Christmas is a festive time, but since all of life is education here’s how to count Christmas preparation as Life Skills credit.
How to Count Christmas Preparation as Life Skills Credit
Homeschooling high school is not just textbooks. The glorious thing about homeschooling is that we can capture the practical life skills they learn to help create a stand-out transcript.
So, to help you get your teens to work adding to their elective Life Skills credit, we will discuss:
- The basics of earning Life Skills credit
- Ideas to experience and log on the Life Skills credit
The basics of earning Life Skills credit
Life Skills credit is shown as an elective on the homeschool transcript. (Electives are awesome because they can show a breadth of knowledge, interests and experiences- and simply capture the cool things your homeschool high schoolers are doing.)
There is not ONE right way to earn a Life Skills credit. Thus you and your teens can discuss the skills they want to develop in order to prepare for adulting. Many Life Skills are learned best through modeling, mentoring and practice (which means you do not necessarily need a textbook- although they can be helpful). Rather, simply:
- Make a list of the desired life skills
- For instance, you can each your teens the gift of noticing. It will make their world calmer, bigger and more meaningful.
- Discuss the best ways to invest in that skill
- Keep a log sheet to show the time spent on that activity. (That is one method of earning credits in homeschooling high school. For more information on how to earn credits, check out this post.)
For more details on earning Life Skills credits, check out our Authoritative Guide to Life Skills.
Ideas to experience and log on the Life Skills credit
There are so many different areas that can be included in Life Skills credits. Here are some suggestions.
Managing finances
This is where a Financial Literacy course can come in. However, if your teen has not had a chance to complete a FinLit course, you can do your own sessions with your teen to discuss:
- Planning the expenditures over the holidays (gifts, food, travel, guests, etc)
- Budgeting for all those expenditures
- Buying gifts (applying the wisdom already gained
Traditions
Many teens are old enough (and mature enough) to get involved managing special holiday traditions for the family. Here are some family traditions that our local homeschool teens have enjoyed leading:
- Advent wreath readings
- Annual favorite children’s book readings
- Leading a devotion
Social skills
I cannot encourage you enough about the importance of literally teaching teens social skills for the holidays. Teens gain confidence when they know how to react or respond in many setting- but especially holiday settings. If you spend a little time giving guidance on the special skills needed at Christmas gatherings, you and your teen will be grateful. Here a just a few social skills for the holiday:
- Maintaining grace through family gatherings
- Handling difficult people
- Saying please and thank you
- Putting the cell phone away when sitting with the relatives (do build in some escape time for cell phone check-ins)
- Helping with chores, cooking, setting up
- Giving compliments
- Listening to older relatives telling stories (without rolling eyes)
Event planning
Whether it is an event for family, friends, church or other organization, event planning is an important life skill. This includes:
- planning and list making (check out this post on cooking for a crowd)
- time management (check out this post on planning backwards for Christmas events).
- organizing schedules
Cooking
Cooking is one of the most important parts of the holiday season. Teens have the opportunities to cook for:
- Family Christmas gatherings
- Church Christmas events
- Get togethers with friends or their groups/clubs
While they it might not show integrity to log every moment of their cooking experiences, especially if they are making dishes they have make many times. However, when they are learning a new recipe or skills, definitely log those hours!
You can also log:
- Meal planning
- Shopping for the necessary food items
- Cooking
- Serving
Crafting decorations
Many teens enjoy creating fun or beautiful Christmas decorations. Log those hours as Life Skills OR towards a Fine Arts Appreciation credit.
Creating or crafting gifts
When teens create gifts for folks on their lists, they save money while giving something meaningful. One fun way to do this is to create digital gifts. Our friends at FundaFunda Academy have a unit study how-to course on creating digital gifts.
Decorating
Decorating is a big part of Christmas preparation. Many teens love to decorate. Have them do some research for new ideas on Pinterest (remembering to remind them they must keep the budget. Log those hours as Life Skills or Fine Arts Appreciation.
Big cleaning (priorities, how tos)
Many of us moms like to do special cleaning projects before the Christmas season or before big events. This is a wonderful time to involve your teens in setting the priorities on which projects are most necessary and which can be dropped if time runs out. Also if there are special skills or new chores they are learning, log those hours!
Remember there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school OR to build a Life Skills credit. Have fun! What else would you add to this list?
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