Planting the seed to learning trades

[waterdreamer]

So I was chatting over coffee today with kizudo and I was telling her about my plans for Baby Z.

In the perfect world, I'd like to get him done his grade 12 by 16. After which he can spend the rest of the time between then and 18 going to college and taking a trade(plumbing, electrician, mechanic, etc). Honestly I'd love to see both my boys get as many trades under there belt as possible. Then once he is 18, he can choose to work at that profession or go on to school to because another profession.

I just think about my life and the face we dread when something in the home breaks because we know there will be a bill since neither my hubby or I are very handy. I would love to teach my boys how to take care of basic automotive repairs, plumbing, etc. Then when they are older they will have the skills to do this themselves in their home, and save so much money. Also they can use these skills to make money for their families, or work their way through higher education somewheres other then retail or fast food.

SO my question is, how would one go about planting little seeds and information about these topics in their minds now? I mean if we can teach our kids astronomy and geography, why not good life skills    

[MamaOfWill]

Very good plans and goals you have for your boys! 

I agree with the idea of planting seeds early on.  I would use short video clips and short facts with pictures in a LR course, with opportunity and encouragement to experiment in real life, with some toys and planned activities targeted trades.

I've been fortunate in our situation at home.  We live in a complex, when we moved in it only had 4 houses, but it's always expanding, so there's always house building happening all around us.  Wilhelm has been playing near the construction since he was 1 year old.  Most little ones learn to stack with wooden block, mine preferred playing with half bricks and scrap wooden pieces from the building site.  We always have access to big heaps of building sand.  He gets to see the whole building process over and over and he sees the men using all sorts of tools.  I sometimes find ways in which he can help with something without getting into anybody's way, and he loves that.  So this is a little bit of exposure to all sorts of trades, building, plumbing, electronics, painting, bricklaying, metal and wood works.  I try and talk to him about what we see and answer his questions, but unfortunately this is an area where I'm particularly dumb in

I would also like to do more for him on this topic (because he loves it so) and other thing too, like cooking and looking after the home.

[Tamsyn]

I know our Home Depot offers classes for kids.  You might look into something like that.

[AiAi]

One idea for teaching boys to grow up handy....  There are SO many YouTube videos available; when something in your home breaks (doorknob, appliance, etc.) first check online to see if it is something YOU or your husband could learn to fix.  If so, try to do the job and involve your son.  Even if you are unsuccessful, you both will learn something and most importantly, teach your son to be resourceful.

[Kerileanne99]

Planting seeds, to me, starts with the simplest of ideas. Yes, eventually, there are all sorts of classes, videos, hands on projects, even apprenticeships.

But, IMVHO, I think the biggest thing you can do to lay the foundation is to eradicate 'black box' mentality from your house. There is so much tech now, for example, that people no longer really take the time to consider 'how or why' things function. I think the best thing that you can do is to help kids (and ourselves!) try to develop at least a big picture, working idea of how common things work. For me personally, this means trying to educate myself on things like how exactly the car works, how a computer functions, how to encourage plants to grow, etc.
Then, to always ask the how and why questions with Alex. Usually open-ended so she can try to think it through, and Whatever information I can impart if she seem interested. I really want her to learn to THiNK about the how's and why's. I think that developing that sense of interest, curiousity, and ability to think critically will be a big catalyst in learning lots of trades...even if just enough in some areas to avoid being taken in by unethical repair persons

If you haven't seen the books by David Macauley like The Way Things Work, The New Way Things Work, etc., we really enjoy them. Fun schematics, interesting topics, great descriptions. I just ordered one about how our bodies work as well. I have these left out in strategic places around the house as I find they get looked at A LOT this way.
I also have found that keeping a big boxes of bits and bobs is a lot of fun. We have one filled with things like old clocks, radios, electronics in one. In another, carpentry items that she can use to 'make things'.
Another for sewing, and she has already learned to do simple things like reattach a button.

There is a actually a very large, self-sufficient community farm near us that offer all sorts of classes. Things from carpentry to farming to bread-baking, pottery, cheese and butter making, auto maintenance, and every thing you can imagine. As Alex gets older, we plan to do some as a family and some in combos of mommy/daughter or daddy/daughter. I learned some things in the army that I will teach her like block/brick laying, concrete work, welding (although I refuse to teach her underwater or anything to do with demolitions )
BUT, I do think the biggest and best sees you can help them plant now is the desire to understand HOW and WHY things work the way they do! Get them to think about it, learn about it, ask questions. Take them on field trips to see people actually doing and enjoying their trades, then have discussions.
And help them to avoid that 'black box' mentality above all else:)

[Korrale4kq]

That farm with the classes sounds pretty amazing Keri.

