We all knew a kid or two in college who didn’t know how to make a meal, clean a toilet, or do laundry. And I don’t want that for my kiddos! And I know I’m not alone. Today, I’d like to chat about learning life skills. One of the many benefits of homeschooling is the ability to work on life skills daily.
And, because this is a My Little Poppies post, you know I want to make learning life skills as fun as possible. Well, you’ll be happy to know I am sharing a resource that is a Curley family favorite, and this resource not only teaches life skills but does so in a way that is fun and that incorporates many other academic skills!
Make Learning Life Skills Fun In Your Homeschool
*Disclaimer: I received two Raddish kits at no cost and was compensated for my time to write a review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share resources that I love and that I would use with my own family. Our family has been a fan of Raddish Kids for *many* years, as you can see from scrolling through our site!
Why Life Skills Are An Important Part Of Our Homeschool
When I was in college, I knew a girl who had honest-to-goodness never boiled water. I knew a guy who had never washed his laundry. I had to teach a friend how to clean a toilet. And I once had a roommate put dish soap in the dishwasher. (It was our very own foam rave!)
We can’t teach our children everything. There will be gaps of all sorts. But, when my kids leave the nest, I want them to be able to take care of themselves. They don’t need to be able to flip a quarter off their bedsheets or cook a six-course meal, but I want them to feel confident in the basics.
We taught our children simple chores such as sweeping the floor, cleaning counters, unloading and loading the dishwasher, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, and laundry from an early age. Sure, they needed heaps of help. Yes, there were loads of failures, from pull-ups in the washing machine to forks in the microwave.
Would you look at these BABIES?! Where’s the pause button??
I’ve yet to find a way to make dishes, laundry, or cleaning toilets fun, but cooking is another story! Enter one of our family’s longtime favorite subscriptions: Raddish Kids!
Raddish Kids For Teaching Life Skills
Raddish Kids is a monthly culinary subscription service for children ages 4-14+. Raddish’s mission is to deliver culinary experiences that nurture children’s confidence in the kitchen and beyond. The chefs and educators behind-the-scenes at Raddish Kids have over 14 years of experience teaching children and teens how to cook.
Here’s a sneak peek at our most recent box, Korean Kitchen. More on that in a minute!
You can feel good about learning life skills with Raddish Kids because it is a subscription service that gives back.
One thing that I really love about Raddish Kids is the fact that their mission goes beyond their subscriber community. Raddish Kids regularly partners with programs and organizations that share their mission. To date, Raddish Kids has donated over $100,000 to partner charities.
Raddish donated 50,000 kits to families suddenly homeschooling due to the events of ’20, and also donated $30,000 to World Central Kitchen to feed children across the country.
Raddish Kids also offers a scholarship program– this is something I don’t see often with other subscription services.
Each Raddish Kids kit includes the following:
- 3 illustrated recipe guides
- 3 culinary skill cards
- A creative kitchen project
- A shopping list
- Engaging tools and materials such as culinary tools, Table Talk conversation cards, and a monthly patch to add to your apron. (Sibling tools and patches are available for $5/month per sibling.)
- Each kit also includes a link to the Raddish Kids “Bonus Bites.” This digital content includes heaps of extension activities.
- Raddish Kids subscribers also have access to a Facebook group with over 35k members
- Do you have a child with a dietary restriction? Raddish Kids’ “Bonus Bites” includes information on how to adjust each kit’s recipes to accommodate vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free needs.
As a gameschooler, I *love* these Table Talk cards. We have been saving them for YEARS and use them at dinner all the time!
These aren’t materials that you’ll use once and toss; they are high-quality and allow you to revisit recipes and projects again and again. All recipe guides, skill cards, lists, projects, and Table Talk cards are laminated. My kids have favorite recipes that they’ve made multiple times!
Each Raddish Kids kit has a theme.
These themes include seasonal content, global cuisine, creative cooking, and holidays. And guess what? Raddish Kids kits never repeat! You’ll get a new kit each month with no repetition.
These are the recipes from our most recent Raddish Kids experience.
In just a sec, I’m going to share our most recent experience with Raddish Kids, but if you’d like to see an example of a kit, click here.
Raddish Kids offers several subscription options. Monthly subscriptions are available for $24/month and 3-month subscriptions are available for $72. If you’re looking to save money, a 6-month subscription is $132 ($22/month) and a 1-year subscription is $240 ($20/month). Both the 6-month and 1-year subscriptions include a free Raddish Kids apron.
Raddish also offers heaps of resources in their store, including their “Continental Bundles” which would make an amazingly delicious geography supplement. The following bundles are now available: Asia Bundle, Europe Bundle, and Americas Bundle.
If you have family members asking about holiday gift ideas, they can give the gift of Raddish Kids. Raddish Kids also offers other gift ideas in their shop.
Make Learning Life Skills Fun
Our family has loved Raddish Kids for many years. As a homeschool mom and gameschooler, I love resources that are fun and that incorporate stealth learning. Raddish is one of these resources! Children and teens have such a blast cooking, they don’t realize they are learning.
