I have all kinds of experience with teaching girls to do work alongside Mom, and of course David is learning the basics of housekeeping as well. But one area where I am really lacking in my ability to instruct him is in things like car maintenance, lawn mower maintenance, etc. So, even though he is too young to really do these tasks yet, whenever Duncan has a small project to do, he often brings David along to help. This is a great time for him to learn the value of work, the value of doing things for the family, and Duncan has such a different teaching style from me, it is a good experience to learn from a “different” teacher occasionally.
Duncan likes to explain things deeply, to make sure the child truly understands what is happening. I do not go into that much detail when teaching- I cover what I think they NEED to know for a certain task and figure they will get the rest as they need it. These two very different styles make us a great pair when it comes to educating the children, as long as one of us does not come and chime in during the other’s teaching session- me ,trying to simplify everything or him trying to explain deeply everything while the other is instructing. I have learned to zip my lip and let my hubby teach the way that seems natural to him and have enjoyed seeing the fruits of his labor- children who are confident and have the ability to analyze things deeply. What a blessing!
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I like what you said about the different teaching styles. My husband is the same. He explains things too deeply I think. But I never thought about it as “his teaching style”. I will have to learn to zip my lip and let him do his thing, his way. They have more fun that way.