15 Life Skills Your Child’s Teacher Won’t Be Teaching Your Kids This Year

I know lot’s of people who think Homework is their only “Educational” duty as a parent. Personally I detest homework it just doesn’t seem to work for us. It involves, shouting, bribing, negotiating and eventually crying and that’s just me. Instead we “learn” in other ways.

I don’t know why it was never intentional but we have always included our kids in everyday adult life. I was one of those parents who let their toddler use a pair or scissors and no not the safety ones either. I am also that parent who lets my kids use a real knife to help prepare dinner. But I am also that parent that cringes when they climb a tree or imagine their neck snapping as they try for the 100th time to do a cartwheel. The only thing going up is my heart rate as I imagine the unthinkable. But somewhere in all the boundaries and lines and parenting styles we do need to teach our kids to survive the world. 15 life skills they don’t teach our kids in school.

Leif Erikson Day is celebrated on Oct. 9, and it’s a great time to learn more about the Vikings and why we still remember Erikson all these years later.

If you don’t know about Leif Erikson (sometimes spelled Eriksson), he’s believed to have been born in Iceland, and is considered the first European to set foot on continental America, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

123 Homeschool 4 Me has a printable mini book about Leif Erikson and the Vikings for kids to read and color. It talks about who the Vikings were, what kind of ships they used, how they got to America and more. It’s a good overview for younger kids to use.

A good unit study is available from Simple Living Creative Learning, which includes a page where kids can write what they know, what they want to learn and what they learned through the unit, as well as information on the Vikings, longships, helmets, clothing and more.

Get a printable Viking unit study with reading passages, comprehension questions and other activities aimed at grades 4-8 from Creative Classroom Core at Teachers Pay Teachers. (And see more Vikings content from TPT here.)

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus has some great unit study ideas, too, including suggested books and videos. The post includes information about the Viking voyages, society, mythology and ships, as well as some vocabulary and a list of famous Vikings. While you’re over there also check out her free printable lapbook, which includes mini books on ships, a timeline, a Viking women coloring page, draw your own Vikings, geography, ancient runes and more.

Piqolo Kids has a lesson on Viking women with (available for purchase) worksheets about a day in the life of Viking women. Even if you don’t grab the printables there’s some good resources on that page and a link to a video on Viking women.

Learn how to draw a Viking ship with instructions from Drawing How to Draw, or grab Vikings coloring and labeling worksheets from Kids Puzzles and Games.

There’s a Leif Erikson Festival annually in Norway, Michigan, which you can learn more about here.

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