Why does each student need his or her own Trailhead? What’s included for siblings?

Each child works at his or her own level. Let’s say you have 3 children, ages 5, 7, and 16. Your 5-year-old will be working on foundational, developmental skills and your 7-year-old will work on more intermediate skills. Your 16-year-old will focus on skills that will prepare for life as an adult – financial literacy, automotive repair, driving and overall readiness to enter adulthood.

As they work and accomplish each task, they will earn Nuggets. Each child needs their own Nugget Board.

Skill Trek is so customizable, you could even have two children the same age working on different levels. A level will take approximately a year to complete.

How many lessons are available? Is there a limit as to how many skills my Trekker can learn?

Trailblazers (the youngest) have 3 core skill lessons in a period or 24 a year.
Rockhoppers (tweens) have 4 core skill lessons in a period or 32 a year.
Cragsman (the oldest) have 4 core skill lessons in a period or 32 a year.
A parent can also add Legacy Skills and Bonus Skills.
Each level has different skills and a different number of skills in its library. Feel free to add as many skills as you’d like for your Trekker to work through. Younger levels will have fewer skills in their library compared to older levels.

Are all levels accessible in a membership?

Memberships are based on families using the curriculum, not their ages. Once registered, and based on our guidelines, you should start your children at the level you think they are ready for.

Can my preschooler participate?

We designed Skill Trek for children who are about 5 and older. Some preschoolers aren’t quite ready for SkillTrek and some are.

The biggest thing to consider with that age is that those years are very foundational. Please check out our FB Live video regarding the little ones. https://www.facebook.com/skilltrekker/videos/1871038553218479/

The preschoolers/Kers are working through Level A and there are several bonus skills for them to choose from. Some are going to move more quickly than others. Some will need extra time and may even repeat the Level A year.

Do you have a list of all the lessons/skills that are currently part of this program at each age level?

There are 500+ skills (and counting) in our program.

The Skill Trek Complete Software has a growing library of 500+ skills. Because the Skill Trek Complete is a customizable curriculum and the skills vary level by level, plus the library is continually growing, we don’t have an official Table of Contents, if you will. Also, the skills your receive are based on sign-up date.

Your child’s assignments will vary based on what you assign to them. However, if you send us the ages of your children, we will be happy to send along a list of the base core skills at their level.

Our Skill Trek Express program is set up differently, as the bundles are pre-selected and no new skills are added to the express bundles. You can read a larger sample of skills that are being offered: https://skilltrekexpressinfo.qwkcheckout.com/

While all of the skills in the express kits are in the software, it may not be an exact match for your specific child as the software has the students work through levels and the parents can choose to remove a specific skill if they want and they can also add in bonus skills or pull from the legacy skill assessment tool. All levels have a legacy skills assessment except for Level A, which is the first level.

Does the curriculum come with a list of material needed?

We don’t have a master supply list right now, but we’re working on it!

As for the lessons, we designed these to be simple and easy with things that are either around the house or usually commonplace at a friend’s. We also tried to make the lessons as at-a-glance as possible for the parents. There’s a short description and we made the “Earn Your Nugget” section as clear and concise as possible so parents won’t feel burdened. We found most of our supplies around the house, at a friend’s house, and at our local thrift shops.

Each lesson takes about 1.5 to 2 weeks to complete, depending on the level. Much of that time is simply having a chance to get the hang of something so it’s not a one-time event, and they can earn their Nugget (the currency they can use towards things in the store), so you won’t feel bombarded trying to locate supplies and materials.

When we do create supply lists, they will be a small attachment to the lesson sheet. Our lists won’t look similar to other curriculum providers who provide a list for a week at a glance because the program is customizable.

So if a child isn’t developmentally ready for a certain skill, the parent can swap it out for a new one in the system. Each family will have their own unique list of assignments to complete.

What if my child isn’t developmentally ready for the skill that’s assigned to him or her?

No problem, as parents we understand how important it is to be flexible and to provide a customizable program. If a child isn’t ready for a specific skill, the parent can log into the Parent Portal and add/remove skills as they want.

What science/research went into assigning skills to specific ages?

In our intro video, we mention what the different ages are learning. This is only an example of how it may look if one has several children working through the program.

There are 500+ skills that have been assigned to a large age range, based on what we’ve learned and experienced as parents, as well as talking with other families.

On the actual assignments, there are no ages listed. The Trekkers work through Levels but may be placed at specific levels, depending on development.

For example, an older Trailblazer (around age 5 through 8 or 9) may begin at Level E, but the parent can place them at Level A. Skill Trek is designed to be developmentally-based and allows each individual child to work at his or her developmental level.

Is this a printable or workbook?

Skill Trek is a hands-on software app curriculum, complete with multi-media lessons. Lessons are printable, but only if you want to print them. Otherwise, everything is managed online for you.

I have a High School aged student. Can Skill Trek be used towards high-school credit?

First off, always check the laws in your state, but you could use the lessons towards elective credits, such as Agriculture, Home Ec., Recreation/PE, Shop, Woodworking, Personal Finance, etc. Ultimately it’s the parents’ responsibility to track hours, but yes, Skill Trek can be used as a springboard towards credits. Please note that Skill Trek is not an accredited program.

Is Skill Trek a Complete Curriculum?

As written, Skill Trek is designed to be a supplemental curriculum, but this also depends on your homeschooling method. If you follow a traditional curriculum, then it will likely be more supplemental. If you follow a hands-on, more relaxed approach to education, then you could take the lessons and expand them to include hands-on math, hands-on science, nature study, notebooking, copywork, and more. We’ve noticed great opportunities to allow for organic learning and a holistic approach to education.

Is Skill Trek a secular or religious curriculum?

The Skill Trek curriculum is non-religious, except a couple of lessons centered around holidays, such as Christmas and Hannukah. These are among the current event/topical studies. Even though they reference the Christian or Jewish religion, we mostly explain the historical significance of the holidays.

As we add calendar holidays, we may include others that have a religious significance, but again, from a historical perspective.

Our goal is to remain as neutral as possible as we have several schools, community groups, and other organizations that use our curriculum.

My child knows all of the skills at the level we selected. What do I do?

Feel free to go up a level! You can make this change in the Parent Portal by removing the child and re-adding them, selecting the next level up.

Do you provide refunds?

To keep our prices as low as possible for families, we have a strict refund policy.

We suggest you visit our demo page, download our starter kit, and begin with a smaller membership package. One membership will cover your entire family, and if you upgrade within 30 days of your purchase, we will apply what you’ve paid within the last 30 days towards the next membership option.

For example, if you begin with our monthly membership and want to upgrade to the quarterly membership, e-mail us within 30 days of your original purchase, and we will apply the monthly membership fee that you’d paid towards the quarterly.

Please visit our refund page for more information.

I want to cancel my account. What do I do?

We understand that Skill Trek may not be the best fit for your family, and you may cancel your subscription at anytime by e-mailing us at info@skilltrekker.com

No questions asked and no hassles. For real!

Since Skill Trek Complete is subscription-based, we want a real person to ensure that your membership is canceled and that your credit card information is correctly removed from our system.

Are you ready to hit the trail with us?