After studying how God used work as a natural method of teaching the children of the Old Testament many things, I started reviewing how this educational technique could be used as a method in a successful homeschool. Teaching a child how to work cheerfully and accomplish tasks successfully is as important as teaching them to use their minds. These concepts, together with service to others, create a child that is well-adjusted and able to not only function in society, but to thrive! Jesus said that his Father worked, therefore He worked as well [John 5:17]. Since He is to be our example, it makes sense that productive work be incorporated as a part of every home schooled child’s day.
Home educated children can participate in two general types of work: useful and gainful. Useful work is an action that supports the well-being of self and of others in the home. It includes the daily tasks that make a home function well and create an inviting place to spend time. On the other hand, gainful employment relates to the marketplace and earning an income. This term refers to a first job, like delivering newspapers, to a career in adulthood. Both types of work are beneficial to the homeschooled child when used age appropriately.
In future posts, both types of work and how they relate to educating the whole child will be explored.
We usually call “useful work” by another name: chores. These are the tasks that are done to keep our living environment clean, healthy, comfortable, and attractive. In a home that operates smoothly, they are done routinely and without compensation. They are done simply because one lives in their dwelling place. In the life of a busy home school parent (usually the mother), it is important that chores be delegated in order to share the load. With children at home all day long, and the added responsibility of planning and implementing the education process, a mother can find that there are simply not enough hours in the day. It is important that the entire family works together as a team to keep things running smoothly.
Children should be encouraged, even required, to participate in chores. Although they might not always do them willingly, a steady routine will become comfortable and any complaining about the work will be reduced with consistence. Because the children are part of the family team, and because they live in the home, an allowance should not be paid for regular home tasks. There may be times when something above and beyond daily home care needs attended to, and those times can be set aside for “gainful employment” and money paid for doing the job.
Chores are good for children for a number of reasons. They give a child a sense of competence as they realize that they are a contributor to the family unit. Children need to be needed, and chores are a great way to keeping that in view. Chores give them a sense of place. Through daily work, children are taught self-sufficiency and responsibility. Helpful habits are developed that will assist the child as he or she transitions into adulthood. Additionally, useful work keeps children occupied in a positive and productive manner. It helps keep boredom away!
Chores help the family unit function in a cohesive way and they provide the child with skills that will benefit him or her for life!
Family chores are tasks that contribute to keeping a household run smoothly. They are duties that the whole family participates in, not just mom, dad, or children. Certain tasks may always belong to specific individuals in the family, but the others can be divided up and traded off to make things more interesting for everyone. When working with children, it is important to remember that they are best motivated with mom or dad work with them. This doesn’t mean that the parents are doing the children’s chores, but rather that everyone has a designated time when they are all doing their assigned chores.
Some chores are automatic and should be done routinely every day. When waking up in the morning, children can get dressed, comb their hair, make their bed, tidy their room, put their dirty clothes in the laundry room, feed the pets, and set the table for breakfast. When required routinely these tasks become habit and over time they will happen automatically. In our family, the rule was that pets always get fed before humans. This included the sheep, pony, turkey, and chickens!
Other tasks may not be so routine. If there is more than one child in the family, it is more interesting to trade-off, especially is there are some jobs that are not as desirable as others. Some of the techniques we used in our family for allotting chores were:
1. Write down all the tasks that need done on individual slips of paper. Take turns pulling a chore out of a hat, going back and forth until all the chores are selected.
2. Make a list of chores that need done. Take turns having the children choose which chores they would like to sign up for. Use a different colored marker for each child and highlight those items they chose. This gives them a sense of empowerment, as they get to choose their chores. It’s true that these are the same chores that could simply be assigned.
3. Sign up for some chores and that are traded off weekly with another family member. For example, empty the dishwasher for one week, and for the next week fill it. Empty the wastebaskets in the house one week, and the next week sweep the kitchen floor. Some chores won’t be as desirable as others, but the child knows that once his or her week is up, they get a break the next week while another family member does the task.
4. Allow for something interesting to happen while a chore is being done. Folding laundry while watching a nature DVD turns the task into a family event.
5. Occasionally make a game out of household chores. Hide a surprise under objects that the child can find when dusting the furniture. A nickel under a vase, a stick of sugarless gum behind a picture frame, or a coupon for a cookie from mom all provide incentive and challenge.
6. If the house has become cluttered, set the oven timer for 5 minutes and have everyone pick things up and put them away, counting how many objects they cared for. Have a reward for the person that put the most things away. The reward may simply be that mom or dad will do their next assigned chore.
