night. Getting a lot better at sharing and taking turns.

The negatives. They can't dress themselves at all, and have the attention spans of goldfish. One goes to Sunday school and seems behind his peers in terms of sitting down listening and following instructions, and he is my more 'forward' one ifykwim.

Any thoughts? I so want school to be a positive experience for them from day one. They go to a childminders and nursery, both seem pretty happy with them.

Never heard of school before 4 or 5 before.
Why don't you leave them in nursery until they are ready.
What do children learn at this age from school, that they wouldn't at home, nursery or childminder?

Dd has just turned 4 and she doesn't sound any more advanced than your twins, in fact may be behind them. She has little attention span and not interested in letters or numbers. She can write a c but that's it. There's still months until school starts so try not to worry.

They sound fine! I have lots of just four year olds come into my reception class and some have the attention span of a goldfish, however they do improve and teachers are used to it!

It'd be best if you could prepare them to at least put their coats on by themselves.

When is their birthday, I assume they will actually be 4yo when they start school like the rest of their classmates.
It sounds like they are already very well prepared for school and you've got plenty of time to work on getting dressed. When the time comes, choose uniform items which are easy for them (such as a pull on skirt rather than a button up pinafore).
Their attention spans will develop over the coming months, 8 months is a long time in the life of a 3/4 year old.
You should have a chance to talk to their class teacher when they start, that would be a good time to talk about any additional support they might need.

They will be 4 when they go, but only just.

Honestly, they sound as if they'll be fine; certainly there will be kids there who can't do some of that stuff. I would concentrate on the clothing/dressing, it's a real help if they can do that. September is still 8 months away too - that's loads of time.

Currently 3 but turn 4 in august. So will likely be youngest in year. Arg!

Thanks parcelp, can't help worrying...

Newlife, I think you'll find they are four in August, so starting school at just four.

They sound pretty much ready to me OP. There is not a massive amount of sitting and listening in reception, and attention span will come. You will be amazed how quickly they will learn how to dress themselves, once Mum is not there to do it for them. Also there is still a long time before they go, for them to learn all that stuff. The teacher will have seen it all before anyway, so should be more than able to deal with any things they find tricky.

Sorry OP, was confused as thought you meant they were starting reception at 3 and were not uk.

It is a long time between now and then but I would teach them to dress, sit down when told, line up when told etc.
We had lots of fun playing school before they started, rather than the counting, reading etc which is important, they tend to settle if they are practised with what is expected of them.
Make a game out of getting dressed, and if you have a dh rope him in too.
We used to put socks on our hands, they'd laugh and tell us where they should go, and from here we practised how quick they could do it with an egg timer thing.
With two of them you could have loads of fun.
Good luck and just use your imagination.

We're a year ahead op. My prem twins were 4 on 30th August and started school in sept. They're doing fine. Not top of the class but not obviously the youngest either. The only negative has been that they get very tired so our weekends tend to be fairly chilled out and they go to bed at 7pm but usually by 6.30pm twice a week. This Friday they were in bed at 6pm! There's lots of time between now and sept and I think yours are ahead of mine a year ago re numbers. Definitely have a go at getting them to dress themselves and do their own coats and shoes, otherwise I would relax.

I have two summer born children. Sometimes it's an issue - sometimes it really isn't. From what you've said, they sound like they are going to be pretty ready.

The only thing that jumps out from your post is your comment about night time potty training. Really don't worry about that as an aspect of "school readiness". There are plenty of children who aren't dry at night until well after starting school (my daughter was in year 4 and still perfectly "normal" according to the school nurse, when we eventually asked for a bit of support!)

The other thing I would say is try and guard against your children hearing too many "oh, but they're so little!" comments from well-meaning adults. DD1 had been at school a few weeks before we realised that she thought all the other kids were much older than her ... because so many people had commented that she seemed very young to be going to school. She's also small, so it was a natural comment to make. She settled in much faster once she realised practically everyone else was four as well!

