August 12th 2015
I became a Stay at home Dad almost 6 years ago. At the time both my wife and I were between jobs. She found one first and when we did the math my old salary was only $800 more a month than child care for 3. The deal was that I had to make or save that $800 each month. I did so by cutting our grocery bill, moving away from prepackaged food and doing some contract work.
Since then she has found a much better job, with much better pay and benefits. Thus the $800 requirement went out the window and my position as a SAHD became secure. We have been working towards debt freedom and still limit our spending and keeping the food budget in line. I allow very little prepackaged foods, jar sauce or other items I can make myself. I routinely make my own bread.
Three years ago I started homeschooling my oldest. He had been having behavior problems at school. Some were his fault but some were bullying and I wasn’t seeing enough done to resolve the problems. After a lot of discussion with him and my wife we decided to give homeschooling a try.
My daughter joined us the following year. We gave her the choice of public or homeschooling and she chose to give homeschooling a try.
My youngest son is now six and is going into grade 2. I started kindergarten early with him as the older kids were much more hands off. I wasn’t sure I could handle kindergarten. By the time we were ready to enroll him for real our support teacher decided that he was beyond kindergarten and put him in grade 1. So much for my head start. It has worked out great although his reading is a little behind for his grade but it is ahead for the grade he would have been in.
ODS: He is 13 years old and going into grade 8. When he was 3.5y he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer. He under went 9 months of intense treatment including chemo, radiation and surgery. He was clean for a year and then relapsed. More chemo and radiation wiped it out again. He has now been cancer free for 8 years and off treatment for 7. He is ADD and takes medication for it. I am also ADD and take the same medication.
When he grows up he wants to be and inventor. He reads voraciously. Some of his favorite books are: The Hanging Game series, the Divergent series and many more. His strength are in Science and Math. He is good at writing but it takes him forever.
DD: She is 11 years old and going into grade 6. She also love to read. Like her brother she has read both the Hanging Game and Divergent series. I recently got her into the Discworld series. She is good at all her subjects and the only one of us that is not ADD. She wants to be an artist when she grows up.
YDS: He is 6 years old and going into grade 2. He loves everything Pokemon. He ‘reads’ Pokemon books all the time. Math is by far is best subject and science is not far behind. I am sure that we will catch up on reading this year. He is also ADD and is not medicated. We will see how long I last before we take the medication road. I have taught him math while he was standing on his head.
Very cute kids! I’m very sorry to read about your son’s cancer. My daughter, Bethany had a pylocytic astrocytoma removed from her brain in 2000. She has remained cancer free but she acquired multiple permanent disabilities because of it.
It’s nice to see other families whose Dad does the homeschooling like us. We are rare! In our situation, my husband’s medical condition coupled with some work challenges presented this unique opportunity. We’ve found our groove and are so grateful it’s an education option for us. We live in Atlanta, GA and belong to some homeschool groups but none that have Dads.
Hi there! Well, I stumbled onto your blog and will most certainly stay in touch with you throughout this year as you wend your way through ALL your adventures, and not just the ones involving writing with your boys! Thank you for the shout out about purchasing my writing unit(s), and please, please stay in touch, as the feedback would be awesome! And getting a few samples of your son’s writing would tickle me to no end!!!
Glad to hear I am not alone in this adventure. I am staring Homeschooling with my boy (3rd grade) this year. He has struggled in public school due to some psychological issues. I Have more or less quit my successful career to make a better life for my kids. My daughter starts preschool this year at a church, but plans to be home-schooled starting next year. My wife just got a better job after completing her Bachelors Degree this last year, which has made all of this possible.
I will be following your blog throughout the year and might have questions if you don’t mind helping a new homeschooling Dad/teacher along.
P.S. We need to come up with a different title that states that we are the teacher and not the “other” parent of a homeschooling family.
Hey! So cool to find dads who like homeschooling! I noticed you have a books section. I could totally help with that if you want.
Don’t want to overstep. I’m fairly new to blogging and am trying to reach out to like minded people to open a few doors. I’m actually working on a literary classics reading list/challenge on my blog based on an online course from Hillsdale college. The intro to the challenge is up now. If you want some things to post about or ideas for future posts, maybe this would help.
If not, no worries. Again, great to see homeschooling dads. My wife and I are really hoping to give that opportunity to our kids as we both had great benefits from it.
Best of luck,
Jake Giese