When my husband and I originally discussed homeschooling, one big deciding factor was that we would have more opportunities to teach real-life skills to our children. I pictured myself teaching them to cook, starting a garden and growing our own food, building things, and involving them in business and taxes. I set out with the best intentions. A few months into homeschooling, I realized we had done many worksheets and zero life skills unless you count making cookies from pre-made dough.
More seasoned homeschoolers had warned me that I would try to imitate school at home during my first year. I nodded politely while reassuring myself in my head that I knew better. After all, I knew the reasons I wanted to homeschool. Yet there I was, demanding my son sit and do worksheet after worksheet, never making time for anything else. I felt like public school didn’t offer enough recess time for a kindergartener, yet I made my son a prisoner of our dining room table.
It was then that I took a step back, reminded myself why we chose home-school, to begin with and changed our homeschool routine. Adding life skills to your homeschool curriculum may seem like something that is just going to happen naturally, when in reality, it’s something you have to be intentional about.
Planning ahead of time
I thought I would effortlessly include the kids in life skills throughout each day, but that wasn’t happening as I just tried to get through my chores as quickly as possible. I had to become much more intentional about what skills we would cover and when. I started by making a list of things I would like the kids to learn, considering what is reasonable at their age. I keep the list in my weekly lesson plans book, so as I plan the week ahead, I am reminded to work in time for life skills.
The simple task of seeing and adding to that list often keeps it at the forefront of my mind, and I find it easier to stop and include them in things I am doing throughout the day. I’ve been surprised to see how they have changed quickly, proudly taking the initiative to do things they’ve learned need to be done around the house. I am also starting to see myself becoming less of a control freak with practice.
Logging life skills
As a new homeschool parent, I felt paranoid about keeping a portfolio of our work. It felt like it didn’t happen or didn’t matter if it wasn’t somehow logged in the portfolio. I started making logs and certificates for life skills to calm my nerves. I thought this step was more for me, so I didn’t make them want to learn and do more.
Being open to learning new skills: I never even learned to iron clothes when growing up, and I still don’t know how to sew. I mentioned building things and gardening, yet I’ve never done either. One thing I love about intentionally teaching life skills to our kids is that I get to learn along with them. I probably would never have taken the time to teach myself some of these things if it weren’t for homeschooling. It’s fun to learn new things together. In doing so, we are teaching another life skill – always being open to learning new things and willing to jump in and figure things out!
As the kids age, their options for learning life skills increase. Many of the homeschoolers I know do personal finance and leadership classes in high school, among other things. Keep a list that you and your children can add to whenever new ideas come to mind, and be intentional about making those things happen!
Here are some great resources for incorporating more life skills into your homeschool curriculum
Skilltrekker: This site is about teaching life skills to kids of all ages. Skilltrekker.com
Study.com: For older kids, this site has tons of online courses. study.com
Raddish: A cooking club for kids. www.raddishkids.com
JESSICA LeBRUN is the wife of Chris and mom to Kai, Alana, and Koa. They have a very loved lab named Maui, two bearded dragons (Bill and Toothless), and one hognose snake (Kiri). She has been a web developer and graphic designer for over 15 years. Her blog, onmoxieandmotherhood.com, is about all-things family, motherhood, working from home, homeschooling, and more.