5 Days of a Vocational Homeschool-Day 1

Welcome to another week of 5 Days of Blogging with the Schoolhouse Review Crew. What an exciting week it will be! I hope you'll enjoy stopping by each day for my segment.

Throughout the week I will be discussing how to incorporate vocational training into our homeschools.

Just what does "vocational" mean?

Vocational: of or relating to applied educational courses concerned with skills needed for an occupation, trade, or profession: vocational training.

When I was in high school, I attended a boarding school, called Laurelbrook Academy, in Tennessee. Not only did they teach us academics, but they also provided us with vocational training. When I graduated from twelfth grade, I was a certified nurse's aide, and was able to find a job easily in a nursing home, or hospital, or in home health.

This style of education has strongly influenced our home school from the very beginning. Not only do I want to prepare my children for a vocation, or job, or career, but I want them to be able to maintain a home of their own when the time comes.

I have attempted to base much of our homeschool philosophy on the "Moore Formula," which is based on the Moore's research and experience, and follows closely the counsel given in the book Education, by one of my favorite authors.

From the time my children were little, they had household chores. They've also helped with laundry, meal preparation, and our weekly housecleaning each Friday in preparation for the Sabbath. Yes, even my boys do these chores!

Little Bit, age 3, putting away place mats

Tim, age 14, in the kitchen

Jen, age 17

Botanist Boy, age 11

Little Bit, age 9

Jen, age 18

Little Bit, age 8

Botanist Boy, age 10

Tim, age 22

Time in the kitchen has been an integral part of our homeschooling from the very beginning; so much so, Tim has talked of becoming a chef. Now, I don't know if that will actually happen, but at least we know he enjoys cooking and baking, and he knows how! Maybe he will only ever cook/bake for his own family, and lucky is the girl who might become his wife! ;-)

While Jen isn't that crazy about cooking, she does enjoy baking. And Botanist Boy is getting pretty proficient in the kitchen himself.

All of the children do their own laundry now. Now, I admit, the two younger boys don't always get their clothes folded and put away neatly (sometimes they leave their clothes in the laundry basket!).

I have a schedule set up, so we don't have everyone doing laundry on the same day. Roughly, our schedule looks like this: Sunday, I wash hubby's and mine; Tim washes his Monday or Tuesday, since those are his days off from work; the boys wash theirs on Monday; and Jen washes hers on Tuesday or Wednesday. Towels are washed on Thursday, and bed linens on Friday, so we can have fresh, clean sheets for Sabbath.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow. We'll discuss household repairs. My husband is doing an excellent job teaching these boys how to do these minor repairs.

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