How involved is your DH in your homeschooling?

[Tranquility7]

Just curious :001_smile:

[ma23peas]

His paycheck pays for all the school supplies/classes/events they use or are involved in. That's pretty much it! :) When they were young he would take a good deal of time to read with them as they were learning how to read...but now mine are all in upper grades and fairly independent...he's the fun Dad, and I like it like that...they have enough with having me be all involved in their schooling! :) He also volunteers for all their activities and such, but actual schooling, not much if at all...but he is always there to back me up if they start slacking :)

[redsquirrel]

Well, my DP knows what we are studying, helps me pick materials, talks to the kids etc. He likes it when the boys show him stuff they did.

 

If I need a sick day or have a dr appt etc he is ready, willing and able to step in if I give him a brief rundown and show him where stuff is.

[jewellsmommy]

I pretty much teach everything, but he helps teach physical science. He does activities like the snap circuits and other similar projects. He will assist after work if we are still schooling. He also listens to all my curriculum ramblings and helps me sort through it all. :D

[Crimson Wife]

He will occasionally teach the kids something and he has some opinions on curricula, but mostly he defers to me.

[JudoMom]

My dh does something called Saturday School with the older 3 boys. He covers higher math concepts and/or anything the boys are struggling with, reviews Greek, and has discussed theology and economic systems. He also has covered some art and music, along with other stuff I don't remember.

 

So while he's not involved in the day to day teaching, he is involved in his own wonderful way. He's a much better teacher than I am.

[Mrs Mungo]

His paycheck pays for all the school supplies/classes/events they use or are involved in.

 

Ditto to this bit.

[Karen in CO]

My dh takes pottery classes with my older dd. He also tries really hard to do to phonics lessons with the younger - he's learning patience. He listens to poetry recitations a couple of times of week. When I'm sick or have to go to the office, he supervises "the checklist." He also covers recess if I need the kids out of the house for their own good. He's tried being the main teacher for a subject, but we've learned that that doesn't work as well for us.

[chepyl]

When he is home during the school day, he helps our 3 year old with her "school" so I can teach our 6 year old. :) He colors with her. Monday, he sharpened all of her colored pencils in the electric sharpener...on my desk...while I was sitting there...trying to listen to DS read his grammar lesson out loud. :glare: After the 10th pencil, I gave him a dirty look, he gave me a goofy smile and sharpened another....

 

He and DS had a math competition that day as well, and a handwriting competition. Dad one the math race, son had the neater penmanship :tongue_smilie:

 

He generally does not teach, but he will be the enforcer if DS is giving me a hard time. It is nice to not always be the bad guy when it comes to school.

[Farrar]

I had a post about this on my blog a couple of weeks ago. It sort of bugs me when people say that their dh's financial involvement is enough. I don't expect dh to do the work I do for homeschooling (the research, the prep work, the organization, and the vast majority of the teaching), but I do expect him to know what's up with the kids educationally and be involved in what we're doing and willing to pitch in when its appropriate. I know different people have different sorts of relationships that work for them, but no way would I want to be with someone who didn't want to co-parent the kids.

[UmMusa]

Mine pretty much provides the money. He's fine with that, and I never expected he'd be any more active.

[NancyNellen]

I had a post about this on my blog a couple of weeks ago. It sort of bugs me when people say that their dh's financial involvement is enough. I don't expect dh to do the work I do for homeschooling (the research, the prep work, the organization, and the vast majority of the teaching), but I do expect him to know what's up with the kids educationally and be involved in what we're doing and willing to pitch in when its appropriate. I know different people have different sorts of relationships that work for them, but no way would I want to be with someone who didn't want to co-parent the kids.

