Developing Life Skills in your Homeschooler
Developing “life skills” in your homeschooler is important and can be a natural part of your homeschooling journey.
(There is a video at the very end of this blog for a quick summary or overview of this post. The post goes into greater detail.)
It has become recognized as a highly valuable skill even in the public and private school systems where they offer formal class instruction and credit hours for high school transcripts.
Homeschooling allows us to develop these life skills in day to day living, so that when our children are living independently they have the skills they need to succeed.
What are these life skills?
They can be anything from cooking to finance, laundry to daily habits and time management.
They can also include “being self-aware”, coping skills, and being able to ask ourselves the questions to come up with answers to identify our belief systems, core principles, talents and skills, and personal interests.
As a Christian homeschool household, our life skills were built on a foundation of who we are as Christians and our worldview and beliefs.
There are natural ways to included some skills in daily living such as cooking, laundry, household chores, and even budgeting and shopping.
One of the best ways to get started with these when your child is young is a daily schedule of habits, routines, and chores.
When my guys were very young, we had a daily routine (not necessarily a timed schedule – more approximate times) of what we did “before breakfast” and “after breakfast”, then lunch, then “after lunch”, then dinner, “then after dinner”, and “bedtime”.
This kind of routine was easier for my children to understand as they could relate to framing our habits around mealtimes. (I guess almost like hobbits!)
We had a chore chart where each child had specific tasks to perform throughout the day.
We first started this chart with pictures and a simple word while they were learning to read and they were able to put a sticker on the chart when they completed each item.
These tasks would be listed in chronological order of their day and started with “making your bed”. (If you’ve been on social media at all, you might have seen the video of a navy admiral giving a commencement speech to college graduates about 10 habits he learned from basic SEAL training.)
He shared that first thing that was inspected in the morning was his bed. He shared that this simple task will be the first one you complete during the day and you will be on your way to completing more.
Their second task would be to get dressed, then have breakfast, wash up and brush teeth, and then we started our day.
Establishing this routine establishes personal habits that stick with you through life.
It also transfers to when you have a job or are in college.
As your children get older, these skills become more complex with meal planning and cooking, laundry, housekeeping, sewing and ironing, etc. These can all be called “Home Economics” if we want to grant high school credit.
Our life skill training also included personal development or skill and knowledge development outside of home economics and personal self care.
We included Bible lessons, devotions, and even a workbook on Proverbs.
We incorporated personal finance with an allowance, budgeting and shopping trips, as well as reading some books together.
Some recommended books include:
- Financial Peace for Kids
- Smart Money Smart Kids
- Foundations in Personal Finance (high school)
All by Dave Ramsey, Jr. - Money Matters for Teens Workbook by Larry Berkett
- Kiplinger’s Money-Smart Kids by Janet Bodnar
Some books to work with your teen on either organization, time management, or just general skills might be:
- Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens by a mother/daughter duo (written from a teen to another teen) (and includes some really cool scheduling outlines to follow) by Julie Morgenstern and Jessi Morgenstern-Colon
- 1001 Things Every Teen Should Know Before They Leave Home by Harry Harrison, Jr.
For a focus on personal development in dealing with life’s changes and coping with change and life’s ups and downs, you will want to check out
- Who Moved My Cheese for Teens by Spencer Johnson, MD.
And, if you have a teen trying to discover what their talents, skills, and interests are in general or for college or a job, there is
- What Color is your Parachute for Teens by Carol Christen
There are plenty of extracurricular activities your child can experience as they get older to practice a lot of these habits and skills.
They include scouts and Civil Air Patrol or other group where they have to plan and hold events that include planning, packing, food preparation, routines, time-management, clean-up, and more.
These types of activities are filled with real life applications of these kinds of habits and skills. And, even more if your child holds a leadership position within the group, which we will talk about in just a bit.
Developing Interpersonal Skills
Developing interpersonal skills includes “how to get along with others”.
When my guys were little we read a lot of stories with different themes about getting along with others such as the Berenstain Bears series. They always enjoyed those.
And, there are a lot more out there to choose from.
Along with Bible study and devotions, there were other books, we read and discussed as my guys got older.
These books not only, looked at how to get along with others but also how to get along with others “who hadn’t learned yet how to get along with others.”
That part was a challenge. One of the first things, we learned was we couldn’t control how others acted, only how we reacted to them or what was happening around us.
The second lesson, was always “what can we learn from that experience?” After we worked out feelings from a poor experience, we then reflected on the experience and examined anything we could have done differently in the cause of that experience or in our reaction to that experience.
This gave us a “growth mindset” and a habit of trying to develop a self-awareness and willingness for self improvement.
