Dad involvement?

[Winkie]

How involved is your dh in your HSing? Does he have a certain "role" to play?

[lenswyf]

I have to say that hubby would not be able to do all this if he didn't get out of the house to work at 5:45 a.m. and home by 3:45 pm...

My husband was very firm in insisting that he would be involved in homeschooling. He teaches ds math and science now. Next year, we'll be doing a small coop with two other families that are using Sonlight 1, and hubby will be gathering all the kids to do the science experiments since the other families aren't really getting to those (both families have 3-4 kids, the youngest being infants and the oldest being the ones in homeschool). He is also going to lead a PE co-op for a small group of homeschooling families with other kids the same age as ds.

Quite honestly, I've often thought that I should go back to work FT and let dh be the stay-at-home parent. He's a natural teacher; kids simply cannot be with him for more than 15 minutes without learning something new. And he enjoys it so much. I'm enjoying it, and ds seems to be getting a lot out of it, but I have to wonder if he wouldn't get more out of it with dh. :shrug

[icesmom3]

Since dh is self-employed he is in and out of the house and sees what we are doing....he listens to the boys read and checks out their work and gives out compliments and that is very special for the boys. He is very good at teaching math to the boys but not as a part of their curriculum, yk? He teaches them about stuff he is working on and explains it all to them! He is so great at science/math stuff!!

[erinee]

My dh isn't going to be so involved in the official "schooling" part of it, but since we're using a CM approach, handicrafts are a big part of it. He will be doing woodworking with Zach in the evenings and working on a racecar. Since I want Megan to know her way around a car, I want him to do it with her, too, as she gets older. OTher than that, he'll be involved as things come up. He, the one who was so reluctant to try homeschooling, admitted that he was looking forward to things like studying astronomy with Zach. We do lots of camping, which lends itself to many teachable moments, and he & Zach often take "guy trips" together. I think he'll be more involved than what we're actually *planning* on.

[TestifyToLove]

Dh was very nervous about being involved with the schooling. His thinking was that he didn't know how the children learned, nor how I taught and he would be disruptive.

But, there have always been times when they struggle with schooling and he's stepped in on the weekends, or the evenings to assist--for my sake. And, in doing that, I discovered something remarkable.

I'm good at math. But, Dh is a math FREAK (he can do calculus in his head). Turns out, he's SO comfortable with math concepts that he is FAR better at teaching difficult concepts than I am. For some reason, I can attempt to explain something for weeks and he can suceed in making it click for the kids in minutes. After nearly a month of trying to teach time telling, he taught both of them in 30 minutes one evening.

As I type, Ds is on the phone with Daddy. He just hit negative number concepts in his math and was giving me this panicked, desperate look. So, I called Daddy to explain. Sure enough, he's starting to look less panicked and answering questions, so I'm assuming that he's actually getting the concepts from Daddy.

And, frankly, I don't know what I could DO without DH to help re-inforce teaching and take some of the difficult concepts that I don't do so well explaining!

In fact, I'd LOVE for Dh to do more. But, between work, his own schooling and trying to just be a father and be there for dinner, evenings and bedtime, taking a more active role in the schooling isn't going to happen until he's finished with school himself (2 more semesters)!

[Mama Bird]

My DH isn't involved...except that his salary pays for the materials. :sad2 I wish he was more involved. How do those of you whose DHs are involved do it? :shrug

[ShangriLewis]

We use KONOS and I try to make sure he is around whenever we are doing fun hands on stuff. He always seems to take over and he is great with that stuff. Other than that we unschool. We are schedule with KONOS it's just something we do as fun together. Anyway..that means that the kids ask us both questions and Dad is always helping. I guess because for us our whole life is school.

Heather
probably not very helpful

[Piper2]

DH isn't really involved here, either, except that he's been to a few homeschool group events. He's not against my homeschooling, although he thinks I really need the "break" sending Kevin to school would provide, and I think fully expects me to get tired of it by the time Kevin is middle school age. :/

I have told him, though, that when the time comes (when I'm still homeschooling high school :P), he's going to have to be the one to teach Kevin calculus, trig and geometry because I barely made it through Algebra II! ;)

[Mother Duck]

One of the main reasons for dh giving up his well-paying-with-long-hours job and us moving to Australia is so he can be more involved in the daily lives of our children. He says he want to be around so he can teach them practical skills and answer thier questions :grin I know I am so blessed to have a dh that is so keed to be involved in our childrens lives that he will give up a steady income and relocate us to where he can be more involved. :woohoo to my dh