You are on page 1of 3

Math: Dads Opportunity to Shine in the Homeschool

By Marlin Detweiler
Most homeschooling families follow a pattern: Dad works, and Mom teaches the children.
Dad earns the money to pay for the educational materials, and Mom decides what they will
be and purchases them. In my business Ive been on the other side of these transactions.
As Ive managed a booth at homeschool fairs, Ive frequently observed that Mom usually
determines what will happen and what the family will purchaseeven if Dads along. Dont
get me wrong; theres a place for division of labor thinking in the home, and this can work
quite well . . . to a point.
Most anyone reading this is going to be familiar with a frequently cited portion of
Deuteronomy 6: 69:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon
thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Im guessing, just guessing, that these words are not just true for mothers but even more
so for fathers. Im also guessing that learning about God, His laws, and His precepts
includes more than theology, history, and literature. It includes all that God has made.
So, theres this huge question begging to be asked: If Im working full-time, providing for
my family, is it not realistic and appropriate that my wife handle the childrenespecially
their education? Well, no. Siring children is not raising children; it is not parenting. Yet we
must be realistic and practical. I mentioned a division of labor above, and that is what we
have when mothers are the primary teachers of children and fathers are the primary wage
earners.
When my family homeschooled, that was our basic arrangement. Laurie taught, and I
worked on bringing home the bacon. The problem was that Laurie was not particularly gifted
at math. In fact, for all her wonderful abilities and attributes, we must be honest and say
she even despised the idea of teaching math. But Im pretty good at it. I realize that this is
not the pattern for all couples, but I expect it is a common one. Not only that, but even if
Mom is good at math, its common that Dad is too.
Enter the opportunity for Dad to shine.
Our youngest son is fairly talented in math. When he was in high school, prior to his senior
year he completed a year of calculus with little sweat. His mother was able to direct his
math studies if she used a text that allowed him to work through the concepts on his own,
and he did so quite well. The problem is, though, that he wasnt involved in discussions of
practical application beyond what the curriculum offered. This can be very limiting to
someone who doesnt like math just for maths sake. He is good at math but is far more
intrigued by math applications in the real world.
Applied math can be a great way for a father to interact with his children. Talk about family
budgets or talk about buying a car or a house. Talk about taxes (ugh!) and how payroll

works, with its employer taxes and employee withholdings, etc. If you want to get more
sophisticated, talk about math in architecture or a host of other applications.
Can you imagine the excitement of a young math student who sees a connection between
the Pythagorean theorem and architecture, earthquake location, crime scene investigation,
or the trajectory of an arrow in flight? I wasnt quite so bold or talented as I worked with my
son. Rather, I stayed in my area of familiarity and comfortfinance and investment. Before
Veritas Press was formed, I was in the real estate investment business, and I had gained
considerable mastery of a financial calculator, the HP-12. I knew both how to calculate
things, such as an internal rate of return, and how to apply the calculations to real world
problems and opportunities.
I thought my son would enjoy applying his math learning in that way. He did.
We had a blast while I taught him the six functions of a dollar. In case you dont know the
six functions of a dollar, they are as follows: future value of a dollar, accumulation of a dollar
per period, sinking fund factor, present value of a dollar, present value of an
ordinary annuity, and installment to amortize a dollar. Our interactions about this topic led
to some really cool opportunities that my son took advantage of even during his college
years as a management major.
It bears illustrating how all this could be both practical and fun. Many young folks think
about buying a home, but theres considerable mystery in the process. One such mystery is
knowing how to calculate a potential mortgage payment. My son enjoyed learning about this
aspect of buying a home. So permit me to teach you how to estimate a mortgage payment
in your head.
Lets use some round numbers. A balance of $100,000 will be easy to work with and will
make it easy to change to another number. An interest rate of 5% will suffice, and a typical
amortization period is thirty years.
Youll have to memorize a couple of numbers, specifically, how much of a payment will be
applied to the principal in the first year. Heres a table that will help:
Loan Rate
5%
7%
10%

Principal % (in addition to interest)


29% (round it to 30%)
14% (round to 15%)
5%

Now, lets do the calculation for a 5% rate.


The interest on $100,000 at 5% for a year is $5,000. Thirty percent of that is $1,500.
Therefore, the total annual payment is $6,500. If our annual mortgage payment were
$6,000, our monthly would be $500. But it was $6,500 not $6,000. So, knowing that $40 x
12 is almost $500, its $480, leaving 20, which is approximately $2 per month, so we add
another $42 per month and conclude our mortgage payment for $100,000 principal, thirtyyear amortization, and 5% interest rate will be around $542 for principal and interest. You
might be interested to know that the exact number is $536.82and were close enough for
an affordability estimate!
Likewise, if the interest rate is 7%, the annual interest will be $7,000. Fifteen percent of
that is $1,050 (which can be determined by taking 10% to get $700, halving the $700 for
the remaining 5% to get $350, and adding them together to get $1,050). So, the annual

total of payments is $8,050. Eight divided by 12 is two-thirds or 67%, making an annual


payment of $8,000 around $670, and the remaining 50 divided 12 is a bit more than $4. So,
our estimated payment is $674. The exact number is actually $665.30.
I left you the easy one to try on your ownthe 10% rate. The exact payment is $877.57.
How did you do?
Admittedly, this requires some quick tricks working with the numbers. Now maybe you can
also see the value in learning the multiplication tables at a young age!
This is just one example of how Dad can get involved in the educational process without
giving up his day job or feeling burdened in the process. You can, no doubt, come up with
many more excellent examples. Dont sell your kids short. They can do this stuff, and theyll
love it.
Marlin is the husband of Laurie and father of four grown sons. He and his wife have been
involved in many aspects of classical Christian education for more than twenty years. They
own and operate Veritas Press,which provides curriculum for classical Christian education
and offers online classes as well.
Copyright 2013, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in
the January 2013 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education magazine.
Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the
free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.

You might also like