Homeschooling? How involved is your husband? July 14, 2009
Posted by Karen Joy in Family, Homeschooling, The Dear Hubby.15 comments
Obviously, this is directed at homeschooling moms. 
A blogger I regularly read linked to a post that referred to another post (follow that??) roughly covering the topic of the support (or lack of it) of Dads who are the heads of homeschooling families.
In the past, I have read with interest about other homeschooling families where the Dads regularly do math with their kids over the weekends, or do the prescribed read-aloud before bed, or have some other direct involvement in the kids’ education. But, that has never been our family’s modus operandi, and frankly, I’m happy with that.
My husband is very supportive of me homeschooling, and has been my greatest encouragement and defender plus the supplier of funds. But it’s still “my thing” in the sense that he is not directly involved in the kids’ education. It even annoys him when I correct grammar at the dinner table. To me, learning is lifelong/daylong, and to him, school stuff is done during school time. However, if that’s our biggest conflict, I think we’re doing well as a homeschooling family!! And, actually, I’m OK with his apparent uninvolvement, because there have been things that he’s been interested in having a say in (dating back to my bridesmaids’ dresses!!) where I’d prefer to make the decision on my own.
It’s important to me to be trusted, greatest of all by my husband, and the fact he implicitly trusts my homeschooling decisions (because he’s been very pleased with results) is a huge pat on the back for me. That’s the kind of involvement that’s valuable to me, way more than him reading to the kids, or doing math with them, or whatever.
So, how is your husband involved (or not)? Are you satisfied with that, or is it a point of contention? How do you handle (or how have you handled) asking him to “step up”? Has it been successful? Are there things he’s asked you to do regarding homeschooling — maybe curriculum choices, technique, emphases, etc. — that has been hard for you to implement?
Feel free to comment below — even if it’s really long!! I enjoy long comments — or just post on your own blog and link back so I can read your thoughts!
