TOS Blog Cruise- Family Involvement

     The question of the week for the TOS blog cruise is “How are your spouse, grandparents, or other family members involved in your homeschooling?”

     Without a doubt, homeschooling would not be a reality in our family without my husband’s agreement and support. We both work part time, and whoever is home with the kids does school with them that day. I do most of the planning and leave the assignments that I recommend they do when I am not there. Mitch adds in interesting things that I would have probably not considered on my own. The decision to homeschool was one that we have prayed about (and continue to) and I am blessed to have my husband as a partner in this endeavor.

     When my oldest was in kindergarten, we sold our house, moved in with my parents, started building our house, and started homeschooling. My parents were not involved in our homeschooling at that time and we actually enrolled her in a private school for 2½ years. My younger daughter was the one who brought up homeschooling again, as she requested to be homeschooled for kindergarten. By the time she began first grade we had decided to homeschool all of them. Now, my Mom is one of our biggest cheerleaders for continuing to educate the children at home. Though my parents do not specifically teach individual subjects to the kids, they contribute as we share current topics of study. An example of this is bridge building. They shared pictures they took of a new bridge under construction and inspired one of our future field trips when we discussed a bridge design contest that my oldest daughter was attempting online.

     My Grandparents are also close neighbors. A review item has lead to a lot of research into the Great Depression. We have asked both of them (who lived through it) if they will be willing to participate in an interview once we prepare questions. Powpow was in the CCC and Granny agreed to share about cooking. “We ate a lot of milk gravy” was her first response. She also teaches the girls (and me) a lot about cooking and canning.

     Do you have extended family who participate in your homeschool? See what other crew members share about this topic here.