5 Skills Kids Won't Learn From Your Homeschool Curriculum

[Music] There are some things kids can't learn from a curriculum. They learn them working side byside doing practical life skills. And who's the best person to teach these things to your kids? It's you, the parent. [Music] a check. I found it. Yeah. Academics is a big part of homeschooling, but it's not everything. There are some skills that we want to teach our kids that you really can't find in any curriculum. This week, we processed half of the chickens that we raise on our property, which is just under 4 acres. Our kids are a big part of this and help us with a lot of the work. Now, if you're not someone who is a homesteader or has a garden, if that's just not you, don't click away yet because the five skills I'm sharing with you are skills that I think are important for every child to learn, whatever your lifestyle may be. We raised two batches of 80 broiler hens, and today we processed the first half of them. Now, while we were doing this, our son asked when he would be old enough to be able to help with the cutting. And of course, my thought, my husband's first thought is, uh, not yet. It's just too dangerous. But my husband remembered something he had heard about how it's good, especially for boys, to allow them to do things that have a little bit of risk to them, especially when it's an environment where you can be right beside them guiding them along. It gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment. My husband worked right beside him showing him how to do the cuts, how to do it safely so that the knife is always pointing away from you. When they can do adult skills that genuinely contribute to the needs of the family, it is such a big deal to them. And it really was for our son. I was so proud of him. And just watching his face when he was finished, when he realized that he really did help us out was just such a reward. I did some of the cutting as well, but for the most part, the rest of us labeled the bags, sorted the meat, and then vacuum-sealed them, and put them in the freezers. I'm convinced that this kind of physical handson work, especially working side by side by parents or grandparents, is something that's missing in education. Which leads me to the five skills you can't learn from a textbook. The first is to look someone in the eye when you're talking to them. Now, this is just basic home training, but it's something that kids don't do naturally unless you call their attention to it. They look away. They think about other things, especially when they're young, they're distracted. One thing I ask our kids to do, especially if I'm telling them to to do something, some kind of chore or task, I'll ask them to look me right in the eye when I'm telling it to them. And when I finish just to simply say okay because this is their acknowledgement that they understood what I said and it also helps me to know whether or not they understood what I said. So we're both starting out from a place of mutual understanding. After we finished processing the first half of our broiler hens, the next day it was time to move the second half, which are still chicks, out to the chicken tractors around our property. The second skill that's important to us to teach our kids is to do what needs to be done. It's human nature to do the easiest thing first, to put off those difficult responsibilities. I've been putting it on my daily to-do list to work out every day and it only takes me 20 minutes, but it just seems like all throughout the day I can get to everything else and that managed to manages to get pushed off as one of the last things. It's just because I don't want to do it. One great lesson that a piano teacher taught me when I was younger, she told me, "When you sit down to practice your piano, always do your hard songs first and then let the easier songs be your reward that you save after you've done the hard work of practicing." We hide the hidmy. Yeah. in the sand. In the sun. The third skill that no curriculum will teach you is how to see a job through to the end and to do it well. This reminds me of a story, I think it was about Booker T. Washington. He was asked to sweep a room and he went around and swept the room nine times to make sure he did an excellent job. Now, that's a little bit more than I would ask of my kids, but this idea of doing a job well is something that kids are taught from their parents. When one of our kids brings me their copy work or a piece of handwriting and I can tell they just rushed through to get it done, it's so sloppy that even if I hand it back to them, they can't read it. Then I hand that back and I ask them to do it again. One thing that's really helped us keep up with the house a lot better is to very meticulously check their chores. Each of them knows what their chore is every day. And when I started, I gave them each an index card that showed what needed to be done in each chore area so they knew. But the important thing was to check up to make sure number one that they had done the chore and seen it through to the end and also that they had done it well. And when they know someone's checking on them, they are more inclined to really do a good job. And when they have to redo a job because they didn't do it well the first time, it's not likely to happen again. I'm excited to show you this new resource that's available to you on the blog rlifehomeschooling.com and one that I cannot wait to use in our homeschool next year. These are the Burgess Bird Book nature study cards. The Burgess Bird Book is one that I have loved reading to my kids throughout the years and I've read it, I think, twice with my older, my middle kids, and now I'm reading it with my younger ones. And I really wish that I had had these cards back when I did it with my other kids. There are 83 nature study cards and you don't have to use them with the Burgess bird book, but if you want to, there is a bird to match every character in the book and they're listed in order. So, it's a very helpful tool if that's a part of your homeschool. You can find them on the blog and I'll also link them below. The fourth skill we want to pass down to our kids is compassion. Sympathy for others. Looking past themselves and seeing what other people seeing things from another person's perspective. Being sensitive and tender to their hurts and their needs. And this is something that I think is better caught than taught. When our kids were a little bit younger, we used to go regularly to an assisted living care center and it was so good for the kids to be around some of the older people and it was good for them as well. I think just having children around brightened up the whole place, but also to see people that were sometimes lonely that were had some physical limitations was so good for our kids. I think when we had our sixth child, I got a little overwhelmed taking them just because they were all so little and I had a baby and a toddler and it became a challenge. But this is something we really want to pick up again. Our 17-year-old son recently told me that he stopped by his grandparents house on the way home from work just to sit and talk with them, ask them how they were doing. And um you know, as a mom, this is the kind of fruit that's so rewarding. Teaching our kids compassion is something that's caught, not taught, which really is the challenge to us as parents. The day after we processed our chickens, I did a caner of chicken broth, which is seven quarts. I found that if I'm home by myself with the kids, doing a caner a day is manageable. Now, sometimes I like to do a big project. For example, all of our tomatoes at once or all of our applesauce. And these kinds of projects I like doing when my husband's home or even having friends or family come over and it's such a big job, it's easier to have a lot of hands- on deck. The last skill kids won't learn from a textbook is how to work hard. I think we live in a time where we underestimate what kids are really capable of. We give them measly little chores. Just clean this little spot, make your bed, and we don't give them really challenging tasks that they can do. Meanwhile, we are overwhelmed. We're way in over our head. We can never get all of our work done. Kids can do more than we give them credit for. And they love doing it when everyone's working together and we're all contributing to the needs of our family. We've always tried to teach our kids this, but it has been a little easier since we've moved out to a place with more property just because there is so much more work to do. The lawn needs to be mowed and we have a lot more grass. We have animals to feed. We have a garden to weed. And then once the harvest comes in, we have food to preserve. When we first moved here, I was a little overwhelmed with all the work we had to do. And then I started thinking um with each little job that I had on my list, it's like, well, why can't the kids do this? They can help. This is something that is reasonable for them to do. And what I've observed, especially with our teenagers, is that because they've learned how to work hard, when they go out into the workforce, it's easier on them than it can be on some others who are not trained to work hard. It gives them an advantage. So, as a recap, these are the five skills that we are working on teaching our kids to do. Number one, look someone in the eye. Number two, do what needs to be done. Number three, see a job through to the end and do it well. Number four, compassion, thinking about others. And number five, work hard. I'd love to hear the skills that you, as a parent, want to pass down to your kids. Leave a comment and share what skills you're working on at your home. Let us know what you would add to this list. [Music] If you enjoyed watching this video, you might like watching the video I did a couple weeks ago, Learning That Sticks: Summer Life Skills, the Learning That Happens Without a Curriculum. Thanks for watching. I do one video a week on homeschooling encouragement for everyday moms. I'll see you next week.