What’s Not Taught In Schools

Everyone considers school to be the wellspring of learning. Yet far too often a bright-eyed graduate who has spent 8 years studying to be a doctor suddenly realizes he doesn’t know how to do his own laundry. There are a number of basic life skills that just cannot be learned at school in the classroom.

Starting with practical lessons, school doesn’t teach people how to grocery shop, prepare meals, or fix things around the home. Home economics used to be a class in every high school, but it would be quite a challenge today to try to find one offered. The male counterpart course, woodshop, would be difficult to find as well. Sewing has become an ancient skill that few mothers pass down to their daughters anymore and so many college students survive only on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because that’s all they know how to make. Parents can teach their children a serious lesson by just taking them along for errands. It is a lesson in life skills that should not wait until a graduate is forced alone into the overwhelming aisles of groceries or the confusing setup of pharmacies.

Socially, school kids never have to really interact with diverse age groups. They grow up in proximity to students their exact same age or close to it. As a result, many children grow up without the ability or desire to socialize with adults. They have adult teachers, but little of the daily interaction ever happens with a teacher. Kids can become comfortable with their social bubble and choose not to communicate, make eye contact, or converse with adults unless forced. Parents must avoid talking “at” their child. Instead, a two-sided conversation should always be encouraged in order to create healthy communication skills not taught in school.

Moving on to financial lessons, school doesn’t teach students how to manage their money. There are of course calculus lessons and algebra lessons and maybe even economics lessons, but the practical application to life in the business world is not usually addressed. Most people have never seen a W-4 until their first day of work, at which point they have no idea what to write down. They’ve never learned about saving or credit or paying bills or how to invest. These lessons have to be learned the hard way, sometimes years down the line.

The scariest of all these unlearned lessons is the lack of knowledge about emergency preparation. Schools have fire drills and sometimes earthquake drills or tornado drills depending on the state, but no training on what to do about a poisonous snakebite or how to save someone who is drowning. In those situations, most people panic. These are lessons that should be taught. If not at school, then they should be learned in the home. School can’t teach you everything, but these important life lessons don’t need to be learned the hard way because of it.

Homeschooling is a challenge, but it can have outstanding rewards for yourself. At the same time, it can be reat for your child. Just be sure to take it very seriously and try to make an effort to separate your roll as an everyday parent with your roll as a home school teacher.


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