You've got another 9 months development too remember; they're not starting tomorrow.

They sound very similar if not slightly beyond my ds who will be 4 at the end of July. They will be supported the the class and I'm sure there will be many children not as advanced as that!

I teach year 1 and some of my class couldn't do what you describe!

I saw a friend on Friday, her girls were due in October, born in August. They are yr 11 and both got 10 A*s in their mocks. First few years were tough socially & they were still behind where you'd expect at 10/11 academically but they are now catching up & I expect either one or both will go on to great things.

My DS was norm 21/8 and he's doing really well at school. Socially it has sometimes been difficult but his classes are now mixed age so seem to have someone on his level!

My 31 weeker twins are in reception now, and turned four on August first.

I didn't want to delay them, so they started at just turned 4. They have loved it and are thriving but the tiredness really has been a struggle. They went full time from the beginning and had only done half days in nursery before.

We had to work quite hard on getting bum wiping sorted after a poo (sorry!), but the difference between now and September will be substantial with things like getting dressed.

This thread has helped me quite a bit as I was worried about my DD born 19/8
Thanks for the reassurance!

I wouldn't worry about them knowing letters and numbers.
They need skills like zipping up coats and putting on shoes, taking themselves to the toilet and wiping/washing hands, dressing and undressing. Feeding themselves, sitting and listening to a story, listening to instruction. The academic stuff doesn't matter too much.

Why can't you defer them it's not to late.

Thank you so much all. You are really setting my mind at rest. 'Playing school' sounds a great idea, I will try it.

It's not that I have taught them letters and numbers really, they just seem keen to pick it up. This is one of the reasons I want them to go to school.

Agree need to focus on them looking after themselves. Forgot about poo wiping - yes that needs sorting. Blegh.

Where I live deferrals are rarely granted and if so often end up in year one. It's all being tested with the new summer born guidance with a few trailblazers - all of whom have exceptional cases (far more so than mine). I definitely didn't want them to go straight into year one, so here we are...

I manage a preschool and this is what we work in conjunction with the reception teacher re school readiness
Being able to recognise their name written down
Being able to take off their coat and hang it up and being able to find their coat, it it on and zip it up
Being able to go to the toilet by themselves, as in recognising when they need to go, wiping bottoms and washing hands
Being able to get undressed and dressed again for PE
Being able to choose activities
Being able to ask for help, to share and take turns
Being able to make friends and talk to other children
Being able to hold a pencil in the correct grip
Being able to sit still, listen, concentrate and not interrupt for a short period of time
Being aware or rhyme and alliteration
Being able to follow direction
Not having emotional meltdowns
Being able to say goodbye to whoever drops them off
School readiness is more about being emotionally ready than academically ready

My DD2 and DD3 are both August born and are doing OK. DD2 is slightly behind where they would expect her to be but has caught up a lot in the last year or so. DD3 is doing really well and none of her teachers have ever shown any concern.

Academically they were both pretty similar to your DC. Could read their name, count and recognise some numbers, knew most colours and could recognise some shapes.

They could dress themselves though and take themselves off to the toilet when they needed to go. That should be fairly easy to practice.

By the way 5 year old DD3 is in year 1 and still not anywhere near being dry and night and it has never caused a problem.

School readiness depends a lot on the individual child too, my late-summer born DS1 was much more ready than my winter-born DS2. DS1 was much further ahead academically and behaviourally at the same point in reception that DS2 is at now, I don't think DS2 is any less bright, he just has a very different personality.

Are you in England, op? There are options for your children 1. to enter a year school early - just after the twins 4th birthday, 2. to wait until compulsory school age, which is the term after their 5th birthday, 3. To go part time until their csa and 4. To start later in the academic year , but not later then the summer term before they turn csa or the school won't hold the place. It really is your choice although some options, namely 2 currently require admission authority approval. There is a super helpful Facebook group called flexible school admissions for summer born children where you can get a lot of useful info.

Sorry , on the phone and cannot type easily... I hope you can understand what I am writing here