I'm a homeschooling dad, and I pastor three churches. My wife also pastors a church. We live at the parsonage right next to her church. And we're blessed to have the church office right here in the parsonage, so that we can work out of the home.

My work with the churches gives me many opportunities and much flexibility in homeschooling. Our oldest, Paul (13), has been homeschooling for 3 years now, using the Alpha-Omega Switched-On Schoolhouse Curriculum.

(Our other two children, Cesara--11, and Killian--9, attend First Baptist School in Caldwell.)

Both Pam and I have a classical/Christian/Western liberal-arts education from the University of Dallas, so we are big believers in having Paul read the great books. I've set up a reading list for him. I use the Alpha-Omega sort of as a content-based format and I weave it all together, using the great books.

For instance, this year, he's studying American History. So, for his literature/language arts, I have him doing the Alpha-Omega American Lit.
Elective (which really is a high-school-level survey course), and I have him reading the great works of American Literature, including the founding documents, Gettysburg Address, biographies of Jefferson, Lincoln, Crazy Horse, Truman, etc. We also sit down and watch videos, such as Kenneth Burns' The Civil War. Paul's also read Huckleberry Finn, Johnny Tremain, Killer Angels, etc.

I then assign "out-of-class" and "in-class" essay projects to both test his comprehension and to develop his writing and rhetorical skills.

Last, I've devised a Latin curriculum for Paul, based on the Henley books. It really hones him in grammar, logic, history, and the culture behind our civilization. Sometimes he grumbles about the Latin, but deep down he really appreciates the challenge it offers and the benefits he reaps from it.

Either Pam or I are here most all of the time, so she and I take turns checking Paul's work, counseling him, or actually teaching him. We're very
blessed that he's such a self-paced learner. That's why this kind of homeschooling arrangement has worked so well for him.

As for a division of labor, Pam generally works with Paul on Piano, Drama/Theatre, Math, and Science; me with Literature, History, Latin, and
Composition; and both of us tag-team on Bible. But given that Paul is such a self-paced learner, he hardly taxes us in the midst of our work.

Hope this answers some of your request for information about the role of this homeschool dad!

In Christ—Randy

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Greetings,

I ran across a post where you are looking for stay at home homeschooling dad stories. I sort of qualify but not exactly. Here is the condensed
version.

Do to a financial catch 22 I went from a workaholic doctor of chiropractic with around 10 years of college to a stay at home dad. My wife was happy to be a stay at home mom. Our son had a stroke at 1 month of age and the million in bills wiped us out. The owner of the clinic I was working for had defrauded the IRS and dropped health insurance coverage on the employees a week before this happened so none of it was insured. Then I was in the situation where to get my son his therapy, I had to pay for it myself at a cost of a couple of thousand dollars a week which is more than I had ever earned; or, I could be poor and the cost was picked up by state programs. Poor won. Even if I had gotten a new job with health insurance my son has a serious "pre-existing" condition that would not be covered.  Eventually my wife went back to work in her maiden name. She works and I stay home now. She has accused me of stealing her life of a stay at home mom. Other lifestyle things just sort of occurred. She gets any child injuries that can be fixed with a hug. I get the ones that have blood or if there is triage about going to the emergency room or not.

I cook, clean, do laundry, sew, homeschool and the majority of discipline.  Currently I teach 4-year-old preschool, 7 yr old second grader and 11 year old 5th grader. In general we use the Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks as the daily part of the teaching. They are supposed to do 4-5 worksheets a day. This is supplemented with reading, math, handwriting and chores. We are active in the Society for Creative Anachronisms  www.SCA.org/   This adds weekends doing medieval reenacting, costuming, music, socializing and projects that are part of our homeschooling hours.

Everyone gets computer time to do web searches when there is a question they can't answer. We have a G-3 Macintosh with DSL line. 4 yr old daughter has phonics down rather well, can write the alphabet and knows the letter sounds, can read basic words. Online she goes to her favorite websites whenever I am off the computer. 7-year-old son has had motivation to learn math and reading so he can play D&D games on the computer. He did 400+ pages of the workbook already and we are planning on a boat-building project for the spring. That should put a lot of math and measuring into real life. 11yr old daughter was doing work ahead of schedule last year but this year puberty seems to be kicking in. Someone has uninstalled her brain. Last year she was doing long division problems correctly and this year she can't even add. Arggggggggggg!!!!!! I am learning patience and anger management.

My own background was heavy on sciences and math. It is amazing how much I have forgotten about history and social studies. Helping the kids jogs my own dormant brain cells or I have to look stuff up. On the other hand, when the kids ask some questions on other topics I am sure they are hearing much more than they wanted to know.  I grew up Baptist, on a farm, politically right wing, Viet Nam era veteran, worked at John Deere for 14 years while in college becoming a doctor. Once in a while I end up telling the kids the workbook is wrong when it comes to environmental, political and some social issues.

This is about half the story. It gets stranger from here.

Doc Font

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Whose idea was it to home school?   

It was my wife. We went to a parenting class together and the teachers were homeschooling their daughters in junior high.  My wife asked them "why in the world would anyone want to homeschool?"  They simply replied, "If you really want to know, read about what is happening in the
schools today."  Well, prior to this my wife had slept outside the school in January (in the cold and rain) to be one of the first to enroll our boys into the 8 am Kindergarten class.  School was the only option...

In the meantime, she took their challenge and began reading everything she could find about homeschooling, our school system, what they are teaching, what they are not teaching.  By the time they were supposed to start K in August we never enrolled them...

My response was supportive except, I was very concerned about socialization.  In the back of my head I though we would put them in school for first grade.  I remember growing up with the same friends throughout most my life.  I was concerned about their lack of friends.  My wife quickly introduced me to families with dads of similar concerns.  I came to find out that it was a common misconception. My kids have lotsof friends that they see on a regular basis.  What I see most is how well they socialize with people of all different ages.

What convinced me that this is the way for us to go?

My wife got involved in several home school support groups and took the kids to about 15 field trips last year.  She has also joined a charter, which has given us access to so many resources.  She set up a room for them with educational games, math, la, science, art and music supplemental material that we would normally not have access to.  Over the past year and a half, I have seen my kids grow and develop in language and overall communications.  They are always learning and are not afraid to ask questions.  This is our second year schooling and are beyond where they would have been had we not schooled them.  Our attitude is one year at a time as long as it works.

My wife signed us up for the YMCA Indian guides.  This has been a great experience because it gets us to do things like camping with dad (something I've never liked to do) and regular monthly outings just with the boys.  They love it because I'm always working & traveling.  So its really good quality time and it gives mom a break.

My advice to the dads is be supportive and do what you can.  There is so much available now that homeschooling is really a privilege.

Lee

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