5 Benefits to Homesteading With Kids

Homesteading with kids isn’t easy.

My husband and I both freelance at home and we homeschool our two boys, so to say our life is hectic at times is an understatement. Add some baby chicks, baby ducklings, a small herd of cows, three beehives, and a garden on top of it all and sometimes it seems as if we’ve bitten off more than we can chew. Many days are chaotic, where nothing seems to go right, while other days flow along as effortlessly as a river.

Although it has its ups and downs, after our first year on our homestead I can see how this lifestyle is helping our boys grow and become stronger, better people.

Nope, homesteading with kids isn’t easy. But the benefits far outweigh the hectic, chaotic lifestyle that is farming with children.

1. Homesteading With Kids Mean They Learn to Work

There is always something that needs done on a farm or homestead.

For example, I’m currently writing this on an early spring afternoon. I’m sitting on our back porch, looking out over our barn and pastures, and as I look around I can come up with a very quick list of what needs done right now:

• Finish starting the pepper and cucumber seeds for the garden (as well as the two dozen other seeds I have waiting in their paper packets for some dirt and a chance to grow).
• Replant the zucchini and Florence onion starts into deeper pots because they’ve outgrown their trays.
• Till the garden so I can get the zucchini and Florence onions (and everything else) in the ground.
• Clean out the chicks’ brooder box.
• Collect the eggs for the day.
• Re-hook up the solar panel so I can move the chicks’ brooder box out of the laundry room and into the coop (we don’t have power in the barn and use solar to power the Brinsea EcoGlow heating element).
• Pick up the toys in the yard because powerful storms are forecast to come through here tomorrow morning and we need to prepare the homestead for severe weather.
• Hook the rain barrel back up after its cleaning yesterday.

And, that’s just a To-Do I came up with based on the most pressing chores I can see. There are, of course, dozens of other tasks and projects waiting to be finished.

The Benefits of Farm Chores for Kids

The point here is that many of these farm chores can and will be completed by my kids. No they can’t hook up a solar panel, pick up the heavy brooder box, or till the garden. But they can do some tasks like collect eggs, pick up their toys in the yard, plant seeds, and transplant the zucchini and onions.

Every day, I try to give our boys (aged 5 and 6) jobs to do around the homestead. Sometimes they collect eggs from our free range chickens, while other days might find them cleaning up the boots on the back porch or picking up rocks in the garden.

Having regular farm chores to do around our homestead teaches them an important lesson: that their work matters to the success of our family. We’re part of a team, and when they pitch in it helps everyone. This boosts their self-confidence,and teaches them that there is immense value in hard work.

2. Kids Learn To Do Unpleasant Tasks

While many chores around a farm or homestead are fun, there are plenty that aren’t. The chicken coop still has to be cleaned out, the weeds have to be pulled, and the cow manure still needs to be picked up and tilled into the garden.

Some chores are dirty or downright gross. The benefit to homesteading with kids is that they learn how to pitch in and work hard on the projects that no one else wants to do, which builds character and inner strength. Think about how this might benefit them as adults.

If they end up running their own farm, they won’t shrink back from the dirty and less glamorous side of raising food and animals. Perhaps they’ll decide to become an entrepreneur. In this case, they won’t be afraid to step in and do what it takes to succeed even if it means spending time on the less-fun side of running a business.

Maybe your kids will grow up and work with a team. If this happens, they won’t hesitate to help a colleague with a mundane project or volunteer to complete a task that no one else wants to do. They will become the person everyone wants on their team.

The reason they will be able to do these things is because they’ll know that no matter what, the work has to get done. And they won’t be afraid to do it.

3. Homestead Kids Learn to Entertain Themselves

Out in the country, most kids don’t spend a lot of time watching TV or playing video games simply because there’s too much other fun stuff to do.

After their schoolwork is finished, my kids usually head down to the creek to excavate and look for fossils, agates, or geodes. They play with various old tools they’ve collected in the barn. Or, they climb trees and play tag, look for salamanders and frogs, cuddle the baby chicks, help me look for eggs, and an endless number of other activities. Each of them is constantly on the go playing and experimenting, most of the time outside.

