Life Skills in your Homeschool
As we busily plan and prepare a rigorous academic course of study for our kids, sometimes we forget that life skills are a part of homeschooling, too. Those invaluable skills that they need for life should definitely be part of our curriculum.
Making Life Skills a Part of Your Homeschool
I’ve heard stories of teens and college students who are unprepared for the most basic things they need to do to live on their own — like doing laundry and balancing a checkbook. This doesn’t just apply to homeschool families, either. Public school did a poor job preparing me for things like that. It’s our job as parents to step up and take responsibility for this area of education.
When I was seventeen and got my first car, my dad took the time to teach me how to change a tire, check the oil, windshield washer fluid, transmission fluid, and antifreeze. He showed me how to pump gas at the gas station. He also gave me a AAA membership so I could call in case of emergency. 😉
Because I don’t want my daughters to learn things the hard way, such as how to manage credit cards or how to shop on a budget, I want to be sure to include these things into our everyday homeschool life. I actually think it’s easier for homeschool families to do this just by virtue of spending time together. It gives us the chance to discuss these things with real-life applications.
Here are a few things I’m doing to teach my daughters important life skills:
- how to open a bank account and balance a checkbook
- how to cook and bake
- how to stick to a budget at the grocery store
- how to use a spreadsheet to keep track of income and expenses
- how to keep track of their credit score and manage credit cards
- how to sew (basic hand sewing and using a sewing machine)
- how to do laundry
I’ve written more about this subject as well as other things we’re doing to make life skills a part of our homeschooling over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. I’m excited to be a contributing writer there now and this is my first article. I hope you can take a few minutes to read it!
What life skills are you working on in your homeschool?
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