May
21

5 Skills All Homeschoolers Need to Learn

Homeschooling is great and if you`re here reading this, you are probably already convinced that teaching your children yourself is the way to go. However, there are a few things that some kids miss out on when learning at home which will serve them well as adults. Here are the skills that homeschoolers need to learn.

  1. How to research. It might be tempting to just tell your children what you know or look it up yourself and then recount it, but the ability to find out what you need to know is something that is invaluable at any age. Make sure your kids know how to use a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia, as well as the internet.
  2. How to speak in public. Just about everyone is called on to do a little public speaking from time to time, even if it is just in front of a small group. Unfortunately, this is an area that many homeschoolers miss out on. You can work on this skill by having your homeschool group do small public speaking events or look for other opportunities, such as through 4-H groups.
  3. How to manage time. If you go to school, you learn to schedule things like homework so it all gets done on time, but this might not happen in homeschooling. You can build this skill by having your children work on the school schedule with you and by giving them tasks that they need to complete by a certain time or date and then let them figure out how to get it done in time.
  4. How to get around. When you are studying at home and driving places with a parent, it`s easy to just never learn how to ride a bus or use other forms of transit. Yet nearly all of us are going to need to do this at some point in our lives. Kids should know how to read a bus schedule, take the subway, etc.
  5. How to play sports. You might argue that this isn`t a required skill, but trust me, when you`re 14 and going to hang out with a youth group and discover that you have NO idea how to play basketball, it matters. While sports don`t need to be a major part of studies, it`s a good idea to learn the rules for the most common sports. This ensures that your kids won`t end up at a staff picnic 10 years from now, confused about how to play volleyball!

Do you have other essential skills that homeschoolers might miss out on but need to know? Let us know in the comments!

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Posted by Genesis Caring for Kids Subscribe to RSS feed
  • Thanks for the comment to my post at http://kevinmiller.typepad.com. I clicked over here from your comment...really great content here. I have six kids, three of schooling age. My wife has homeschooled them, but last year, with baby #6 on the way and us building a house, we tried a private school. I think it was the best a 'formal' school can be. But...it still consumed our lives. We're done...back to homeschooling this next year...even with baby #7 on the way!
  • Great article, thanks for sharing! They should definitely learn this 5 for them to be prepared inside the school.
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