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Credits: 1

Recommended: 12th grade

Prerequisite: Not required, but our Foundations course is recommended for 9th grade. That course would typically be taken first.

Course Description: This course could be called Adulting 101. We’ll look at the basics, from tying your shoelaces and signing your name to things like banking, insurance, and taxes. Students will learn about defining their identity and purpose and aligning their goals and decisions with those. They will look at careers and practice interviewing. They will contact businesses and meet neighbors and strangers. They will learn about developing relationships and coping skills. They will learn about the pros and cons of social media and learn about internet safety and privacy. They will work on leadership skills such as time management, persuasion, creativity, adaptability, and cooperation. They will learn some things around the house including vacuuming, baking, and weather-stripping. They will learn a little about the world and how we should respond to it and others in it. They will hopefully be inspired to make smart choices, step out of their comfort zone, and trust in the good waiting for them in the future.

Lesson 1

1. Identity
2. What is your identity? Write a paragraph defining yourself.
3. Identity
   • Who are you?
   • Ask me who I am?
4. Look at what you wrote. How many of those things could change? If you lost those things, then who would you be?
5. Edit your identity paragraph to try to have it only contain unchangeable truths.

Lesson 2

1. What’s the why behind your life?
   • “Your life purpose consists of the central motivating aims of your life—the reasons you get up in the morning. Purpose can guide life decisions, influence behavior, shape goals, offer a sense of direction, and create meaning.” (source)
2. Write a paragraph telling the why behind your life.
3. Is it something that gives you purpose for today and for ten years from now?
4. What’s the Point of My Life?
5. If it’s not something that will stand the test of time, then rework your paragraph until you have a universal truth to spur you forward.

Lesson 3

1. How do you make decisions?
   • Small ones – what to wear or eat
   • Medium ones – what to do, how to spend your time
   • Really big ones – life decisions like college, career, marriage
2. Write a paragraph that explains your process.
3. Is it the same for all types of decisions? Did your “why” play into it at all? Is your identity reflected and preserved in the process?
4. If not, rework your paragraph until your decision-making process reflects your who and why.

Lesson 4

1. Think about something you need to decide about. Choose a big or medium decision. Work through the steps in the linked article, Decision Making.
2. Write out each step.
3. Does your decision line up with your who and why?
4. If not, what’s wrong? How can you make sure your decision lines up with your who and why?

Lesson 5

1. What are your daily and weekly routines?
2. Write them down. What do you do typically each day and each week?
3. List what you typically do in a day and the time spent doing each thing.
4. List any non-daily activities that you typically do during the week. Write the amount of time you spend doing each one.
5. Do any of these tips for breaks and rest fall into your daily or weekly routine?
6. If not, figure out how to make sure you take time for quiet time. When will you do it? How will you make sure it’s done?

Lesson 6

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Goals (This is Denzel Washington speaking at Dillard University graduation. This starts in the middle of the video but it’s where he really begins.)
3. Make a goal for today.
4. Make a goal for the week.
5. Make a goal for the month.
6. Make a goal for the year.
7. Are your goals achievable?
8. If not, reassess your goals.

Lesson 7

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 1 on the list, Life Skills. You don’t need to go to this link. My version of it, and what you need to do, is right below.
   • Craft a handwritten note, place it in an envelope, address said envelope, stamp it and mail it.
   • When your family needs a package or oversized letter mailed, offer to take it to the post office to mail it (or go with a parent and leave them in the car and take care of it for them). You don’t have to do this today. Just be on the lookout for when you can do this.

Lesson 8

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 2 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Find your polling place.
   • If you are 18, register to vote (if you choose to do so). Feel free to use your decision-making skills on that one.

Lesson 9

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 3 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Use a phone for making phone calls.
   • Call a business. Ask your parents if you can order something or make an appointment for them; if not, just call a business and ask a question.
   • You aren’t done today’s school work until you’ve done it.

Lesson 10

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 4 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Get cash.
   • If you use a debit card at a store, you can ask if they will give you cash. Of course, they aren’t giving you money; it’s being taken from your bank account. So, what do you need to know? How much money is in your account!

Lesson 11

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day and for the week.
3. Look at this example of what it means to comparison shop. Look at the tag in the picture and understand the total price and the unit price. The unit price in this case is the cost per ounce (oz.).
4. Go to the grocery store with a notebook and pencil. Pick one type of product. Comparison shop. Write down the name, price, and unit price of each.
5. Which is the cheapest product (price)?
6. Which is the cheapest for what you are getting (unit price)? You may have to do some calculating if your tags don’t make it easy.

Lesson 12

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 6 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Know where in the car the car manual is kept and that if there is an issue you should refer to the manual for guidance. Look at the dashboard behind the steering wheel. Do you know what all the symbols mean? Go get out the manual and look something up. Look at the index to see what’s included. An index is in the back of a book and is in alphabetical order.
   • You should be able to fill the tires with air, pump gas and know what to do in the event of a flat tire. Ask your parents if you can go do those first two things for them or with them.
   • Ask your parents what you should do if you have a flat tire. If they expect you to change it, now would be a good time to learn and practice.

Lesson 13

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 7 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Read a map and follow directions without using a GPS.
4. If you have an atlas at home, open it and read a map. Choose two places and find a route between them.
5. If you don’t have an atlas at home, print a map to use or use one online.

Lesson 14

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Identify basic nutritional elements.
4. Write down everything you ate over the last 24 hours. Use labels and online tools to write down the nutritional content of each thing. Write the number of calories, the amount of protein, the amount of fiber, the amount of different types of fat and sugar, vitamins, etc.
5. Look at the recommended calories for your age. How did you do? (This is just some generic idea, not about you in particular. If you gain weight, you are probably eating more calories than you are using. Calories are just measures of energy. If you are losing weight, you aren’t taking in as many calories as you are using. Unless you are overweight, your goal should just to be about the same weight (within five pounds). Your weight changes even throughout the day, so never try to stay the exact same weight. And girls, your weight will go up naturally at a certain time each month. It will also just naturally go back down. Your weight is something to check every few months, never a few times a day.
6. Look at the nutrition you took in. Look at the recommendations. Where do you fall short?
7. My secret to nutrition is to pray before I eat. 🙂 I receive my food with thanksgiving. I receive my food as a gift from God and all His gifts are good and perfect.

Lesson 15

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 9 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Write a check.
   • Deposit a check.
   • Know how to endorse a check.
4. Ask your parents for a check to see.  Copy a check or print one out from online. What’s missing from the printable one?
5. What are the different parts of the check and what they are for?
6. Ask your parents for a deposit slip to fill out, or print one.

Lesson 16

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a goal for the week.
4. Do number 10 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Do the laundry, or at least your own laundry.
   • Learn when you would want hot water and when you would want cold water.
   • Do you know what might make your clothes shrink?
   • Do you know what might make your clothes pink? (red piece of clothing washed in warmer water, especially if it’s new)
   • It may be time, if your parents are agreeable, for you to take on doing your own laundry regularly.

Lesson 17

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 11 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Wash the dishes.
   • If you have a dishwasher, run it. Hint: don’t use the liquid dish detergent sitting by the sink.
   • Are there any mugs/pots/pans in your kitchen that can’t go in the dishwasher?
   • Find the dishwasher safe symbol on something in your kitchen. If you come across other symbols, figure out what they mean.

Lesson 18

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 12 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Sweep up.
   • Get out a broom and clean up something. Brooms are especially good for getting under edges of cabinets.
   • Use a vacuum attachment.
   • Get out your vacuum if you have one. Know how to run it, but also add an attachment and clean something other than the floor. Suck up cobwebs in high corners and clean between and under the couch cushions.

Lesson 19

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 13 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Pack for a trip.
   • Pretend you are going to fly. Pick a flight. Find out luggage requirements and document requirements for travel.
   • If you are going overseas, you need a passport. You would need to apply at least two months in advance. Our family works to keep our passports up to date.
   • Go for it. Pack for the trip. What will you need? What’s the weather going to be like? Don’t forget toiletries and documents (make fake ones if need be). Don’t go overweight if there is a luggage limit for the airline.
   • Ask a parent to check your work.
   • Then put it all away; unpacking is a skill too.
   • Plan a road trip.
     • Choose a destination and plan when you will leave and where you’ll stop along the way to eat and get gas. If it’s more than one day, plan that out. Where will you sleep?
     • If you are going to go on a road trip that will take you through city areas, consider rush hour when planning what time to leave, considering when you’d pass through those busy areas. Avoid them during rush hours: 7 to 9 in the morning, and 4 – 7 in the afternoon/evening.
     • If you live near a city, you need to check if there is a sports game or concert in town that’s going to be blocking roads before you plan on heading in or through.

Lesson 20

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 14 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Sign your name.
   • Recite your social security number.
   • Recite your parents’ phone numbers.
   • Do you know your whole address with zip code?
   • Practice as much as you need to. Take the time to do them until you can do them.

Lesson 21

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a goal for the week.
4. Make a goal for the month.
5. Save and use leftover food.
6. How do you know if food has gone bad? What can you do to make sure you use the food before it’s bad? Come up with a system.
7. Make sure you are reusing your food storage containers. They aren’t for one-time use.

Lesson 22

1. We’re going to be learning about different types of insurance. We’ll spend several days on this, so you don’t have to get it all today; but really, even your parents may not completely understand this subject. The more you understand, the more power you have; at least some general understanding is necessary.
2. First, let’s work on some terminology.
   • premiums – the amount paid to an insurance company
   • deductibles – the amount you have to pay before the insurance company will do their part
   • claim – your request to the insurance company to pay for something you believe they should cover
3. Look at these terms in home insurance.
4. Here’s a look at renter’s insurance.
5. What were some other terms defined in these articles? What do they mean?

Lesson 23

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Learn about car insurance. You can stop at “lesson plan.”
4. Learn from your parents what type of car insurance they have. Why did they choose that?
5. Do they know what their coverage is? Do they know where to find their plan? Can you get it out and look at it to see what their coverage is? Try to understand what you are looking at.
6. Go get out your insurance card from the car. Don’t take it out of the car! Put it back. But you need to know where it is.

