Gift Giving
Making Gifts is Educational

Making gifts is a part of family life and yet as homeschooling families we often worry about "being behind" and not doing enough "schoool". When we see our family life as giving us real and beneficial educational experiences this stress begins to receed.

Making presents is something that we do all year long. I try and set a couple of days aside for gift making for each family member's birthday. This of course, has to happen a good week or two before the big day!

I am constantly amazed at the creativity of the children should they but be given some time and a little stimulation. We often talk over ideas before they make a decision. We then have to find instructions, patterns etc - or design their idea themselves. We then have to shop for any materials. This means either digging into the back of the cupboard or going into town, or even shopping online. Then comes the creative part.

So the skills required for this type of activity - regardless of the project is:

• First of all a relational skill – caring for their sibling, and knowing their needs
• Decision making (Intrapersonal Skills)
• Design / following patterns (Math / Thinking Skills)
• Shopping for materials (Consumer skills / Responsibilities Skills)
• Completing the project (Perserverance / Character skill)
• Wrapping the present and writing in a card (Writing skill)

In Education Speak (the language of the school systems) these areas cover Art, Language Arts, Technology, Enterprise, Math. In our family we go through this process at least 5 times for our immediate family, then again for Christmas and then the occasional friend’s birthday as well. So over the year the children are working on approximately 10 Art, Math and Technology projects! That is a good education.

So I encourage you when birthday's and other gift giving opportunities come along, don't squeeze it into a full "school" day, but rather see the learning opportunities that exist and make time for your children to enjoy this family opportunity to the full!