[Rivka5]

We are planning to homeschool starting in K. Right now our thought is that my husband and I will both work three days a week- we'll use childcare for one day, and then alternate who is home the rest of the week.

Has anyone else done something like this? Just about everything I've come across assumes that one person - almost always the mother - organizes everything, does the day-to-day work, and ensures continuity. It's important to us that we *both* do this, but I do wonder how to handle planning and communication and coordination.

 

[HillbillyJohn]

I do most of the work but DH does do fun, hands on stuff. He is really into the field trips. He is also a coin collector and my DD is doing a project on the state quarters so they work on that together. For math with my youngest, DH is also really hands on and they play poker together. My youngest is really good and if he wins, has to put all the chips away and count them out. My husband doesn't even realize he is doing a lot of schoolwork with the kids. He thinks they just go to the park and play Texas Hold 'em. I hope that made sense.

 

[Momma Aimee]

two thoughts

1. i do KNOW a family IRL who does this -- however...the father ONLY (LOL) teaches middle school and high school leveld math and econ ... and they do use a "boxed" curr .. grated it is actually 3 put together .. and grated he chose it himeslf over the years (their oldest is graduating from HS this year and their youngest is 3 and she is preggo again)

2. I would THINK it would be best to have one planner and the other simply as teacher. now granted both should have imput and be in agreement about the resources, the boxed curr or what you are going to use in place of one. but on a day to day basis ie: "the golas for this week are ______ and here are materals to help meet that goal" i would think ONE plananer would jsut be so much more functional.

3. I would think -- if you are going to team teach, going back and forth on days of the week or week by week, that a boxed set curruilum would be the best option. even if you take it at your own pace (Which of course, you SHOULD

) haveing something set for you both to work from ... since no matter how much you agree .. you are still not one mind thinking though it and knowing what the other is thinking and doing.

4. i would think a work accomplished jornal or something would be vital -- not jsut what done but how well and how it was done. Aswould a set seperation of the load -- ie Dad always does spelling or whatever .... also i would think you would need to plan to have time ALONE to really discuss things ...

5. i would expect the reacdftion to be differnt to mom and to dad at school time.

Aimee

 

[chfriend]

dp and I both work with the kids (who are only 8 and 4). We also both work outside the home.

What we do looks a lot like unschooling, so it's a matter of responding the the kid in front of you.

 

[joensally]

DS does rotating shifts, I work the equivalent of 4 days around that (mostly from home). A relative has DS one day per week.

I divide HSing into two types of tasks - planning/preparing and facilitating. I do all of the planning/preparing, DH does a share of the facilitating. He enjoys math so he tends to do that the most.

We're using the box system (name's escaping me) that I learned about in a thread here. I have a three drawer plastic chest that fits on the desk. Each drawer holds up to two activities (ie math work book and science experiment instructions). Then daily activities are piano practice, hand exercises and printing practice.

I set goals for the next "while," then place a reasonable amount of work in each drawer most evenings for the next day. This works really well as it means DH knows what is a reasonable amount, and DS is able to work on his own planning/getting it done skills.

Honestly, we're becoming so much more unschooly, experience-based that there's a lot less paper work happening. That's in large part due to the way our kid learns.

 

[UUMom]

Yes. He does all of the weekend running around and 95% of the night running around. He is also the most patient. He's with our schooled teen on an interstate bus trip right now as well. We're not the purest of unschoolers, but he is also the one to pull out math books if the chiclren have a question (or, in the case of our oldest dd, he's the one who did the bulk of the work when she was doing formal Algebra), and he is the one who will play Scrabble for a million years etc.

 

[Marimami]

Well, DD is only 4.5 and we are more unschooling types so take my response for what it's worth.

DH is a SAHD and I work full-time a telecommuter for a large corporation. I'm pretty tied to my schedule but the bulk of my co-workers are in different time zones. It gives me some flexibility. But, without a doubt DH is her primary caregiver.

I get a bunch of activities organized that I think they might enjoy and put them into different categorical boxes. But, none of them are things they have to do. It's more just some things I found that I think they might enjoy if they need some ideas. It lets me feel like I'm contributing to their days and it helps feed my natural planning/organizing tendencies without giving way to being overly controlling.

Otherwise, I'd say learning was organic around here. DH is inherently interested in things that I am not, and vice versa. For example, DH loves making up number games so they are always talking about numbers and math with each other. But, I'm all about language so she and I play word games, talk about language, she comes to me for spelling, etc. I am more drawn to arts/crafts, but DH likes gardening and cooking, etc. I like biology; he likes physics. I like to swim; he likes to take walks, etc...

Basically, our interests define the types of things we naturally talk to her about. So, I just expect her learning to evolve from there as she develops more of her own interests, we'll do whatever we can to foster them. For example, she loves horseback riding so a lot of our learning as a family right now is all about different aspects of that.

But, it's extremely unlikely that any of us would ever be happy/satisfied sitting down with a curriculum or doing any structured schooling at home. DD is a perfectionist who gets frustrated if she does not understand something she thinks she should, and DH and I approach instruction so completely differently that we would be equally frustrated with the way the other was doing it if we were trying to do anything formal. At my worst, I am a control freak and I would hate to be in a position where I was telling DH what he had to do with her daily. At his worst, he is passive aggressive and would resent me telling him what to do but instead of telling me that would have 1000 reasons why they never accomplished what they were supposed to do. It would be a complete failure for our family.

Wow. That felt good to write down. I knew in my heart why a structured approach would not work for us, but I am now finally able to verbalize it. I need to have DH read this thread.

Holli

 

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

We do

Our kids are 7 and 5 and we share homeschooling. It's not 50/50, but that will change over time. My husband simply doesn't have the patience to teach reading, and since that is such a big part of the early years, I do more of the hands-on work right now.

Our 'jobs' are:
Me - yearly planning (what curriculum, what to buy, etc), school schedule (when things should be done and what order things are done - big picture, not the micro-management of "phonics at 9:45 and science at 10:15" stuff), reading/phonics/language arts, handwriting, social studies
DH - math, phys ed, science
He's also the fill-in - whatever isn't done, I tell him about and he finishes it up.

I'll probably take over science or math soon and give up language arts. The variety is nice

We look at our strong points, look at the stuff to be covered and split it up so that it suits both of us.

 

[2bluefish]

Our intention is to have dh teach upper level math. Maybe he can teach me too! That's the extent of our plans to have him help though.

 

[Whistler]

Hubby says he would like to be involved as much as he can although he works full time and I am a SAHM. He is excited to do hands-on stuff with the kids, especially. He already does violin with DD in the evenings and they love to bake together. He also has plans to get a circuit kit from Radio Shack to play with.

 

[Stacey B]

Since we view our "homeschooling" as an extension of our parenting and our parenting as an extension of how we are as people we both put in equal time and effort (currently we are in the preschool part of life). Logistically we have been able to share equally until recently because of my job cutting hours and dh taking more. Our ideal is for ech of us to work 30 hrs a week at home and away (dh is an acupuncturist and I am a writer). So for now I take on the bulk of the responsiblity.

I understand in some perspectives discussing what a family is doing with their 2.5 might not be viewed as homeschooling, but since we have no intention of sending him to school the begining of his "schooling" was at birth.