Joshua Heath

> Hi! I'm Kyle and my wife is Paula. We have two children, Steven 13
> and Kayla 9> Being the primary domestic engineer for the past six
years I would
> love to here from any other homedads if there are any of you out there.
> Kyle
Hi Kyle,
My name is Joshua and my wife is Selina. We have 2 boys, Jordan (8) and
Daylon (just about 6). I too am the "primary domestic engineer" in our
household. I find it wildly challenging as well as wildly rewarding. I
find that we are a pretty rare breed... actually I have yet to actually meet
another full-time homeschooling dad. It is good to have you on the list...
It has been my experience that there are a lot of unique challenges to being
a stay at home dad in terms of relating to the "rest of the world" or
"society".
This is a great list... lots of people on here that have very insightful and
caring things to say.
Where abouts do you live?
I am in Kelowna B.C. Canada.

[email protected]

> > Hi! I'm Kyle and my wife is Paula. We have two children, Steven 13
> > and Kayla 9> Being the primary domestic engineer for the past six
> years I would
> > love to here from any other homedads if there are any of you out there.
> > Kyle
> Hi Kyle,
> My name is Joshua and my wife is Selina. We have 2 boys, Jordan (8) and
> Daylon (just about 6). I too am the "primary domestic engineer" in our
> household.

Wow, I'm impressed two Dads who not only stay home as the
primary domestic engineers [I love that] but also homeschool!!

Now my partner wonders what you share with your children. He
seems to have a problem with Dads staying at home with the kids
as he wonders what example they are setting.

In defense of you guys, I asked him what example his Mother
showed him and pointed out that all his strong traits [he's a
scrounge] and interests were fostered by his Mother and what she
did. Way back when he was a child his Mother was very frugal,
she was divorced but never took a job, instead she rented rooms
and lived simply. This rubbed off on Dick and he worked many
hours as a teen, was in the marines for three years during the
Korean thing, and saved most of his money and had a sizeable
sum to put down as a deposit on the farm. She was a keen
gardener and knew the benefits of adding organic matter to the
sandy soil to improve it. This has turned Dick into an organic
fanatic, you should see the size of our compost pile... we even
composted the neighbours dead cow!! She was very interested in
birds and at an early age Dick learned all he could about birds in
an unschooled way. Also his Mother was a very tidy person, and
while this didn't rub off onto him the desire for order did, making for
some frustrations, as sometimes we have a bit too much to do
here for the place to be kept orderly.

So hopefully he may now look at the role of stay-at-home parents
of any gender as the most important job there is.




- Sue -

The Winona Farm in Minnesota Welcomes Unschoolers All Year Round
My website: http://members.xoom.com/sue_m_e
Farm website: http://homepage.rconnect.com/winfarm
Farm newsletter: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/Winonafarm

"To believe in something, and not to live it, is to be dishonest."
-Mahatma Gandhi

[email protected]

Joshua,
Great to here from you! I was beginning to believe I was the only
one out there. You are right there are many challenges that come with
being a male that stays at home. I am from South Texas and the
stereotype of the macho male that brings home the bacon and keeps his
wife and children in tow is very strong. I get allot of looks and
headshakes when I respond to the question "What do you do for a
living?". Mostly from other males who automatically think I don't work
since I stay at home. To them I say I have never worked harder n my
life, although I do not think they believe me.
Have you been unschooling the whole time?
Do you have time for a home business?
Thanks for responding and I hope to hear more from you soon.
KYLE

[email protected]

Sue,
Great to hear from you Sue. I have enjoyed reading your other post
on this list. My wife and I are hoping to be able to move to 32 acres
we have and "homestead" it in the near future.
As for what I am teaching my children by staying home, well I hope
that We are teaching them to break down allot of those archaic
stereotypes we hold so dear and give them freedom to be themselves. We
want them to know that we are a family and everyone works together
whether that means mom at work and dad at home or visa versa. I hope
that in the future if my son has to make the decision to stay at hom
society won't be so hard on him, and if it is he will have an example to
look at. As far as academics, we have never had a true curriculum. It
has always been put together by going to goodwill and used book stores
searching out the best books I could find for them. Although in the
past I have held the to a very ridged schedule. I guess in the long run
we just want them to learn that they are special, loved and that we are
always here for them, beyond this I don't know what else I can do.
Enough of the rambling for now. Kyle

Sue

> Sue,
> Great to hear from you Sue. I have enjoyed reading your other post
> on this list. My wife and I are hoping to be able to move to 32 acres
> we have and "homestead" it in the near future.

Kyle, this sounds wonderful... it's such a great way to raise kids
when they have room to move about and a place where they can
have some adventures.
Where is your land?

> As for what I am teaching my children by staying home, well I hope
> that We are teaching them to break down allot of those archaic
> stereotypes we hold so dear and give them freedom to be themselves. We
> want them to know that we are a family and everyone works together
> whether that means mom at work and dad at home or visa versa. I hope
> that in the future if my son has to make the decision to stay at hom
> society won't be so hard on him, and if it is he will have an example to
> look at. As far as academics, we have never had a true curriculum. It
> has always been put together by going to goodwill and used book stores
> searching out the best books I could find for them. Although in the
> past I have held the to a very ridged schedule. I guess in the long run
> we just want them to learn that they are special, loved and that we are
> always here for them, beyond this I don't know what else I can do.
> Enough of the rambling for now. Kyle

Well put Kyle, I'll pass it on to Dick, I'm really not sure why he has
this thing about Dads staying home with the kids while the Mother
works, maybe it's just due to his age..... Though in some ways I
think he may be envious.






- Sue -

The Winona Farm in Minnesota Welcomes Unschoolers All Year Round
My website: http://members.xoom.com/sue_m_e
Farm website: http://homepage.rconnect.com/winfarm
Farm newsletter: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/Winonafarm

"To believe in something, and not to live it, is to be dishonest."
-Mahatma Gandhi