7. Another technique for a cluttered house is to give each person the task of putting away twenty things. This is conducted like a race, seeing who can put away twenty things fastest.
8. Teach children to put away things as they complete a project. Toys, craft supplies, and school books used should be put away before they move on to another activity. After a meal, have each family member take their dirty dishes to the sink. It helps if they are asked to each choose three or four things on the table and carry them to the kitchen as well.
9. Make a chore chart. Give children a sticker for completing each chore. At the end of the week, count their stickers. Have a reward system where the children receive a prize for achieving their goal. Stickers are not given for chores done in a complaining manner, even if the chore was eventually completed.
10. Chores work best if done on a consistent schedule. Our family found that the time between breakfast and starting school activities for the day worked best. Generally an hour is enough time to allot for daily family chores.
Age appropriate chores can be assigned from toddler years until a child leaves home. They help to establish habits of good home management and the child will reap rewards for a lifetime! Useful work is a strong component in educating the whole child.
Outside chores are valuable because they give a child the opportunity to expend energy in a useful and purposeful way. Exercise, a sense of accomplishment, and a feeling of contribution to the family all result from age-appropriate tasks in the yard or garden. Sometimes a parent might assign jobs outside simply because they need done and they think kids should do them. I can remember stories in books that were written to develop character in children. Often they were a variation of the same theme; a child who was supposed to hoe three rows of corn before they went to play, but got bored with the task and simply covered the weeds with fresh dirt. In not time at all, the weeds took over the garden and their lack of diligence was made known. Although there is nothing wrong with assigning rows of weeding, outside chores can be so much more! They can be fulfilling, interesting, and even fun! When a family works together in the yard or garden, a sense of teamwork and accomplishment result. Weeding a flower bed with a sibling, or raking leaves with dad can create memories of companionship that will stay with a child for life. Routines, incentives, and traditions also help children develop an enjoyment for working outside. Over time, the skills learned can be applied to gainful employment as they reach the age that they can work for neighbors or others in the community, thus earning pocket-money of their own. Here are some tips for working with children outside:
1. Generally outside chores are done simply because a child lives in the home. They are a part of their contribution to the family. Sometimes extra chores are required outdoors, and those that are above and beyond routine maintenance can be compensated for with a reasonable amount of pay.
2. Traditions can make outdoor work meaningful. In our family, it was tradition for Grandmother to come visit for a week during spring break. During that week she would help her grandchildren till the soil for individual gardens, then take them to buy plants and seeds. Together they would plant the gardens, adding whirligig, little fences, and pathways through the gardens. After she went home, the gardens were carefully tended by the children because they had meaning to them.
3. Payment for extra jobs provides incentive. Weeding a flower bed can be a daunting task — unless mother pays 5 cents a weed for each one pulled up by the roots! If a flower garden is too weedy and mother would go broke by paying that much per weed, another type of payment system could be used. Twenty-five cents per section (marked by little flags or stakes) is good incentive. Generally, it is not recommended that young children be paid an hourly rate for pulling weeds. They will enjoy the experience more if they are allowed to work at their own pace, and mother will not feel the urge to be prodding them on constantly at their task.
4. Sometimes tasks are not appreciated until something is taken away for a while. In our family, mowing the lawn was the boys job once they became of appropriate age. Sometimes dad would mow around the trees and edges, but the main lawn was a job the boys took turns doing. Dad would follow-up with the weed eating. Because dad had grown up with an old-fashioned push mower and a five acre lawn, he felt he was honoring his boys by providing them with a nice John Deere lawn mower and a lawn of less than two acres. But, since they hadn’t experienced the push mower and larger lawn for themselves, they weren’t too impressed. One day, the eldest decided that mowing the lawn was a task he did not want to do, and much grumbling took place. Instead of lecturing and choosing a punishment that simply grounded him or took away a privilege, father decided that an object lesson would work the best. He quietly, yet firmly removed the keys from the riding lawn mower and prepped the push-mower for action. The son was set to work mowing the lawn by pushing rather than riding the lawn mower. It was an effective lesson and the eldest never again complained about mowing the lawn.
5. A family afternoon of pruning shrubs and trees can be fun! Hauling the branches to a place where they can dry or be dealt with later is interesting if they can be hauled with the riding lawn mower and attached trailer. Burning branches that have dried creates a great campfire for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows as the evening nears. Mixing work with pleasure can make a task less tedious.
