Do Our Kids Have Life Skills? 

Most people do not know in which grade level our children are supposed to learn certain skills. See if you know or can guess:

1. Count back money and change from a $7.36 purchase paid with a ten dollar bill. 
2. Figure how much will be left on a preloaded debit card if they spend X. (Subtraction)
3. Read and follow directions such as “Line starts here.”
4. Determine the final cost of a clothing item discounted by 30%. (Percentages)
5. Determine how many miles they rode their bike if they rode two fifths of a mile on Tuesday and four fifths of a mile on Thursday.  (Fractions) 
6. Determine how long it would take to make a batch of dinner rolls if the chef kneaded the dough for 0.7 hours, let the dough rest for 1.6 hours, and then baked the dough for 0.4 hours. (Decimals)
7. Figure how many feet of fencing is needed for a dog run in the backyard. (Measurement and Perimeter)) 
8. Figure how much 125 feet of fencing at $5 per foot for the dog run will cost.  (Multiplication)

If you know anyone who did not learn these life skills in school, they probably were not given the time they needed to become competent when their class was being taught.  Perhaps they were not even given the opportunity. Some life skills such as “read and follow a recipe and determine the cost to make it,” or “create a budget based on their income” are usually only offered in elective courses.

Parents need to realize why schools must implement Competency-Based Learning and Promotion (CBLP) to ensure that learning happens. Our children must not be victims of the clock and calendar and promoted to the next level without evidence of learning. Nor should children who learn more quickly be made to waste time waiting for others. With CBLP, students learn at their own pace.  For more information check out my previous posts.

Here are the answers: 1. 2nd grade,  2. 2nd grade,  3. 1st grade,  4. 4th grade, 5. 3rd Grade, 6. 4th grade, 7. 2nd grade and 4th grade,  8. 3rd grade.