Lesson 24

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Learn about health insurance.
4. What does your family use for health insurance? (It could be from your parents’ work. It could be a Christian medical expense sharing plan. It could just be Jesus, and that would be awesome!)
5. Why did they make that decision?
6. How long are you able to stay on your family’s health insurance?
7. What does it cover? What is the deductible?
8. If you have a wallet, you could keep a copy of your insurance in your wallet.

Lesson 25

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Learn about more types of insurance.
4. Can insurance be a waste?
5. Should Christians have insurance?

Lesson 26

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a goal for the week.
4. Understand these signs.
5. If you disobey one of these signs, you could end up with a ticket on your car, or with your car towed. Then what would you do? Figure that out.

Lesson 27

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 18 and 19 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Understand over-the-counter medication.
   • If you have any in your house, make sure you understand dosage.
   • You need to also understand they aren’t harmless. Things that you put in your body have an effect on your body. Read the warnings on the bottles you have at home. (My brother ended up in the hospital from taking over-the-counter pain medication in the prescribed amount.)
   • Medications can’t just be mixed willy-nilly. Ask a pharmacist, even about over-the-counter medication.
   • Medication should never be mixed with alcohol.
   • If you have a prescription from a doctor, you take it to a pharmacy. They will get you the medication. You may need to ask your doctor for a refill when you are running low if you are supposed to continue. Don’t wait until you are out because it can take a couple of days to get a refill.

Lesson 28

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 20 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Tie shoelaces.
   • Tie a tie and/or tie a bow.
   • Tie up a trash bag so it can’t leak.
   • Can you do these things?
   • Find a video on YouTube or ask for help.

Lesson 29

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a budget.
   • Make a list of all the bills your family gets.
   • Gas, water, electric, trash, cell phone, internet,…
   • Which are regular each month? Which are variable?
   • Write down these basic costs on a list and add them up.
   • What else needs to be on a budget? (Hint: food!)
   • Ask your parents if you could look at a credit card bill. What else does your family spend money on? How much?

Lesson 30

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 23 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Know the shelf life of foods.
   • Go through the shelves, pantry, fridge, and freezer and get rid of anything expired.
   • Your fridge and freezer may have things that are out of their original container so that you can’t check the date, but decide if it’s old or not. “If in doubt, throw it out.”

Lesson 31

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a goal for the week.
4. Do number 24 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Change a light bulb. Look for one that needs changing. Is there a troublesome one that everyone has been avoiding? If one doesn’t need changing, take one out and then put it back. Learn to do it when the light bulb is cool. Look at the numbers on it and compare different bulbs in your house. Which kind of bulb matters. Why? Learn about that. We once had flashing lights over our dining room table for a year. We finally realized there was a such a thing as “ceiling fan” light bulbs. The right bulbs was all it needed!
   • Change a battery. If one doesn’t need changing, take it out and put it back in. Know the difference between battery types and how to recognize the positive and negative sides of the battery and where it goes without needing the label.
   • Change the sheets on your bed, including your pillow case (you could wash them).
   • Change the trash bag (take out the trash while you’re at it!).

Lesson 32

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 25 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Apply for a job and/or internship.
   • Just do it for the experience. Ideally, it would be for something you’d want. But even if not, you can politely turn them down if they offer it to you. “Thank you for your time, but I’ve decided to take another opportunity right now.”

Lesson 33

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Know how to use the microwave, oven, and stove. Turn them on. Use them. Turn them off.
4. Set the timer while you work. Turn the fan and light on. Turn them off.
5. Change the clocks on them and then change them back.

Lesson 34

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 27 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Ventilate.
   • Learn why you should never be in a closed garage with the car running, or with an open can of paint or other such substance.
   • How much ventilation is enough? How do you know when you need a break from being in the area?
4. While we’re on the subject, is there any small place in the house that could use some paint?

Lesson 35

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 28 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Why shouldn’t you put something hot or wet on most surfaces?
   • What are good things to use to put them on?

Lesson 36

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Make a goal for the week.
4. Do number 29 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Learn when and how to tip.
   • Practice calculating a tip in your head. Ask your parents if you can practice with a delivery or at a restaurant.

Lesson 37

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Plan a trip by bus or train. Find the schedule. How will you know which bus to get on? Are the buses or trains marked? Will you have to transfer? What will you do if your first leg of the trip is delayed? How do you pay?
4. See if this is something you could actually do to practice.

Lesson 38

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Do number 33 on the list, Life Skills.
   • Learn what clogs a sink, tub, or toilet and how to unclog them
4. Ever hear the expression: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? How do you prevent a clog…
   • in a toilet?
   • in the tub?
   • in the sink?

Lesson 39

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. Practice your signature and social security number today. They relate to our lesson today.
4. Reading contracts…did you ever click that you’ve read the terms and agreements without reading them? Of course you have. So have I. Once an actor was hired to read one of those. It took a full 24 hours. Many of them aren’t meant to really be read. The thing is that they are holding you to it.
5. When you get a paper contract in your hand, you need to stop and read it. It can be hard when the person waiting for you to sign is right there waiting on you. They might be telling you it’s just standard. But you have to read it. You should ask questions. What does this mean? When you sign your name, you are bound to that. You give your word that you are committing to whatever it is. You need to know what you are committing to.
6. Here’s a sample contract. What’s it for? What are you agreeing to?
7. Here’s another sample contract. What’s it for? What are you agreeing to?
8. What can you do if you don’t like something about the contract? Ask what alternatives there are. Decide if it’s something you are willing to walk away over.

Lesson 40

1. Did you take quiet time yet today?
2. Make a goal for the day.
3. They say it takes 40 days to make a new habit. So, here’s your last daily reminder. Have you formed a habit? The easiest way to do what you want to be doing is to make it a habit so that you just do it naturally.
4. Do you have a bank account? If not, you should have one.
5. Even if you have one, research bank accounts. What’s the difference between checking and savings accounts?
6. Vocabulary
   • account – where your money is held. A number identifies the account. The account type identifies what you can do with the account and what the account can do for you.
   • interest – a percentage – the amount of extra money you earn or pay (We’ll look more at interest in another lesson.)
   • withdraw – taking money out of the bank
   • deposit/credit – putting money into the bank
   • transfer – moving money from one account to another
   • Banking Terms
   • Banking Terms
7. Do research online and compare banks and their interest rates  and fees. Here I mean interest you would earn by having your money in that account. Look at “brick and mortar” banks and online-only banks. Make sure to include your family bank.
8. You should be able to have an account without paying any monthly costs. You should also be able to have an account that earns you interest. The bank is making money from your money. You should, t0o.
9. Make a decision about what type of account or accounts you should have. Why? Use your decision-making skills.
10. Now, do something about it and follow it through until it’s done.

Lesson 41

1. First, let’s look at interest on the positive side, the interest that you earn by investing or by putting your money in an interest-earning bank account.
2. Make a savings plan; actually, make two savings plans. Make a pretend one and change the settings around to see what happens. And then make one that could potentially be possible, both in terms of initial deposit, monthly deposit, and interest earned (based on your research from before).
3. What’s the difference between an account that compounds daily, monthly, and annually?
4. What does your family’s bank account do?
5. What do you think about carrying out your savings plan?
6. What would happen if you did your savings plan for ten years? For an interest rate you could use, our family’s current APY is 0.4%.
7. If you want to play around with really long term savings, here’s a calculator.

Lesson 42

1. Notice that a bank (at the current time of writing) is giving less than one percent interest, money you earn on your savings.
2. While your money is in their bank, they are investing your money and growing it. They are making maybe 5 – 7 percent interest or more on your money.
3. One of the ways they are making that money is by lending it at interest to other people like you. People take out loans to pay for a car or for a house remodeling project or for starting or building a business.
4. Did you get that? They give 0.5% (or less) and take 5% (or more).
5. $100 at 0.5% is 100 x 0.005 = $0.50. You would earn 50 cents. $100 at 5% is 100 x 0.05 = $5.00. You would have to pay $5 extra. That’s a simplified view, but that’s the idea and the difference between earning and borrowing.
6. Play with a loan calculator.
7. Shop for a car. And then “take out a loan.” Try the calculator and see what you’d have to pay monthly and how much you’d pay overall. You can put in 120 months. That’s 10 years.
8. How much was the price of the car? How much would you have to pay overall?
9. Ask your parents about their car loans.

Lesson 43

1. Learn about mortgages, a type of loan for buying a house.
2. Here’s another mortgage explainer.
3. Understand what this page shows. It’s a mortgage calculator. Before you play with it, notice the price of the house, the down payment, and how much interest you would pay.
4. Did you notice that the interest you pay is enough to buy another house?
5. You can play with the calculator. Ask your parents about their mortgage.

Lesson 44

1. Learn about credit cards.
2. An average credit card interest rate is 16%. It can be much more. That makes it the worst kind of debt in terms of wasting your money, just giving it to the banks.
3. Play with this credit card calculator and understand what this page is showing. How much interest would you be paying? Remember that interest is just money you are paying for nothing. You are basically paying for being impatient, for not being willing to wait and save. It’s money people spend when they haven’t learned to delay gratification.
4. Maybe you should look at Bitcoin too. (If you want another opinion, here’s another opinion with the same conclusion.)

Lesson 45

1. Learn why you should avoid any debt.
2. My family has avoided all debt. Some would say that a mortgage and some business-type loans are “good debt” because they are an investment that can earn you money in the long term. But that’s not a guarantee.
3. Debt is enslavement. Our family says, “Owe no man anything but love” from Romans 13:8.
4. Being debt-free has meant a lot to our family. It meant that God had to do miracles at times to pay for things for us. And He did. Here are some of those stories. It also meant living with my parents for three years when we returned from the mission field because we couldn’t bring ourselves to take on a mortgage. Even though it seemed impossible to get a house without a mortgage, the Lord did it. We have a house and are debt free. We have two cars, debt free. (We have four drivers and two cars. That’s the delayed gratification part!)
5. Here’s an article about delaying gratification. I mentioned that term in a previous lesson.
6. How is delaying gratification related to making goals?
7. So, why have I been having you make goals?
8. Goal making and knowing the why behind your goal gives you a framework and reasoning behind making your decisions, so your decisions are much easier to make.
9. I stopped telling you each lesson to make a goal and stopped asking about taking a quiet time. Have you kept it up? If those are good habits you want to build until they are ingrained, then choose them for yourself and do them every day until they are habit and you don’t have to think about doing it; they just get done.

