Homeschool Dad = Unicorn
I am a unicorn. Or, maybe I am Bigfoot. One of those mythical creatures that everyone has heard of but no one has actually seen. I am a homeschool dad. In other words, a dad who actively participates in the process of homeschooling my children. Wait. What? I know, I know. We are a rare breed but we do exist.
Now, based on all the books, blogs, videos and magazines that are out there about home education, you would think dads who homeschool was a rare occurent indeed. Nearly all of them are targeted at moms and start with sentences like “Listen up ladies…” or “To all the homeschool mommies out there…” or even “Hang in there momma…”. Just once, I’d love to see one include all the dad’s out there that either participate as teachers on certain subjects or even handle the majority of the teaching duties. We do exist and we want just as badly for our kids to benefit from all that homeschooling has to offer.
Homeschooling was initially my idea in our household. I wanted so much more for our kids than what the school system in our area would or even could offer. It took a small amount of convincing to get my wife on board and now we are in our 8th year of schooling our 4 kids at home. Now, my lovely wife has handled all of the teaching duties up until 2 years ago when I jumped in to support her and take on teaching our oldest. She has done a fantastic job and in order to focus on what the 2 boys needed from mom, Peanut began to come up to the office with me for a more distraction free environment. As an auditory learner and thus easily distracted, it was a better match for her learning style anyway so it was a win-win for all involved. Plus, it allowed me to see how hard yet rewarding it is to be my daughter’s teacher.
As a dad who is teaching my child, I am often looking for resources and helps online. In that search, I constantly find materials targeted at moms and their particular needs. I am hoping that in the writing of posts and developing material for this blog, that maybe us dads can get some focus too. I mean, even unicorns need love, right?