Homeschooling

[choose_to_love]

Hey all you homeschoolers: how much “teaching” does the spouse that does not stay home, i.e., the one whose job is outside the home, do in your homeschooling experience?

We are trying to balance it for the upcoming year, and it seems like there are three full-time jobs: the job for money, running/keeping the house, and teaching. It also seems obvious that there must be a substantial division of labor in running/keeping the house - - the non-empliyed spouse cannot be responsible for all cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. if that spouse is to teach full-time. How much does the homeschooling get divided the way you do it?

I have tried to word the inquiry generically, but in our case I am the dad and work outside the home, while my bride stays home and is the primary homeschooler. We are trying to divvy up homeschooling but not sure how that is going to work, so I am looking for ideas. We are considering, by way of example, that I would take over some of the subjects that are not every day (side note: we have four kids, three school age, two going into basically third grade, one starting the kindergarten curriculum, and a two year old) and teach those on Saturday a.m. I think I could work my schedule so that I could do an early morning class as well.

 

[SonCatcher]

I had a very similar question a few weeks ago. Feel free to peruse that thread for some ideas. I hope some new ideas develop in this thread, as well.

 

[Moore11]

Hey all you homeschoolers: how much “teaching” does the spouse that does not stay home, i.e., the one whose job is outside the home, do in your homeschooling experience?

We are trying to balance it for the upcoming year, and it seems like there are three full-time jobs: the job for money, running/keeping the house, and teaching. It also seems obvious that there must be a substantial division of labor in running/keeping the house - - the non-empliyed spouse cannot be responsible for all cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. if that spouse is to teach full-time. How much does the homeschooling get divided the way you do it?

I have tried to word the inquiry generically, but in our case I am the dad and work outside the home, while my bride stays home and is the primary homeschooler. We are trying to divvy up homeschooling but not sure how that is going to work, so I am looking for ideas. We are considering, by way of example, that I would take over some of the subjects that are not every day (side note: we have four kids, three school age, two going into basically third grade, one starting the kindergarten curriculum, and a two year old) and teach those on Saturday a.m. I think I could work my schedule so that I could do an early morning class as well.

My wife is the working one and she is a scientist so we mix it up a little.
I teach all the “book” stuff, follow the curriculum and keep the kids on task. She is in charge of projects or experiments or educational trips. This works very well for us but we have to keep in good communication so she knows what I am teaching and how she can supplement with a project so it blends together.

 

[homeschoolSAHD]

I chose curricula that my second grader can do herself which also eliminates lesson planning. She pretty much goes to her desk and comes out and asks a question if she has one. I have a list of subjects for each day that’s the same each week and she does the next lessons for those subjects on the list for that day.

Our kindergartener needs a little more supervision, but not much. I mainly just have to keep her moving along from one subject to the next or she’ll eventually be doing something else. Her desk is in the living room so I can watch her while I watch the 3 year old and 3 month old.

The only exception is our phonics program for reading. I wanted to sit there and hear them read to make sure they are pronouncing everything correctly.

For household chores, my wife and I divide it up. I prep dinner in the morning while I have the energy. We use the slow cooker at least two or three times a week.

 

[Mommyof02green]

I do ALL the the schooling. My husband doesn’t contribute to that at all. I also am responsible for the house work. Now that isn’t to say my husband doesn’t do any housework he does daily: trash removal and feeding the animals. He does outside housework (lawn care) as needed. In addition he MAY at times wash a sink full of dishes, or fold a load of laundry.

When it comes to the household chores I see my role more as manager and assign chores to the kids based on their age and skill set. I then make sure they do their assigned chores. I also do chores and work along side with them. In the mornings and again in the afternoon we work on the house work. As I work, I assign jobs to them, so that we are all are working. The house can be straighten up and clean within hour doing this. It takes about 45 minutes in the morning, and another 15 minutes in the afternoon. The afternoon is done shortly before my hubby is due home that way the house looks a little bit more put together, and tidy, for when he comes home.

So do all of the teaching. And when it comes to the chores I’m more of a manager and assign things to THE CHILDREN. I don’t assign things to my husband. I’m not my husband’s manager, but I can and do assign things to the children.

My children are 10/11 and they do things like: laundry (wash/fold/dry), mopping, scrubbing toilets, vacuuming, dusting, dishes. They basically can do any chore that needs to be done around the house. I only chore I don’t assign them is scrubbing the tub/shower. This is because they are older.

When they were younger is was things like just folding laundry, just putting dishes away, just vacuuming (once they were strong/tall enough to push the vacuum). etc.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Hey all you homeschoolers: how much “teaching” does the spouse that does not stay home, i.e., the one whose job is outside the home, do in your homeschooling experience?

We are trying to balance it for the upcoming year, and it seems like there are three full-time jobs: the job for money, running/keeping the house, and teaching. It also seems obvious that there must be a substantial division of labor in running/keeping the house - - the non-empliyed spouse cannot be responsible for all cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. if that spouse is to teach full-time. How much does the homeschooling get divided the way you do it?

I have tried to word the inquiry generically, but in our case I am the dad and work outside the home, while my bride stays home and is the primary homeschooler. We are trying to divvy up homeschooling but not sure how that is going to work, so I am looking for ideas. We are considering, by way of example, that I would take over some of the subjects that are not every day (side note: we have four kids, three school age, two going into basically third grade, one starting the kindergarten curriculum, and a two year old) and teach those on Saturday a.m. I think I could work my schedule so that I could do an early morning class as well.

