Does your spouse ask you to do certain things for school?

[hsmom]

Does your spouse ask you to include a certain topic, subject, book, number of hours, etc.? If so what does he/she ask of you to do?

 

Steven just asks that we spend more time daily. He thinks we can add more into our days to make them last longer and not so rushed.

Edited September 1, 2010 by hsmom
Everything sounded weird had to fix it

[robsiew]

Mine really doesn't care what we do! Not in a bad way... just, it is so my strength area that he really just leaves it up to me. I have to come to him to let him know what the kids are doing. Sometimes if one of them has done something really great I send them down to see him with it (he works from home 3 days a week). I do come to him with problems and he'll help me solve them (mostly in dealing with personality issues between the kids and I), but most of the time he really doesn't care to know details!

[Osaubi]

Mine asks that I keep a journal type record. He doesn't feel like he is very invloved. So when he gets home he looks at the journal to see what they have been learning. If he asks what they did in school they can't remember. So this is a way he can kind of jog their memory.

 

He has sometimes made a request for items like Lego Robotics. When he does that I keep my eye open for a sale and then let him know. If he makes a request though it is something he plans to work with the kids on.

[Guest aquiverfull]

No, mine leaves homeschool completely up to me. This can be both a blessing and a curse. :) Sometimes I really need his feedback and he's so uninterested. I have had to beg him for help in the past. On the other hand, I like not having to answer to him for any of my choices on schedule/curriculum, etc.

[mommy4ever]

My dh doesn't. He trusts that I care enough to make sure we are moving forward. He knows I thrive on planning and the challenge.

 

The kids always tell him about their day. He's always enthusiastic. Initially we thought this was for a few months. Then it was for another year(this year), but the kids don't want to go back to the school. So he's all for it. When he saw the progress for the youngest, he was thrilled. When he saw attitude changes and more smiles from the 11yo, he KNEW it was a good thing. I have to keep records for the province and samples, so he sees lots of what we do.

 

I do like the journal idea, but I have started using HST+ so a print out will show what we have accomplished with little extra effort for me. :tongue_smilie: So I think I'll start sharing that with him so he sees what we are doing.

 

DD13 is doing machines, so I think I'll get him to do the experiments with her. He is great at explaining things practically to her.

[Aoife]

DH trusts my decisions in homeschooling. I will ask his advice from time to time or share curricula with him that I find really exciting so he does know what is planned. When he's not really busy at work he'll have me save a subject for him that he can work with the kids on when he gets home as he does like to be involved. :)

[DawnM]

No. The schooling part is all up to me. If I even TRY to discuss curriculum with him his eyes glaze over! :lol:

 

Dawn

[Ester Maria]

He came up with the sciences and mathematics sequence, and helped tremendously over the years with specifics in those areas. He leaves humanities up to me, but has helped so much with the fields that happen to be his strengths and professional ones.

And when they were younger, most of Hebrew and Judaics were a family activity, and largely involved him as well. Nowadays not so much, and he's been working away from home a lot and/or travelling frequently, but he ALWAYS makes sure to check how they're doing academically, ask if there's something he can do to help me or them, if there is some additional literature he can buy while he's away, and more than once he called me from abroad asking if this or that book could be useful to me or the girls if he was having a break on a conference or something and spending that break in a bookshop.

 

He also did TONS of informal learning with them - taking them, sometimes both together, sometimes one by one, with him while he travels for work, that way they get out of the routine a bit and see and learn something new; once or twice a year they do school with HIM the whole day (when he has periods when he's home and I want some mental peace so I take a day off) and overall, he's been incredibly supportive and engaged in their learning.

 

Pretty much all of our family is, though - very engaged in learning, they would be the same way if the girls attended school. Learning is very important to all of us.

[hsmom]

I let him know and he likes to be informed, he just asks that we put more time in daily. My little guy likes to rush through stuff just to be done.

[Sherry in OH]

He wants a strong math program and lots of science and science experiments.

[Mallory]

Mine just ask that we spend more time daily.

 

This sentance and your multiple spouses just makes me laugh :D

 

Mine occasionally pipes in with something. The other day he said, "Maybe you should work on handwriting" (believe me we do).

 

But mostly he just leaves it up to me.

 

He does read books, especially with the little ones, and some days he takes the little ones so I can work with the biggers.

 

I'd love him to do guitar lessons. I can't play anything.