 

I don't think parenting and homeschooling are synonymous, though. My husband is a fantastic parent...very much involved in the lives of his kids. They occasionally discuss school-related issues, but frankly, his stressful job has him out of the house for the entire time we are actively homeschooling. The kids know they can ask him questions and talk to him about all manner of subjects...and he makes lots of time for them on the weekends, when we are not schooling. Does this mean he doesn't co-parent? Absolutely not. It means we don't co-homeschool. We are both completely satisfied with this arrangement. He does his job and I do mine.

[JennyD]

I voted other. "School time" here means "stuff you do with Mom in the morning at the little table," so by definition DH doesn't so any of the official homeschooling. However, "school time" is certainly not the sum total of the kids' academic education, and DH does plenty of educating on his own -- he searches amazon and the library catalog for books he wants to read with them, helps our oldest with computer programming, gives impromptu lessons on various math things that he deems important, etc.

 

The only thing that we actively coordinate together is cello --we have taken turns being the main "Suzuki parent" and now tend to pass practice supervision back and forth. As the children get older I can imagine that we might be a bit more organized about who is teaching what, but at the moment the more casual approach suits us well.

Edited November 18, 2011 by JennyD

[Night Elf]

About 50/50, but not particularly planned that way. He works from home and is in the living room all day. We do our schoolwork either in the living room or at the kitchen table which is part of the large public area kitchen/dining/living room combination. He is part of everything we do because it's like having a living dictionary and encyclopedia at our fingertips. He loves to get involved too. It is really nice that he knows every aspect of our homeschooling.

[dirty ethel rackham]

He brings home the bacon! He supports me 100%. He rarely disagrees with the direction we are taking and he trusts my expertise.

[smilesonly]

i voted he doesn't teach, but is involved in activities and their day to day schoolwork.

 

however, he is a brilliant man and if he wasn't working FT, i'm sure he would be UNschooling in a most successful way-he talks to our dc about everything all.the.time. (he missed one question in the final round to be on jeopardy:lol:) he also likes to watch martha stewart shows and cooking shows with both dc and then tries to reproduce what they've watched.;):001_huh:

 

no curriculum is bought w/o his approval, though he's rarely told me no way.

 

i hand him a list of what our "private" school needs, and it is his job to make sure i have what i need.

 

each dc hands me a daily report of what they did-when dh gets home, they hand it to them and he asks them questions.

 

he takes off work for fieldtrips

 

he will also leave work to come home and enforce discipline. the one time he did that, he sold a major sports thing of ds on craigslist to make up for the money he would have made that 30 mins.:D

[CanaryMelody]

He brings home the bacon! He supports me 100%. He rarely disagrees with the direction we are taking and he trusts my expertise.

 

:iagree: This is our situation as well.

[KathyBC]

I voted vitually no involvement but this does not mean that he does not teach the kids many, many things. He spurs them to self-educate.

[EthiopianFood]

He works so I can stay home in the first place. That is better than any other contribution he could ever make. :001_smile:

[elinnea]

I had a post about this on my blog a couple of weeks ago. It sort of bugs me when people say that their dh's financial involvement is enough. I don't expect dh to do the work I do for homeschooling (the research, the prep work, the organization, and the vast majority of the teaching), but I do expect him to know what's up with the kids educationally and be involved in what we're doing and willing to pitch in when its appropriate. I know different people have different sorts of relationships that work for them, but no way would I want to be with someone who didn't want to co-parent the kids.

 

In my situation dh's requires him to travel alot (we're talking 280 travel days this year). I'm not thrilled that he's not here to help. I feel envious of the moms who have dhs who help with school or in other ways around the house or with the kids. Since that isn't my reality I have to be content with what I do have and that is dh's financial support.

[....]

Well, at least I'm part of the majority.

 

I'm not sure my husband knows we homeschool. :tongue_smilie:

[NanceXToo]

I had a post about this on my blog a couple of weeks ago. It sort of bugs me when people say that their dh's financial involvement is enough. I don't expect dh to do the work I do for homeschooling (the research, the prep work, the organization, and the vast majority of the teaching), but I do expect him to know what's up with the kids educationally and be involved in what we're doing and willing to pitch in when its appropriate. I know different people have different sorts of relationships that work for them, but no way would I want to be with someone who didn't want to co-parent the kids.