Lesson 46

1. You’ve made it through a quarter of the course.
2. Make a list of what you’ve learned so far. If you haven’t done some of the things, you could make today a day to do them (clean, mail, bank account).
3. Today’s a day to be grateful for what you’ve learned.
4. Write two thank you notes. Say thank you to someone who has taught you something. It could be your mom and dad; if so, you still should write nice thank-you notes.
   • Make it look like you are thankful. Use nice paper and good handwriting.
   • Make it sound like you are thankful. Don’t just say thanks. Say specifically what you are thankful for.
   • And the best way to make it look and sound like you are thankful is to really be thankful!
   • Be grateful for what you have and those who have given it to you.
5. Keeping a stash of thank you cards is a nice idea.
6. Learn the 5-4-3-2-1 brain hack to do what you know you should do! This starts a couple of minutes into the video.

Lesson 47

1. Earlier you called a business on the phone. Today we’re going to talk to some people in person.
2. This week you have to talk to three neighbors and to three workers at a business. You may have to hold off on the business one until you can go with your parents to the grocery store or some other place of business.
3. This will be your assignment for lessons 48 – 50.
   • Talk to workers at a business. Ask for help finding something. Meet the checkout clerk. That’s workers, plural, more than one.
   • Meet your neighbors. You are going to talk to neighbors for at least five minutes. If the first conversation wasn’t long enough, you’ll have to go to another home.
4. Learn about making conversation.
5. Make a list of things you are interested in that you could ask about. Make a list of questions you could ask. You already have something in common with these people. You live in the same place. How long have they been in their house/apartment?
6. Does this assignment scare you? Good!

Lesson 48

1. Meet your neighbors, again. You are going to talk to neighbors for at least five minutes. If the first conversation wasn’t long enough, you’ll have to go to another home.
2. Talk to workers at a business. Ask for help finding something. Meet the checkout clerk.

Lesson 49

1. Meet your neighbors, again. You are going to talk to neighbors for at least five minutes. If the first conversation wasn’t long enough, you’ll have to go to another home.
2. Talk to workers at a business. Ask for help finding something. Meet the checkout clerk.

Lesson 50

1. Meet your neighbors, again. You are going to talk to neighbors for at least five minutes. If the first conversation wasn’t long enough, you’ll have to go to another home.
2. Talk to workers at a business. Ask for help finding something. Meet the checkout clerk.

Lesson 51

1. Ask your mom or whoever does the cooking in your house for a complete tour of your kitchen.
2. Know your pots from your pans. What is each one used for typically?
3. What are the different knives or peelers used for?
4. Look at the measuring spoons and cups. Read the measurements on them. Know the difference between a tablespoon (T.) and teaspoon (t.).
5. Learn how to turn on the stove and oven. Try them both. Don’t just watch. Touch it! Do it!
6. Learn what the different utensils are for and which are for cooking and which are for serving.
7. Look through the pantry, the shelves, the cabinets. Are there any ingredients or tools you don’t know about?
8. Read the names of the spices and ask what each would typically be used for.

Lesson 52

1. The most basic cooking skill is chopping. You’ll need to peel and chop.
2. Gather up some foods you can peel and chop today. You can peel and chop an apple, a carrot, etc. Those are good choices because you can just eat up what you cut.
3. But it would also be nice to practice with an onion and garlic, basic ingredients you will use all the time.
4. Learn about peeling and chopping.
   • Basic knife skills
   • Peeling and slicing an apple (You can use a peeler.)
   • Peeling and cutting an onion
   • Peel and cut vegetables
5. Now practice. Do at least three things.

Lesson 53 (egg, potato, carrot, onion, garlic, salt, pasta)

1. Today’s lesson is on boiling — heating water until it reaches boiling point, 100 degrees Celsius, and bubbles. This will also mean that it’s reached the point where the water is turning into vapor and evaporating. You will lose water when it boils, so one thing to learn is to make sure you have enough liquid in the pot.
2. Learn the difference between boiling and simmering.
3. Hard boil an egg
   • Place an egg in a small pot.
   • Cover it with cold water until it’s submerged about an inch.
   • Bring to boil on the stovetop over high or medium high heat. (Move to next assignment while you are waiting on that.)
   • When it boils, remove the pot from the heat and cover it.
   • Set a timer for 10 minutes. Less time will make it creamier and runnier. Don’t let it sit for less than 4 minutes.
   • When it’s finished, run it under cold water to stop the cooking and make it so that you can hold it.
4. Cook pasta.
   • Fill a pot over halfway full with water and cover it.
   • Turn it on high to heat to a boil.
   • Check the egg water. If it’s not boiling or about to start boiling, move on to the next assignment.
   • When the water is at a rolling boil, take off the lid and add some pasta. Look at the box for how long it should cook. Figure out what time it should be done.
   • When that time comes around, around 8 minutes later maybe, fish out a piece. Run it under cold water. Taste it. If it is hard, it needs more time. If it is chewy, give it another minute and then taste another piece. It should be soft.
5. Make broth.
   • Put two cups of broth in a small pot.
   • Turn it on high to heat.
   • Check on your eggs.
   • Wash a carrot. Chop off the ends and cut it into a few chunks. Put it in the water.
   • Check on your eggs and pasta water.
   • Cut off the ends of the onion. Cut it in half and peel off the outer layer, even if that means the last layer of the onion. Sometimes that’s easiest instead of trying to just peel off the papery part. Put it in the water.
   • Check on your egg and pasta pots.
   • Peel a garlic clove and throw it in whole.
   • Once your broth boils, turn it down to a simmer. Cover it (you want to keep your liquid).
   • After an hour, come back and take out the vegetables. Add a quarter teaspoon of salt and a shake of black pepper. Stir to dissolve. Give it a taste.
   • Add another quarter teaspoon if it needs more flavor.
   • The longer a broth simmers, the more flavor it will have. This is exactly how you would make chicken noodle soup, except you’d throw in a chicken drumstick. The bone will add flavor and the fat from the skin will certainly make it tastier.
     • To finish the soup, you would take out everything from the broth. You would add back in the cooked chicken in small pieces and add peeled and chopped carrot, onion, and garlic.
     • Add the salt at the end of the process, when you are getting close to eating it, because then you can control how it tastes.

Lesson 54  (a chicken strip or thin chicken breast, carrot or onion)

1. Today you are going to sauté. (saw-tay)
2. The chicken in the chicken noodle soup isn’t that tasty. The broth is what has the flavor really.
3. To get the flavor, you need to season the meat and cook it to give it color. You want your food, meat and vegetables, to have a brown color, like a crusty brown, not just the color it turns when boiled.
4. Put two pans out on the stove. Heat them over medium high heat. (Note: if you were doing beef, I would have you heat it to the highest heat possible.)
5. Pat your chicken dry with a paper towel. Wash your hands and keep the chicken on a small plate that will get washed or put in the dishwasher as soon as the chicken is in the pan. Chicken is one of those things that isn’t safe to eat raw, so you don’t want raw chicken juice on your hands that could get in your mouth.
6. Peel and chop your vegetable. If you start to see smoke, remove your pan from the heat!
7. When you are ready, check to see if your pans are hot by dropping in a little water. Get a little water on a spoon and pour it into the pan. The water should dance around and evaporate quickly.
8. Add two or three tablespoons of oil to the pan. This can be butter instead of oil. Butter can burn so you need to act quickly. Olive oil will smoke at a lower temperature than canola oil.
9. Typically, home cooks don’t use as much oil or salt as real chefs. When I learned to really cook, from scratch instead of from American recipes that were really ads for cans and boxes, I learned that oil and salt make everything taste good! I learned to cook from scratch as a missionary. We didn’t have all the convenience foods of America when we were overseas, but I also went once a week to a friend’s house to cook a meal. We shopped at the bazaar for the ingredients and then the matriarch of the home coached me through making the meal. Then my husband would bring our kids (only two at the time) over and our families would share a meal together. It was the home of his language teacher, and his best friend to this day. The lesson is to not be afraid of oil and salt.
10. You can let the oil warm up. The oil should be shimmering if it’s hot, but I like to test it by getting a little water on my finger and flicking it at the pan. If the oil is hot, the water will make it pop. That’s not a super safe thing to do. Be careful! Hot oil burns. It’s hot. Sometimes I even wear an oven mitt when sauteing if there is liquid making it pop. Now, can you see the wisdom in patting dry your chicken?
11. For your carrot or onion, place them in the hot pan. Stir them around for a few minutes. Turn the heat down to medium or medium low and let them sit.
12. Salt and pepper your chicken. If you want to get fancy, you can put something else on it as well. Laying it down gently in the pan, don’t splash oil. Let it sit for four minutes (or so). You are going to look for it to get halfway white. You’ll see the color change up the side of the chicken. When it’s halfway done, flip it over and let it sit. You want it to get brown. You have to leave it alone to get that color.
13. Give your vegetables a stir. If they are getting black or getting too dark too quickly (you do want the insides of things to cook and not just have a burnt outside and uncooked middle), add more oil to your pan.
14. If you were going to make ground beef, I would have you first cook onion, then add garlic and cumin or whatever other spice for another minute or two before adding the beef. Those are called aromatics, the good smelling stuff. You want to give them some attention to bring out their flavors before they get lost in the dish.
15. Wait. When you flip your chicken, give your vegetables another stir.
16. After another four minutes, cut your chicken open to see if it’s done. It should be white inside and you should see the strings of the muscle. Don’t over cook to make sure it’s done. It will get dry and un-tasty.
    • undercooked chicken
    • undercooked chicken, almost there
    • cooked chicken
17. Your chicken and your vegetables should have some brown on the outside. Brown food tastes good.
18. Salt your veggies before you remove them from the pan.
19. The longer you cook onions and carrots the sweeter they get, but you just have to cook them until they are soft. This will depend on how thinly you sliced them.

