This list is more focused for kids on a homestead but they can really be for any kids. I am a firm believer that as a parent it is our job to teach and raise our children. God has given us the ability to raise our kids and I believe we need to take our job more seriously. It kills me when parents stick their kids in daycare and then in front of the T.V when they get home.
Our children’s minds are like little sponges when they are little and we need to do all that we can to fill them up with good positive things…
I am going to share with you 13 things I believe every child should know.
1. Where food comes from
This one seems obvious, but you would be surprised at how kids, adults even don’t know where their food comes from. Now I’m sure if you live on a homestead your child knows where their food comes from…
..but make sure that you get them involved in the process. Have them help with the planting and let them watch the whole thing from start to finish.
Also, if you don’t have certain aspects of food production such as milking cows on your homestead take a field trip to another local farm so that your children can see how milking works.
Another, form of learning books! If you don’t have access to learning get your hands on some fun books and read with your kids. It is great bonding time as well as a chance to learn with them.
2. How to grow & produce their own food
This is a great practical way to teach your children. I would encourage you to give your child their own space in the garden that they are responsible for. Even very young kids can do this…you will just need to guide them more.
This is such a wonderful way for them to see exactly how food is grown and how much work goes into it. Have them do everything from planting to harvesting. They will be so excited to watch the plants grow and be able to have that feeling of accomplishment when their garden matures and yields a crop.
My daughters are 3 & 5 and I plan to have them do all the work. Even planning the garden and where they would like to plant things. If you need some help with that check out my post on planning a garden!
3. How to prepare their own food
I was raised in a home where we made all home cooked meals. Growing up I thought that’s what everybody did. I could not believe it when people would tell me they did not know how to cook. But once I started thinking about it I guess it makes sense that if your mom never taught you…how would you know how?
Even if you don’t know how to prepare home cooked meals as well as you would like I would encourage you to keep at it and teach your kids. Being able to make good healthy homemade meals is so valuable.
Again, start this at a young age. I know it will be messy but let your little ones help in the kitchen. They love that time with mom and it is essential for them as they grow up to know how to cook. If your kids are older start handing off some of the responsibility. Have your older kids take a night of the week. Have them plan the dinner and prepare it. This is great practice for when they move out!
4. How to care for animals
As you have probably noticed I am focusing quite a bit of attention on giving kids responsibility. I believe that is so important! As parents that is our job to teach our children how to live and slowly as they grow up handing them more and more responsibility until they are on there own and have all the responsibility. We sometimes think we are “loving” our kids if you do everything for them. But really we are hurting them. If we do everything for them once they move out they will be in complete shock when all of a sudden they have to do everything!
Anyway, back to the point. Caring for animals is a great way to build responsibility in your child. They have someone’s need’s depending on them and if they forget or decide not to do their job the animal suffers.
We have our 5-year-old take care of the dog. She loves having that responsibility…but she’s 5. So she needs reminders and some guidance. Depending on the age of your child they may or may not be able to take on the job on their own.
5. How to work with their hands
I am going to sound like an old person here…but nowadays with all the devices and machines that do our work for us, we almost don’t have to work with our hands…
But getting a little dirty and working with your hands is such a rewarding feeling. Make sure that your kids have some physical labor. I am in no way saying to use your kids to get all your work done for you…
…but have your kids working alongside you doing the hard work. Some examples would be.
- Weeding the garden
- Cleaning the chicken coop
- Cleaning out the pond
- Cutting wood
- Butchering chickens
Obviously, some of these ideas would just be for older children. But don’t be afraid of getting your little ones involved. You want them to not think twice about hard work and some of the gross stuff…
…this last year as we butchered chickens I made sure my girls helped. I want them to not be grossed out and know how to do it. Of course, they did not actually use a knife you touch any of the dangerous stuff. But they would help with the little jobs. They would hand us the chickens after they had been de-feathered so we could clean them or move them to the water and stuff like that! They loved being involved!
6. Use the equipment
I sometimes say that I would love to live in simpler times and we don’t need all of this modern technology…
..but who am I kidding? there is no way I would be strong enough to do all that those women did back in the day. I am a fan of farm equipment for sure.
I mean my tiller is my best friend! Who has time to pick all those weeds by hand? Not me! At this point in my life my husband I and I have to use the equipment because our kids are so young. But if you have kids that are older get them comfortable with using the equipment.
Have your pre-teens and teens mow the yard, till the garden, split the wood etc. Give them these jobs and have them be responsible to get them done. The best way I have seen it down is to give them a day of the week and they get to choose when they do it but sometime that day the Chore needs to get done.
Another aspect of using the equipment is maintaining the equipment and fixing it. If at all possible do the work yourself so that you can teach your kids how to fix the problems on their own. You can save so much money by fixing things yourself. And it is such a valuable thing for your kids to know how to do. And this is not just for the boys! Get the girls out there as well. And if you can’t figure something out YouTube is the greatest resource 😉
If you were not raised fixing things don’t let that stop you. Make a change in your family and teach your kids that they can figure it out! Between Google and YouTube, we have so much at our disposal! Take advantage of it.
