cleveland, ohio is a place that looks the same in black and white and color photographs; it is a city of sharp contrasts and shades of grey; a single city that was once two, forevermore divided along east and west; where the Sun doesnt shine at all for half the year, and yet is one of the sunniest places in the USA for the other half; the birthplace of Superman and home to many an average joe; a place of tremendous creativity... home of many artists, musicans, actors and inventors -- and an otherwise hard-knuckle, provincial midwestern city; a place where people are friendly, helpful and generous... just don't get on their bad side; a place of hope and despair, where the light of Jesus shines in many an otherwise dark heart....

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• An Open Letter to Todd Wilson - From Cleveland

Man, what a busy summer!  Who's got time to blog?  There was some interesting stuff today by Scott Somerville and Steve Walden about the role of homeschool dads so I thought I'd chip in with my two cents. 

Here's what I posted at Scott's, and many other places around HSB and the blogosphere, including this blog:

My pet peeve with homeschooling is that way too many worthless dads sit back and have zero involvement with their own kids' home education, letting Mommy do everything, from pick out curriculum to giving lessons, to grading papers. I've seen this over and over... "homeschooling -- oh yeah, that's my wife's thing, something she does with the kids." This is an abdication of paternal headship and men have thereby allowed a Jezebel spirit to invade the church through the homeschooling movement. The church is always paying lip service to the role of a Christian man as a father. But if a father really is so important to the kids and their growth, then his role as head of the home should not be separate and distinct from homeschooling.

Any dads to whom this applies can ditch their smug attitude about how their kids are doing so much better than those public school kids down the street since they've done nothing for which to take credit. They are an analogous to some dead-beat dad who lives out-of-state, or some career-ladder-climbing-yuppie who's on the road all week and never makes it to his kid's Little League games.

Tough words maybe, but how hard is it for some old tired dad to take a minute out of his to ask his kids about their schoolwork?  Steve mentioned about the dad being the "principal" of the homeschool.  I heard that years ago and have always said that about our house.  I try to get the kids to at least show me their schoolwork, like they show me the pictures they draw.  And even though I might be tired like other dads at the end of the day, I try to put my arm around them while looking with them, make nice noises and encourage them.  Doesn't seem like too much of an imposition!  Homeschool dad types like Todd Wilson keep reminding us that our kids need that from their dads.  So how about it, dads?

I've done a lot of nature stuff with the kids.  And we try to work spontaneous lessons into conversations and family time.  I'll often write on our kitchen marker board during dinner to explain something.  And I help the kids with their math.  Happy started Algebra this year so it's finally getting fun! 

(SEE THE NEXT ENTRY FOR A PRACTICAL SOLUTION)