Lesson 55

1. Today you are baking. Decide with whoever cooks in your home what you could bake. You could do meat or vegetables. I will give instructions for a baked potato as well as some tips.
2. Here are some tips and tricks.
3. Preheating the oven means turning it on before you put in the food to get it to the temperature you are going to be cooking the food at. Some ovens preheat quickly, some slowly. Get to know your oven.
4. Brown the meat in the saute pan before you put it in the oven. Give it a brown crust.
5. Covering a dish with aluminum foil will help keep things juicy, but it will keep it from browning. If it’s something like chicken with skin, you’ll want to uncover it for the last fifteen minutes to get some color on the skin.
6. Covering the bottom of a dish with aluminum foil before you put in the ingredients will keep the pan clean.
7. Adding a little water to a pan of chicken and/or veggies can help keep them from drying out or getting burnt.
8. Some vegetables like Brussels spouts are really only tasty roasted in the oven. If you don’t like a food one way, try cooking it in another way.
9. Bake a potato, regular or a sweet potato. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 Celsius). Wash the potato. Stick a fork into it in several places to pierce the skin. This lets steam escape. I have exploded a potato in the oven before! If you want to get fancy, rub a little oil all over it and sprinkle it with salt. Put it on a pan or on aluminum foil and put it in the oven. It will take about an hour. You can pierce it with a knife down to the middle of its inside to see if it’s done. If it goes in easily, then it’s soft on the inside. That means it is done.

Lesson 56

1. Today, make a menu. You have this week to make a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. You must cook from scratch. That means no bags, no boxes, no cans, no jars. The exception is something with just one ingredient, such as a seasoning or pasta.
2. Here are some places for recipes and ideas.
   • They Want to Eat Daily
   • The Stay at Home Chef
   • Recipes for Beginners
   • Snack Ideas
3. Once you have your menu plan, make a shopping list. See what you have in your home and make sure what you need will be available when you plan on cooking. Make a plan for when you will shop for the rest and when you will cook, especially if you plan on making this food for everyone in your family. It’s great to cook for your family. It’s also great to know how to cook for yourself or for just two people.
4. Life Lesson: Read all the directions before you start.

Lesson 57

1. Cook from scratch for your family: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. You may not use boxes, bags, cans, or jars of prepared foods. Buy real garlic and peel and chop it; don’t use pre-chopped garlic, for instance. Don’t use jar spaghetti sauce. You can make your own. Get some tomatoes.
2. Work on your meal plan. Complete all four meals by Lesson 60.
3. You may do more than four!

Lesson 58

1. Cook from scratch for your family: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. You may not use boxes, bags, cans, or jars of prepared foods. Buy real garlic and peel and chop it; don’t use pre-chopped garlic, for instance. Don’t use jar spaghetti sauce. You can make your own. Get some tomatoes.
2. Work on your meal plan. Complete all four meals by Lesson 60.
3. You may do more than four!

Lesson 59

1. Cook from scratch for your family: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. You may not use boxes, bags, cans, or jars of prepared foods. Buy real garlic and peel and chop it; don’t use pre-chopped garlic, for instance. Don’t use jar spaghetti sauce. You can make your own. Get some tomatoes.
2. Work on your meal plan. Complete all four meals by Lesson 60.
3. You may do more than four!

Lesson 60

1. Cook from scratch for your family: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack. You may not use boxes, bags, cans, or jars of prepared foods. Buy real garlic and peel and chop it; don’t use pre-chopped garlic, for instance. Don’t use jar spaghetti sauce. You can make your own. Get some tomatoes.
2. Work on your meal plan. Complete all four meals by Lesson 60.
3. You may do more than four!

Lesson 61

1. Learn about time management.
2. Take a blank page  in a notebook or on the computer and list all the times from when you usually wake up until you usually go to bed. List them in half hour increments.
3. Fill in ALL the times. Write in what you think  you normally do all day. Hold onto this. Pay attention today to how you are spending your time and see how it compares to what you thought.

Lesson 62

1. Learn about time management for students.
2. Make a list of what you need to accomplish in a day and what you want to do/accomplish. We’re talking about a Monday-Friday kind of day.
3. List each thing separately and write down how much time it takes up.
4. Then list any activities you have that aren’t every day, like maybe some activity you are involved in. List how much time it takes and what day(s) it is on.

Lesson 63

1. Life tips for students
   • By the way, I don’t necessarily think the best choice for you is the gym at six in the morning or a perfect grade (4.0 is a perfect so-called “grade point average,” or GPA).
   • You make those choices with your why in mind, and if you are a Christian, with prayer and acknowledging Him along the way.
   • I did want to say this about perfect grades. My mom was the valedictorian when she graduated college. She worked very hard. She did NOT encourage me to do the same. She told me, “It only mattered for one day.”
2. Make a schedule. Start with a daily schedule for the work week. There are more directions on this below. Have you learned to read all the directions before you start something?
3. Then you could also work on a weekend calendar or even a weekly or monthly calendar.
4. Are you working your quiet time and goals into the schedule?
5. Take a blank page  in a notebook or on the computer and list all the times from when you usually wake up until you usually go to bed. List them in half hour increments.
6. Fill in ALL the times. Something should be scheduled for every time slot. Something can take up more than one time slot.

Lesson 64

1. Now throw off your schedule and adapt and be flexible.
2. Plan a fun activity. Create a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt or escape room or some such puzzle event for your family, friends, or younger siblings. Create it and carry it out today.
3. Why? Creativity and adaptability are leadership skills!

Lesson 65

1. Now get back on schedule. Part of being flexible is being able to get back on track.
2. Does your schedule need adjusting? Tweak it. Be willing to tweak it a little even daily.
3. The schedule doesn’t rule you. It’s there to serve you. It should help keep you on track and help you know what to do next so you don’t get distracted doing other things because you can’t think of what else you need to be doing.
4. Your schedule can help you reach your daily and weekly goals.
5. If you know it’s a day with an extra activity, adjust the schedule, don’t throw it out. Make sure what needs to get done gets done.
6. Always consider “eating the frog” and putting the hardest thing first.

Lesson 66

1. If you want your parents to say yes to something, what do you usually do? How do you approach them? What do you know is effective or not effective?
2. Learn about persuasion.
3. Read some more about the psychological factor.

Lesson 67

1. Make another plan. This time you need to accomplish a couple of things. You are going to make a plan that includes working together with others (it could be as simple as building/making something with siblings) and that will require you to persuade your parents to let you.
2. Write out the plan like a proposal. You have Lesson 67 and Lesson 68 to do this.
   • Your proposal should be in the format.
   • Summarize your goal, ideally in one sentence. Think about this. “I want to make a mess in the living room/kitchen with my siblings,” for example, isn’t likely to get approved.  This, on the other hand, would get better reception: “I want to encourage creativity and collaboration among my siblings by spending recreational time together building/making …”
   • List your plan in steps. “I will guide a discussion to come up with a plan. We will collect our materials. With your permission to the timing, we will build/make… When we are finished, we will work as a team to leave the area cleaner than it was before and all materials will be put away.”
   • State your projected budget and time schedule.
   • Thank them for their interest in your growing important skills in your siblings.
3. This is just an example. You don’t have to work with your siblings, but you MUST collaborate with at least one other person. The more people, the more training in managing you get!
4. You will also have to be creative to come up with an idea, be flexible to fit in your schedule, and along with all that you will have to manage your time to get everything else done that needs to get done.
5. You have Lesson 68 to get this finished.

Lesson 68

1. You are going to finish your proposal if you haven’t already. (See Lesson 67.)
2. You will also need to plan your persuasion. Hopefully you built some of that into your proposal.
3. Think about other factors. When is the best/worst time to approach your parents?
4. What did you learn about persuasion that you can apply here to make your request? (See Lesson 66.)
5. Submit your proposal and make your case.
6. You have Lesson 69 as a day to complete this collaborative project. You do have an assignment, though. You will learn about collaboration. Please read that BEFORE completing your collaborative project.

Lesson 69

1. Learning about collaboration, working together.
2. Carry out your project. You are working together. This isn’t something you are doing. The point is to lead the team. Keep them happy! You need to follow through on that clean up.
3. If there is a problem, you can work together to come up with a solution. You are in charge. You can solve the problem or lead the time in listening to ideas and then choosing one.
4. You have to make the workers happy (siblings) and the boss happy (parents). That’s an example, but I hope you see the connection.
5. A leader isn’t just accomplishing a task. That’s a big part of it, but it’s not the only part of it. If you want more work in the future, you have to please the person you are working for. If you don’t want to be doing the work yourself, you need to have others who want to work with you!

Lesson 70

1. Let’s stop and assess.
2. Make a list of five things that went well during the project.
3. Make a list of five things that didn’t go well during the project.
4. Do not list a person as something that didn’t go well. It wasn’t the person; it was maybe an attitude.
5. For each good thing, write a sentence about what made that go well.
6. For each bad thing, write a sentence about what made that not go well.
7. Write a few more sentences about what you will try to do next time to avoid those bad things or get them turned around if they happen.
8. Hold onto this.

Lesson 71

1. Obtain ID.
2. What ID would be useful to have? If you don’t have a driver’s license, consider getting a state ID or passport.
3. There will come a time you need a photo ID. Be prepared. Choose with your parents what ID to get.
4. Even if you have ID, complete the next step anyway.
5. Figure out the process and complete the application according to the directions.
6. If you are going to get the ID, you will likely have to go somewhere, get a picture taken, etc.
7. Finish the process and get your ID. This might take time. Put in your schedule when it can happen.

Lesson 72

1. Let’s talk more about ID and documentation.
2. Make sure you know where your birth certificate and social security cards are.
3. Find them. Leave them in place for now, but actually see them.
4. Practice your signature and social security number.
5. Practice!

Lesson 73

1. Let’s talk more about identification.
2. If someone asks for your social security number, don’t give it unless you are sure it’s OK.
3. I once had VISA contact me and say my purchase couldn’t go through without me verifying my identity by giving them my social security number. I refused repeatedly, finally asking, “If someone called you and asked for your SS number would you give it to them?” They had to admit, “No.” We found a way around without me giving it over.
4. You do have to give it over way too often; but it’s the way you’re uniquely identified.
5. Online you never give out your full name. Don’t use your full name as your handle or email address. Don’t give out information you don’t have to.
6. Don’t give anyone online your address or phone number, even if you think they are a friend. Ask a parent first or have the information be exchanged through your parents.
7. Only a parent should set up any meeting between online friends. If you are ever going to meet with someone from online, NEVER do it alone. Take a parent. Make sure someone knows what’s going on. Sometimes kidnappings take place because someone pretends to be your friend online, but they are just an evil person.
8. Be smart. Learn some social media smarts.