[hsbaby]

No. The schooling part is all up to me. If I even TRY to discuss curriculum with him his eyes glaze over! :lol:

 

Dawn

 

Yup, this is my dh. The only way he contributes is by being our IT guy:)

[Ellie]

Nope. He figures I know what I'm doing and he trusts me. :-)

[mrs.m]

My DH has suggested a unit in home-economics. :lol:

 

he was joking. I think. :001_huh:

[Dinsfamily]

My dh has requested that I include testing practice at some point. Since our oldest is only a 1st grader, we haven't had talked about how we want to do it or when. It is in the back of my mind and we'll discuss it again when we get closer to that stage of his education. I think it is a wise and reasonable request. Generally, he leaves everything up to me but I'm confident that he would not hesitate to mention any concerns. I'm sure we'll have plenty of discussions as our dc gat older and develop specific education needs.

[hsmom]

This sentance and your multiple spouses just makes me laugh :D

 

Mine occasionally pipes in with something. The other day he said, "Maybe you should work on handwriting" (believe me we do).

 

But mostly he just leaves it up to me.

 

He does read books, especially with the little ones, and some days he takes the little ones so I can work with the biggers.

 

I'd love him to do guitar lessons. I can't play anything.

 

yeah, I caught that after I wrote it. Not enough coffee.

[Nestof3]

No. He has done nothing but brag on me to everyone. :D One of the things I most appreciate about him is that he is a husband whose heart trusts in his wife. (Prov 31:11)

 

He honestly wouldn't know what we should be doing or for how long. I've always been bewildered by men who, like one I met, told his wife how long she should be schooling the kindergartener per day. He expected her to school for as many hours as a K-er is in public school. Unless he gets in there and does the schooling, he really knows nothing about how long any of it should take.

[hsmom]

No. He has done nothing but brag on me to everyone. :D One of the things I most appreciate about him is that he is a husband whose heart trusts in his wife. (Prov 31:11)

 

He honestly wouldn't know what we should be doing or for how long. I've always been bewildered by men who, like one I met, told his wife how long she should be schooling the kindergartener per day. He expected her to school for as many hours as a K-er is in public school. Unless he gets in there and does the schooling, he really knows nothing about how long any of it should take.

 

Mine trusts I am teaching what I need to, but also sees how my son likes to rush through stuff to hurry up and be done. So, he put a time limit on him and this way he will take his time, because no matter what he will have to do school that day for x amount of time. Also things have been turning out a lot better now that he cannot rush through it all.

[Moniksca]

No. The schooling part is all up to me. If I even TRY to discuss curriculum with him his eyes glaze over! :lol:

 

Dawn

 

Same here :D

[mo2]

Mine trusts I am teaching what I need to, but also sees how my son likes to rush through stuff to hurry up and be done. So, he put a time limit on him and this way he will take his time, because no matter what he will have to do school that day for x amount of time. Also things have been turning out a lot better now that he cannot rush through it all.

 

 

Don't forget to count things like PE (catch, running, biking, jumping on the trampoline), art (any drawing, painting), and music (do you sing any songs together?). All of those things could take up quite a bit of *school time*, especially at a young age.

[MSNative]

Mine does. He is an outstanding writer, so he has taken it upon himself to focus on writing with them. He finds WSJ articles for them to read and summarize. He edits them and they redo them. He also assigns them books reports. It's been a mixed blessing. It messes up MY beautiful schedule. However, it has been great to see the boys' writing improve dramatically. Plus they are getting a broader education by reading articles on all sorts of topics and then discussing with us. Makes for very interesting dinner conversation (ok, not always, we went thru a few steel industry chats and zzzzzz)

Other than that and informal learning, he leaves it all to me.

[Luckymama]

We're at the very start of homeschooling, beginning with a fifth grader! I bounced ideas off dh all spring and summer when I was searching for ideas/books/curricula, which helped solidify my thinking. He wants to do art with dd (yippee, my left brain was freaking out over the thought of me and art).

 

He also wants to make sure she has a basic grasp of economics before high school. As a CFP and as the merit badge counselor for Personal Management, he has worked with adults and young adults who have no concept of good financial decisions.

[hsmom]

Don't forget to count things like PE (catch, running, biking, jumping on the trampoline), art (any drawing, painting), and music (do you sing any songs together?). All of those things could take up quite a bit of *school time*, especially at a young age.

 

That is my plan to add in more physical education, arts and crafts.

[JoyfulMama]

My dh will come up with book recommendations for dd10. Not necessarily ones for her to read for "school" but ones he things she will enjoy/will challenge her.

Last year she borrowed something, and while he was reading it over (he likes to know what we are doing, so he can feel involved), he mentioned that it would be a great vocabulary/spelling lesson to just go through one short story.

One time he asked that dd10 look for a specific person for a biography topic. Another time he took dd10 to hear a speaker at a distant library.

For him, it's ways for him to be involved, but it's not him demanding what gets learned.

[SailorMom]

Dh is gone 6 or 7 months out of the year, so he has learned that he needs to just leave this to me. There is no way to micromanage from the other side of the planet.

