@happymomof1 - Thank you very much for the links. I loved the article. I also liked the National Geographic program. We will benefit from this a lot.
Hi @lookingforward - I am glad to hear from you. Believe me there is no pressure on the twins. We are raising them right. Providing them tons of opportunities to figure out what they like. Took them to many places in USA and Europe. They are 10 year olds but they have traveled more miles in last 3 years than maybe 90% of people in USA. We watch TV with them, we cook with them, we send them to sleepovers, we host other kids for sleepovers. They both have sports activities they do. One plays soccer and basketball other plays Karate and we don’t push them at all on their choices. Childhood is for being happy. But as parents, if we see our kids falling behind, it is our job to assess the situation and see how we can help them without making them miserable kids. Believe me, they are 2 very happy kids who enjoys their lives very much.You have some great suggestions and it is inline with what we are thinking.
Hi @thumper1 - No private school. Their ISEE scores were bad. Actually math was good but English was bad. One had 28% on Reading the other not very much different. We didn’t even apply to Pingry. We applied to Newark Academy but it didn’t work out as expected.
Hi @compmom - Thanks for the link. Learning new things every day. I didn’t even know there were schools that didn’t require standardize tests. Will check this out.
I’m going to give advice that runs counter to what many here have said. I think you should hire a neighborhood high school student to read with them and help them with their homework. I’ve been an expat, and although I could speak the language well enough to go to the doctor, bank, etc., I could not help my children with their homework, even while in elementary school. So I hired a neighbor girl (who was bilingual, but that mostly helped me to communicat with her!) to come over weekly and read with each of my children and/or help them with homework. I didn’t pay her much, but it helped. A lot. She was kind and encouraging and helped them in ways I never could have. A lot of people don’t realize just how much cultural bias there is in standardized tests. No matter how good I got at the language, I still wouldn’t have been able to really understand and explain some things. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and bring in help.
Please don’t stop speaking your own language at home, though! Remember that in many countries, being bilingual or trilingual is the norm and that your kids’ teachers are teaching in a monolingual environment and might not be the ultimate authorities. Reading books and newspapers, watching documentaries and series with rich language, will all help. Inviting highly literate/educated friends (adults) over to dinner on a regular basis and engaging in conversations about current events, science, culture, etc, will also help. But please don’t stop encouraging your kids to speak your home language. Maybe even increase the use of more high level academic discourse in your home language by discussing more complex topics as that will, as one of the posters mentioned, help with acquiring more academic language in English.