Real-Life Skills All Kids Need to Know (and How to Teach Them in Your Homeschool)
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When I got my first job, we were closing the business for the day and one of my older co-workers didn’t know how to sweep with a broom. The adults that we worked with started teasing her, but I felt horrible for her.
I showed her how to sweep and she told me that her mother was always very neat and didn’t make her or her brother do any chores as children. At that moment, I made a promise to myself to teach my future children real-life skills so they are never in that situation.
The beauty of homeschooling is we have the time to teach our kids skills that public schools don’t offer and public school families often don’t have time for.
I put together a list of real-life skills to teach in your homeschool so that your children are prepared with skills they will surely need throughout their lives.
Real-Life Skills to Teach Kids in Elementary
In order for your children to succeed on their own, they will need some basic life skills including cleaning the house, cooking and doing the laundry. Boys and girls alike should be learning the basics of how to run their future home.
Communication Skills for Elementary
Communicating effectively is an essential skill for everyone and one most adults still struggle with.
When your kids are very young you can help them to communicate by giving them the words they should say. “Oh no you accidentally broke your brother’s LEGO set, you can say, “I’m sorry, it was an accident, how can I make it better?”
Modeling the language that they don’t yet have gives them the ability to resolve conflicts and communicate their feelings effectively.
Also, share your feelings and thoughts so they can see how adults handle conflicts and compromise.
How to Do Laundry
Including your child in learning how to do laundry and eventually taking over their own laundry is a skill they will use for the rest of their life.
Starting with folding and sorting clothes as early as pre-k. When they are ready, teach them to use the washer and dryer. They can take responsibility for washing and drying their own clothes. Moms, you know how quickly that laundry can pile up – I am so happy we worked on this skill early on!
Develop and Maintain a Morning and Evening Routine
Developing and maintaining a morning routine and evening routine is the key to peace in most people’s lives.
When our kids are really, really young we are in control of their morning and evening routines but as our children grow they can start taking over their routines more and more.
Starting as young as preschool you can help your children visualize their routines by doing a picture representation of your morning and evening routine.
As your child grows into later elementary years, you can start opening conversations about if the routines that you have set up for them are serving them and let them start learning how to develop their own routines. Maybe that is when they brush their teeth, or if they take a shower in the morning or in the evening.
Cleaning
On top of laundry, your kids also need to know how to clean.
It’s not enough to just tell your 6-year-old to go clean her room. You need to show her step by step what is expected when she cleans her room. Show her how to make the bed, how to dust, and how to handle her room when it is a complete disaster.
Start assigning chores around the house as well. All kids need to know how to properly clean and sanitize a bathroom or kitchen. Work with them and show them exactly how to do each job you assign them.
Real-Life Skills to Teach Kids in Junior High
Junior high is a critical time in kids’ development and supporting their growth through learning life skills is a must.
Communication Skills in Junior High
Boy wouldn’t it be great if you were completely done teaching your child communication skills by junior high.
Have you ever heard the phrase “small kids, small problems; big kids, big problems?” It really is true, bigger kids have more complicated problems than little kids. They require ongoing support and development of their problem-solving and communication skills.
Junior high is a time period where kids start spending more time in peer groups and less time with their family. It’s natural and normal for kids to do this, but this also can come with some really big hurt feelings, bullying, and peer pressure. And while homeschooling can limit some of these, your tween and teen are likely going to face them during their childhood still.
You need to make sure that you are keeping the lines of communication open with your children by spending time with them and helping them work through their feelings and come up with ways for them to communicate with their friends when there has been a disagreement.
If you are struggling with communicating with your tween, Understood has this great resource to help you develop communication skills in your junior high kid.
Grocery Shopping and Cooking
Whether you are raising a girl or a boy, everyone needs to know how to make a meal plan, go grocery shopping, and make healthy meals that support their body.
Looking at all the meal kit subscriptions that are available today, it is clear that learning the critical skill of cooking is something that a lot of people have missed in their own childhood.
You can start by allowing your child to plan one dinner a week.
Teach them how to look for a recipe that is budget-friendly but still healthy for them.
Then instead of just teaching them how to make the meal, help them learn where to find the resources they need to learn the skills to make the meal. If a recipe calls for something to be julienned, instead of telling them and showing them what that means, teach them to find the answers on food blogs and Youtube.
At the grocery store, you can teach them how to choose budget cuts of meat over premium cuts and choosing the best produce.
