I saw this post from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, and the title made me wonder. What if someone really was a homeschool dad and he didn’t know it? What if his wife had asked him while he was browsing on the internet, and he had just agreed without really hearing her? What if she stealthily handed him the Letter of Intent to homeschool for the school district in a stack of other papers to sign?
So, if you suspect that your wife may be homeschooling your children on the down low, here’s some clues that it could be true.
- The books in your home are multiplying, but they still claim that a weekly trip to the library is necessary.
- The picture you knock down while vacuuming or playing living room football seems to have a whiteboard on the other side of it.
- Crayons, pencils, and scissors can suddenly be found EVERYWHERE throughout the house.
- The Rainbow Resources catalog (along with about 50 other educational catalogs) mysteriously shows up at your house.
- The Household or Education budget significantly increases.
- People report seeing your children out during the day.
- The kids all just happen to be on school break whenever you take a sick day.
- Also, they don’t really seem all that excited when the public schools go on break.
- Your wife starts texting you math problems at 10 a.m. “Honey, I’m thinking about our Christmas trip. If Train A is going 60 miles per hour . . . .”
- She asks that you show your work.
- Ancient Greece has become a dinner conversation topic for your wife and kids.
- Herb gardens and butterfly terrariums start showing up in the dining room.
- Despite all the kids being in school, your wife REALLY needs you to pick up takeout on a much more regular basis.
- The house seems significantly messier each day when you come home.
- The kids no longer have any homework after dinner.
- You start getting regular book deliveries from Amazon, Rainbow Resources, Apologia, and more.
- Your wife no longer cares if the kids are wearing matching clothes for the day.
- Your kids talk about doing school instead of going to school.
- Packing lunches suddenly seems to baffle your wife.
- Backpacks start to contain less books and more rocks, sticks, leaves, and other random stuff.
- Your children start a home business.
- Notebooking is mentioned, as in “Did you do your notebooking for science today?”
- When you ask the kids what they did at school today, and they reply “I don’t know”, your wife jumps in and starts detailing all the things that were covered in math, science, and history.
- The children’s desks have migrated out to the living room or other spare room.
- Your wife has considered getting backyard chickens or “homesteading”.
- Your children start talking about some place called “co-op”.
- All of your children are studying the same topic in History and Science.
- Your wife calls a book “twaddle.”
- Bookcases start appearing in the dining room along with maps and letter charts and white boards.
And, of course,
- Your children complete all their schoolwork at home under the instruction of a parent (or two).
I hope this is a helpful post to those of you who didn’t know you were homeschooling.