Plus, all Raddish kids include stealth learning opportunities, from geography to culture to math to science to music (my kids love the playlists!)… and so much more.
And if you’d like to take learning to the next level, the Raddish Kids website is a homeschool treasure trove. Here are just a few examples for you:
- Lesson plans related to current kits and the season
- Continental bundles to supplement your geography
- Recipes
- RAD TV Cooking videos
- Playlists
- Extension activities (including games to keep your kids busy while you grocery shop!)
- School-in-the-Kitchen resources
- and resources for parents
With Raddish Kids, your children and teens will learn life skills, make memories, and learn a ton!
This Month, My Kiddos Enjoyed Learning Life Skills with Raddish Kids’ Korean Kitchen Kit…
The October 2021 Raddish Kids kit was called Korean Kitchen, and we completed the kit in November because we’ve been dropping alllll the balls.
Typically, when we have a Raddish Kids kit, we tackle one recipe a week. The kiddos usually sit down together and pick a recipe they’d like to be in charge of, and we plan when to try each one.
This month, my kids were drooling over the Korean fare and they wanted to make all of it, and they wanted to make all of it yesterday.
They begged me to let them have a “Korean Kitchen Day” and make all of the recipes in one day. At first, I hesitated, because it seemed like an awful lot to accomplish in one day, but their enthusiasm was contagious. Plus, it was another dark and stormy week in NH and I was all too happy to let someone else take over in the kitchen.
The next day, we set off for our local Asian market to gather ingredients (every Raddish Kids kit includes a shopping list). Then, it was time for the kiddos to get to work.
The Raddish Kids Korean Kitchen Kit included the following recipes:
- Korean Mandu Dumplings
- Bibimbap Bowls
- Cinnamon-Stuffed Hotteok
And the Korean Kitchen Kit taught the following culinary skills:
- How to steam
- Preparing Mise en Place
- Kneading Dough
Each Raddish Kids kit includes collectibles:
- Dumpling Press
- Iron-On Patch
- Pop-Out Table Talk Cards
My kids LOVED making dumplings with the dumpling press!
In addition to all of the above, our kit also included a Kimchi Science Activity and a Korean Translation Game. Plus, each recipe card included tons of stealth learning opportunities:
My three kiddos worked all afternoon on the Korean Kitchen kit, with just a super-quick break for lunch. As a homeschool mom, it was fun to watch… and also to witness the growth over time. When we first started using Raddish Kids kits years ago, the kiddos needed TONS of help from me. This month? They asked where the steamer was located and asked me to reach the brown sugar.
That was it!
They started just before lunch and finished up *just* in time for dinner! It was worth it!
And when they got closer to the finish line, they asked that I leave the room entirely. They wanted the result to be a surprise. Their only request was that I call my husband to see what time he’d be getting home… and to let him know that he had a fancy dinner waiting for him. (Not bad for a gloomy Wednesday night!)
Forced silent reading? Thank you, Raddish Kids!
My culinary crew finished up just ten minutes before my husband rolled into the driveway. They set the table, lit candles, and even poured some sparkling cider to celebrate the WOW of a Wednesday night.
Bubbly!
My husband walked in the door and told the kids that the house smelled amazing (and it did).
The Korean Kitchen kit from Raddish Kids helped our family to turn a dreary Wednesday around. We had the best Wednesday night fancy dinner! We enjoyed every single bite…
… and I am certain the kids made memories in the process. They were so excited chatting about everything they had learned and all the silly kitchen mishaps that had occurred. And of course, we played the Raddish Kids Table Talk cards, too!
To say we’re looking forward to this month’s kid would be a gigantic understatement!
This month’s kit is called Gourmet Gobble and you can catch a sneak peek of it here. We’re planning on serving some of the recipes at Thanksgiving with Nana and Papa!
Are you interested in learning life skills with Raddish Kids?
You can sign up for Raddish Kids here. (Right now, at the time this post was published (November 2021), you can use the promo code RADGIFT to save $15 on a 6-month subscription and get a free Cook-Along Kit.)
Love the idea of learning life skills in the kitchen? Check out these Related Posts:
If you’d like to learn more about learning life skills and cooking with kids, check out our interview with Raddish Kids founder, Samantha Barnes!
- Hungry, Hungry Homeschoolers: Feeding the Family with Samantha Barnes of Raddish Kids [Episode 27] | The Homeschool Sisters Podcast
- Exploring Subscription Boxes [Episode 57] | The Homeschool Sisters Podcast
- 10+ Books to Get Kids Excited About Cooking
Looking For More Gift Ideas?
‘Tis the season and I’ve got you covered…
- 100 Educational Stocking Stuffers Your Kids Will Love!
- Holiday Gift Guides 2021: The Best Gifts for Homeschooling & Gameschooling
- 10 Amazing Homeschool Subscriptions