He is very involved in Boy Scouts when he is here, and in sports as well, and asks what we are doing - but I get the glazed eye look when I ask him about curriculum.

[Kipling]

Mine leaves the daily teaching to me, but he is very involved in the curriculum decisions. He goes with me every year to the homeschool conference and we decide together what books/subjects to keep using and what to change. I really appreciate his involvement and support.

We both recognize the gaps in our own ps education, and so he likes to keep up with what the kids and I are studying for his own edification. One of his favorite statements is that he will soon be the least educated person in our household.

[elegantlion]

We're into our 7th year of schooling. Dh has never asked until this year. He did ask that we add in some PE into our weekly schedule. Ds and I tend to disappear from each other after school and with the heat we've not been getting our needed exercise. Dh works physically hard all day so the last thing he wants to do is go work out after work. Ds is also at that age where daily physical action is good for his physical and mental self.

 

I've added it into the schedule, we'll see how it goes once we actually start. :D

[nono]

I make the decisions on what to use, but then my dh requests to be briefed on everything. I also give him a weekly update. He's my substitute teacher*, so it's necessary. He also will note things he notices, such as rushing through work, and help me develop strategies to cope. I appreciate his feedback.

 

*Probably once every two weeks, he'll pop out of his office and take over a subject or two so I can run errands.

[Lovedtodeath]

Does your spouse ask you to include a certain topic, subject, book, number of hours, etc.? If so what does he/she ask of you to do?

 

Steven just asks that we spend more time daily. He thinks we can add more into our days to make them last longer and not so rushed.

Yes... this. A timer to make sure we are spending enough time.

[Guest TheBugsMom]

Mostly I would have to say no. But recently my husband has started really looking at US History and wants to make sure the kids get a good foundation in US History. He has made a few suggestions on books he wants DS to read.

[Guest janainaz]

My dh is completely hands-off. He leaves it all up to me. He's got his job and I have mine.

[Tree House Academy]

Mine asked me to do a study on manners with our boys.

[FO4UR]

Mine trusts I am teaching what I need to, but also sees how my son likes to rush through stuff to hurry up and be done. So, he put a time limit on him and this way he will take his time, because no matter what he will have to do school that day for x amount of time. Also things have been turning out a lot better now that he cannot rush through it all.

 

Perhaps that's not so much a schooling issue as it is a character issue. In that case, I think your dh is trying to help you problem solve. I'd go along with, and communicate how it's working out so you can problem solve *together.*

 

My dh sees how much I put into HSing and tends to back away from "Mama Bear.":tongue_smilie::lol: Seriously, he cares...but he doesn't want my job!

[Tam101]

Mine really doesn't care what we do! Not in a bad way... just, it is so my strength area that he really just leaves it up to me. I have to come to him to let him know what the kids are doing. Sometimes if one of them has done something really great I send them down to see him with it (he works from home 3 days a week). I do come to him with problems and he'll help me solve them (mostly in dealing with personality issues between the kids and I), but most of the time he really doesn't care to know details!

 

:iagree: This is almost 100% me. My dh works from home everyday, he likes to look at work well done and will help with special projects. For example, he took video of our butterfly project and they are going to edit the video this weekend. Other then that he is hands off. I asked him to look over this six page document I had to do of our goals for the year and what curriculum we are using; he flipped the pages and I don't think he read a single word. :glare:

[Tonia]

No, my dh pretty much leaves it up to me. But if he asked me to do or add something specific I probably wouldn't have a problem with it.

[bluemongoose]

Very, very rarely does he ask for anything. Usually he wants to know that they have "schooled" today, that they are learning, but he doesnt say much about what they are learning. However, just this weekend he asked me to keep using Singapore Math. We had recently purchased MM and I had been fading Singapore out and adding MM in. He so liked the way I was using them both as I was going through the change over, that he asked me to not fade Singapore out and just keep them both.

 

He helps with Science experiments.

 

He did help me pick what our future math and science might be. These are his strengths.

 

He likes to see a list of purchases for the next school year in March, and then he buys it all. He rarely makes me change my list no matter how much it costs, so I never complain about him liking to hit the buy button. I think he likes the feeling of it being "his contribution" by making the purchase.:lol:

[Nestof3]

My comment wasn't aimed at you. Sometimes I wish my husband got more excited about our studies. He listens to me, but he doesn't get it like my girl friends do.

 

I've seen some extreme cases, though, of husbands ordering their wives day -- even in education matters -- when they have never even done any of the schooling. Being the independent sort of go-getter that I am, I would have serious problems with this.

 

Mine trusts I am teaching what I need to, but also sees how my son likes to rush through stuff to hurry up and be done. So, he put a time limit on him and this way he will take his time, because no matter what he will have to do school that day for x amount of time. Also things have been turning out a lot better now that he cannot rush through it all.

