Dad in the Home-School Classroom

A homeschooling mom can quickly becomesomeone to the funny farm! You've probably already
overwhelmed with the endless task list of teaching afigured out that you can't do this alone. This is why I
child at home. Finding new homeschool curriculum,suggest tossin' a lasso around Dad and recruiting him
determining what subjects to teach and when to teachinto the homeschool classroom as much as possible.
them, the actual implementation of the curriculum,Of course, you must first have a WILLING dad or you
reading and explaining directions to young ones,could end up with more work than what you started
checking papers, keeping records, updating the schoolwith.
planner, getting supplies for the hands-on projects,Assuming you have Dad ready, willing and able, you
scheduling the experiments and supervising them,can then begin to turn over some of the task list to
running back and forth to sports practice and musichim. With his assistance, you'll eventually begin to come
lessons... and the list goes on. This is just a smallup for air. Here's a short list of classroom helps that
sampling of homeschooling related demands for mom.Dad can do that will both (1) take some burden off
Since these tasks are "school" related, they don't evenyour plate, and (2) not overwhelm him and his
begin to scratch the surface of the "total" householdschedule:
management necessities clamoring at mom on a- Field Trips - Dads LOVE this one!
never ending basis... laundry, groceries, preparing meals,- Science Experiments - Another Dad favorite!
dusting, vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing toilets, paying- Taxi Dad - An extremely EASY way to help mom.
the bills, balancing the checkbook, weeding the garden,- Read Alouds - An excellent way to foster a loving
bathing children, picking up toys, changing diapers, andfamily environment.
so on and so on.- General and/or Random Questions - Even via a cell
Taking a few minutes to overview the real scope andphone, Dad can relieve pressure off Mom's shoulders
sequence of the full spectrum of mom's role in theby being the go-to-guy for random Encyclopedic fact
homeschool classroom and household could drivequestions.