Here I thought I posted about this, but I see that I haven't. We've been using this program for quite a while and REALLY love it. I mean REALLY. It made a huge difference in our household.

We've moved on to a new Privilege Pass (Accountable Kids) in our home and the girls need to master their table manners to earn their pass, which is good for some enticing activities.

So here was our latest project. The girls created a place mat. This is very helpful, especially for the child that has the "set table" extra chore for the week. The girls traced all the utensils, plate, glass, etc and cut them out of card stock. We glued them onto a manila file folder and labeled each of them.

I have 2 lists for you. The first is a very basic list of life skills children should learn before leaving their parents home and is organized by age. The second is the CASAS list of "Essential Life Skills for Youth and Adults".

Click to download...

Basic Life Skills (2 yrs through High School)

Core Competencies (Mostly Junior High and Up) Does not include some practical home and self-care items on the previous list, focuses more on community, employment, communication, etc.

Together they make a pretty comprehensive list of skills.

We've been investigating a new program called "Keepers of the Faith." Its much like Girl Scouts, Heritage Girls or Missionettes, where you can earn badges for learning new skills. Except they also have biblical and educational badges as well as a school curriculum. In addition to that, children can earn badges for developing different character traits.

Other benifits include: They are non-denominational, they are not a nationwide organization- that means no yearly dues, etc. You can use the program for your family alone, homeschool group or just a couple of friends. There are over 500 badges, they are very affordable at $2.50 each and the handbooks (these tell you what the child needs to accomplish to earn thier badges) are also afordable. They start with preschool and go through highschool, programs for both boys and girls.

We haven't decided if we are going to use this program, but maybe you would like to look into it for your children.