Lesson 74

1. Being smart about social media is related to being smart about scams.
2. Two red flags of scams is that they are asking for personal information such as social security number and birth date, and asking for money.
3. And the big red flag about the money is that it is urgent. It has to be done. Do it now. I need it now. As soon as you can. And so on.
4. It is interesting to point out that urgency is one of the ways I notice when something is not from God. Satan hurries you along. He wants to make you think you don’t have a choice and so you need to just do it now. On the other hand, we see in Scripture that Jesus is NEVER in a hurry.
5. I’ve already said don’t give out personal information. Realize that some of these scams involve someone using fake pictures to present themselves as someone else. They pretend to be in love with you and that’s how they get to get you to give them personal information and money.

Lesson 75

1. Let’s talk more about privacy.
2. Learn what Google knows about you.
3. Learn how else to work to keep your info more private.
4. Privacy: Who Needs It?
5. Learn about Linux.
6. Learn about Protonmail.
7. Learn about Duck, Duck, Go.
8. Why do people use those things?

Lesson 76

1. Learn about just some of the problems with using social media.
2. Social media is connected with depression. It’s set up to be an addiction, which is never what you want.
3. Addictions are always poison to your life.
4. I don’t have a cell phone. I don’t want that in my life. I don’t want constant contact. How much do you see your parents on their phones? Are they good or bad about it?
5. I have heard teens complain about having limits put on them for gaming or cell phone use and then how their parents are addicted to their phones.
6. That’s why they want you to have limits! They know the struggle and don’t want you to struggle.
7. Make a decision for yourself about social media use. If you feel bad when you post and hardly anyone responds, then don’t post. Why put yourself in a position to feel bad?
8. One good strategy is to keep your phone by the front door. If you are going to check, you have to purposefully go and do it. That way it’s not demanding your attention throughout the day.
9. And if you are driving, keep your phone out of your view. If you need to turn on navigation, you do that before you turn on the car. Then put the phone out of the way. You aren’t to touch it or look at it if you are driving. In our family, we know the person will call repeatedly if they really need our attention. If that happens, you pull over, looking for a parking lot if you can. Then you look at your phone.

Lesson 77

1. Learn about the dangerous addiction of social media and how and why to overcome it.
2. Now, stop. Let’s think about those goals, daily, weekly, monthly, big long term goals.
3. Have you committed to a decision about keeping your phone away from you (if you have a phone)?
   • Only our adult children have phones. They first got them when they started college courses (away from home) and the teachers assumed they had phones and would ask them to look things up. It became necessary. I don’t carry a cell phone. I borrow my husband’s when I’m going out.
4. Have you committed to your long term goals? Having those shorter term goals keeps it from being such an incredibly long time before you reach your goal.
5. If you want to be able to code websites, for instance, you need patience. You don’t learn a language overnight. So, you make smaller goals. I’m going to learn HTML. And then a smaller goal. You find lessons and make a goal of doing a lesson a day (maybe five or six days a week). Then each day you are achieving a goal and it fulfills a bit of the bigger goals so you see your progress. It’s hard to just see the summit, like he says in his talk, and know you aren’t there. But if you can celebrate each step along the way…you can rejoice in the journey.
6. This reminds me of this video that I had seen. I went and looked it up. He had wanted to quit his job, like what the man in the video was saying. But then he learned to be grateful for his job. (This is Jereme, This Biblical Principle Helped Me Escape the Rat Race.)

Lesson 78

1. I mentioned gaming in Lesson 77.
2. That’s another addiction. It could be TV and videos or something else for you, but gaming is a big thing.
3. How is gaming benefiting your life?
4. How is it hurting your life?
5. Learn about the benefits and harms of video games.
6. Here’s another article on the same.
7. Everything from Lesson 77 about dopamine and its harmful effects is true for gaming as well.
8. Be aware of anything that you turn to for comfort when you are stressed. That’s the thing you want to limit in your life. The only true freedom is found in turning to Christ. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter (John 14:26). Be addicted to Jesus. It’s the only addiction that will never turn on you and cause trouble in your life!

Lesson 79

1. Create a resume.
2. How to write a resume as a teen
3. How to write a teen resume

Lesson 80

1. Clean your room. Do steps 1 – 3.
2. We’ll get to actually cleaning it, not just tidying and organizing. Today this is all you need to do.

Lesson 81

1. Organize your bedroom. Do step 4.
2. If it’s not tidy anymore, start back at step 1.
3. It’s much easier to keep it up than to keep doing it over and over.
4. If you just drop your clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor, you never need to pick them up.
5. Make sure your room has a hamper/laundry basket and a trash can so that you have a place to put things that may be lying around.
6. Look around for anything else that’s just lying around. Where could it go?

Lesson 82

1. Organize your desk. Here’s a second one if you need more guidance.
2. Make your desk/work space as empty as possible. Wipe it off clean.
3. You don’t have to buy fancy organizers. But organize. You can use things like jars and empty tissue boxes to hold things. You want things accessible that you use all the time. There’s no need to have in your reach something you might use once a year.

Lesson 83

1. Learn about organizing.
2. Organize another room in your house. For a room like your kitchen, you might only be able to organize the lower cabinets or something like that. Choose an area and conquer it. You could ask for a suggestion from a parent as to what would be helpful.

Lesson 84

1. Learn about organizing.
2. Organize another room in your house. Choose an area and conquer it. You could ask for a suggestion from a parent as to what would be helpful.

Lesson 85

1. Learn about organizing.
2. Organize another room in your house. Choose an area and conquer it. You could ask for a suggestion from a parent as to what would be helpful.

Lesson 86

1. How to vacuum
2. Vacuum the place in your house with the heaviest traffic.
3. How to dust
4. Dust an area that’s not commonly used.
5. For Lesson 89, you are going to have to clean the house. You aren’t going to want to do it alone. Time to practice those leadership skills. Motivate the team. Assign responsibilities according to what they would enjoy and do well at. Plan the time. Be available to help. Teach them the necessary skills, even maybe over this week while you are practicing some of these skills yourself.

Lesson 87

1. Learn how to wash dishes and what NOT to put down a garbage disposal. I will add to that list tea leaves and anything long (long carrot peels for instance).
2. Wash some dishes.
3. Learn about washing pots and pans.
4. Wash a pot or pan.
5. Learn about cleaning countertops.
6. Clean the countertop.
7. For Lesson 89, you are going to have to clean the house. You aren’t going to want to do it alone. Time to practice those leadership skills. Motivate the team. Assign responsibilities according to what they would enjoy and do well at. Plan the time. Be available to help. Teach them the necessary skills.

Lesson 88

1. Learn about cleaning windows. I would suggest maybe up to two parts water, one part vinegar, and adding some essential oil to make it smell better. (Or just use a window cleaner.)
2. Clean your room. That includes all those things you learned this week. Make sure to wash the windows.
3. For Lesson 89, you are going to have to clean the house. You aren’t going to want to do it alone. Time to practice those leadership skills. Motivate the team. Assign responsibilities according to what they would enjoy and do well at. Plan the time. Be available to help. Don’t bribe! But you can reward afterwards for a job well done.

Lesson 89

1. Time to practice those leadership skills. Motivate the team. Assign responsibilities according to what they would enjoy and do well at. Plan the time. Be available to help. It’s YOUR responsibility to get the house clean, not theirs.
2. Clean the house.
3. Hopefully, you’ve organized and kept away the clutter.
4. Organize a team effort. Get it clean.
5. How are you going to reward the team?

Lesson 90

1. Have you taken quiet time today?
2. Are you still making goals?
3. Pause.
4. Take quiet time.
5. Write out goals. What are your daily goals, weekly goals?
6. Do you have a new monthly goal, annual goal, life goal?
7. Write it down. What’s the why? Write down the reason you are going after those goals.
8. Why do we have goals and whys? Because then we can focus on the “princess” and not the “pits.” What am I talking about? Watch the first five minutes of the video; he starts about 20 seconds in. This is Mark Rober speaking at a Ted Talk.
9. Jump ahead to this point and finish the talk (or just watch the whole thing).
10. This is what life is like (from the end of his talk). And that’s a good thing. Giving up gives you 100% chance of failure. As long as you don’t give up, there is always the hope of success.

Lesson 91

1. We’re halfway through. Let’s pause for some inspiration. We’re going to watch some TED talks.
2. The Power of Passion and Perseverance
3. Answer each question in writing.
   • Do you have grit?
   • How do you know?
   • Why or why not?

Lesson 92

1. How to Speak so that People Want to Listen
2. Lessons on Self Confidence
3. In what situations do you find yourself caring about what other people think of you? When is that good or bad, helpful or harmful?
4. Run your race! It’s yours. There’s only One waiting for you at the other end that you need the approval of, and His approval is based on Christ’s love and sacrifice.
5. So, make a determination. Remind yourself of your identity and your motivation. Who and why? We talked about that at the beginning of the year. Re-determine those things and make adjustments if necessary.
6. What builds you up? How can you keep that in front of you? (Remember this? Her speech comes from lessons learned from the book of Ephesians.)
7. What tears you down? How can you change those things?
8. How can you get out of your way, control your thoughts, and take action to build yourself up?
9. Will Smith says, “God put the best things in life on the other side of fear.” I’m not 100% on that, but there is something to it. We get to the love of God by first going through the fear of God. The fear of God brings us to the cross of Christ because we know we are sinners and He is a holy God. Then we ask and receive His forgiveness and His love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Then we move beyond fear into love and we’re perfected in love.
10. God says over and over in His Word, “Do not be afraid.” Where is fear in your life (and worrying about what others think is included in that)?
11. Turn it over to God and put your trust in His power and control and love for you.
12. Hebrews 12:1-3

Lesson 93

1. Everyday Leadership
2. What Adults Can Learn from Kids
3. Prepare a short speech on what you would want your parents to learn from you.
4. Sit them down and present it to them.

