Carnival of Homeschooling #399. My reflections on being a Home School Dad.

Hello and welcome in to the Carnival of Homeschooling #399.  This year is a kind of Home School sabbatical for our family.  I am starting a full time job next month, and my wife will continue to work outside the house for what we hope is one more year.  Our 6th grader and 2nd grader will be attending public school this year, and our 9th grader will continue her studies at home through an on-line curriculum.  I have hosted this carnival 1/2 dozen or so times over the last 5 years and have been a regular contributor and reader of the carnival as well.  In between posts today, I plan to share some thoughts on my time as a Home School Dad.

Before I begin I'd like to thank all of those participating in today's carnival, especially those who sent encouraging notes to me with their submissions. I'd like to thank 4 contributors by name for their special encouragement. I will do so by kicking off this carnival with their submissions.

Andrea Hermitt of Notes from a Homeschooled Mom wrote her post especially for my final carnival.  I hope you all enjoy her piece, When Homeschooling Ends, as much as I did.

Cristina Ramos-Payne of Home School Juggling has been a friend of my blog since the beginning. She actually gave me the choice of two of her fine posts for this edition.  I chose In Every Life, A Little Chaos Must Reign.

I'd also like to thank Susan Gaissert of The Expanding Life, who while no longer blogging, offered me to raid the pantry of her archives.  I hope you enjoy The Difference Between Knowing and Learning.

No list of shout outs is complete without including the fabulous Henry Cate.  Why Homeschool
and the work he does behind the scenes at COH have made my time in the homeschooling blog-o-sphere that much more rewarding.  This week he checks in with his second daughters perspective, From the trenches - the last year of homeschooling.

Our family has been home schooling for somewhere between 9 and 14 years depending on what the meaning of the word is is.  Just kidding, with the Clinton reference. Sometimes I count our home schooling experience from when Bunny Girl went to  1/2 day Kindergarten and Amy taught her and Spider Droid when she got home.  This is often when Amy reminds me that she started homeschooling BG  when she was 2 and said you two (Amy and me) are always reading, and I want to read too.  So they started "playing school" every day, while I was at work.  This is usually when I remind Amy that the Homeschooloing probably started in earnest prenatally, when I started reading Chronicles of Narnia to BG in the womb.

Whichever  number you want to choose as a starting point, we have been at it a while. The following 3 posts all have a number in their title . . .

Kris of Weird Unsocialized Home Schoolers presents 10 Clues That You Might Be a Homeschool Kid.

Janet Golovine presents 25 Blogs with Preschool Lessons You Can Teach at Home posted at Become A Nanny.

Julie Gilbert of Homeschooling Ideas shares 5 Things to stop doing in your homeschool. She says
it is time to take note of those things and cross them off your list.

I started actively participating in homeschooling, when I went to a 4 day 10 hour week at work.  I was basically the field trip and errand guy while Amy was working a part time job.  But I did some of the teaching even though thc kids were much younger.  A few years later in 2008, I lost my job about  a month before school was supposed to start.  We had already picked out the curriculum.  Amy  and I decided to both look for work and see who could get hired faster.  I got let go on a Friday, and Amy was hired the next Monday before I even started looking.  We decided that I would home school for a few years, and then we would switch.  The few years turned out to be five. 

Elena talks about The Ordinary Homeschooler at My Domestic Church.

Deana, at the Frugal Homeschooling Mom, is collecting reviews of affordable field trip locations nationwide.  Here is an example of her section Frugal Field Trips.    She is looking for guest posters.

Speaking of travelling, Jodi Whisenhunt presents Disneyland Paris: Big Thunder Mountain posted at Magical Mouse Schoolhouse.

Homeschooling my kids as a Dad, put me in a unique position even among homeschoolers who are in a unique position already. When you tell someone you are a home schooling Dad, that usually tells people what your wife's occupation is, not yours.  It was kind of hard for people to wrap their mind around a teaching Dad.  

