Life Skills

Should I really teach life skills?

When I went to college, over 20 years ago, more than half the girls in my dorm could not cook a simple meal. Five or six of them could not follow the directions on a box of macaroni and cheese. Guys were constantly ruining clothes in the laundry room, or would pack a huge bag for their mom to wash when they went home for a weekend.

Why? These essential life skills were not taught at home. Meals got cooked and laundry got done, but nobody spent the time with these kids to show them how to do it themselves.

Many people are worried about homeschool socialization. Teaching these skills goes hand in hand with the ability to get along with others in the community. Homeschoolers have plenty of opportunity to incorporate these lessons into daily life.

Life skills actually encompass more than just cooking and cleaning. I could categorize 5 main types of life skills that require instruction. Some of these examples may overlap. Isn’t that how life goes? The colored examples link to other pages with more information.

Home Management

Community Involvement

Organizing Skills

Personal Financial Management

Personal Responsibility

Mental – academics, spiritual, decision making, stress management, hobbies

Everyone can’t be an expert in all of these areas, but having a little knowledge of all these skills can alleviate a few headaches.

For example, I had a friend whose toilet wouldn’t flush. She said she had a plumber coming to look at it the next day. I’m not a plumber, but took the lid off and realized it was a quick and easy fix of reattaching the chain to the stopper. She was amazed that I knew what to do and thrilled that I saved her the cost of a service call from a plumber.

My dad is a handy guy, but I didn’t learn how to fix that problem by osmosis. He taught me one day when he was fixing the same problem in our house. A plumber probably would have taught me the same thing once I was out on my own, but I probably would have paid a service call fee for the lesson.

If you haven’t included these types of lessons into your home life, please start! Your kids will thank you…one day.

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