Lesson 94

1. Let’s think about others.
2. The Danger of a Single Story
3. Look at these three images. What do they confront?
4. What do these stories point out?
5. Have you had an experience like these? I have had several experiences. My first was in America at an all African-American event, where I was with a friend but there were others who refused to look at me and even acknowledge my presence (as a white person); however, there were others at the event who reached out to me purposefully. Overseas we experienced it much more because people assumed we were of an unpopular minority group. We were told that a hotel was full, and we once couldn’t get help at a hospital. It gave us a little glimpse of what some of our friends experienced all the time. All we had to do was pull out our American passports and the hotel staff let us tour the rooms and pick which one we wanted! That’s the same hotel that was “full” moments before. Even when we lived in really poor areas and actually lived on the same economic level as our neighbors, we knew we could never really experience what they experienced, even though we had no money. In reality, we had parents back in America that honestly could have flown us back to America and taken us in if we had gotten desperate. And we had Jesus to turn to, so we lived in constant hope. That was our time of lots of miracles. We never had lack. That’s not what our neighbors experienced, though they could have through Christ!
6. But the point is to understand others. We have too many assumptions. We have lived in different places and very close to the people there, so that we have learned about other cultures and lifestyles. But even we can sometimes speak in generalities, which of course are never always true.
7. When do you or your family say things about “THEY,” about how a certain group is always a certain way or always does certain things? Do you talk about political groups that way? Races? Certain lifestyles? Do you want people deciding things about you because of some label they could put you under? How can you learn about others from that group so you can learn more about them in order to not make judgments about them?

Lesson 95

1. The Power of Introverts
2. Are you an introvert? (If you aren’t sure, here’s a quiz, although you shouldn’t let these things define you. They are to help you understand, not tell you how to be.)
3. Write a paragraph. How does your quietness or loudness help and hurt you? How can you use it to your advantage?
4. Miracle Season is the true story of a Christian girl who lived full of life, always making new friends, and always quick to make someone else smile. It was part of her personality, but there’s something to an outward focus, even for an introvert. We need to keep self from being our focus.

Lesson 96

1. Take the personality quiz.
2. Write about your strengths and weaknesses.
3. Write down your 4 letters. Hold onto this for a few weeks. We’ll use it again.

Lesson 97

1. This next set of lessons is for inspiration. You’ll read about some people who were recognized by Time Magazine as some of the most influential people on the planet.
2. Today’s reading is about someone labeled as a pioneer.

Lesson 98

1. Meet the artist, Kerry James Marshall.

Lesson 99

1. Read about the leader Tom Perez.

Lesson 100

1. Read about the scientist George Church.

Lesson 101

1. You are going to meet four strangers this week. It must be in person. Online doesn’t count.
2. Does this scare you? Good!
3. You can talk to someone walking their dog, ask if you can join them.
4. You can ask someone if you could help load their groceries.
5. You can meet more neighbors, maybe farther from home.
6. You can meet someone waiting in line at the post office.
7. You can meet someone standing alone before or after church.
8. Be especially on the lookout for people alone. Maybe they’d like not to be.
9. For today, come up with some ideas of where you can meet someone and what are some starter questions you could ask. Think about what would be appropriate for the setting. The idea is to let them talk about them. Don’t talk about yourself. If they ask you a question, answer briefly and then turn it back around and ask about them. A good conversationalist asks questions and doesn’t talk about themselves. Think of it as being generous instead of greedy.
10. How to start conversations
11. How to have better conversations
12. How to not start conversations

Lesson 102

1. Talk to a stranger. The best things are on the other side of fear. Obeying the fear saying, “Don’t do it!” is letting fear control your life. It’s letting something dictate what you are going to do or not going to do. Are you going to give something that much power in your life? I hope not!
2. Think about how you are going to start the conversation before you are in the situation. Then a key will be to just listen and respond. After your opening, it’s best not to go through a list of prepared questions. They aren’t on an interview. If you don’t know what to say, repeat back the last thing they said as a question.
   • I like this kind of weather.
   • So you like when it’s cool?
   • Yes, I don’t like hot weather and I don’t like snow.
   • Do you like the cool weather or just don’t like hot and cold weather?
   • I like it.
   • What about it?
3. Just like that. Listen, respond. Keep asking based on their last response. Listen instead of thinking about the next thing you are going to say. They will give you what to say next. The most important thing is to actually care about the person. They are a human being created in God’s image. He created them on purpose and for a purpose. They matter!
4. Afterward, assess. Write it out. What went well, not so well. What could you do differently next time.
5. You can’t go back, so there’s no point in dwelling on what you should have done. Think about what you ARE going to do next time.

Lesson 103

1. How did you do with listening and responding?
2. Watch this video on listening to people. (Charisma on Command, How to Instantly Connect with Anyone)
3. Talk to a stranger.
4. Refer to Lesson 102.
5. This lesson is not complete until you have a conversation with a stranger. Just saying “hi” doesn’t count. If you don’t get the opportunity where you planned, go somewhere else. Make it happen.

Lesson 104

1. Talk to a stranger.
2. Refer to Lesson 102.

Lesson 105

1. Talk to a stranger.
2. Refer to Lesson 102.

Lesson 106

1. Let’s revisit delayed gratification.
2. Make a list of things you do out of habit that aren’t the best habits.
3. What impulses do you have that you want to stop? It could be calling your brother a name, buying something you don’t need, eating sugar, biting your nails, checking messages, etc.
4. Make a plan to pay attention to when you are doing or about to do those things. Make a chart. Focus on just one thing. Your chart should have what happened right before you had the impulse and how long you waited.
5. When you notice yourself going to do one of those things or starting to do them, stop yourself. Wait a minute before you let yourself do it, if the impulse is still there. Put it on your chart.
6. Pay attention to the thing triggering the impulse. Wait a little longer each day before you give in. Chart it.
7. If you mess up and don’t wait until the right time, then start back at the last amount of time you were successful at and continue on. Chart your progress.

Lesson 107

1. Let’s think about thinking.
2. Learn about Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity. Do you notice the “stupid” people following along? I noticed during the 2020 election people quoting memes as their own words. I heard two people, Christian people with advanced degrees (Masters/Doctorate), quoting the talking point that the media was promoting. I was gobsmacked hearing it come out of their mouths. The media had put its thoughts in their minds. They were smart people, but they gave their minds over.
3. How can you prevent stupidity?
4. Watch the video on group think. (Human Dimensions)
5. How have you been a victim of group think? How can you prevent succumbing to it?
6. If you never watched this somewhere else in EP’s curriculum, find the time to watch this real-life human group think experiment.

Lesson 108

1. Learn about logical fallacies.
2. Learn more logical fallacies.
3. Learn about debating.
4. Is there anything you want to persuade someone of? Think about how you could present your argument.

Lesson 109

1. I don’t want to turn you into an arguing machine. 🙂
2. Do you know the best way to destroy an enemy? It’s to turn them into a friend. Abraham Lincoln used the tactic and put on his cabinet someone who was against him in his campaign. The CEO of Chick Fil A used it when his company was being boycotted and invited their leader to his home.
3. Learn the art of listening.
   • “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” (James 1:19)
4. Now, let’s learn about building bridges, building relationships.
5. Learn about building relationships. This one is related to business, how it effects your success in other areas of life.
6. What’s a relationship that you have that you want to build up or start?
7. Think about how you can apply any of these lessons to start or build up that relationship.

Lesson 110

1. How to fight with friends
2. Why arguing is okay, if you do it nicely
3. More about arguing!
4. And remember, the best way to eliminate an enemy is to turn them into a friend. Overcome evil with good!

Lesson 111

1. Learn about taxes.
2. Do you owe them? If you mowed lawns or babysat, etc., and made more than $400, you have to file taxes (if you are in the US). If you had a “real” job and they withdrew taxes from your pay, then you have to file taxes. It doesn’t matter how old you are.
3. Learn about state income tax. How does your state compare?
4. You might also have to pay city and/or local taxes! My daughter pays taxes to the country, state, city, and township and had to as a teenager.

Lesson 112

1. You will probably just use a site like this to help you do your taxes.
2. But let’s try our hand at it, just for fun.
3. You can do this online and not have to print, or you can print the two pages. No, taxes aren’t as simple as filling out two pages.
4. This is the IRS website. The first box should be 1040. That’s what you are looking for. It is due on April 15th of each year. You don’t have to wait until then. You do have to wait until February because banks and employers and schools and all those institutions have until the end of January to send you anything you need. Open the 1040 instructions in a new tab. Then open the 1040.
5. Fill it out. You are using last year’s income to fill it out. So, in January of 2025, you are using the income you made all year in 2024. You will be using where you were living in 2024, etc.
6. You will always print or photocopy your taxes before you send them in. You need a record. This is important. Start a tax file for your taxes.
7. It’s easy to grumble about taxes. I’m always thankful that Jesus told us to pay taxes (“render unto Cesar…”) and showed God providing extra to pay the taxes (coin in the fish’s mouth).

Lesson 113

1. If you don’t know, you don’t know. Ask.
   • By the way, this is also a good way to make conversation. Don’t feel stupid asking. Ask.
2. Build your strengths.
3. Write about a time you acted a certain way around people because you wanted to fit in, or look smart, or whatever.

Lesson 114

1. Write a list of your strengths.
2. For each one, write down ways you can use those strengths to build relationships, work, ministry, community, whatever you can think of. Write more than one for each of your strengths.

