Teenagers are running toward the years of adulthood and these years are a perfect time to use as a primer for adult life. Really, it’s like having an apprenticeship for what adult life will be like, but only if we treat it as such. We are their mentor, and they are the apprentice. What are some valuable tasks to help them learn how to navigate adult life successfully?
Housework
- Be completely responsible for laundry
- Ability to clean the entire house
- Know how to wash dishes by hand
- Shovel a driveway and/or run a snow blower
- Mow the lawn
Job Skills
- Write a resume (use volunteer work or school project in lieu of paid work)
- When to call in sick
- When to drive in inclement weather
- Expectation for bonuses and raises
Financial
- Document and update a budget
- Balance a checking account
- Write a check
- Send money via Paypal
- Online purchase safety
- Manage a check book
- File taxes
- Credit cards – what they are and why to use/avoid them
- Student loans – what they are and why to avoid them as much as possible
- Importance of 401K
- What are stocks, why one would invest, and how it 401K changes because of it
Food Preparation
- Meal plan
- Grocery shop under a budget
- Make meals following a recipe
- Show understanding of food safety (no raw meat touching other items, washing hands, etc)
- How to sharpen knives
- How to separate egg whites
- Food storage guidelines
Vehicle Maintenance
- Jump a car battery
- Check car oil
- Fill windshield washer fluid
- Change a flat tire
- Put air in car or bike tires
- Grease bicycle chain
- Safety on the side of the road
Home Repair
- Swap out a ceiling fan
- Understand circuit breakers and when to use them
- Change the temperature on the water heater
- Natural gas safety
- How to unclog a toilet
- How to snake a drain
- Unclog a garbage disposal
Medical
- Handle cuts and when to go to the ER
- What is a dangerous temperature
- Signs of dehydration
- How to treat yourself when you’re sick
- When to go to the doctor and when to stay home
Computer Knowledge
- Reboot a wireless router
- Log in to a wireless router
- Change wireless network name and password
- Change wireless router username and password
- Keeping track of passwords (I suggest LastPass)
- How to scan for viruses
- Install RAM
- Basic troubleshooting (Use Google!)
- Set social media profiles to private
- What’s uploaded to the Internet should be boss-eyes-appropriate
Looking for an online class to teach some of these skills?
Mr D. Math now has a life skills class! Check out their whole line up and sign up for the next semester!
Ahem, I think I need to come to you for some lessons with your daughter!! I must be a slow learner,I am 43…/S Susan
LOL! I have to admit I’ve only mowed the lawn with a push reel mower, so if I’m left with the need to mow our current lawn, there would be a learning curve. 🙂
I think I may print this for my husband to look over and use to guide our teen boys. 🙂 Thanks!
I’m glad you’ve found it useful! I just had my teen do the RAM upgrade on my laptop. One thing at a time! 🙂
Would love links to where to learn how to do this myself! Can I join your homeschool too?
You might want to add “how to change plugs”. I’ve had to do this a few times when we moved away from North America. How about ironing?
Those are great! I forgot about ironing. Can you tell I iron as little as possible? *blush*
Ironing. What is this ironing that you speak of???? 🙂
I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask my husband. He’s far more familiar with this ironing concept than I. 😉
Salam
I ran into this article from links from some parent coaches.
This article is entitled walking the middle way, Islam and homeschooling?
What Does the article have to do with Islam?
I am very confused.
Thanks
Walaykum assalam Lori,
That title is the tagline for the blog as a whole. 🙂 This particular post doesn’t touch on Islam, but there are many articles within the blog that do. I hope that clears things up.
Hi I would love if you could maybe add some lessons to go with them or activities to get started on each one.
The images within each section actually link to books that help you learn those skills. They should be a great way to get started with many of these tasks!