[NanceXToo]

No, he leaves it entirely up to me. If I ask for an opinion on something, he'll give it. If I ask for help with something, he'll provide it. If I ask for materials, he'll pay for them. I love it! :D

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

No. The schooling part is all up to me. If I even TRY to discuss curriculum with him his eyes glaze over! :lol:

 

Dawn

 

 

Hey I think you were talking about my dh! I couldnt have said it better myself!!! :001_smile: He tells me he is the superintendant. His job is to give me money to buy curriculum and thats it ;)

[Mary in GA]

It's pretty much up to me, but dh does "substitute" sometimes. When the kids are older, he does all math higher than algebra one and also physics.

 

Mary

[Jean in CA]

He helps me find history materials.

 

He wants to find material that is more factual (if that is possible), fair, and not very heavily pre-digested.

 

He trusts me with the daily how tos.

 

He also wants to expose the kids to a lot of other cultures, and not glorifying Western civilizations (but not downplaying their strenghths either).

 

Finally, he wanted a solid math curriculum that teaches kids to think, and not just memorize algorithms.

 

And he wants me to stop searching for newer, better curriculum all the time! :lol:

[hsmom]

My comment wasn't aimed at you. Sometimes I wish my husband got more excited about our studies. He listens to me, but he doesn't get it like my girl friends do.

 

I've seen some extreme cases, though, of husbands ordering their wives day -- even in education matters -- when they have never even done any of the schooling. Being the independent sort of go-getter that I am, I would have serious problems with this.

 

Oh, I know. No worries.

[MamaHappy]

No, mine leaves homeschool completely up to me. This can be both a blessing and a curse. :) Sometimes I really need his feedback and he's so uninterested. I have had to beg him for help in the past. On the other hand, I like not having to answer to him for any of my choices on schedule/curriculum, etc.

 

This is us too exactly. :)

[JennyD]

I can't imagine my husband asking me to teach them anything in particular, but when his schedule permits he definitely takes a lot of initiative himself -- puts books on hold at the library to read with the kids at bedtime (usually biographies of scientists), takes them on field trips, does projects, etc.

 

He does have a tendency to overestimate the kids' stamina and attention spans (our children are all young), but I've noticed that with painful experience he's been getting better about that. Nothing like a collective epic meltdown on the subway to remind one that oh yes, they need to be fed, too!

[Wheres Toto]

Other than telling him when I'm going to spend money or not to remove the unusual shows I've DVR'd I don't discuss our homeschooling with dh. The kids will tell him/show him about things we do during the day and he likes hearing about that but he definitely does not want the details. At this point ds is working at least 2 years ahead of where he would be in public school so there's definitely no pressure. I don't know if dh will want more details or start giving input if it ever looks like we're behind but I'm not too worried about it. I've overheard him tell people that he completely trusts me to handle our children's education. :D

[nono]

He does have a tendency to overestimate the kids' stamina and attention spans (our children are all young), but I've noticed that with painful experience he's been getting better about that. Nothing like a collective epic meltdown on the subway to remind one that oh yes, they need to be fed, too!

:lol: :lol:

[MamaMamaMama!!]

I hate it when these threads are so long. I never have time to read them all...

 

My DH doesnt really care the brand of curriculum we use but he wants it to be semi-classical. When we first started I wanst very disciplined and he thought the kids werent learning.(and maybe they werent as much as they should) And he asked that we be more structured and have a consistent curriculum. I thought it was a great idea SOOOOO I said "If you have an opinion you need to research" and he asked for my top 3 curriculum choices. Basically what I thought I liked, could handle, and fit most of our children. So I gave him top 3's in all subjects. He made notes of what he liked or disliked about the curriculum.. and that was how we made our descriptions. The rest was up to me though. :tongue_smilie: So i set up schedules, when and how we will complete the work, how much we'll do and if something isnt working I talk about it with him and he helps me come to a solution.

 

This works nicely for us. Because I dont feel like Im all alone and the burden is on me. I dont have Mom guilt and he doesnt criticize me or at least I dont see it as criticism anymore, because he's involved-ish. And Im not as flaky going back and forth because he actually KNOWS what Im talking about. He's also very active taking over portions of the school time or doing school when Im away and that in itself is very unique.

[Chloe]

My dh just asks that the dc learn German. We bought Rosetta Stone last year and he wants the dc to do it every "school day."

[Annie Laurie]

No.

[Dmmetler]

Mine wants some form of record simply so he can see what we're doing and know what to talk to DD about.

 

I keep a spreadsheet on my computer for my records anyway and I have laminated daily planning cards for my DD's workboxes, so I just rotate those so he has a day or two to see them before they're erased and reused.