Why knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum
Are you looking for an activity to add to your homeschool day that can happen right from home?Knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum, and I’m going to share exactly why!
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Knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum! Getting started, and even continuing on to learn more about knitting, is simple and inexpensive. There are so many benefits of this old fashioned skill that I want to share today.
knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum
In our large homeschool family, we believe that among other things, God created us to create. He is creative and He created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27). We’re always making something with our own two hands around here. Knitting is both a creative hobby and a life skill that children can take with them as they grow up.
Creativity and Artistic Expression
When children learn to knit, they can create so many things! Knitting fosters creativity and allows children to express themselves artistically. They can knit in their favorite colors, use fun textures like cables, and can take virtually anything and turn it into a knitting project.
Does your child like to read books? She can knit a pretty book cover inspired by nature! Maybe she loves to be creative in the kitchen? She can knit mug cozies for hot cocoa, and potholders for baking.
Knitting is more than just learning to go back and forth in rows for a blanket. The options that kids can choose to knit are endless!
Again, God made us to create. Our creativity reflects God’s creation and the beauty of craftsmanship!
Developing Patience and Perseverance
Knitting teaches patience through the process of creating something tangible. Whether you’re first learning how to hold the needles or make the knit stitch, or you’ve moved into harder projects, knitting pushes us. I’ve been knitting for over 13 years, and have owned a knitting business for 10 of those years. There is still a lot of pulling out rows, or restarting completely. It’s normal, we’re not perfect! But through knitting I’ve learned to push on through the tough parts. My children also have learned that just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s bad. They persevere through to the end of their project, and that’s a huge reason why knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum.
Not only is this an important lesson in life, it’s also biblical. Our children need to struggle, as do we, because that’s where we look to God for the strength we need (James 1:3-4). And knitting is a small way to impart that truth onto our children.
Mathematics and Problem Solving Skills
I never liked math. Growing up homeschooled, I used to save my math work until my dad was home and could explain it after dinner. I did not get the numbers gene. If you would have told me as a nine year old that I would grow up and comfortably write knitting patterns for a living I would have laughed. All knitters use math, whether you design something or not.
Need to resize a pattern to fit you better? That’s math. Trying to find your gauge, or use a different needle size or weight of yarn? Also math. Counting stitches and knitting geometric patterns through color work is also all math.
It’s also living math. Charlotte Mason quotes, “A living teaching of mathematics is direct and humble, opening a realm of beauty and truth for a child to explore.” This is math beyond worksheets, in a way that makes sense in real life. Maybe your child won’t go on to design knitting patterns, but the foundational skills are practiced and concretely learned early on through knitting in your homeschool curriculum.
Beyond math, the problem-solving skills that knitting sharpen are so important. These challenges mirror daily life, and teach us the importance of seeking God’s guidance.
Cultivating Focus and Concentration
Unless you’ve been knitting for awhile and are working on a stockinette knitting project, you can’t knit while watching TV. You can’t knit while checking your email, at least not right away. Learning to knit requires sustained attention and focus, which are such valuable skills to learn in homeschooling and life.
Children should learn to read and understand a knitting pattern so that they fully understand how it’s coming together before it’s even started. This sets themselves on a path to reading for comprehension that they can later use in journaling in their morning devotional time as teens, or to diving deep into God’s word as a new mom.
Practical Life Skills and Service
Knitting teaches practical skills that children can use later in their lives.
They learn how to create and mend their clothing, and their future family’s clothing. There’s a reason that knitting has been around for as long as it has. It’s a timeless craft that is calm and peaceful, but also extremely useful.
Knitting provides an opportunity for children to serve others by making gifts or items for charity. I knit for a few minutes everyday. If I kept everything I knit to myself, my home would fall over, Madame Blueberry style in Veggie Tales. Thankfully, there are so many charities that accept and desire knitted projects. Homeschoolers can practice generosity and compassion by giving what we made with our hands to others.
Bonding and Family Time
My favorite times to knit are when I’m knitting with my family. At least once a year, my mom, sister, aunt and I go on a knitting retreat to someone’s house. We pack way too many knitting projects and knit together everywhere while talking and having fun. Since my girls have learned to knit, they often pull their projects out while I’m working on mine and we knit and chat together. On a recent long road trip, they even packed their own scarf projects and knit them while chatting happily in the backseat.
Knitting can be a family activity that strengthens bonds and fosters relationships. That is one of the most important values of many homeschool families, including mine.
The fun and funny things discussed or that have happened while we’re knitting and chatting together one evening stays with your family forever. It’s adding to that family culture. Instead of turning on the TV in the evenings, or Saturday mornings, grabbing knitting needles and sitting outside with breakfast or popcorn is a core memory for all. I love knitting with my mom, sister, and aunt. And now they can knit with me and my daughters. Adding knitting has enriched my young family’s homeschooling journey.
Knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum and it truly benefits the entire family. Pass on this old fashioned, useful skill to your children to one day pass on to their families. The benefits of knitting go beyond a child’s brain and body, but it reaches their heart and stays there.
Knitting can and should be used as a tool for nurturing creativity, patience, skills, and family unity within a homeschool environment.
Encouragement for the homeschool mom
Start knitting with your children, and share in their learning experience! I will be coming out with more resources for mother education in knitting, so be sure to get onto the email list to be notified of that.
You can connect with a community of homeschool mothers who incorporate knitting into their curriculum on our Facebook page here.
Additional Tips and Resources
What’s the best time of year to teach kids to knit?
FAQs that kids learning to knit will ask you
Links for beginner knitting tutorials
Learn how to knit for beginners
Knitting terminology for beginners
How to knit a scarf for beginners
Recommended Books for knitting homeschool families
The best knitting books of 2023
Our homeschool’s favorite picture books about knitting
Mothers, I encourage you to seek out or start a local knitting group for homeschoolers. Knit together, learn together in a family style learning environment. It takes a village. Consider making this the fall that your crew or co-op learns to knit!
I pray that this highlights why knitting is a perfect addition to your homeschool curriculum while emphasizing your family’s values.
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