 

But my husband DOES "co-parent" the kids. He just doesn't "co-teach" the kids. He has his own business and doesn't say "There's no way I would want to be with someone who doesn't want to co-run my business!" No, he has his niche, and I have mine.

 

He runs his business. I teach the kids. We parent the kids together- bedtime routines, play, discipline, conversations, celebrations and so on and so forth, everything that goes on outside of school and outside of my husband's work hours. But we do not teach them together when it comes to our official school day, nor would I want it to be like that. I have my routine and way of doing things, and I like it that way.

 

He does finance our homeschooling and that is certainly enough of a contribution for me. He is also willing to pitch in with certain hands on activities that leave me going "huh?" All I have to do is ask. But I have no interest in him taking over certain subjects or helping me teach this, that or the other thing on a daily basis. (Of course if he had a burning desire to do so I couldn't refuse to let him, but he doesn't. Instead, he'd rather share his hobbies with the kids. And this is why my daughter knows tons about his 90 gallon coral reef set up and learns how to do balloon animals with him for fun and is going to start doing glass-blowing with him, for example....)

[Crafty Mathy Mom]

I voted other. My dh knows what we are doing and what we are using. He will help out with something specific if asked when he is home. He will listened to dd read yesterday. He also plans our trips. We tried having him teach the Bible lesson, but he kept going over their heads. I had to ask him to stop when he pulled out his Systematic Theology text.

[nono]

Other. He is my substitute teacher, and also, now that he's unemployed, my TA! :) When both of mine need extensive hand-holding at the same time to get through a piece of schoolwork, I call him in to take over with one of the two.

[kalphs]

Dh is the primary teacher for American History.

It was his favorite subject in school and he loves teaching it.

Dh and I work as a team for the rest of the core subjects.

We play off of each other's strengths.

:)

[Harriet Vane]

He is supportive and encouraging and cheerfully funds all that I deem necessary.

 

He will help occasionally if a kid is struggling and I need a different voice to explain something. His help is extremely infrequent though.

 

Almost all of the teaching and researching is on me. That's fine with me, though. He works hard at his full-time job, and so do I.

[southernm]

I voted one subject. Only because DS wants to learn chess and I found a great *free* curriculum on chesskids. I have no desire to learn how to play so I handed the curric to DH and said, "you do it" lol!

[JMDRAD]

He brings home the bacon! He supports me 100%. He rarely disagrees with the direction we are taking and he trusts my expertise.

 

This is how it is at our house too. He's hands-off but never complains about the amount of money I spend on school, what curriculum I buy, how I schedule our year, etc. If he were involved I think we'd strangle each other. :lol:

[Ellie]

See, I don't think that actually teaching something = involvement. To put it the other way, that a father doesn't actually teach something academic does not mean he is not involved. So I guess we could define "involved."

 

In our home, Mr. Ellie left the house every day to go to work to support our family so I could stay home and be the mother. We believed it was important for me to be home, and it would have been that way whether we had homeschooled or not.

 

And since he left the house every day to go to work (the first five years we hsed, he was leaving the house at 4:30 a.m., walking in the front door at 4:30 p.m., bless his heart), there was no way I would have expected him to be able to do any academic teaching. Even if his day had not started so early, I don't know how it would have worked for him to teach something; I mean, by that time of day we're thinking about supper and a few evening activities like church or, later, 4-H meetings and whatnot, and the dc were in bed by 7:30 or 8.

 

Mr. Ellie was a very involved father; his involvement was just different from mine, as it would be in any family, whether they were homeschooling or not. He was a marching band assistant director for dd's little band, and went on tour with them one summer. He was on the board for the Northern California Highland Dance Association when dd was a Highland dancer. He happily spent a week of his vacation visiting all 21 California missions and the State capital. He tolerated a kitchen table that looked like an explosion in a paper factory. He never complained when dinner wasn't served on Thursdays (our field trip day). And he trusted me to do whatever it was I thought that needed to be done.

