Teaching your children to be self sufficient.

 

I want my girls to learn how to sew.  I do not want it to become a lost art.  I would also like my boys to know how to at least mend their own clothes. 

Here is Katey with her first sewing project.  We just did a simple purse with no pattern to teach her speed, backstitching, forward stitching, and some other simple explanations of sewing terms.  She loves her bag!  She is very proud of it.

Emily had taken sewing classes for over a year before we moved. I know it’s been almost a year, but it often feels like just yesterday. We haven’t found a teacher where we live yet. So I am having to take this on myself. Luckily she knows the basics. We finally set up a small sewing area, and I got a great light for it. We have been enjoying the time together creating.

I want all my children to know how to cook, which means following a recipe, using the appliances and cleaning up after words. 

I teach this by having them help me to prepare things for various meals and snacks.  I often let my oldest two cook on their own while I am in the vicinity.  We started with Macaroni and Cheese (from a box).  Now they can both make cookies, breads, cakes, breakfast foods and casseroles by themselves.  We will work on cooking pieces of meat soon as well. 

I would like them to be able to handle their own finances. 

While right now they don’t have a lot of opportunity to earn money.  They have some.  Emily has done lemonade stands and babysitting.  Tommy has done yard work and helped with extra chores.  Whenever Emily gets paid she puts most of the money she makes into a paper-mâché bank she made when we first began homeschooling.  Tommy also puts his into a bank.  They also each have bank accounts that they maintain.  Tommy has an account with Banzai also to help him with budgeting. 

There are more things I would like my children to learn before going out into the world. Good thing I have a few more years.    I will teach them those things as we move through the others.