Habitat for Humanity lessons
The Habitat for Humanity lessons are sets of lessons designed to teach public and private school students and youth groups about housing issues around the world.
The lessons focus on housing issues around the globe, particularly emphasizing issues facing low-income families. They provide an interesting and dynamic way to teach cultural diversity, economics, politics and society while instilling a greater understanding and appreciation for community service in students.
The lessons are divided by age group and include handouts, worksheets, assessments, answer keys and rubrics. Estimated class time used is 16 hours for elementary lessons, 15 hours for middle school lessons and 10 hours for high school lessons.
Elementary school
Provide students with an understanding of the importance of shelter as a basic human need
Help them develop an understanding of the wide-ranging effects of homelessness and the lack of proper housing and why some people need housing assistance. With this understanding, students will be more likely to empathize with people who live in these situations and develop the desire to give back to the community.
Teacher’s overview
Included in this curriculum package are three teaching units for grades 3–5. The units have been designed to help students deepen their understanding of poverty housing as they progress through each unit.
Unit 1: What Is Home?
In Unit 1, students investigate and answer questions about the meaning of a home, essential characteristics of homes and the difference between wants and needs, particularly as they apply to the places we live.
Unit 2: The Many Faces of Need
Unit 2 helps students develop an understanding of why some people need housing assistance and of the wide variety of people who can benefit from housing assistance (i.e., the “many faces”).
Unit 3: Giving Back to the Community
This unit helps students understand the benefits of giving back to the community, both for the volunteer and the recipient. In this unit, students investigate the Habitat for Humanity International website and then create a promotional brochure based on information they have learned.
What is home?
In this lesson, students read and discuss interviews on the concept of home. Students interview subjects outside the classroom to gather more ideas about what home means to different people.
At home around the world
In this lesson, students read about types of housing in different nations, the housing issues faced in these areas of the world and how Habitat for Humanity has been able to help.
Volunteers: changing the world
Students will learn about volunteering, why people do it and how volunteering benefits individuals, communities and society at large. Students will then participate in a volunteer project.
Made in the shade
Students will learn how trees and landscaping can help cut housing costs. They will research and create a tree-planting tip sheet for local Habitat for Humanity builders and partner families to use when landscaping new homes.
Affordable housing
In this lesson, students will learn about the realities of affordable housing through reading an article and playing a game based on hypothetical situations.
Spread the word
Students will learn about advocacy through their reading and class discussion. They will put their new knowledge into practice by writing a message to a politician about the importance of decent, affordable housing.
Building green
In this lesson, students will learn about building practices that save energy and lessen the impact on the environment. They will write about their “dream green” home and draw diagrams and illustrations showing the home’s features.
What is a neighborhood?
In this lesson, students will explore the nature and components of a neighborhood, including the neighborhood(s) where they live and attend school. They will identify and discuss neighborhood issues with an alderperson or other neighborhood representative.
Middle school
The Habitat for Humanity middle school lessons teach students across the United States about global poverty and housing issues. Using published statistics and interviews with current Habitat for Humanity families, students have a new way to learn about math, language arts and social studies, including two lessons that focus on the Central American country of Guatemala.
Download the entire Habitat for Humanity middle school lesson set, which includes two Language Arts lessons, two math lessons and two social studies lessons.
High school
Provide students with an understanding of the importance of shelter as a basic human need
Help them develop an understanding of the wide-ranging effects of homelessness and the lack of proper housing and why some people need housing assistance. With this understanding, students will be more likely to empathize with people who live in these situations and develop the desire to give back to the community.
Teacher’s Overview
This program allows students in grades 9–12 to uncover information about the social, economic, geographic and political causes surrounding poverty housing and homelessness.
Unit 1: Economics, Government, and Housing
Designed to align with the curriculum in a high school government or economics class, Unit 1 helps students make deeper connections with regard to how economic and government decisions and policies affect individuals.
Unit 2: Current Poverty Housing and Homelessness Issues
In this unit, students analyze specific initiatives that different communities have adopted and might adopt to address the issues that surround poverty housing and homelessness.
Unit 3: Geographic Influences on Homebuilding
In Unit 3, students gather information about the geography and local building materials used in a particular country and design a Habitat house appropriate to that country.
In the Wake of Disaster
In this lesson, students will learn about natural disasters that have devastated communities worldwide and the components that go into Habitat for Humanity’s efforts to rebuild. In small groups, students will generate a slide presentation about these subjects.
Green Homes
In this lesson, students will learn about sustainable building practices Habitat for Humanity supports. Students will generate a diagram to explain an aspect of green building and then create a proposal for a green initiative.
Making Connections
In this lesson, students will learn about social media websites, marketing and Habitat for Humanity’s goals, and combine this knowledge to analyze how social media sites can help nonprofits attract attention and gain support. In pairs, students will create a marketing proposal that will challenge them to consider how Habitat for Humanity can continue to harness the power of social media to get people involved in the organization.
Words of Action
In this lesson, students will learn about how Habitat for Humanity proposes and supports legislative efforts that affect poverty housing. Students will draft and present a mock testimony before a panel.
Building a Community
In this lesson, students will learn about Habitat for Humanity’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative and how it goes beyond simply helping individual homeowners. It takes a broader approach, making contributions that will improve the bonds, station and morale of an entire community. In groups, students will research a single facet of a hypothetical NRI project in detail and make a wedge-shaped poster on the topic. Student groups will assemble their posters so they create a circle, and discuss how individual initiatives together make for holistic, widespread change in a community.
Financial Matters
In this lesson, students will learn about basic components of personal finances and financial education. Students will create a board game that illustrates financial concepts and donate it to a Habitat for Humanity affiliate or community center.
Before and After
In this lesson, students will learn about families who have worked with Habitat for Humanity to attain safe and affordable housing. Students will read articles and interviews about the lives of three different families around the world and the hardships they faced. Students will discover how having a Habitat home has improved their lives. Besides educating students on Habitat for Humanity’s projects, this lesson will emphasize the comparative housing needs and challenges of different world areas. Finally, students will collaborate to create and post blog entries about a fictional Habitat for Humanity project in a different country.
Financing Change
In this lesson, students will discover how microfinance differs from conventional loans and how—unlike with traditional bank loans—individuals can contribute to microfinance and make a difference in the life of someone living in poverty. Students will learn how Habitat for Humanity uses housing microfinance to help people improve their homes. Using the Habitat for Humanity website and other resources, students will work in groups to choose a country and research how to help a family in that country with a housing microfinance loan. The class will then select one group project and work together to put that group’s microfinance plan into action.