8 Essential Homeschool Life Skills to Teach Your Child
As a parent, choosing how you will educate your child is one of the most important decisions you will make. If you prefer to homeschool your child, there are a few homeschool life skills that are essential for children to learn at any age. Understanding the most important homeschool life skills that are essential for you to teach your own children will ensure they grow up to be well-adjusted and well-rounded young adults. When you are able to implement homeschool life skills into your everyday routine, your children will learn everything they need to know to begin living life independently once they reach adulthood.
Home Repairs
One of the most vital homeschool life skills that must be learned with practice and typically in a hands-on manner includes home repairs. Teaching your child how to assess and identify issues around the home will help them to feel much more confident when they become homeowners as adults. If your child feels comfortable with working with water, electricity, and a variety of tools, they are less likely to feel intimidated whenever they encounter an issue in their own home.
From teaching your child the basics of plumbing to how to repair a leaky roof, there are many different ways to introduce home repairs as a life skill to your children while providing them with an ongoing education. When your child is familiar with the process of completing home repairs, they will also remain much more resourceful, even if they determine that they require the assistance of a professional to complete the job. If your child is resourceful, they will have no issue when it comes to addressing basic home repairs on their own.
Financial Literacy
When it comes to homeschool life skills that can be taught and passed on to your children, financial literacy cannot be underestimated. Understanding the basics of financial literacy is not only beneficial for adolescents and young adults, but it can also provide your children with a better understanding of how to build and maintain a healthy relationship when it comes to money. Teaching your children financial literacy can begin quite young, as long as they are capable of understanding the basic concept of money and how it is earned and spent.
Taking the time to teach your children financial literacy in addition to traditional mathematics and history can go a long way, especially when they are beginning to live more independently on their own while making personal financial decisions. Whether you choose to teach your children about saving money, the basics of working with a mortgage lender, or even how to go about investing their hard-earned money, financial literacy is one of the most important topics to teach whenever you are homeschooling your own children.
How to Teach Financial Literacy
Teaching financial literacy is not an overnight endeavor. In order to ensure your child understands the basics of money and finances, consider their age and learning level before introducing monetary lessons into their school days. Financial literacy can begin by demonstrating how to spend and save money as well as how to go about earning money, depending on the age of your child. You can use local resources, books, as well as online communities to help guide your child through becoming familiar with the basics of money management and financial literacy.
Safe Driving
Children will eventually want to learn to drive and earn their own driver’s license. Essential homeschool life skills should also include the importance of safe driving. Stressing the importance of safe driving is pivotal as a parent, regardless of how cautious your child is whenever they are behind the wheel. Encouraging safe driving is not just a matter of preference, but it can oftentimes become a matter of life and death if a driver is not paying proper attention while driving.
How to Encourage Safe Driving
It is not always easy to encourage your child to keep their eyes on the road, especially if they are just learning how to drive for the very first time. You can keep your child motivated to remain safe behind the wheel with gentle reminders and incentives. You should also prohibit the use of your child’s smartphone whenever they are driving. Driving and texting or using a phone is a leading cause of accidents, especially among teenagers and young adults.
You can also familiarize them with a local auto body repair shop whenever their vehicle requires maintenance and/or repairs. Requiring your teenager to pay for the repairs their vehicle needs is also highly recommended. This will help your child to learn about their own responsibilities as a driver, which, in turn, may result in them taking their driving much more seriously whenever they are on the road.
Skincare
Skincare is another important aspect of growing up and being an adult. Even if your child has lucked out with their genetics and is not prone to breakouts, even when dealing with hormones, it’s still imperative to encourage a healthy skincare routine. Taking care of one’s skin will not only help to prevent skin clogs and blackheads from forming, but it can also help to preserve the age and look of the skin over time. Incorporating proper skincare into your own daily routine can help to demonstrate how to go about taking care of your skin for your children, regardless of their age.
How to Encourage a Healthy Skincare Routine
Encouraging a healthy skincare routine should be done at any age. However, it is especially important to encourage your children to take care of their skin as they begin to age into teenagers and experience hormonal changes. As hormonal changes begin to occur in the body, your child will be much more likely to experience pimples, breakouts, and other dermatological issues that are unexpected at times.
If your child or teen begins experiencing uncontrollable acne or breakouts, it may be time to seek the assistance of a professional. Seeking dermatology care is highly recommended if your teenager is unable to control their acne breakouts on their own. While this is not uncommon, especially for adolescents and young adults, it can be extremely uncomfortable, irritating, or even humiliating for your child, especially when they are in front of others.