Are you thinking of homeschooling as “school at home?” The actual daily learning process should not take all day. So much time is wasted in an average school day, just getting ready to learn, getting from one location to another, etc. that homeschoolers can achieve the same or even more, in half the time at most. Your K child will need more play than teaching. The 3rd graders need more book time, but still nothing like a 7 hour school day. There should be plenty of time for other activities such as music lessons, sports, chores, volunteering, etc. and no need for you to teach unless you feel called to do so. If you want to take them on science expeditions on Saturday, do that, but don’t stress out over it.

 

[Moore11]

Are you thinking of homeschooling as “school at home?” The actual daily learning process should not take all day. So much time is wasted in an average school day, just getting ready to learn, getting from one location to another, etc. that homeschoolers can achieve the same or even more, in half the time at most. Your K child will need more play than teaching. The 3rd graders need more book time, but still nothing like a 7 hour school day. There should be plenty of time for other activities such as music lessons, sports, chores, volunteering, etc. and no need for you to teach unless you feel called to do so. If you want to take them on science expeditions on Saturday, do that, but don’t stress out over it.

This is true.
First grade for us rarely took more than 2 or 3 hours a day. And K is a joke but we do it so that if we ever have to put our child in school they can jump right in. However my 5 year old sat in on most of my second grader’s schooling and while she is not at a end of first grade level she easily could go into first grade. K is very basic. Letters, colors, counting. We use a program that is a charter school so the school buys all the curriculum (except religious) and gives you all the state testing. If we follow this program k-12 they would have an actual state high school diploma. But we probably will break off about 4th grade and go the classical rout. Each Child and family are different so dont worry if you dont see your situation in all of these posts.

 

[gardenswithkids]

Are you thinking of homeschooling as “school at home?” The actual daily learning process should not take all day. So much time is wasted in an average school day, just getting ready to learn, getting from one location to another, etc. that homeschoolers can achieve the same or even more, in half the time at most. Your K child will need more play than teaching. The 3rd graders need more book time, but still nothing like a 7 hour school day. There should be plenty of time for other activities such as music lessons, sports, chores, volunteering, etc. and no need for you to teach unless you feel called to do so. If you want to take them on science expeditions on Saturday, do that, but don’t stress out over it.

He might not be stressing over it, but his wife might be. The fact remains that his wife will have four children in their home during the day to care for and teach. Trying to run a home that’s a school can get stressful, (particularly if their standards for “clean” are very high.) It’s far easier to house clean when all the kids are away at school. As the children grow old enough to help more with chores, the amount of school work and teaching also increases. If the op feels called to help teach his children, (and correct their papers) that really might be helpful to his family.

I know a homeschool family where the dad teaches the high school math class before leaving for work. That dad had a PhD in a math related field. When I’ve seen non-stay-at-home spouses contributes to homeschooling, it usually relates to that parent’s interest, career or talent.

I’ve also heard of homeschoolers hiring household help,. Hiring a maid to come clean once a week is usually far cheaper than private school tuition. If they can afford it, it might be worth trying. Otherwise, the op sounds very willing to help and I’m sure that his wife would appreciate the offer, especially if she’s worried about how she’s going to manage both homeschooling and maintaining a home.

 

[choose_to_love]

Thanks everybody!

We have been homeskooling (hee hee) since the older two were in kindergarten. We take a Laura Berquist/Charlotte Mason/Mother of Divine Grace approach. I understand that is seen as more work for the parents than some of the other approaches. We have never experienced the “set them up with the book and they can do it themselves” school day, as someone always needs help, has questions, etc. Of course now the older ones can read the instructions themselves. Narration is also a big part of the reading curriculum, and that takes time too, in our experience.

@homeschoolSAHD, moore, and realJuli: yeah, our experience is that the early grades also take a lot of the day, between questions, narration, etc. K is much shorter, but my bride is concerned about getting to put her full attention on the K student when the others have questions, toddler needs attention, etc.

@gardens: a happy wife is a happy life, right? Yes, we are concerned about the schedule, and she does like a clean house. As the oldest get older, they certainly have been able to do more, and we have chore charts and the like. We also like to get out and about at intervals during the day - - I think it is good for all but essential for boys. they regularly go to our local creek, swimming in the summer, just nature observation during the other months

@mommyof02green: and is that working for you guys, i.e., you doing all of what you do? Would you like any change?

@soncatcher: Thanks for the link!

We usually do some catechism at breakfast, read a story about the saint of the day at one meal or the other, and often they get to daily Mass. It is hysterical to hear the two year old respond to the catechism questions: who made you? “God made me!”

The oldest read like champs, the older three know some prayers in Latin & can lead a decade of the family rosary in Latin (again, really cute to hear the five year old!), are at or above where they are supposed to be with math, but it always seems like there are good programs for science/music/history/art etc. which take up a lot of the day. We tried to use some Seton for science last year, for the reasons some of you have mentioned - - preplanned, scripted almost lessons, but that wasn’t so great. My bride was a public school bio and chem teacher before the troops, so it’s not like she is unfamiliar with lesson planning and organization.