Recently, I tried making a list of kids life skills that all homeschoolers need to teach. I wanted to help unschoolers focus on what’s important since we tend to do things more organically. As I began making my list and doing some research, I came across the Life Hacks Series from Hess UnAcademy. Wow! She really has this kids life skills thing down to a science! Rather than continue making my list, I thought I’d share this resource with you.
Teaching Kids Life Skills with the Life Hacks Series
Teaching kids life skills is, in my opinion, more important than teaching academics. Why? Because academics can be learned at almost any age (and older means faster and better, I might add). But, life skills and character need to be instilled in childhood in order to become part of the fabric of that child’s habits and personality. Solid life skills, or success principles, along with good character are much better predictors of a happy and successful life than just lots of knowledge. But, how do we go about instilling these skills in a systematic way? How do we make sure we are teaching the life skills that they need? The Life Hacks Series makes it super easy! Hess UnAcademy offers free parent training for each principle so that they are equipped to teach their children. And, they also have a new children’s book series to accompany the parent education. I really liked this series. Here are some benefits.
Benefits of the Life Hacks Series
Easy to understand
The Life Hacks series of children’s books makes success principles easy for kids to understand. The principle, or life skill, is demonstrated through a story to which kids can relate. And, colorful, stylized illustrations make the story fun to read. For example, the book, The Time Monster, teaches the idea of small daily actions add up to big results over time. It does this with a simple storyline, a cartoon monster, and stylized photographs of a real family. It helps kids see the life skill in action instead of mom and dad just nagging.
Action-oriented
The Life Hacks series helps parents and kids do the life skill, not just talk about it. With concrete illustrations of the life skill in action, kids can see the immediate results of practicing it. Each book challenges children to think of how they could apply the principle to their own lives. And, Hess UnAcademy provides resources to begin right away. Check out the Time Monster Life Hack and grab your free goal setting worksheets.
Relevant Learning
At Julie Naturally, we’re all about relevant learning experiences. Learning that relates to real life, happens from immersion experiences, or that is immediately applicable is best. That’s another reason why I really liked this series. The life skills that this series teaches are super relevant to children’s current and future selves. These are the principles that help them become successful adults. And, they can use them now for a happier childhood.
Budget-friendly
With this series, there are no fancy, expensive charts and videos. The parent education series is absolutely free and the Kindle version of the kids’ books is only $2.99. So, anyone can use these simple, easy tools for teaching kids life skills and get started right away. Just hop over to the Life Hack training to get the parent training portion and download the kids’ Life Hacks books from Amazon. Then, you’re all set to go!