Finding the Right Dermatologist
If you believe your teen or child is in need of a professional dermatologist, you can begin searching for a skincare specialist and doctor with the use of local and online resources. Asking for a referral from family members, friends, and co-workers who live in your area can help you to expedite the process of locating a dermatologist that you can trust. Once you locate a dermatologist that is available near you, determine whether or not your health insurance is accepted by the professional or the practice itself. You should also spend time researching reviews and testimonials from clients who have visited the dermatologist you are interested in seeing in the past.
Appreciation for the Great Outdoors
Important homeschool life skills that should not be forgotten include introducing the great outdoors to your children. Allowing your children to play outside and to become comfortable navigating and living in nature can be extremely beneficial as they grow older and into independent adults. Showing an appreciation for the great outdoors will also help your children to develop a greater respect for the world outside and around them.
How to Demonstrate Appreciation for the Great Outdoors
If you want to get your child more excited about spending time outside in nature, consider visiting a local garden center or even planting a garden in your own backyard. Spend time with your child when they are young teaching them how to properly identify various types of trees, shrubs, mushrooms, plants, and flowers that are available and currently present in your city and region. These items will vary based on your location, but can give your child a great start to truly appreciating nature and the great outdoors.
Organization
Organization is another key life skill that can be developed at any age. The younger you are able to teach your child about organization, the easier it will be to solidify proper organizing habits well into adulthood. Helping your child to become more organized is possible by implementing chores that require your child to clean and/or organize their own toys and belongings, even from a young age. When your child becomes familiar with the concept of cleaning and organizing when they are young, you are less likely to encounter an issue once they begin aging into teens and young adults. From teaching your child to organize their own cabinet in their bedroom to creating a chore schedule to keep their room clean at all times, there are many different ways to implement organization into your child’s life, even when you choose to homeschool them.
Creative Expression
Growing into well-adjusted adults is not something that happens overnight. Cultivating creative expression in your children may require personal attention that is individualized to meet your child’s needs and personality. Encouraging creative expression is extremely helpful when raising children and homeschooling them. Homeschooled children still enjoy learning how to express themselves creatively through a variety of different means.
From introducing your child to working with clay to painting and learning a new sport or skill, there are many different methods to incorporate creative expression into your daily life. Whether your child is just beginning primary school at home or they are in the process of transitioning into high school at home, creative expression can go a long way in ensuring your child feels content and balanced in life at all times.
Advantages of Creative Expression
Creative expression in any household is extremely beneficial. When your child feels as though they are permitted to express themselves creatively, they are less likely to feel restricted and/or held back from setting goals and achieving them. When creative expression is encouraged, rather than silenced, your child will also have the ability to maintain their self-esteem and self-confidence. Both are imperative aspects of growing up and learning how to socialize with peers at any age. Creative expression can help your child to learn more about themselves, who they are, and the type of creative endeavors that are right for them and the future they see for themselves.
Self-Care
Another one of the most vital homeschool life skills that you can help your child to develop includes their own self-care. Self-care is essential to take care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally at any age. As your child grows into an independent adolescent or young adult, they will need to practice self-care to ensure they remain as protected mentally and emotionally as possible.
From scheduling a Thai massage to playing video games after work, there are many different ways that your child can practice self-care at just about any age. Self-care can include relaxing activities or activities that provide stress relief. Choosing an activity that is self-care to you will depend on your own personality as well as your preferences when it comes to decompressing and your downtime.
Benefits of Self-Care
Investing time in teaching your children about self-care can go a long way, even if they already demonstrate their self-esteem and self-confidence on a regular basis. Showcasing just how important it is to implement a self-care routine is a way to protect your children from potential downfalls or breakdowns in the future. Teaching your children how to identify signs that they are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed is also key when it comes to implementing self-care into daily life. Once your child understands the importance of self-care and the signs that they are worn out, they can use their resourcefulness to determine the best solution and course of action.
Choosing to homeschool your children is a great way to maintain complete control over the education they receive and the topics they are learning about each and every day. When you incorporate various homeschool life skills into your child’s daily lessons, they are much more likely to remember them for years to come. The right homeschool life skills can help your child feel much more prepared for the real world once they are living on their own and learning to support themselves.