 

So, was he "involved"? You bet. Did he teach? Yes, all the time...just nothing academic.

 

I think I'll keep him. We celebrate our 37th anniversary on Nov. 23. :001_wub:

[LaxMom]

He was just doing math with the boys, but then he ran out the back door with the wood basket. I'm not sure if we needed more wood for the stove or if he went out there to scream. :lol:

 

We split it about 50/50. However... no one here works a regular day job. He's a firefighter/paramedic and works every fourth day. I work early mornings, part time. So we're both here most of the time and are both equally involved in all household/family things. If he went to work every day, I'm sure our daily flow would look very different. When I commuted/traveled a lot for work, it looked very different. Schedules and his inexplicable refusal to lactate notwithstanding, we're pretty interchangeable.

Edited November 18, 2011 by MyCrazyHouse

[Ewe Mama]

Other than footing the bill for books and curriculum, dh doesn't have anything to do with the actual schooling of the children. I wish he would, but he isn't really supportive of home schooling. He just goes along with it because he knows how important it is to me.

[ChristyB in TN]

We started homeschooling in 1999 or 2000 and at that time, I was staying home with the kids and he was working 70 hours a week. This schedule, even though I work outside the home now, too, sort of set the precedent for our family. I taught or at least managed all the subjects and when we all read a book, he read it, too. If it was a classic or at least something we could all read (appropriate, etc) I would get a copy from the library for everyone in the family and we would set a deadline to have it read. This made dinner table conversation so much fun. Now I have one at college, one homeschooling her last year of high school and one in middle school in private school. We pass the books around. My home schooling daughter and her father now trade books back and forth every week. Reading the same books makes us a closer family. Having John active in all of this has made a HUGE difference!

[Wyndie]

I choose and pay for all school materials. Before he was unemployed, he had nothing to do with schooling. Now that he is unemployed, he is generous to let me run off and meet with girlfriends for coffee and if school is not done by the time I want to run off, he will finish up school for me. I DO have to lay out all worksheets, make copies and tell him exactly what is supposed to be done, but generally he does ok when he is on his own.

 

For example, today I am going to meet a friend at lunch. I am spending my morning (once I get done here) putting the final touches on a dress I have been making for my youngest. There will be no time for school before I go and he is prepared to do it all when I leave.

 

I'm going to miss that when he gets a job. :lol:

[TravelingChris]

I put other. First of all, like a lot of posters, his paycheck and benefits enable us to homeschool. His schedule precludes him from going to hardly any activities that she does on a regular basis and even the ones she does occasionally. It just works out that way. For example, if her music recital had been last week or next week, he could have come. But, of course, her music recital will be when he is overseas.

 

I also put other because while he doesn't teach any classes, he helps with math (not now, but again in a few years when we get to trig again:001_huh:) and he helps with science too. This year, dd is doing conceptual physics which she is good at usually and I am adequate at. But, if there are any questions that I don't know the answer- and there are at times, he, Phd physicist that he is, does answer them. He can do that even when he is overseas so he basically is the supervisor of sciences. Also, he doesn't mid editing so anything beyond spelling,where I am much better at it, or punctuation and basic phrasing, he takes over.

[UnsinkableKristen]

I don't think parenting and homeschooling are synonymous, though. My husband is a fantastic parent...very much involved in the lives of his kids. They occasionally discuss school-related issues, but frankly, his stressful job has him out of the house for the entire time we are actively homeschooling. The kids know they can ask him questions and talk to him about all manner of subjects...and he makes lots of time for them on the weekends, when we are not schooling. Does this mean he doesn't co-parent? Absolutely not. It means we don't co-homeschool. We are both completely satisfied with this arrangement. He does his job and I do mine.

