Tag: home education

Qi Skills for 21st Century Living

We began homeschooling Karta in January of this year. We have developed a learning regime that works well for our son. Now, as he heads into adolescence, I have been looking into the life skills he will need to survive in the 21st century.

This morning, I came across the concept of Qi skills, a series of attributes that will benefit children of the 21st century. They are as follows.

1. Me skills: self-awareness, self-control, focus and attention
2. We skills: empathy, collaboration, active listening, communication, perspective taking = Emotional Intelligence
3. Why skills: exploration, curiosity 
4. Will skills: drive, determination, perseverance  
5. Wiggle skills: physical and intellectual restlessness  
6. Wobble skills: agility, adaptability, ability to face, overcome and learn from failure  
7. What if skills (possibility skills): innovation, imagination, creativity, out-of-the-box thinking

In addition to these skills, we are teaching Karta how to do the laundry, cook a meal, shop for food, travel on public transport, wake up independently and how to pack a bag. He is learning how to order food at restaurants, manage money, plan an outing or a trip and, soon, how to care for another living being.

We will show Karta that he must have love, compassion, altruism, morality and justice in his heart as he moves through life. Most of these skills are not taught in school, so we are lucky to be in a position to prepare Karta for the beautiful life that is ahead of him.