Annie Kate talks about the joys of having time to learn along with her children in What Are You Learning This Year? 6 Tips for Moms at Tea Time with Annie Kate.

Laura Grace Weldon dispels six common fallacies about home education in Homeschool Worries: Erased With Research & Experience.  

Amber of Large Family Learning shares her  families school plans from preschool to 8th grade in 2013-2014 curriculum choices.e


While it was not an ideal situation, or even a job I excelled at, it was a job I loved.  In  the past 5 years,  I have spent the majority of almost every day with my children.  When I compare that to when I last worked outside the house working shifts, where my kids would be asleep before I left and asleep when I got home. I realize how blessed I was.    Also with my wife working in a school district we have had 8-10 weeks each Summer where we were for the most part together.  

Like our family, Happy Elf Mom of Homeschool and Etc. will have some children in public school this year and some homeschooled.  Her is her post on Homeschooling Kindergarten.

Celeste presents Second Grade in Our Home - An Overview posted at Joyous Lessons.

The opposite of second grade in our home is our experience with our youngest.  Tomorrow (I am writing this on Monday) she starts 2nd grade at the public school across the street from us.  Today she started her own blog to write about her school experience.  I have made my other 2 start blogs, but this was her idea.  Here is Wolfina of Wolfina's Secrets with My Teacher.

One of the things I have enjoyed most during my tenure as the teacher and something that I plan to continue is reading books to the children chapters at a time, usually at lunch or dinner.  Sometimes after finishing the book we will check out a movie version from the library.   This Summer we read Louisa May Alcott's Little Men and are 3 chapters into Jo's Boys.  Teaching my younger children to read was a much less enjoyable, but ultimately rewarding task.  We are a family of bibliophiles and watching any of our brood enjoying a good book makes the time and energies expended worthwhile.

Speaking of reading, Sharon of Reading-Writing-Learning describes what we have to be able to do in order to learn to read in Ever Wondered What Reading Actually Entails?.

The reading on reading continues with Gearing up and Slowing Down in No Fighting No Biting.

Christine of Our Curious Home tells a story of nature, nurture, and nuthatches in Caratunk during the flute lesson.  

Like all teachers, I discovered that I had strengths and weaknesses in what types of classes I could teach. This is why I really enjoyed my involvement in our home school co-op.  My children were  able to take classes that suited their interest but did not always suit my abilities.  I taught classes on blogging, literature and writing, and math while my kids learned crocheting, robotics, street drumming and the list goes on.  My son's robotics team advanced to the state championships and was featured in a national magazine.  Also, our family built strong relationships with other  home schooling families in the area.  

Speaking of robotics,ChristineMM of The Thinking Mother mentions them while sharing why she thinks academic competitions of different types are goo:d for homeschoolers in Why Do Academic Competitions.

Susan of Corn and Oil presents Springfield letter: Illinois Home School Standards Needed.

Homeschooling Choice is the topic at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

 Hosting this carnival was always a highlight for me.  I loved being behind the scenes watching how this weekly link fest got produced.  If you have never hosted before, you may not realize how many submissions to the carnival have little, or nothing to do with home education.  Each time I host, I usually have to leave out 2 or more of these kind of posts.  As a glimpse behind the scenes sorts I offer you This week's Carnival of Homeschooling Outtakes at a new post HSD blog of mine, YBD: Your Basic Dave.

I also went in the way back machine to HSD 2009 to present Strawberry Picking with Bunny Girl.

The Coming School Year is Chris Shaw's focus at Home School Vs. Public School.

Rebecca Taberski of Down A Rabbit Trail sums up this carnival quite nicely by saying, "My post is about finding the homeschooling path that works for your individual family...and enjoying the journey!" 

I have certainly enjoyed the journey of being the teaching member of our  school family.  Thank you for letting me share some of that journey with you.


While this may be the last time I host from the perspective of a fulltime educator, it won't be my last time contributing or reading the Carnival.  Next Week  is Carnival # 400.  I already have my contribution ready. Click  here for info on how to submit yours.

Next Time: Having it your way at work.