Do you feel like you've been carrying all the weight of homeschooling?
Do you desperately want to get your partner involved?
Do you wish your other half would be a homeschooling partner who contributes actively to your child’s education, not just financially?
Read on for 3 tips on how to get your partner to play a more active role in your family’s homeschool journey.
In many households, the responsibility for caring for the children falls squarely on the mother’s shoulders.
It’s much of the same situation when it comes to homeschooling.
Even if both parents are on board with the idea of homeschooling, it’s often the mother who bears most (or all) of the responsibility for actually making it happen.
This can lead to resentment and even put so much pressure on the mum that they end up deciding that perhaps homeschooling isn’t, after all, the best option for their family.
Read on to find out how to get your partner to help more with homeschooling.
One thing I’ve noticed when it comes to unhappiness with the way homeschool is going is that there’s often an uneven division of duties between parents when it comes to homeschooling the kids.
Most of the time, what I see is the mom (or the primary “teacher”) taking on the responsibility of . . . well, everything.
She has to submit any necessary paperwork (such as the Notice of Intent), choose the curriculum, plan the lessons, teach the lessons, assess the kids’ progress, plan social and extracurricular activities, chauffeur the kids to and from said activities, and handle all the other moving pieces that come with making sure your kids get a well-rounded home education.
Even when both parents are 100% on board with the idea of homeschooling and agree that it’s in the best interest of the children, it often falls to ONE of them to make it all happen.
Sometimes this is the case because the primary homeschool parent is the one who is home most of the time while the other parent works, but that’s not always the case.
Sometimes both parents work (part-time or full-time) . . . whether remotely, for themselves, or outside of the home.
But, either way, the (for lack of a better word) burden of homeschooling the children can often feel like too much for one person to shoulder on their own.
Even if their partner is only able to help out a little bit, that can go a long way toward making things easier (and more enjoyable) for everyone.
After all, we all want to feel like we’re partners in this journey, right?
How to Get Your Partner More Involved with Homeschooling
So often there’s an uneven division of duties between homeschooling parents and this can cause problems.
Is that you? Are you the parent who currently does the bulk of the homeschooling?
From deciding what curriculum to choose to what your homeschool schedule shouold look like each day, to implementing it all and teaching lessons each day.
Just imagine how much nicer and easier it would be if both parents were actively involved with the homeschool process!
With that in mind, I thought I’d share a few tips you can use to talk to your partner and get them to play a more active role in homeschooling your children.
1. Have an open and honest conversation.
The first thing to remember is that relationships and families are all about teamwork.
And part of being a winning team is having a lot of open and honest conversation . . . even (and especially) when the topics are hard or sensitive.
To make sure you’re having this conversation from a place of problem-solving (and not from an emotional place), I recommend scheduling a set time for you and your partner to talk specifically about homeschooling.
Preferably without the kids around so you’re able to speak freely and focus on the conversation at hand.
Personally, I find it helpful to jot down talking points so I make sure I touch on everything I need to cover.
But also make sure that you do just as much listening as you do talking — after all, this is a discussion, not a speech.
Let your partner know how you truly feel about the homeschool journey thus far, what isn’t working for you, and how you envision things proceeding in the future.
And give them space to share their concerns, ask questions, and give you an idea of what THEY envision.
Only when you BOTH have everything laid out on the table can you have any hope of coming to a joyful resolution.
2. Identify your strengths/weaknesses and likes/dislikes.
Another thing I find helpful is for both partners to do a sort of catalog of their strengths and weaknesses as well as their likes and dislikes.
For example, perhaps one of you loves anything to do with reading and writing, but gets hives when it comes to maths.
Or maybe one of you loves cheering the kids on at athletic events, but shudders at the idea of making small talk with your fellow parents at other kinds of extracurricular events.
Maybe one of you is a pro at teaching maths and foreign language while the other is a whizz with art and STEM subjects.
When you sit down and really hash out who is good at what (and who enjoys what), it’s that much easier to figure out where and how you can both pitch in.
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3. Create a Homeschool Game Plan.
This part is, admittedly, the part that will probably take more time and energy to figure out.
In fact, you may find that you have to do quite a bit of trial and error to figure it out in a way that
actually works.
But once you do, it will help things in your homeschool run so much more smoothly!
As a team, decide who will do what.
You can then create a homeschool schedule that works for your family so that implementing things is easier.
Of course, this will look different for every family because every family is different.
In reality, it may not be possible for you and your partner to split things evenly.
It may very well be a situation where your partner is only able to pitch in for certain subjects, for certain activities, or on certain days.
But the important thing is that you create and implement this plan as a TEAM.
For example, I know plenty of dads who do all the science on a Saturday which makes the rest of the week easier for mum.
I truly hope this helps you and your partner create a homeschooling environment that’s joyful for everyone involved.
More homeschooling tips:
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