We also focused on our core principals as individuals and family members (as Christians) and staying true to those principles and trying to make decisions and acting from that place.
We are all a work in progress and this is a reoccurring practice session.
Some books that focus on these skills you might want to check out are:
- (for kids) The Survival Guide for Making and Being Friends by James J. Crist, PhD
- (for oldest teens and adults) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- (for teens) 7 Habits for Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (which also has various workbooks and even some worksheets found online)
I can’t recommend the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens enough! This book is phenomenal in taking personal development skills and applying them to the life of a teen in a way that a teen can relate to and understand.
There are a number of other books out there from the Coveys that include 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for adults. These are excellent and take a bit of a commitment to read through, but are very worth the read!
Developing Leadership Skills
When we think of developing leadership skills, we may instantly think of my child being a leader of a group or a manager and giving directions to others.
That can be true, but leadership skills can also include personal skills that your child will need to succeed in life, school, and the work place.
One of the most common reasons managers give right now in the work place for being discouraged and firing most recent graduates or hires is that these workers show no self initiative, problem-solving skills, or interest in achieving or going above any goals.
It is as if these workers are waiting to be held by the hand minute by minute through the day and told what and how to do everything or expect to be paid for showing up and doing the bare minimum.
You might have seen (again on social media) video clips or stories where a young person does not understand why their attire or attitude is not appropriate for the workplace.
Granted, there are a number of places and managers are that are just plain poor, and my guys have run across their share. And training can be very poor to non-existent.
However, if your child has developed skills I mention below, they will shine in the eyes of those around them, because it appears (unfortunately) a number of these skills are hard to come by now adays.
These are skills that your child can develop by the end of their teens that will help them succeed in jobs and/or school:
- Self-initiative (do something without being told)
- Know how to demonstrate something or explain something to another person
- Work as a team mate with others
- Demonstrate responsibility and follow through on tasks to completion that have been given to you
- Take advantage of being able to try on different roles and attain new skills and knowledge and experiences
- Living out habits, routines, schedules, time-management and organization of projects
- Set goals and break out the tasks required to meet a deadline to achieve each goal
- Acquire new skills, demonstrate them, and be open to evaluation of those skills and learn from the constructive criticism
- Practice public speaking or communicating effectively with others
These skills are best acquired and practiced by application.
There are plenty of groups and opportunities and activities that automatically give your child to attain these skills.
I already mentioned scouting groups and Civil Air Patrol.
There are also additional programs:
- Explorer Program
- 4-H
- Sports
- Community Theater and other Performing Arts
- Jobs
- Volunteering
- The Y has several different programs
- TeenPact
- Local government page program
- American Legion Boys and Girls State
These are just a few. My guys did a number of these programs and learned and experienced so much!
The skills and the leadership roles they were able to experience were irreplaceable and carried them far in college and their careers even now!
So, even if you have a quiet introverted soul (like I do) you will be amazed by what they can learn and achieve by just participating in a group liked these (even if it’s in a background role.)
These skills are really for “life”. And the easiest way to get your child started is just have them make their bed in the morning as the first step.
Life Skills Leadership Summit Free Basic Pass
Discover easy ways to add purpose, thinking skills and real life skills at the Life Skills Leadership Summit during February 24-28, 2025. Grab your free Basic Pass here and you’ll get all sorts of real, PRACTICAL advice from 30+ expert homeschoolers, 50+ workshops & $600+ in Swag.
If you’re a homeschool family, don’t miss out on this amazing event. Life Skills Leadership Summit covers all the topics you need to raise your kids to be influencers, instead of followers. Finish your school year with SUCCESS. The best part is you can attend for free with their Basic Pass.
(AND when you register for the Basic Pass, I have an exclusive bonus just for you – A Developing Life, Interpersonal, and Leadership Skills Workbook with links to all the resources you can use to help find an great “life skill” activity or experience just for your child!) Let me know you’ve registered through this link by email and I will send you the link and password where you can download this free bonus!
50+ homeschool workshops from over 30+ expert homeschoolers for an entire week … with free access!
You’ll find 2 tracks for moms & dads,
as well as many sessions for your teens to attend.
Foundations of Leadership Education Track
- Leadership Education
- Leadership Begins with Character Building
- Leaders Love Learning to become Lifetime Learners
- Leaders Need to Think Critically, Make Wise Decisions & Be Independent Learners
- Moms & Dads Need Encouragement to Raise Leaders & Influencers
Life Skills Track
- Business Skills & Money Management
- Tech Skills
- Hands-On at Home
- Relationships & Social Skills
- Preparing for Adult Life
- Communication Skills
- Spiritual & Body Care
Get a Complete Listing of all of the Workshops & Descriptions right here.
