Hayden's Homeschool Project

Brandon's Landlord Adv...Home Ownership

Nov 8

Written By Brandon Nelson

Until this school year, both our kids, Hayden (13) and Jazzy (10) were at Whatcom Hills Waldorf School.

We have the deepest respect for Waldorf and the community there.

But, as happened with many kids during the Covid-era, Hayden felt the need for a change.

We talked a lot about it as a family and decided that homeschool was the best fit for Hayden at this stage in his educational journey.

I (selfishly) wanted to work with him each week where I could teach him some real-world skills, and also just spend more time with him.

That's how we came up with the "Friday Morning Property Management Project!"

If you've read my past newsletters, you know that part of my work time is spent managing, repairing, and maintaining our rental properties.

Now I've got Hayden with me every Friday 'til noon or 1 to help me out!

Together, we'll be doing:

Lease renewals
Bookkeeping
Rental registration with the City of Bellingham
Landscape maintenance and beautification
Carpentry
Painting
Appliance repair
Plumbing
Electrical
And everything else that goes along with the big wide world of owning and operating real estate.

You can't begin to imagine how STOKED I am to have this time -- in this particular endeavor -- with my son.

We recently built a 4' X 20' bike storage shed at the Liberty St. apartments on Sehome Hill.

The tenants were having to store their bikes inside their apartments, and that's just lame for everyone involved.

So we picked a spot beside the parking area and constructed this 4-unit shed capable of housing 12 bikes or other belongings.

Over the last few Fridays, Hayden helped me hang all the doors and do a final tune-up on the carpentry.

Then last Friday we spent a couple hours getting it all primed and ready for paint.

We have PLENTY of other projects in, on, and around this property and others, and Hayden will get lots of first-hand experience that he can use later in life.

One of the most important aspects of this work, in my opinion, is for Hayden to develop and enjoy the relationships and sense of community we have with the residents, and with these local properties.

Hayden is seeing first-hand that they are all worth taking care of and investing more into.

I love that he's getting to experience that.

*There is a lot more to Hayden's homeschool curriculum, but I'll save that for a future newsletter.

It's still early, but overall he is LOVING IT and is absolutely thriving.