Everyone gets in the mood to give to and volunteer for organizations they support at the end of the year. However, volunteering is often an important activity for homeschoolers all year and many are always on the lookout for opportunities for their kids. It is often easier to find opportunities for ourselves and then include our kids. Let’s look at why volunteering as a family is so important.
Kids Learn by Watching Us
Have you ever noticed that kids learn so much by watching our actions? It often seems that they learn more by watching us than by listening to us! The best way to show our kids that volunteering in our community is important is by making it an important part of our own lives. It simply becomes a part of the family culture and not just another activity for the kids.
Where Should I Volunteer?
The easy choice is to get involved with volunteer work in your church. If that’s not a good option for you, find a local organization doing work that you want to support. It’s not necessary to connect volunteer work to a hobby but you must at least believe in the mission of the organization. Find something that you’re passionate about and your enthusiasm will rub off on your kids. Otherwise, it will become a chore to you and to your kids.
What Are Your Kids’ Interests?
Ask your kids what they would like to do. Who do they want to help? What skills do they have that can be useful to a charity? What causes are they passionate about? Unfortunately for us, my kids (like many I’m sure) want to volunteer with animals – specifically in an animal shelter. My kids are too young to volunteer at our local animal shelters even with parental supervision. Plus, I’m off-the-charts allergic to cats and dogs. So, animal shelters are out for us for now. Try to find something that both you and your kids are excited to support.
Connect Your Hobby to Volunteer Work
What are your hobbies? Your kids’ hobbies? Are there any local charitable organizations that could use those skills? My husband and I volunteer with organizations connected to our hobbies.These are organizations we belong to anyway so it’s only natural to do more as a volunteer. It’s easy to bring kids when if you’re already an active member of the organization.
Find Your Possible Family Volunteer Opportunities
Make a list of possible organizations and start contacting them to see if they allow families to volunteer together. Make sure their scheduling needs line up with what you’re able to do. Ask about what type work you and your kids will be doing. While stuffing envelopes may be a necessary task, children (and many adults) will be bored to tears in just a few minutes. The work doesn’t need to be exciting and entertaining every moment, but kids will enjoy participating when they see the value of what they’re doing. It’s hard to do that with tasks like stuffing envelopes.
How Often Should I Volunteer?
Many organizations want (and need) people who can commit to regular schedules. Often, those schedules include more hours per week than families can handle. Many charities truly depend on volunteers who can work schedules similar to part-time jobs, so they may not always be open to those who need less demanding schedules.
It may take some time to find an organization that is happy to have you on a more limited schedule. Try to commit to volunteering at least once a month throughout the year so that you can make it a meaningful part of your family culture. Some organizations may require a weekly shift while others may be fine with just one day here and there. Keep in mind that organizations need volunteers outside of the winter holiday season.
Once you find a good fit for our family, make sure to keep your commitment. Homeschoolers enjoy a lot of freedom with our schedules, so it’s easy to get into the habit of deciding what we’re going to do once we wake up. In our community, we get a lot of late cancellations for events because people decide at the last minute that they don’t feel going to the outing. Please don’t do that to these organizations. Follow through with your commitments.
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A few of this year’s many harvests that we delivered to a local food pantry through Plant a Row for the Hungry.
Our Family Volunteer Work
Both my husband and I volunteer within organizations that we belong to as part of our hobbies. My husband is a Freemason and volunteers his help with handling the audio-visual systems in the meeting spaces including the Scottish Rite’s RiteCare™ Speech Clinic. Our girls often go with him to help install and fix equipment. They also help the Rainbow Girls (like the Girl Scouts) serve meals at fundraisers and other functions.
I have a garden bed at a community garden, but I’m also there every week as a volunteer. My girls and I help care for the community plants such as the fruit trees and grapevines. We also pull weeds and pick up trash. I teach classes there and my kids help by listening to me practice! A community garden ties in perfectly to my hobby AND it gives us the flexible schedule that we need as a busy family. I’m free to come when I can, but I know that my help is needed regularly. My kids are welcome there as volunteers or as just a couple of kids exploring while I work around the garden.
One of my favorite volunteer activities at the community garden is caring for the beds that are allocated to growing food for a local food pantry through Plant a Row for the Hungry. I make sure that my kids are there when I harvest and bring the food to the pantry. We’ve been tending these beds and delivering food for two years now and each trip sparks great conversations about the role of food pantries and the importance of fresh food.
Related Post: Plant a Row for the Hungry
By involving our kids in the volunteer work we already do, we teach them by example that volunteer work is an important part of our family culture. It’s not just something we seek out during Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons every year. Volunteering all year naturally makes it a part of the family culture and not just another task on our to-do list during the holiday season. I don’t think our kids even think of it as volunteer work. It’s just something we do as a family. Teach your kids the importance of volunteer work by making it a regular part of your family culture.
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