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Curriculum · Stage 3 of 7 · Ages 12–17

Life skills for teens

The teenage years are when school skips the most. By 18, a young person is expected to cook, clean, manage money, look after their own health, handle an emergency and spot a scam, usually without a class that taught any of it. These 41 units cover what to be able to do before leaving home. The printable checklist at the end includes every skill up to age 17, each linked to its lesson.

41
units
136
outcomes
82
lessons
124
on the checklist

What to be able to do by 18

By area

Body

Hygiene and puberty

  • Can wash and use deodorant often enough that nobody has to mention it
  • Can manage a period or a shave without help
  • Can tell normal puberty changes from ones worth asking a doctor about
1.7 How to put in a tampon1.8 How often should you wash your hair

Sleep

  • Can name the sleep needed at 13 to 18 (8 to 10 hours) and as an adult (7 or more)
  • Can keep roughly the same wake-up time on school days and weekends
  • Can fall asleep with the phone outside the bedroom
1.10 Sleeping with your phone outside the bedroom

Nutrition basics

  • Can read a nutrition label, starting with the serving size
  • Can build a plate that is about half vegetables and fruit
  • Can make water the default drink
  • Can tell hunger from boredom
1.9 Reading a nutrition label

Exercise

  • Can do a push-up, a squat and a plank with good form
  • Can name the adult guideline: 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, plus strength work on 2 days
  • Can warm up before hard effort and cool down after it
1.11 Doing 10 full push-ups

Doctors and medicine

  • Can describe a symptom: where, since when, how bad on a 0 to 10 scale, what makes it better or worse
  • Can take a temperature and recognise a fever (100.4°F / 38°C or higher)
  • Can read a prescription label and take a medicine exactly as directed
  • Can book an appointment and go in alone
1.14 Reading a prescription label1.15 Booking a doctor's appointment and describing symptoms

Mind

Focus

  • Can work for 25 minutes without checking a phone
  • Can turn off every notification that isn't from a person
  • Can break a big task into steps and start the first one
2.7 Focusing for 25 minutes

Worry and anxiety

  • Can tell worry about a possibility from a danger in front of you
  • Can use slow breathing or grounding during a wave of panic
  • Can recognise when worry is stopping ordinary life and needs a doctor or counsellor
2.8 How to stop overthinking

Impulses and self-control

  • Can notice an urge without acting on it straight away
  • Can wait 24 hours before buying something unplanned
  • Can tell what you want from what a feed has suggested you want

Being wrong and changing your mind

  • Can say “I don't know” without making something up
  • Can admit a mistake without a defence attached
  • Can change your mind when shown good evidence, and say so
2.10 Changing your mind when the evidence changes

Asking for help

  • Can tell a friend or an adult “I'm not okay”
  • Can call or text 988, the crisis line that works in both the US and Canada
  • Can find a counsellor or therapist through school, a doctor or an employer
2.9 The 988 crisis line2.12 Telling a friend you're not okay2.13 Knowing when stress needs professional help

Habits

  • Can attach a new habit to one you already have
  • Can keep it for 30 days, with a record
  • Can stop a habit by making it harder to start
2.14 Building a habit by tying it to an old one

People

Conversation and listening

  • Can ask a follow-up question
  • Can listen without planning your reply
  • Can comfort someone without trying to fix it
  • Can end a conversation politely
3.6 Comforting someone who is crying3.7 What to say to someone who lost a loved one

Meeting new people

  • Can walk into a room of strangers and start a conversation
  • Can shake hands, make eye contact and say your name
  • Can remember a name by using it once straight away
3.14 Walking into a room of strangers

Saying no and disagreeing

  • Can say no without inventing an excuse
  • Can disagree without insulting anyone or walking off
  • Can hold out against a group pushing you
3.4 Disagreeing without insults3.8 Saying no without an excuse

Consent and dating

  • Can ask for consent clearly and accept no
  • Can ask someone out and survive the answer
  • Can tell attention you want from attention you don't, and leave
3.11 Asking for consent

Phone calls

  • Can phone a business to book, ask or complain
  • Can leave a voicemail: name, reason, number, said slowly
  • Can phone home when you said you would
3.9 Phoning a business

Getting and leaving a job

  • Can answer an interview question with one specific example: the situation, what you did and how it turned out
  • Can resign in person and in writing, with an exact last day and the notice the job requires
  • Can ask for a reference before you leave
3.12 Resigning from a job in writing3.13 Answering interview questions with the STAR method

Letters and notes

  • Can write an email whose subject line and first sentence say what you need
  • Can greet and sign off to suit who you are writing to
  • Can write a short thank-you that names what you are thanking someone for
3.5 Writing a clear email, subject line to sign-off

Money

Spending wisely

  • Can compare unit prices
  • Can wait 24 hours before an unplanned purchase
  • Can return something with a receipt
4.2 Comparing unit prices

Bank accounts

  • Can open an account and use a debit card
  • Can explain the difference between debit and credit
  • Can check the balance and spot a charge you didn't make
4.3 Endorsing and depositing a check4.4 How do you write a check4.5 Setting up direct deposit with a void check

Interest and debt

  • Can explain why paying only the minimum on a card costs so much
  • Can use the rule of 72 to estimate doubling time
  • Can read an APR
4.6 Why minimum payments cost so much4.7 The rule of 724.8 What does APR mean on a credit card

Safety

First aid

  • Can stop heavy bleeding with firm, direct pressure
  • Can cool a burn under cool running water for at least 10 minutes, with no ice or butter
  • Can put an unconscious, breathing person in the recovery position
  • Can spot a stroke with FAST (face, arms, speech, time) and call 911
5.6 Cool a burn with running water5.11 Stop heavy bleeding5.12 The recovery position5.13 Spot a stroke and call 911

