Homeschool Life Skills Curriculum
You might be wondering, “Can my child learn practical life skills through an online homeschool curriculum?” The answer is, yes! A high-quality homeschool life skills curriculum can be an essential part of a well-rounded education.
At Miacademy, we know how important it is to provide a functional life skills homeschool curriculum, which is why we include life skills activities for kids, as well as career exploration for older students, as part of our accredited homeschool program.
Why Is Teaching Kids Life Skills Important?
The importance of life skills lies in their ability to empower individuals, enabling them to be independent, navigate challenges confidently, and think critically. Research has shown that teaching life skills supports academic growth, helps us form and maintain relationships, allows us to take care of our basic needs, like managing stress, and enables us to become more independent and self-sufficient. These skills empower kids to become productive, responsible, and capable citizens.
Life Skills for Students to Learn
But what are life skills? Put simply, life skills are all of the different tools, strategies, and abilities that we use to be successful in everyday life. Some life skills support academic growth, while others help us form and maintain relationships, take care of our basic needs, and become more independent.
Some of these tools, strategies, and abilities include the following:
- Organization
- Time management
- Problem solving and decision making
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Resilience and self-reliance
- Self-awareness and empathy
- Cooking and nutrition
Teaching Functional Life Skills With Miacademy
Life skills are incorporated throughout Miacademy’s programs. Here’s how we approach this essential topic:
- At the elementary level, our homeschool Life Skills course provides basic life skills instruction. You can explore some lessons from our Life Skills course on the Miacademy Learning Channel. Our members also get access to our practice games, extension activities, social features, and more!
- All of our courses aim to teach kids basic skills, like critical thinking. Plus, study skills are found within lessons in core subject areas, like social studies. Our elementary social studies curriculum also includes lessons on social skills and how to be a good citizen.
- Kids also learn entrepreneurship through the Miacademy website. Our platform is designed to help students turn their creative ideas into products and connect with one another by participating in our online community.
- Older students can also benefit from lessons on financial literacy, like our unit on how to pay taxes. You can find life skills for teens, such as our Financial Literacy course, on our high school site, MiaPrep, to get hands-on experience with investing, retirement planning, and more!
Miacademy’s Life Skills Curriculum
We currently offer seven different courses in our Life Skills curriculum, teaching everything from how to put away dishes to how to code. Our team is constantly hard at work making new courses to help us meet the learning needs of all students. In the future, we plan to add even more life skills activities for kids, including new learning videos, topics, and more!
Life Skills 1
K-2nd
Our Life Skills 1 course was created with kids in the K-2 age range in mind, but it can be a great way to help students of all ages become more independent. This course helps students master basic practical skills, like zipping a zipper, making some snacks, and completing household chores. Other lessons covered in this course include the following:
- Skills that support independence, such as:
- Packing a bag
- Following the rules
- Putting away the dishes
- Preparing a simple meal
- Interpersonal skills, such as:
- How to compromise
- Making new friends
- Expressing feelings
- Safety skills, such as:
- Making a family emergency plan
- How to call 911 in an emergency
- Staying safe during a fire
There are six units in our Life Skills 1 course, covering everything from self-care to cooking, chores, and home safety, with 37 different lessons! Help your student learn important life skills for kids today with Life Skills 1.
Fit and Active
K-2nd
In our Fit and Active course, students will learn how to stay healthy and keep their bodies moving in fun and creative ways! They will also learn about healthy habits, how to make routines, and about different sports. Key topics in our Fit and Active course include:
- Sports skills such as throwing and catching, soccer, and cardio exercises
- How to form healthy habits with sleep, hydration, protein, and low sugar consumption
- Warm-ups, stretching, balance, and strength training
- Sports such as soccer, bicycling, gymnastics, swimming, skiing, and more
Intro to Typing
3rd-8th
Our typing course teaches students proper hand placement, speed, and accuracy. Like the rest of our courses, we approach teaching kids to type in a game-based, interactive way that encourages them to keep challenging themselves. Key topics in our Intro to Typing course include:
- The Home Row
- The Top Row
- The Bottom Row
- 2-, 3-, and 4-letter words with mixed-row practice
- High-frequency words
- Advanced words
- Sentences
Computer Skills
6th-8th
In our Computer Skills course, students learn about the different parts of a computer and hardware types, and they get familiar with popular software such as word processors, spreadsheets, email and more. Key topics in Computer Skills include:
- Hardware, such as data storage and input and output devices
- Device navigation, different operating systems, settings, and accessibility features
- Productivity software, including word processors, spreadsheets, slideshows, and more
- Online etiquette, email etiquette, and video conferencing software
Intro to Programming
8th Grade & Up
If your student is interested in learning how to code, our Intro to Programming course is a great way to get a head start! Learn basic functions, algorithms, and calculations in our interactive, space-themed coding adventure. Key topics in this course include:
- Single, multiple, and complex function calls
- Algorithm basics
- Introduction to variables, operators, and calculations
- Functions with return values
- Conditional statements, such as if and elif
- Comparison and logical operators
- Data classification and automata
Middle School Physical Fitness
6th-8th
Students are invited to move and learn about healthy habits in an engaging TV show format. Students learn about the seven fundamental body movements and participate in workouts using these movements. Key topics in this course include:
- The seven fundamental movements for daily life and exercise
- Exercise in the great outdoors
- Introduction to popular sports and their rules
- Warm-ups, workouts, and cooldown exercises
- How to develop healthy habits with exercise, nutrition, hydration, and sleep
Career Exploration
7th-8th
We believe that a quality life skills homeschool curriculum should set students up for success in their future careers! That’s why our homeschool Career Exploration curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore some career paths that might be in their future.
You may be wondering, what is career exploration? This is a course designed to introduce students to different career paths available to them, including what responsibilities that career entails and how to enter it. Whether or not your student has a potential career path in mind, our homeschool Career Exploration course provides career exploration activities and opportunities to hear about different career paths from experienced professionals. Students in our Career Exploration course learn about potential careers in a variety of fields, including…
- Teaching
- Medicine
- Accounting
- Software Engineering
- Farm Management
- Logistics Management
- Entertainment and the Arts
Learning Life Skills with Miacademy
Miacademy’s online homeschool curriculum provides students with opportunities to explore different careers and learn essential life skills that will help them to become more confident, successful, and independent. The flexibility of our homeschool curriculum allows kids to take charge of their learning, work at their own pace, and explore a wide range of topics and skills, based on their individual needs and interests.
We believe that in a quality homeschool curriculum, life skills are an essential subject! Wondering what life skills Miacademy can help your student master? Reach out to our amazing customer service team any time!
Updated 01/18/2024
FAQs:
Why should a homeschool curriculum teach life skills?
Research has shown that teaching life skills supports academic growth, helps us form and maintain relationships, allows us to take care of our basic needs, like managing stress, and enables us to become more independent and self-sufficient.
What life skills are important for homeschool students to learn?
There are too many to list them all! Some of the most critical and in-demand life skills include these:
- How to get (and stay!) organized
- How to effectively manage your time
- How to manage and understand finances
- How to solve problems and make difficult decisions
- How to successfully communicate
- How to make and develop friendships
- How to manage and complete chores at home
- How to prepare for an emergency
- How to manage emotions and relate to others
- How to prepare healthy and nutritious meals