Sure, sometimes I wish we lived closer to town so they could play Little League or join a club. But those moments are few and far between. The truth is that out here, they’re learning how to entertain themselves. They’re learning how to assess and take measured risks. And they’re learning how to trust their instincts.

Now, this doesn’t meant that things are always perfect around here. Sometimes, all this freedom and experimentation gets the boys into plenty of trouble. Like yesterday, when they poured two gigantic jars of bubbles into my rain barrel. Or the week before, when they uprooted all my Stinging Nettle seedlings to turn the container into a construction site.

Homesteading life isn’t perfect, especially when you add kids into the mix. It’s messy and often chaotic. But it’s worth it.

4. Homesteading Kids Experience the Cycle of Life and Death

The reality is that life is a continous cycle of birth, life, and death. And on a farm or homestead, you experience this full cycle in a very up close and personal way.

For example, in the past year we lost three hens, one sick baby chick to pasty butt, and three ducks. The boys took most of these deaths calmly, but there were a few tears from our youngest. Although the experiences were hard, I believe it’s helping them develop empathy and compassion.

Come fall, we’re going to start butchering some of our hens for meat. We’ve talked about it many times, and the boys understand that we’re raising these animals for food. It’s an important lesson in awareness and gratitude.

Many kids don’t understand that the meat they get from a grocery store comes from an animal that lived, often in heart wrenching conditions, and then was slaughtered. They see the beef, chicken, or pork wrapped in cellophane and don’t give it a second thought. And that’s so sad. When you don’t stop and appreciate the animal that gave its life so that you can eat you take that food for granted.

5. Homesteading Kids Learn Important Life Skills

Homestead kids learn a wide variety of important life skills when they live on a farm or homestead. For example, when you’re homesteading with kids they can learn to:

• Keep chickens cool in summer
• Care for a broody hen
• Care for and treat a sick or injured animal
• Start seeds and tend a garden
• Gather fresh produce
• Split wood
• Find and gather good kindling
• Start a fire
• Cook
• Preserve food
• Store produce so it doesn’t spoil
• Use tools to perform a task (like a pitchfork to move hay or a lever to move something heavy)
• How to repair a tool or machine when it breaks
• Drive a tractor

Some other skills our boys have learned out on our homestead include:

• Identify wild plants and edibles, like shepherd’s purse and chickweed
• Identify wild medicinal plants for first aid, like using plantain to treat a wasp sting or yarrow to stop bleeding
• Start a fire with flint and steel

I also try and teach the boys important survival skills, just in case they are ever lost in the woods. These are simple techniques, like staying put as soon as you realize you’re lost, which could mean the difference between life and death.

Another important life skill we’re going to try to focus on next year is managing a farm stand. By then we’re going to have more eggs and honey than we can possibly use. My plan is to put the boys in charge of running a small farm stand on our property. Being in charge of selling what we produce here would teach them so many valuable lessons. They would learn how to interact with people, manage money, answer questions about what we raise and grow…the list is endless.

Last Word

Homesteading with kids is full of ups and downs. There will be some days when you’ll wish you lived closer to town so you could put them in school or enroll them in a club. You’ll crave a few hours to yourself. I’m definitely guilty of this!

However, raising homestead kids will shape them in ways you can’t see or even imagine right now. It will help them learn the value of hard work, develop empathy and compassion, strengthen their creativity, and teach them that it’s important to do the unpleasant chores too.

And all this won’t happen overnight. My boys still chase the chickens sometimes, or ask if they can go dunk one of them in the creek to see if it can swim. They still fight over toys, throw a fit when they get stuck on a task or project, and complain about having to clean out the coop or rake leaves. Kids are human, and they have their good days and bad days like the rest of us.

The point here is that these lessons will take years to instill. But raising your kids on a farm gives you the opportunity to teach them how to live a simple life and work hard to achieve their goals. And with time and patience, you will teach them how to do just that.