Lesson 115

1. Easy Peasy is a “successful business.” It provides for my family of eight (though I hate saying that because it’s the Lord who provides for us).
2. I have people ask me how they can do what I did. But I did not follow any proper business path. 🙂
3. I just walked with Jesus. It just happened. 🙂
4. I consider it a ministry and fought off temptation to turn it into a business, repeatedly.
5. It started because I was taking care of my family, the people God gave me to care for. I made the decision to share it.
6. In doing that, I started serving other families, mostly others in the body of Christ.
7. I was just doing what I would have been doing anyway. Eventually, I was doing things just to serve those families and not my own, such as putting in Spanish lessons. I had to do what I believed was right to help families while being careful to not be driven by people pleasing.
8. It’s not a how-to manual, except to follow Jesus. For instance, even though I could make  a lot on ads, I don’t have them on the site because I want to treat others the way I want to be treated. It’s the same thing with guest posts or selling people’s email addresses.
9. Here’s your manual: If you are supposed to do it, do it. If you aren’t supposed to do it, don’t.
10. Don’t do it in a scheme to make money. Don’t do it to build your empire. Do it because you are supposed to. How do you know? Just walk with Jesus and let Him unfold your path before you. You don’t have to know the future. You don’t have to know all the steps. You just have to know what to do now.
11. Right now, you are supposed to be doing your school work. That’s what He has before you right now. So what do you do? You do it to the best of your ability. You learn all you can. Be dedicated. Don’t be thinking about graduating and next year and how it will be better, later. This, right now, is all you have right now. Appreciate it. Do your best. This is what God has given you for today and He does things on purpose and for a purpose. He’s not wasting your life. He’s not wasting your time.
12. Look at those strengths. How can you turn any of those into a business? My strength is putting information into outlines. Did you ever notice that EP is one huge outline? I actually didn’t realize this until I was well into EP, but it’s true. I have a gift of outlines. 🙂
13. Then think about how you can use those strengths locally and how you can use them online.
14. Did you write down your strengths? Did you write down some ideas? You can pray and ask for ideas.
15. Working locally, you can only do so much business. That may be exactly what you should do. However, online businesses can scale more easily. Scaling a business means growing it bigger.
16. I’m not going to send you to a website about how to make money online. Don’t just try to make money. You be you. There’s only one you. You are the only one who can offer you to the world. Trying to copy what someone else is doing is shortchanging the world on what you have to offer. Your best quality is your YOUness. No one else has it! How can you serve the world, change the world, be a blessing, show love with your YOUness? Set your heart to serve, and the Bible says the worker is worthy of his wage. He’ll pay you for your work. You just do what you’re supposed to do, what He made you to do, and let Him figure out the rest.
17. You don’t need to ask God His plan for your life so that you can then go off on your own and do it your way. You just seek Him in prayer and Bible study, walk with Him by acknowledging Him in all your ways, and He will unfold the path before you as you move through life with Him. You already know His goal for you. It’s not a business. It’s not a degree. It’s not being a wife and mother. It’s not being in ministry. His goal for you is to be in relationship with Him and to be transformed into His image.
18. What are you living for?

Lesson 116

1. Let’s look again at your strengths.
2. Scroll down until you see numbered lists in a table. Read through those lists and write down some traits that you think are your strengths and some that you think are weak areas.
   • You can ask God to show you your strengths and weaknesses.
3. List a specific situation in which each one helps or hurts you.
4. You should focus on your strengths, build those up and use them as much as you can.
5. But you have to be aware of your weaknesses, not that you need to work really hard to eliminate them, but you have to be ready and willing to make the decision to push yourself or stop yourself when one of those things is likely to rear itself up and cause you trouble.

Lesson 117

1. Do you remember your 4 letters from your personality test in Lesson 96?
2. Here are common careers for people with your personality. (Here’s another personality test that focuses on strengths. You don’t have to do this one, but I didn’t want to lose the link.)
3. Take the career path test. Look at the different zones.

Lesson 118

1. Learn something about applying to jobs and internships.
2. You are going to apply to three jobs. Your goal would be to do three job interviews.
3. If you want one of the jobs, hopefully you’ll get it. If you don’t want any of them, just be prepared to say something like, “I’m exploring other opportunities right now as well, so I would like to wait and see to consider all my options,” to not accept a job on the spot. And you could say “I have decided to accept another opportunity right now. Thank you for your time and interest,” to turn down an offer.
4. Don’t burn any bridges. You may want a job there in the future, or that person may pop up in your life in another place. You never know. Treat everyone well.
5. Start looking into opportunities.

Lesson 119

1. Learn about interviewing for jobs.
2. Learn some job strategies.

Lesson 120

1. What’s the emphasis in this article when it comes to how you get the job you want?
2. It’s networking, knowing people. This is why we practice talking to people. This is why you might want to challenge yourself to meet one new person a week and get to know them. But get to know them because you care about people, not just because you care about yourself! People will know if you don’t care or are just wanting to use them.
3. Learn about networking.
   • one
   • two
   • three
4. Prepare an “elevator speech” and give it in front of your parents or whoever you can get to listen.
   • An elevator speech introduces yourself in 15 seconds. You need to give your name and who you are. What’s your “brand”? Think back to that why? What are your motivations, interests?

Lesson 121

1. Learn about these home repairs. Read and watch the first one about patching a wall and look at the one about the bigger hole too.
2. Ask your parents if there is a spot you can patch. You are just looking for some little hole, scrap, etc. If not, ask what other handy thing you can do.
3. The next lesson is painting, so maybe you can paint over the spot.

Lesson 122

1. Learn about these home repairs. Read and watch the next one on painting.
2. Ask your parents if there is is something you can paint, maybe where you patched the spot? If not, ask what other handy thing you can do.

Lesson 123

1. Learn about these home repairs. Read and watch the next one on caulking.
2. Ask your parents if you can repair some caulk or caulk a new place. If not, ask what other handy thing you can do.

Lesson 124

1. Learn about these home repairs. Read and watch the next one on repairing or replacing a screen.
2. Ask your parents if you can repair some screen. If not, ask what other handy thing you can do.

Lesson 125

1. Learn about these home repairs. Read and watch the next one on weathering stripping.
2. Ask your parents if you can do this. If not, ask what other handy thing you can do.

Lesson 126

1. Do an act of kindness each day this week.
2. When you are doing an act of kindness for a stranger, you don’t expect to see them ever again, and so you aren’t doing something nice with an ulterior motive.
3. Never do something nice because you want something in return. If you know the person, you will hurt your relationship if you try to butter them up to get what you want. If you do something nice because you want, or worse, expect something in return, you are breaking trust, not building it. That’s the opposite of building a relationship. It will make them not trust anything nice you ever do. They will always think you have some selfish motive behind it.
4. Trust takes time to build. Friendships (and eventually marriage) are built on trust and it takes time to build trust and relationships. You have to commit to them.
5. Speaking of trust, do you know it’s illegal to download YouTube videos?

Lesson 127

1. Let’s look at some more illegal things; how about downloading music?
2. This article is aimed at parents, but it will help you see the seriousness of it.
3. And you know you are supposed to have your own account, right?
4. Did you do an act of selfless kindness yet today?

Lesson 128

1. Learn about plagiarism.
2. Run a writing assignment (current or previous) through a plagiarism checker. How did you do? Do you know how to cite ideas and not just quotes?
3. Here’s an article about a real-life example of plagiarism ending someone’s career.
4. Did you do an act of selfless kindness yet today?

Lesson 129

1. Did you do an act of selfless kindness yet today?
2. How about some graduation inspiration?
3. Here’s another speech.

Lesson 130

1. Did you do an act of selfless kindness yet today?
2. How to choose activities for you?
3. Remember that you’ll be spending a lot of time with the people participating in the activity with you. Are they people you want to be around? We’ll look more at that in the coming lessons.
4. Here’s a list about choosing volunteer opportunities.

Lesson 131

1. Learn about choosing friends. I’m jumping you to start at 8:17. You can stop at 14:40 unless you want to finish it.
2. That agrees with what the Bible says.
3. Make a list of all your relationships, including each parent, sibling, grandparent, cousin, as well as friends, anyone you spend time with and talk to.
4. How does each help or hurt you?
5. Which ones help you toward your goals? You have goals, right? Do you need to review your goals? Know what you are aiming for.
6. How can you spend more time with those who are helping you along the right path?
7. How about working on a new habit and do an act of kindness each day this week.

Lesson 132

1. Learn about building relationships.
2. Think of who you listed in Lesson 131 as helping you towards your goal, someone who’s had a positive impact on you.
3. Think of those relationships and how you can improve positivity, connectedness, and vulnerability.
4. Make a concrete plan to act on one of those things this week to work on building that relationship.
5. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit. (This is the same video as before.)

Lesson 133

1. Here’s another look at the same thing. This is about self worth. This reminds me when we defined ourselves at the beginning of the course by terms that can’t be taken away from us so our self worth is on solid footing and shouldn’t be shaken.
2. I wonder how much the struggle with self worth keeps us from that vulnerability that is so necessary for the close relationships we need.
3. Psalm 139 – This is about how God made you and is always there.
4. This is one of my favorite verses. God calls me by name. I am His.
5. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 134

1. What do you want?
2. Are your thoughts about yourself and your relationships helping you get you what you want?
3. Remember, God made you. He gave you your talents and passions. You need to honestly give them up and over to Him to use, but trust how He has made you and is guiding you.
4. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 135

1. Learn about peer pressure.
2. While you can use your parents as an excuse while you are younger, once you are away from home, you will need to make your own choices and take responsibility for your decisions.
3. This is where you need to know your identity. What was that? Do you need to look back at the beginning of the course? Who are you? What’s your why? How will that help you choose the right company and stand up for what you want?
4. If you are clear and firm about who you are and what you want, then others will respect that. It’s only when you don’t know, that they will feel they can mold you into the image they want from you.
5. Who are you? Are your choices reflecting that?
6. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 136

1. How to deal with negative emotions
2. How to deal with negative emotions
3. Psalms are a great tool too!
4. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 137

1. Learn about resilience.
2. Be grateful.
3. Be compassionate.
4. Be kind.
5. Be forgiving.
6. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Eph. 4:32
7. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 138

1. Time to throw off your schedule again and adapt and be flexible.
2. Plan a fun, yet challenging activity for a group. Create a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt or escape room or some such puzzle event for your family, friends, or younger siblings. Create it and carry it out today.
3. Before you run your activity, use the links below. Learn about and think about encouraging resilience in those doing the puzzle. How will you encourage them without stepping in and giving the answers?
   • encouraging resilience in kids
   • one more
4. How will you encourage the team to be kind and compassionate towards each other? They need to be willing to try an idea and have it fail without fear of ridicule.

Lesson 139

1. How about cake?
2. Learn about measuring.
3. When you are baking a cake, you’ll know it’s done when you can stick a fork in the middle and pull it out and the fork is clean. If there is batter on it, it’s not done. It will also pull away from the edges of the pan.
4. If you are to “prepare” a pan or “grease” a pan, that means to rub oil or butter on the pan to make it non-stick. To flour a pan means to rub on the butter and then sprinkle flour all over it. Shake it around to spread out the flour. Then turn it upside down over the sink or trashcan and shake out the excess flour.
5. Here’s our family’s go-to chocolate cake recipe. Be careful adding boiling water. It’s a no-fail recipe. It always comes out great. We eat it with no icing.
6. Did you do an act of kindness? (I didn’t mention it in the last lesson.)