Some of the things that I do with my son entail hands on "old fashioned" crafts/trades. Right now we are into jam making, canning and baking bread.  Much to my detriment he is a bread snob and will only eat "home bread." As he gets older I intend to teach him other home crafts like sewing, knitting et al. We are making a quilt this fall. Eventually will will move onto building a dog house, or other things like that. My husband is a "fixit man" (maintenance technician) for his job, so James has that role model. And I can fix anything if I have the manual. So I want my son to learn things like that.
We also do renovation work on our own home. And that enables us to expose our son to building, plumbing and electrical. Since my son could walk he would assist me by handing my screws and holding my screwdriver for things.

My husband and I have talked about getting him a dirt bike, go cart or something like that in a few years. However he has to fix it to make it go.
So basically, lots of opportunity to work with his hands.

Oh! And check out HGTV or DIY network cable channels in the US. We don't have those now but when staying at a friends house my son would love snuggling up with me and watching shows like that.

[Mandabplus3]

I like the idea...but I don't think we have the best solution yet. Come on ladies go ask your hubbies how to raise a tradie and tell us what they say!
My boy got an interest in woodwork through a big hardware chain that does timber craft each holiday. I must admit I was shocked to the core when he picked up a hammer having never see one before at age 4 and build himself a pencil box. I have no idea how to foster or extend this skill beyond bob the builder cartoons. I can provide all the tools in the world but someone needs to know how to use them....or more how to teach him to use them safely.
Mechanically I think we are set. Daddy has that one coved. All the kids can name any tool and often help fix their quads, bikes, cars, trucks....( boring  ) however daddy can't change a washer so I may need to learn how to do that one myself when the need arises.

[kizudo]

Waterdreamer, 

I've been thinking about this daily since our coffee date.  I'm glad you brought it up.

A few weeks ago I asked my son what he'd like to learn in homeschool this year.  He said "How motors work."  Shamefully I responded "Okay honey, but I don't know anything about motors.  This might be tricky."  He replied "That's okay, Mommy.  Why don't you start by doing an online search on why oil is important.  That would be a good place for you to start."  He knows full well why oil is important - now he's schooling me! 

So, I came home from my last library trip with 4 massively heavy automotive books for him to look at and copy diagrams from.   

I guess this is my first "trade seed" to nurture!

[CVMomma]

This is something that I have been thinking about now for several months so I was glad to see this topic!

Since we live in a farming community, both my husband and I work on a farm, my daughter goes to work with me every time I go, all of her friends are in the same situation,  everybody around her works on a farm; she is going to grow up learning a lot about this particular trade, but she will have very little exposure to any other trade unless I really work at it.

I had made a LR lesson about things pertaining to our work and I am in the process of adding about 4 or 5 EK type facts about each thing in the lesson.  The lesson contains 16 things that have to do with hay farming in Oregon.  Each thing has EK facts, several pictures, and most also have video to go with them.  So now I am wondering if other parents on the forum would be able to do something similar with another trade.  Then we could upload these files to the library so they would be available to other families.  Even if you think your trade isn't all that interesting to children, the exposure would be a  great way to introduce different options to our kids.  Maybe we could interview people in a trade that interests us, add photos, information, etc. Or take pictures of our hubby's tools and the process of him fixing vehicles, things around the house, building something...

Together, we could build a really nice LR course about trades!

[MamaOfWill]

CVMomma, now you're talking my language!  I love your idea, I would personally do the same as you did but for IT Tech, if we can find somebody to organize such a course, I'm in! 

[mario]

I never thought about this as a goal, but this is really interesting.

I guess since I had my Economy classes at college I started to value less working by myself on things that I'm not specialized, but today I'm feeling the lack of it. I even know how to do things but I just don't like because that wasn't part of my life.

Anyway, I'm always teaching some related stuff to my son. I tell him about car parts in his toys, I show him the running engine of my car. There is also an great documentary called IMAX: Legends of the sky featuring A380 and the Dreamliner. They show with great computer graphics resources how things are working from inside. Also I encourage my son to play with Lego Duplo. He is 24 months and last week he made an airplane, a dog and a Space Shuttle.

I also teach him about house and train pieces. At some point I asked myself: what am I creating? Or in another way, I was really asking myself what kind of seed I was planting on his mind. I don't know. Maybe he can grow really gifted for handy work, or maybe he will prefer just to project things, just like me, but because of the same seed.

Anyway, I'm glad I saw your topic because it made me think a lot. Also, even when I went to college after already having a technical degree, I don't consider I had enough information to decide for my future. So I think the LR Lesson proposed by CVMomma is a great idea.

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