All students are immersed in learning skills necessary to live their lives responsibly and with self-reliance. Learning how to manage the challenges of how to cook, do laundry, care for a home, change the oil, or establish a savings account are but some of the skills students learn at Explorations.
By rotating students through the various daily chores necessary to operate any household - combined with duties that require the supervision and instruction of peers - students learn skills necessary once they transition into young adulthood. Participation in household meetings and peer mentoring provides students the opportunity to lead and teach others new to the process. This “big brother” approach to mentoring lends itself to a high degree of accountability and takes the adults out of the role of managing decisions and tasks that the teen can do independently. At HomeBase students are given the opportunity to learn everyday life skills and experience the consequences of choices with support. Allowing the teen to make increasingly independent choices provides opportunity to practice what it feels like to take responsibility –for both successful and less successful choices.
During the winter and spring months, students often participate in vocational skills training by taking part in activities such as landscaping, welding, auto maintenance, building construction and maintenance, and wood working. Throughout the year, students practice the task of completing duties to a high standard on a daily basis. Being asked to contribute to the whole on a daily basis to a high standard of competence instills the foundational elements necessary for a strong work ethic.
Some examples of Life Skills taught at Explorations:
- Cooking
- Budgeting
- Effective Communication
- Household Chores
- Laundry
- Basic Auto Maintenance
- Time Management
- Prioritization of tasks
- Employment applications
- College applications
- College or school tours
- Interview skills
- Career Aptitude Instruction
- ACT/SAT applications
- Basic Household Maintenance
- Driver’s Education and Training
- Volunteer work and/or paid employment
- Personal finance: banking, ATMs, savings