Understanding the Basics of Budgeting
If your kid can count money, then they are not too young to learn about money, budgeting, and finances. Teaching your junior high child how a household budget works is an excellent way to baby step them into financial awareness and set them up to handle money well as an adult.
Most children do not realize all the bills and responsibilities adults have to pay on a monthly basis. In junior high children are able to comprehend bigger ideas.
If you don’t wish to disclose your whole budget with your tween, you can start putting in the ideas of how much different bills cost. I remember my own child being absolutely blown away that we had to pay for water.
If you are looking for some lesson plans to include personal finances in your homeschool year check out the resources rounded up at Applied Educational Systems.
Organization
While we teach basic cleaning to elementary kids, you can teach junior high kids how to organize.
Organization can be broken down into space organization and time organization, both are important skills in junior high.
For space organizational skills you can have your child help you rearrange a room with you, declutter, or even organize their own rooms, bookshelves, and closets. Remember to show your child and not just tell them. You can also teach them to look at different organizational systems online that help your child make decisions about their own space.
Being organized with their time is another thing altogether. Time management skills can start to be taught right in your own homeschool by assigning long-term projects and teaching your child how to break down a big project into bite-size steps that they can schedule out to make sure they are not cramming their entire project into one weekend.
Basic Home Maintenance
Tweens are at the perfect age to be a helper with home maintenance. You can start by having them help you anytime there is something to fix at your home.
You can also teach them how to change the filter for the air conditioning, checking the toilet for slow leaks, replacing faucets, installing fans and light fixtures, and more.
This includes things like lawn care, cleaning out appliances like the dishwasher, and any monthly preventative maintenance that you go through.
Basically if you have a job around the house, it is time to get your tween involved so that they know how to take care of their own home.
Goal Setting
What’s the difference between a dream and a goal? A plan!
Goal setting is a skill that we need to teach our children. Do you know that less than 3% of adults have clear written skills?
Having written goals can help you reach your goals.
If you want a good tool to teach your child to set goals including templates and printables check out this post over on Positive Psychology.
Real-Life Skills to Teach Kids in High School
High school kids tend to think they know it all but they are a long way from being grown up. Now it’s time for them to learn how to handle the bigger situations they will deal with in their adult life.
Understanding Credit
The number one complaint I always hear here is why don’t schools teach about doing taxes and credit cards.
Well, we aren’t schools and we need to teach our kids about credit cards. Credit scores can not only dictate what kind of interest rate that we can get and if we even qualify for a loan, but also insurance rates and even jobs.
Teaching your children how to use credit cards responsibly to build their credit. Also teach how credit scores are measured that late payments affect your credit scores, along with collections, length of credit history and other factors.
If you aren’t sure about credit and it is still a mystery for you, this is a perfect time for you to be a student as well and dig into it together.
Communication Skills
Oh boy, we still aren’t done with communication skills? No way.
Teens still need support and help to navigate friendships and relationships. They also need help to develop their problem-solving and communication skills.
Have an open-door policy. Be ready for big, hard discussions when your kids reach their teens. It’s not unusual for teens to be strongly passionate about their sense of right and wrong.
So make time to have in-person conversations with your teen often, discuss things like current events, and try to always give your teen your full attention.
Car Maintenance
Being able to change your oil, change a tire, and do simple car repairs and maintenance should be a prerequisite to driving a car. Luckily as a homeschooling family, you have the time to teach your teen car maintenance.
Now if these are skills you don’t have, look to your homeschool community for someone who might be willing to offer a weekend class to teach the teens some basic car maintenance. This is also a great opportunity for a grandparent or aunt or uncle to be involved with your child’s education.
Job Interview and Job Search Skills
Whether your teens are planning on getting a part-time job or a summer job or not, learning job search skills and interview skills are great for their future.
Teaching ways to make earnest connections, search job listings, and make a resume will be essential skills that will follow your child into adulthood.
They should also learn the proper way to dress and questions they should ask at job interviews, plus proper post-interview etiquette including when they should follow up and salary negotiations.
Taking the time to teach your children life skills is a great use of your homeschool time. From elementary through high school there are always life skills your children can work on and improve.
Whether you work this into a full curriculum like for finances, or it’s just a part of everyday life, teaching your children the skills they need to grow up and not struggle with the tasks of life.
I want to hear from you: what would you add to this list? Drop a comment below and share the top life-skill you think needs to be taught in all homeschools!
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