Teaching Our Children To Be Homesteaders

Mothering our children starts with changing diapers and nighttime feedings. As they grow and become of school age, our teaching changes somewhat.  I think Tasha Tudor is a great place to start (pictured above).  Tasha embodies for me the motherly art of homesteading when you read the books she wrote and illustrated.  My favorite of hers is Time to Keep. What are some great skills for our children to have before they go out in the world? Here are a few ideas of things we want to work on or are teaching them already.

SEWING AND MENDING

Not everyone has the talent for sewing but even basic skills like knowing how to sew a button or mend a tear is essential. Of course there is always a YouTube video around to help with lessons.

HOUSEHOLD REPAIRS

Do we teach our kids how to change an air filter in the house or clean the gutters? Do they know how to check the oil or change a tire. My husband gets the kids involved in many household repairs to help them learn for when they have houses of their own.

CHICKEN AND EGGS

This is a future project for us but I can’t wait to have chickens (and maybe ducks, too). We had them when we lived in Wyoming and had such fun with them. The eggs were always a blessing to have each morning, too. We don’t have indoor pets so having some outdoor pets not only teaches the children responsibility but also gives them some animals to love. I just am excited to have organic eggs again.

COOKING

This is an important skill for all children. So far each of my children have become better cooks than their mom. Right now, Stephanie, our 17 year old has the responsibility of the kitchen where she plans the main meal (we eat at lunchtime), budgets the grocery shopping list and cooks the meals. Pierre is firm on this task for her as it will teach her much and she is a really good cook so we all are enjoying that.

HOUSEKEEPING

We live in a world of conveniences with appliances galore but we still need to clean our homes and do our laundry. We have always had the children’s help in this. Pierre is a firstborn and he was his mother’s right hand man in cleaning so he has done much to teach them how to clean a house properly. I am the mother who dislikes clutter so I’ve been training them on the art of decluttering and keeping things tidy. Their spouses will thank us someday, right?  Need some ideas for spring cleaning? Here’s an article to read.

GARDENING

I have no green thumbs but a couple of my daughters do and they have been growing a few things in our backyard. I just let them go at it and whatever grows we reap the benefits and they learn much. Experimentation is always fun in this area of living.  We recently bought this garden tower and the girls have the seedlings growing to put it in our tower and grow our vegetables.  You can find it here. There are so many things we can teach our children day by day and if we can instill in them a love of our Father’s world and the upkeep of it, they will enjoy the beauty as they see it around them. Mothering homesteaders is to me a wonderful job to have – the best really!

Psalms 19:1 “(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”