Lesson 140

1. When you make cookies, the secret is to take them out before they are hard. The edges should be browning, but the center should be soft.
2. Take them out and leave them on the pan on the cooling rack for two minutes. Then carefully move them off the pan onto the cooling rack. They should be so soft they would fall apart if you picked one up by the edge. They will solidify as they cool but remain soft.
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Lesson 141

1. Roman Empire
2. Why look at history? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”–George Santayana
3. You need to always be learning. You need to always be examining so that you are moving forward and not backward. The same traps that ensnared those who came before us are still out there trying to get us. We need to be smarter.
4. Do an act of kindness each day. Build a habit.

Lesson 142

1. Middle Ages
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 143

1. Renaissance 
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 144

1. The Reformation
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 145

1. The Revolutionary Age
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 146

1. The Scientific Age
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 147

1. The Age of Non-Reason
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 148

1. The Age of Fragmentation
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 149

1. The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence
2. Do an act of kindness. Build a habit.

Lesson 150

1. Happy Starvation Day!
2. Write a paragraph or essay about what you learned from this whole series, “How Then Shall We Live?”

Lesson 151

1. You are to start your final project now. You are going to put into practice your skills of adaptability, collaboration, persuasiveness, creativity, and time management.
2. Those are your leadership skills. You are going to lead the way. Today, let’s review those skills; hopefully you’ve been using them as they have been required of you throughout the course.
3. Adaptability
   • Write down one takeaway that you want to do.
4. Collaboration
   • Write down one takeaway that you want to do.
5. Persuasiveness
   • Write down one takeaway that you want to do.
   • Here is an alternate link if that one doesn’t work in the country you are in.
6. Creativity
   • Write down one takeaway that you want to do.
7. Time Management
   • Write down one takeaway that you want to do.

Lesson 152

1. Make a list of causes you care about. Write it down.
2. Search for charities that support your cause. Here’s another place to look. Write down several that appeal to you.
3. See if any of them are on GoFund Me Charity.
4. Choose one that you care about most or that has the closest connection to you.

Lesson 153

1. Make a list of ways you could raise money.
   • These don’t have to be things that you can or will do. Just brainstorm. Write them down.
2. Make a list of ways to raise money that are somehow related to the charity.
   • Same goes for this one. Just write down anything you can come up with.
   • For instance, if the charity has to do with kids, what fundraiser could involve kids?
3. Do you need more ideas?
4. What skills do you have? Are you part of a group with skills? Do you have enough persuasive and collaborative skills to convince them to hold an event/show in a few weeks to raise money?
5. Do you work with little kids? People will pay money to see their kids in a show. Can you pull something off? I’m just throwing things out there.
6. Circle your best five ideas.
7. Do a little googling for how those ideas might work. For instance, how do you run a raffle, or a video game tournament?

Lesson 154

1. Make a list of any business owners that you know.
2. For each of these, make another list. List the person, the business, the type of business, the name, the contact info, any specifics about the business that will help you establish a connection. “You go to church with the Steeleys. They gave me your name and thought you might be interested in partnering with me…”
3. Ask your parents and ask what business owners they know.
4. If you have any other relatives who live close, ask them.
5. If you have good friends around you can ask, ask them.
6. If you are part of a homeschool coop, find out who has parents who have their own business or who are leaders in their workplace.
7. Circle your five best leads.

Lesson 155

1. Write up your persuasive spiel.
2. You are going to introduce yourself, establish your connection, tell them how you want to be able to boost their business while helping…(fill in who your charity will be helping).
3. Establish why the charity is effective and important.
4. Establish why partnering with you will help their business.
   • Some ideas:
     • their name will be on all your advertising as a sponsor
     • the event will take place at their shop and so will bring in people
     • everyone participating will receive a flyer for your store
5. Present one possible idea for a fund raiser, but be sure to let them know you are flexible with how the event will take place.

Lesson 156

1. Adapt your spiel for your five best leads, a separate one for each.
2. Include what specific fundraiser you think would work best with their business and how you would specifically benefit them. You need to know something about the business! Do your research.
3. Include a little of how the fundraiser would work (briefly, not the details) and approximately when it could take place, while assuring you are flexible to be able to work with them on their needs.
4. Ask what they think and if they have any ideas. Ask if they would like to commit to partnering.
5. Ask them the best way to contact them.
6. You are just preparing your five spiels. Write them out. You are adapting it to each specific person/business.
7. Your fundraiser event should be held somewhere around the week of Lesson 176-180. Figure out when that will be.

Lesson 157

1. Go IN PERSON and try to talk to each of the five people.
2. Give your spiel. Adapt your fundraising ideas as necessary.
3. If they don’t want to commit, ask how to contact them and do that the next day and ask if they are ready.
4. If they present concerns, tell them those are good points and you will figure that out and get back to them. Figure out answers and respond the next day with how you will address those concerns.
5. Be professional. Be persuasive. Care about them and their business!
6. Do as many as you can today. You have through Lesson 160. You may need to reach out to more than five, so try to do more than one each day.
7. Giving up is the only way to fail. Giving up is 100% chance of failure. As long as you keep trying, there is ALWAYS HOPE of success.

Lesson 158

1. Go IN PERSON and try to talk to each of the five people.
2. Give your spiel. Adapt your fundraising ideas as necessary.
3. If they don’t want to commit, ask how to contact them and do that the next day and ask if they are ready.
4. If they present concerns, tell them those are good points and you will figure that out and get back to them. Figure out answers and respond the next day with how you will address those concerns.
5. Be professional. Be persuasive. Care about them and their business!
6. Do as many as you can today. You have through Lesson 160.

Lesson 159

1. Go IN PERSON and try to talk to a business/leader. You may need to go beyond your top five. Go to everyone you can.
2. Give your spiel. Adapt your fundraising ideas as necessary.
3. If they don’t want to commit, ask how to contact them and do that the next day and ask if they are ready.
4. If they present concerns, tell them those are good points and you will figure that out and get back to them. Figure out answers and respond the next day with how you will address those concerns.
5. Be professional. Be persuasive. Care about them and their business!
6. Do as many as you can today. You have through Lesson 160.

Lesson 160

1. Get a partner for your fundraiser.
2. Get it done. You don’t move on until you get it done.

Lesson 161

1. Plan your fundraiser.
2. Write down the nitty-gritty details.
3. List everything that will need to happen.
4. List materials that you will need.
5. List people that you will need.
6. Confirm with your partner the day and time of the event if it will involve them or their place of business.

Lesson 162

1. Print out a month calendar (or two if it’s going to go over into the next month). Put on the calendar the proposed date and time for the event.
2. Write down on the calendar when other things need to happen by.
3. Give yourself time to adapt and change plans on the fly. Don’t leave anything to the last minute.
4. You will also need to do one thing each day to advertise the event.
5. On your calendar, write that down. Flyers, post, video, email, go tell those neighbors you met earlier, etc. People need to see something 7 times before it sinks in, so think of creative ways to keep sharing about it on social media.
6. Here are some social media post ideas.
7. Use your skills: do a cheer, write a song, make a catch and then say a catch phrase about the event…be creative!
8. Write on the calendar how you will advertise for 15 days (or thereabouts). Jot something down on each day.

Lesson 163

1. Advertise.
2. Learn about promoting. This is somewhat beyond the scope of what you are doing, but you can learn from it. For instance, make it easy to buy tickets. If you want them to go to a website to buy tickets or register, etc., then don’t just put a website address on a flyer, put a QR code to make it easier to get there.

Lesson 164

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.
5. Do you need to contact your business to get anything from them?
6. Make sure to use the logo and website address they want you to use in your advertising.
7. You could show them what you plan on using in your advertising and ask for approval.

Lesson 165

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.
7. Do you need to contact your business to get anything from them?

Lesson 166

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 167

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 168

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 169

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 170

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.
7. Give your business an update on the progress.

Lesson 171

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 172

1. Advertise.
2. Do something for your event.
3. Look at your list. Get something done.
4. Check your calendar. What should you be doing?
5. Does anything need to be changed? Adapt.
6. Add something to your list. Think through what needs to happen.

Lesson 173

1. Advertise.
2. Are you ready?
3. You should be doing the final details here.
4. Things should be falling into place.
5. If it’s not coming together, change tactics. Do something different. Make it happen!
6. Don’t be embarrassed by low turnout. Get out there and be louder and nicer 🙂 and get interest. Speak up.

Lesson 174

1. Advertise.
2. Get ready.

Lesson 175

1. Run your event or keep going with advertising and planning and preparing until you do.

Lesson 176

1. After your event, think through what you did.
2. Think about what went well.
3. Think about a lesson learned.
4. Write a well-written paragraph about what you accomplished! Or just go ahead and make it an essay. 🙂
5. What did you do, why, how did you do it, what happened, what impact did it have. Include those things that went well and what you learned.
6. This could become a college application essay…

Lesson 177

1. Write a thank-you note to the business partner.
2. Write thank-you notes to anyone who helped you pull it together or who donated or participated.
3. Write thank-you notes to donors as you are able.
4. Here’s a place where you can participate in a project like you just did along with a mentor and a cohort participating at the same time.

Lesson 178

1. Your life is precious. What are you going to do with it? (video edited from Team Fearless)
2. Turia Pitt talks about setting a goal and knowing your why. That’s what we talked about at the beginning of this course. Don’t let the course end without your knowing your goal and your why.
3. Need some more inspiration?

Lesson 179

1. Now your life is in your hands. I hope you will give it over and put it in God’s hands. That’s the safest, wisest, most loving place to be.
2. There is a cost of discipleship, but the reward is a life full of love.

Lesson 180

1. I will let you go now as we parents have to do at some point.
2. If you want some encouragement along the way to keep fighting the good fight and to keep running the race with endurance, here are short devotional teachings you could put into your schedule each day if they aren’t already.
3. May you know the love of the Father and may He keep you until you are safely home with Him.
4. Take the poll below.