Let's face it, in most of our homes, the wives are teaching the children. But that doesn't mean that the husband doesn't have a large part in the teaching of his children. Remember, the bible tells the FATHER to make sure that the children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We may delegate this task to our long suffering wives, but we will be held responsible.
So what can we do to help our wives?
1) Protect their time. I have the great fortune of being able to work from home occasionally. When working at home, I'm amazed at how often the phone rings. My wife has a large number of friends and a lot of church responsibilities (updating bulletins, music, etc). Some of these inbound calls are requests to chat. Some are requests for changes to bulletin notes. But none of them are related to the teaching of our children. So when working from home, I answer these calls and defer them. The calls go something like this…
Them: "Is Alice there?"
Me: "Yes, but she's busy. Can I help you?"
Them: "Well, I really need to talk to her about something."
Me: "Is someone bleeding?"
Them: "No."
Me: "Is someone drowning?"
Them: "Of course not."
Me: "Is there a need for immediate medical attention?"
Them: "No!"
Me: "Then it can wait. I'll call her when she gets done with class."
That usually results in a laugh, but sometimes not.
Likewise, I answer the door and I make sure the TV stays off.
2) Protect them emotionally. Some members of our family, who I will not mention, have made negative comments repeatedly about our home schooling efforts. In my sons state mandated testing, he received all "A"s except for spelling, for which he received a "C". Instead of a heartly, "That's fantastic" from this particular family member, my wife received a "You should work harder on the spelling. That's not good. He needs to be taught over the summer.. bla bla bla".
These comments hurt my wife and do damage to her confidence. To our wives, some who doubt their ability to do this, those negative comments really hurt and can set them back. So husbands, if you detect a family or church member making these sorts of comments, take them aside and explain to them that they are not being helpful or edifying and that you'd appreciate it if they'd stop. They probably will.
3) Help around the house. Yeah, I hate this one to. We have three boys, ages 10, 5 and 3. For the last few years, my wife has been able to focus on our son who is now 10. The toddlers played outside or watched TV, but stayed out of Mommy's way. This year, my wife will be teaching two boys. Soon, it will be 3. Teaching the kids obviously takes time and the more kids you teach, the more time it takes, which leaves less time for working around the house.
Husbands, we can help. Pick a couple tasks and do them consistently so that your wife can take it off her plate. (Note to wife: If you're reading this, please don't let on that I'm not consistent myself. :) Anyway, my tasks are dishes and hanging up washed cloths. Interestingly, I tried to get the task of washing cloths, but my wife won't let me. Something about mixing colors and whites and towels together.
Doing housework isn't all that bad. The bottom line is this: God has given the fathers the responsibility of ensuring that his children are educated. If we're not doing the teaching directly, then we can impact the success of our wives by helping in other areas.
My God bless your homeschooling efforts.
About the author: Charles Waters is webmaster of Christian-Homeschooler.com, a web page devoted to the homeschooling efforts of Christian families. Me and my wife (okay, my wife) has been homeschooling our 3 boys for several years and the Lord has blessed. Visit our Forums and share with others.
