What would you consider to be essential life skills everyone should learn? What basic competencies do you believe your children should have before reaching adulthood?
Homeschoolers, especially, worry about imparting “life skills” to our children. I think on some level we’ve erroneously been led to believe that the school system teaches “everything” kids need to know, and we need to keep up.
This, of course, is simply not true. Yet, often when we take on the responsibility of our children’s education we worry about doing “enough” {as if there were some way to accurately gauge that}.
The truth is, we all have gaps in our education, and our children will as well. However, some specific proficiencies will prove useful as children grow into adult members of society. You might consider these “non-academic” skills, although some do relate to academics and may even be taught in a classroom setting.
After a good deal of brainstorming {and asking for input from fellow homeschoolers} I created a master list of 40 essential life skills everyone should learn and organized it into four main categories:
- self-care and emotional intelligence
- personal and community safety
- communication skills and critical thinking
- household and financial management
Of course, I realize there will be folks for whom these “essential” life skills do not apply. There will always be exceptions. Also, many could easily overlap, but I tried to put them where they made the most sense to me.
Self-Care and Emotional Intelligence
- Setting personal boundaries {and respecting the personal boundaries of others}
- Taking charge of your own health {including preventative care}
- Comprehensive sexual education {including consent}
- Managing emotions and appropriate ways to de-stress
- How to prioritize responsibilities and goals
- How to win {and lose} gracefully
- Basic understanding of human psychology and child development
- How to read body language and social cues
Personal and Community Safety
- How to stand up for oneself
- How to de-escalate conflicts
- Recognizing signs of abuse, gaslighting, and bullying
- Maintaining situational awareness {in public and at home}
- Water safety {not necessarily swimming skills}
- Transportation navigation and safety {walking, biking, driving, public}
- Maintaining privacy {online and in real life}
- What to do in an emergency
- Basic first aid knowledge
Communication Skills and Critical Thinking
- Basic social manners and etiquette
- Speaking clearly {in person and over the phone}
- Listening to understand {and with empathy}
- Basic negotiation and mediation skills
- How to apply and interview for a job
- Appropriate use of social media
- Effective writing skills {formal and informal}
- Basic knowledge of civics and good citizenship {including when, where, and how to vote}
- Scientific literacy {including recognizing pseudoscience}
- How to evaluate information sources
- How to spot a scam
- Understanding legal documents {including contracts and leases}
- Making a realistic assessment of one’s abilities and limitations
Household and Financial Management
- How to move in/out of a home {including signing/breaking a lease}
- How to buy and maintain a vehicle {not necessarily doing the maintenance yourself}
- Setting up utilities {including evaluating providers and rates}
- Home and lawn maintenance and safety {including how to find outside resources}
- Updating personal documents {will, power of attorney, insurance, license, passport}
- Daily maintenance skills {cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, minor clothing repairs}
- Creating a realistic budget {that includes both future planning and present enjoyment}
- Understanding the basics of interest, credit, loans, and long-term investing
- Paying bills on time {including setting up automatic payments}
- Taxes {how to file your own or how to find resources}
Have you made a conscious effort to teach the items on this list in your homeschool? What essential life skills everyone should learn do you feel this list misses? Anything that you would eliminate?
Valerie, this is a wonderful post. Kids are so thirsty to learn new things and this is key to growing up. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much, Brenda. Glad you enjoyed the post. ❤