CPR and the AED

  • Can push hard and fast in the centre of the chest: 100 to 120 a minute, at least 2 inches (5 cm) deep
  • Can find and use an AED by following its voice
  • Can send someone else to call 911 and fetch the AED while you start
5.7 AED pad placement: how to use an AED5.14 Hands-only CPR

Choking

  • Can recognise choking: no speaking, coughing or breathing
  • Can give an adult back blows and abdominal thrusts
  • Can do abdominal thrusts on yourself against the back of a chair
5.15 Help a choking adult

Alcohol and overdose

  • Can spot alcohol poisoning and never leave someone to sleep it off
  • Can spot an opioid overdose and give naloxone
  • Can refuse a ride with a driver who has been drinking or using
5.16 Respond to an opioid overdose with naloxone

Weather and outdoor safety

  • Can go indoors when thunder roars and stay there 30 minutes after the last thunder
  • Can stay put when lost
  • Can spot heat exhaustion and hypothermia
5.3 Sheltering from a tornado: watch vs. warning

Information

Scams

  • Can explain why a demand for gift cards means a scam
  • Can spot a phishing message by its sender and its link
  • Can hang up and call back on a number you already trust
  • Can name the common scripts: account locked, prize won, relative in trouble, package held
6.2 Why gift card payment means scam6.3 Wrong number text scam, and how to spot other scam texts6.6 Spot a phishing message6.7 How to block spam calls on iPhone and Android6.13 Hang up on a 'bank' caller

Accounts and privacy

  • Can turn on two-factor login
  • Can use a password manager or long, unique passphrases
  • Can switch off location sharing for apps that don't need it
  • Can assume anything posted can be screenshotted
6.4 How to turn off location on iPhone and Android6.8 Turn on two-factor login for email6.9 How to check if your phone is hacked

Checking claims

  • Can leave the page to check who is behind a claim before reading it closely
  • Can run a reverse image search on a photo
  • Can spot sponsored content that isn't clearly labelled
6.10 Trace a claim before you share it

Using AI well

  • Can check an AI answer against a real source
  • Can give an AI context and a clear request
  • Can keep private information out of a chatbot
  • Can say when using AI breaks your school's rules
6.11 Check an AI chatbot's answer6.14 What never to paste into an AI chatbot

Reading statistics

  • Can spot a bar chart that doesn't start at zero
  • Can tell a median from an average
  • Can tell percent from percentage points
  • Can tell relative risk from absolute risk
  • Can tell a claimed number from a counted one
6.5 Working out percent change6.12 Spot a bar chart that exaggerates6.15 Self-reported vs measured numbers6.16 Relative risk vs absolute risk

Kitchen

Stove and oven safety

  • Can preheat an oven and set the racks while it is still cold
  • Can take out a hot tray with dry oven mitts, since wet ones pass the heat straight through
  • Can turn pan handles inward on the stove
7.4 Using an oven safely7.13 How to season cast iron

Cooking staples

  • Can boil an egg soft or hard, on purpose
  • Can cook pasta until just done
  • Can cook rice on a stove without burning it or turning it to paste
7.6 Boiling an egg to the yolk you want7.7 How to cook rice on the stove

Knife skills

  • Can hold food with the claw grip, fingertips tucked
  • Can dice an onion
  • Can keep a knife sharp, because a dull one slips more
7.9 Chopping an onion with the claw grip

Food safety

  • Can keep raw meat wrapped on the bottom shelf of the fridge
  • Can name the safe inside temperature for chicken: 165°F (74°C)
  • Can keep the fridge at 40°F (4°C) or colder
  • Can refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days
7.5 How to tell if an egg is bad7.8 How long is cooked chicken good for in the fridge7.10 Storing raw meat safely in the fridge7.14 Cooking chicken to a safe temperature

Home

Cleaning safely

  • Can clean a toilet, a sink and a shower
  • Can name the cleaners never to mix: bleach with ammonia, and bleach with vinegar or other acids
  • Can vacuum and mop a floor
8.2 Removing sticker residue8.3 Cleaning a toilet properly8.4 How to clean a shower8.8 Cleaners you must never mix8.9 How to get rid of fruit flies

Laundry

  • Can sort a load and choose the right temperature
  • Can read a care label
  • Can treat a stain before it sets
  • Can fold a fitted sheet
8.5 How to get blood out of clothes8.6 Laundry symbols: how to read a care label8.7 Doing a load of laundry

Simple home repairs

  • Can unblock a toilet with a flange plunger
  • Can find the breaker panel and reset a tripped breaker
  • Can shut off water at the fixture valve or the main
  • Can tell a job you can do from one that needs a licensed trade, such as gas or most wiring
8.10 Unblocking a toilet with a plunger8.11 Resetting a tripped breaker8.13 Shutting off the water

Hands

Basic tools

  • Can read a tape measure to 1/16 inch or 1 mm
  • Can hammer a nail in straight
  • Can pick the right screwdriver, Phillips or flat, and turn it clockwise to tighten
  • Can hang a picture level
9.6 Reading a tape measure9.7 Hammering a nail in straight9.11 How to remove a stripped screw9.12 Hanging a heavy picture securely

Sewing basics

  • Can thread a needle and knot the thread
  • Can sew on a button that stays on
  • Can mend a split seam with a backstitch
9.8 How to fix a separated zipper9.9 Sewing on a button that stays on

Tying a tie

  • Can tie a four-in-hand knot without a video
  • Can set the length so the tip reaches the belt buckle
  • Can tie one on someone else
9.13 Tying a four-in-hand necktie knot

Take the 2-minute test