7. Learn freely
There are an incredible amount of opportunities for learning on the homestead. I personally Homeschool and love the freedom it brings to our family. As I mentioned I believe that as parents we need to take the opportunity God has given us and teach our children about the world around them.
I am certainly not against book learning by any means but I also believe that we can learn so much from the hands-on experience. I am a visual learner. So for me, I will learn much better by watching than by reading a book.
I love how freeing it is being on the homestead and teaching my children the way I believe is right. And they are freer to learn the way it best fits their needs.
As I said I an no means am saying book learning is bad. We do a curriculum called Classical conversations and they are very diligent in book learning. I just believe that you need balance. You need time behind the books and time outside.
When your kids are in school balance is very hard because they are gone at least 8 hours a day. This gives very little time for you as the Parent to speak into their lives and have them learn from the homestead.
8. Respect others
Respect! This is a character quality that you rarely see in Kids these days. Well and honestly most of us adults struggle with it as well. I feel like our grandparents would have never gotten away with saying the things our kids say. I always wonder what happened? What did we do wrong? How can I change it?
From what I have observed is that as parents we have not held our kids to a high enough standard. They are only doing what we let them get away with. We need to set the standard, make known the standard and then enforce it!
This is much easier said than done. But if we are going to raise children that are respectful we have to put in the work at home! It drives me nuts when parents put more time and effort into their jobs and life rather than putting time into raising children that are going to make society a better place to live. We can’t expect anyone else to raise our children! That is our job!
9. Work with others
On that note, we also need to raise children that can work well with others. Whether your child decides to be an employee or start their own business they need to know how to work well with other people. Some people are harder than others to deal with and we need to instill characteristics in our children that will help them work well with others.
A few I would recommend…
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Patience
Teach your children to have patience with others. A great practical way to do this is having them teach a younger sibling how to do something. This will encourage patients at a young age and will be a good learning experience.
2. Think before you speak
In your child’s lifetime, they will have many opportunities to say what’s right or blurt something out without thinking. Guide your children to think before they speak. A good way to practice this is to count to 5 before they respond. This will give them time to think about their response.
3. Care
Teach your child to care about those who are around them. Teach them how to have good heartfelt conversations and really care about people. This will take you far in life. You will back amazed what a little caring can do.
As parents, we need to practice what we preach and be an example to our children. You will not be perfect! As I was writing the portion about being patient I was getting upset at My kids! Ha! Pretty ironic huh? But just keep doing better each day!
10. Run a business
Whether or not your child decides to run their own business it is important that they understand how it works. If you are running a homestead then more likely you will have some opportunities to teach your children how business works.
If you don’t run your own business give them ways to learn about business. Have them sell the eggs or have a veggie stand Etc. Again, I am a visual and hands-on learner. So for me, I want to find good practical ways to teach my kids. If your kids are older have them find a skill or talent and start a small business. They will learn so many life skills from running their own business.
11. Be healthy
I am so glad that we are slowly learning about health again and how to take care of our bodies properly. As parents, it is our job to teach our children about their bodies and how to properly take care of them. If they are going live long and happy lives they need to know how to feed their bodies right.
Thankfully, If you have a homestead you are already well on your way to growing your own healthy food. Make sure you are sharing with your children why you are homesteading and the benefits of doing things yourself. Again, make them a part of the process.
If you are at a loss and how to learn about health and what to feed your family. I recommend the “Trim Healthy Mama” books They do such a good job explaining how to eat a good healthy balanced diet. THEY SERIOUSLY CHANGED MY LIFE!
12. Run a home
Generally, when we talk about running a home we think of women. And obviously, they are a huge part! I believe we to raise our daughters to be good homemakers. They should be able to a good homemaker and take care of their family well. But it is also important that our sons know how to run a home. They need to know what their job is and what they can do to help around the house and make the home run more smoothly.
In our day and age a dad figure in a child’s life is lacking more then it ever has. We need good strong Dad’s in the home raising the next generation of men!
13. Do what is needed
Lastly, teach your children to be observant and see what needs to be done around them. If they see a need they should be able to fill it without being asked. This skill will set them so far above the rest when they go out and get a job.
Remind your children that they are practicing for real life and a future job. So they need to pay attention to the home and the chores that need to be done just as if they were working outside of the home.
Final thought
Trust me I know this list can seem long and a bit daunting. But don’t try to perfect it all at once. Slowly start implementing the ideas into your life one at a time. It will be hard work but it will be so rewarding in the end. Your kids are worth it! and even though they will fight you at first they will appreciate what you did for them as they grew older. I am still waiting for those years 😉 But I know they will come.
Happy Homesteading!
~Courtney