 

:iagree: (Emphasis mine)

[GailV]

He's in charge of Kinetic Physics, Principles of Physics. His background is in ChemE -- not a physics person at all -- but he likes how it's stretching his brain.

 

Okay, let's edit that -- someone else teaches the course at co-op, but he's the at-home tutor that bounces around ideas with dd.

[nukeswife]

my dh is military so he is gone a lot. I generally teach everything, but when he's home on leave he jumps in and helps out. I usually let him teach whatever he wants when he's around.

[Outdoorsy Type]

He listens to 7yo reading, goes on field trip activities, and helps out with the quizzes we do in the car.

[Plucky]

I put that he is involved in activities etc. My dh helps with science experiments. He loves dissection and so he always helps with that. He is involved in scouts, and most of the kids activities, and he travels a lot. I prefer my dh not do any real teaching or homeschooling. It is easier if I am in charge of it.

[lllll]

..

[MsAlimar]

He teaches one subject and oversees a couple more one day a week while I am at Bible study (that is the reason we chose that day for him to telecommute from home). The rest of the time he is my sounding board and substitute teacher when I am sick. If we have had a difficult day I may save science for him to teach in the evening or on the weekend.

[TheApprentice]

His involvement is not arguing with any curriculum choices I make, and not have a problem spending the money for them.:001_smile:

[Guest]

See, I don't think that actually teaching something = involvement. To put it the other way, that a father doesn't actually teach something academic does not mean he is not involved. So I guess we could define "involved."

 

In our home, Mr. Ellie left the house every day to go to work to support our family so I could stay home and be the mother. We believed it was important for me to be home, and it would have been that way whether we had homeschooled or not.

 

And since he left the house every day to go to work (the first five years we hsed, he was leaving the house at 4:30 a.m., walking in the front door at 4:30 p.m., bless his heart), there was no way I would have expected him to be able to do any academic teaching. Even if his day had not started so early, I don't know how it would have worked for him to teach something; I mean, by that time of day we're thinking about supper and a few evening activities like church or, later, 4-H meetings and whatnot, and the dc were in bed by 7:30 or 8.

 

Mr. Ellie was a very involved father; his involvement was just different from mine, as it would be in any family, whether they were homeschooling or not. He was a marching band assistant director for dd's little band, and went on tour with them one summer. He was on the board for the Northern California Highland Dance Association when dd was a Highland dancer. He happily spent a week of his vacation visiting all 21 California missions and the State capital. He tolerated a kitchen table that looked like an explosion in a paper factory. He never complained when dinner wasn't served on Thursdays (our field trip day). And he trusted me to do whatever it was I thought that needed to be done.

 

So, was he "involved"? You bet. Did he teach? Yes, all the time...just nothing academic.

 

I think I'll keep him. We celebrate our 37th anniversary on Nov. 23. :001_wub:

 

Happy Anniversary!

 

I agree with all that Ellie has posted here and in our family it is very similar. I think my dh is a great daddy to my kiddos - very hands on with them. As far as homeschooling goes, he will endure endless conversations with me (and I'm guessing he could probably tell someone else the curriculum we use in a serious setting), BUT he does not dictate what we do. I know other families where the husband has to read through everything to make sure he's comfortable with the material. DH does leave that to me, and sometimes we'll discuss certain issues. I think we have a great set-up.

[reign]

He is going to help me figure out a spelling program. He teaches on one of his days off so I can take the younger two to a gym class. He helps me with Spanish because he can converse in it and I am just learning but he doesn't "teach" it daily I do.

[QuirkyKapers]

He will wrap up whatever the kids are still working on in if they haven't finished by the time he is home. This doesn't happen to often. About once or twice a week he will read with the kids.

[Audrey]

Our arrangements didn't quite fit in your poll choices. Dh teaches all subjects at least one, if not two days per week. I teach all subjects all other days.