6. Giving a child task that shows them that a parent values their abilities lets them know you have confidence in them. Giving them tools and instruction for replacing broken sprinkler heads or repairing a broken sprinkler pipe can relay the message that you value their capabilities and input.
7. Simple jobs, like picking flowers and arranging them in a vase can provide beauty to the home and joy in the heart!
Children through the ages have been given opportunities to earn money through gainful employment. When used appropriately, it helps children develop character and a good work ethic. It gives them an opportunity to explore the world and apply the things they have learned in academia to real life. The sense of worth that productive work gives to a child is of substantial value. Work, when used as a part of a home school curriculum, helps to form values, skills, and knowledge that develop the entire child.
When using work as a part of a homeschool program, there are several things to consider:
1. Work should be appropriate to the age of the child. It should not be tedious or forced, but rather something that engages the interest of the child and inspires them to participate.
2. When working with young children, participating with them encourages them and develops positive attitudes. A team approach works best.
3. The amount of time spent working should be tailor-made to the needs and abilities of the child.
4. It should assign enough responsibility for the child to grow, but not so much that it overwhelms and stresses them.
5. Work that inspires creativity and positive attitude is priceless!
6. It is important to teach the child how to budget the money earned through gainful work. Developing a saving, tithing, and spending plan that works will benefit the child for years to come.
Gainful work can be tailor-made to a child’s interests and abilities. Babysitting, mowing lawns, and setting up a lemonade stand are just the beginning of a world of possibilities when it comes to gainful work. Applying these principles will be discussed in a future post.
Sometimes finding work opportunities for children can be challenging. Daily chores create opportunity for routine work experience, and tasks like lawn mowing or pulling weeds in the garden provide opportunity for extra jobs that can provide learning and fulfillment for children. But it’s important that purposeful work be provided that is not part of the daily routine. Children should not be made to feel that ‘work’ is a negative concept and is just something they have to do to make their parent’s lives easier. An altruistic spirit is good and work can help create it, but that is not the entire purpose and role of work as a part of a home school curriculum. Children can develop work attitudes and a sense of self-worth if they have work related jobs that are unique to them and provide them with a sense of fulfillment. Thus, special care needs to be taken in helping a children in this role. In the past, school children could harvest cucumbers or strawberries for pay, or work on a farm changing irrigation pipes. Regulations regarding the age that children can be employed has made it more difficult for children to find work related roles, so creative thought must be applied! Helping a child establish a small home business is one way of providing meaningful work related opportunities for them and a good way for them to earn extra money.
Here are some ideas of work opportunities for children:
1. Being a mother’s assistant or babysitting.
2. Washing cars.
3. Baking homemade bread and selling it to neighbors.
4. Having a bake sale.
5. Setting up a lemonade stand.
6. Participating in a yard sale and having a table of toys, clothes, or things not wanted or needed any more.
7. Folding laundry and/or ironing shirts for a neighbor or relative.
8. Sewing aprons or cushions and selling them to friends and neighbors.
9. Growing a vegetable or flower garden and selling the produce or flowers.
10. Writing a monthly neighborhood newspaper and selling it for a quarter to community members.
Gainful employment and business opportunities for teens are not as difficult to implement as it is for elementary age children. The key to success in this area is to encourage the teen to find something to do that follows their own natural interest and ability. Encouraging teens to develop skills that they have or would like to develop is key. That, along with the spending money that gainful work provides, works as interest and incentive for the teen.
Some ideas for youth employment and business opportunities are:
1. babysitting and child care
2. housekeeping or assistance with spring-cleaning
3. growing flowers and selling bouquets
4. building customer computers and selling them
5. working as a computer tech, fixing problems and reformatting computers
6. growing produce and selling at a fruit stand or Farmer’s Market
7. making products to sell like jams, jellies, bread, cookies, cakes
8. catering meals for an event like a wedding or family reunion
9. mowing, weeding, planting yard care business
10. ironing and doing custom laundry
11. doing car detailing and washing
12. tutoring young children; being a homework helper
13. bagging groceries at a supermarket
14. working in a fast food restaurant
15. caretaking of the elderly
16. becoming a personal shopper, for groceries or other items
17. gathering firewood and selling it
18. painting rooms, houses, or furniture
19. repairing cars or lawn mowers
20. sewing things and selling them
Sometimes work can be especially "fun". The teen in this picture is modeling for a jet boat promotion and brochure. Although something might look like recreation, it can also be gainful work.
