Great Ways to Get Dads Involved in Homeschooling

Is it possible to get dads involved in homeschooling? Most homeschooling families have a father who is away at work all day and a mother who does most if not all of the teaching.  Working husbands usually have a much more limited amount of time that they are able to spend with their children than do stay-at-home moms.  Because of this, it can be tempting for dads to maintain a very hands-off approach when it comes to homeschooling.

But dads are extremely important in the lives of their kids.  When dads aren’t physically present in the home, our children are much less likely to reach their full potential.  Likewise, when we don’t involve them in the homeschooling of our kids, we are missing out on some huge opportunities!

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But how in the world do we involve them?  If you are used to doing all the things when it comes to the homeschooling week, how can you transition to having your husband fully engaged in the process? This can seem especially challenging when the work most of the day 5 or more days a week.

Well, not only is it possible for dads to be involved in homeschooling, but it will be a memorable and enjoyable experience for them and your children!

Great Ways to Get Dads Involved in Homeschooling

Leadership

Husbands are supposed to be the spiritual leaders in our homes.  Even if they aren’t able to be engaged in teaching lessons during the day, they should still be helping in regular family discipleship and in determining the materials their kids will study.  

Be intentional about involving your husband in homeschool planning, goals, and vision.  Talk to him about how things are going.  Look for his input when it comes to troubleshooting workflow issues, character problems that impact homeschooling, or what kinds of things he’d like to see your children learning.  

Occasionally ask him to look over the work your kids are producing. Encourage him to ask your children questions about what they’re learning or point out a current project or topic of study you know he’d be interested to talk about with your kids.  Don’t be afraid to ask him for help in this area.

Burning Off Extra Energy

Sometimes our kids have so much energy that they can’t sit still long enough to do their lessons.  Sometimes they are so exuberant that their moms feel worn down by the end of the day.  When dad gets home, it’s a perfect time for him to take the kids outside and run around with them.  Or to rough house with them.  Or to tickle them, tease them, and laugh with them.

Dads can be so much fun!  If they help kids to use up their extra energy and to wind down, they will be more likely to sleep well and to be able to focus the next day.  This is a HUGE contribution to our children’s education!  And it’s greatly appreciated by us moms as well.

 

Reading Aloud

You probably know how important it is to read books aloud to our kids.  In fact, it’s important to continue doing this even after our children are able to read competently on their own.  Hearing good literature helps to improve their vocabulary, to store complex language patterns in their brains, and to create excellent communicators. And of course, reading the Bible together should be a top priority! 

This is a simple way that dads can be involved in the learning process. If dads sit down and read aloud from the Bible or great literature to the kids after dinner, before bedtime, on weekends, or whenever it works out best for the family, this is an amazing way to lead their family as well as enrich their children’s homeschooling experience.

(Moms, we can set them up for success if this is a new habit you’re working on establishing together! Provide the time, place, book, and some popcorn or other snack.)

Building Projects

Dads are typically more excited about building go-carts, tree houses, model airplanes, and a myriad of other projects.  Sometimes, after a long day of homeschooling, it’s easier for us moms to skip these hands-on experiences.  This is a perfect time to get dads involved in homeschooling.  Ask them to take the kids out to the garage and build something that relates to their lessons.

A few years back, we were studying Medieval England and I asked my husband if he would build a trebuchet with my boys.  I was envisioning a table top version… but they ended up building something that was about 8 feet tall and could throw a bucket full of water.  It was vastly better than what I was expecting – and it became a learning experience that our boys will never forget!

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Innovator’s Tribe provides online courses in technology, innovation, and engineering for grades 3-12! Click the video image to watch a review of how we used it in our homeschool. 

 

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Life Skills

It’s helpful for our kids to know how to change the oil in a car, add an electrical plug to a wall, fix a leaky faucet, put up trim around a window, change a car tire, balance a checkbook, etc.  

Teaching life skills is another excellent area where us moms appreciate the help of our husbands.  And they’re great things that can be taught on nights and weekends or whenever dad is at home.

Homeschool Lessons

Occasionally, there will be times when it’s nice to have dads teach some of the core homeschool subjects.  One year, my sons were having more difficulty than normal with math so my husband took over teaching that subject for awhile.  He got them over the hump after which I was able to phase back in as the primary teacher.

They can also take the lead in special projects or experiments like biology dissections. You could ask your husband to teach the kids subjects that fall within his area of expertise, or sign the kids up for a course that your husband can go through with them, such as computer programming, car mechanics, engineering, a fun science course, a logic course, etc.  

Because of their busy schedules, it isn’t always easy to get dads involved in homeschooling.  But when we make the effort to have them contribute, our entire family will reap the benefits. But it IS possible!

Here are a few more ideas to check out:

• Have kids present a project or narrate something they learned to their dad on the weekend.
• Have them participate in a take your child to work day. 
• Get a subscription kit your husband can do with your kids, such as KiwiCrate or Craftsman Crates from Raising Real Men.
• Do hiking and nature-related field trips together as a family and turn them into nature study experiences.
• Sign up for fun courses like these from Innovator’s Tribe, and have your husband do them with your kids once a week.
• Use family dinner time as discussion time where kids talk about what they learned during the week. 
• Sign up for or organize a science fair, show-and-tell, or other homeschool group activity that dads can get involved in. 
• Get creative and brainstorm more ideas with your husband! 

Consider trying one of the above options this year and take advantage of any new opportunities that this opens up for your kids.  

You’ll notice very quickly that they will blossom spending more time learning with their dad as well as their mom.  And your husband will also enjoy being able to do his part to enrich the education of your children. 

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This post was originally a guest post by Michelle. Michelle has been married to her best friend for 18 years. She is also a homeschool mom to her two wonderful (and tall) sons. Michelle is a Christian, a fan of simple living, and a lover of chocolate. She loves her spicy chai tea in the morning and she has a hard time staying out of the snacks at night. You can find her blogging at www.homeschool-your-boys.com. Her mission is to encourage and inspire parents as they homeschool their boys.