Home Maintenance & Repair

About this course

This elective teaches a student how a house actually works and how to keep one in good repair. It opens with a home maintenance toolkit, a seasonal checklist, the warning signs a house gives before a small problem becomes an expensive one, and an honest chapter on knowing when to call a professional. From there it covers plumbing, including shutoff valves, leaky faucets, clogged drains, running toilets, water heaters, and frozen pipes; electrical basics, including the breaker panel, GFCI outlets, tripped breakers, cord safety, and dangerous signs; drywall patching, wall cracks, painting, and caulking; doors, windows, locks, screens, and weatherstripping; heating and cooling, air filters, insulation, ventilation, wood stoves, and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors; the exterior, including roof inspection from the ground, gutters, siding, decks, and drainage; appliance care and repair-or-replace decisions; tools, ladders, fire extinguishers, and emergency shutoffs; and a closing unit on stewardship, hiring contractors honestly, avoiding repair scams, and caring for a rental or a neighbor's home. Each lesson opens with a verse from the King James Bible, and the recurring themes are stewardship, prudence, diligence, and dealing honestly with tradesmen.

The course is 10 units of 10 lessons each, 100 lessons in all, self-paced rather than tied to a daily schedule. A lesson is a short reading, usually 300 to 700 words, followed by a ten-question multiple-choice quiz that grades itself. The writing names parts and gives real numbers rather than generalities: an extension ladder set with its base about one quarter of its height out from the wall, carbon monoxide detectors replaced every five to seven years, a repair that costs more than half the price of a new appliance usually meaning it is time to replace. This is a reading and study course, and a student can finish every lesson without picking up a tool. Much of the value depends on then doing real work around your own house, so plan on pairing the reading with actual jobs where you can.

Please read this part before deciding how your student will use the course. It teaches how home systems work and where the hard stops are; it is not a license to do dangerous work unsupervised. The electrical unit does walk through replacing a switch, outlet, or light fixture, but only with the breaker off and the circuit confirmed dead with a non-contact voltage tester, and it repeats throughout that the main panel, the service entrance, the meter, and gas lines belong to a licensed professional. The gas lesson is blunter still: if your student smells gas, the instruction is to leave the house immediately, touch no switch and no phone inside, call the gas company and 911 from outside, and let the utility or the fire department handle the shutoff, since only a qualified technician may restore gas service and relight appliances. Ladder work, power tools, roof work, mold, asbestos, and chemical storage each carry their own warnings, and the course says plainly that hesitation about a job is a reason to stop. None of that replaces you. Anything your student actually attempts should be with your knowledge, and anything involving electricity, water under pressure, heights, or a power tool should be in your presence. Codes, permits, and licensing rules vary by state and locality, and the course assumes North America.

What the course covers

• Home systems overview, warning signs, and seasonal maintenance checklists
• Plumbing: shutoff valves, faucets, drains, toilets, and water heaters
• Electrical: breaker panels, GFCI outlets, switches, fixtures, and cord safety
• Drywall patching, wall cracks, interior painting, and caulking
• Doors, windows, locks, screens, and weatherstripping
• Heating, cooling, air filters, insulation, and indoor air quality
• Roof inspection, gutters, siding, decks, and drainage
• Appliance maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair-or-replace decisions
• Hand tools, power tools, ladder safety, fire extinguishers, and emergency shutoffs
• Hiring contractors honestly, avoiding repair scams, and long-term planning

What your student will be able to do

• Locate and operate the main water shutoff, and know which shutoffs never to touch
• Recognize early warning signs of plumbing, electrical, roof, and moisture trouble
• Complete common small repairs such as patching drywall, caulking, and fixing a running toilet
• Follow electrical safety procedure: shut the breaker, verify with a voltage tester, and stop at the panel
• Respond correctly to a gas smell, a tripped breaker, a burst pipe, or a detector alarm
• Judge which jobs belong to a licensed professional and hire one without being taken advantage of

Scope and sequence

All 10 units of Home Maintenance & Repair for Grade 12, in the order they are taught.

Inside the course

These photographs appear in the lessons themselves, not just on this page. Every one is freely licensed and credited to its photographer at the foot of this page.

Every lesson, by title

All 100 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

Unit 6: Climate Control - Heating, Cooling & Indoor Air Quality · Lesson 1

How Home Heating Systems Work

Understanding how your home's heating system works is one of the most important steps toward responsible stewardship of the space where your family lives. When you know the basics of heating systems—how they operate, what they're designed to do, and when they need attention—you gain the ability to maintain them properly, recognize problems before they become expensive, and make wise decisions about repairs and upgrades.

Types of Heating Systems

Most homes in North America rely on one of a few primary heating systems. A furnace system heats air to high temperatures and then distributes that warm air throughout the home via a network of ducts and vents. This is the most common approach in modern homes. A boiler system, by contrast, heats water instead of air. That hot water then circulates through pipes to radiators positioned in each room, where it releases its heat to warm the air around it. Both systems are effective, and the choice between them depends on the home's design and climate.

Some older homes still use steam radiator systems, which work similarly to hot-water systems but operate at higher temperatures. Oil-fired and propane furnaces work identically to natural gas furnaces, except they burn different fuels.

How a Furnace Operates

A forced-air furnace works through a straightforward cycle. Cold air from your home is drawn into the furnace through a return air duct. This air passes over a heated burner, where it absorbs heat. The now-warm air is forced through a network of supply ducts by a blower fan, delivering heat to each room. When your home reaches the temperature set on your thermostat, the furnace shuts down. As the home gradually cools, the thermostat signals the furnace to start again.

Heat Distribution Systems

Forced-air systems respond quickly to thermostat changes and can be easily modified to heat some rooms more than others. Hydronic systems distribute heat more evenly and tend to create very comfortable indoor environments, but they respond more slowly to temperature adjustments. Radiant floor systems, an increasingly popular option, embed hot-water pipes directly in flooring, so heat rises naturally from the ground up.

The Thermostat and System Efficiency

Your thermostat is the "brain" of the heating system. It continuously measures room temperature and compares it to your desired setting. When the actual temperature falls below the setpoint, it triggers the furnace to start. Modern furnaces convert 90-95% of fuel energy into usable heat. Older furnaces may only achieve 60-70% efficiency.

Longevity and Care

A furnace that receives regular maintenance can operate effectively for 15-20 years. Annual professional inspections, regular filter changes, and attention to unusual noises will keep your heating system running safely and efficiently, protecting both your family's comfort and your household budget.

The first three of this lesson's 10 questions

What is the most common type of heating system found in modern North American homes?

1. Forced-air furnace systems
2. Steam radiators
3. Wood stoves
4. Electric heating elements

Show the answer

Answer: Forced-air furnace systems

How does a boiler system differ from a furnace?

1. A boiler is cheaper to install
2. A boiler only works in winter
3. A boiler heats water while a furnace heats air
4. They are identical systems

Show the answer

Answer: A boiler heats water while a furnace heats air

What does Proverbs 27:12 suggest about maintaining your heating system?

1. Heating systems should never be maintained
2. Only the wealthy need to maintain heating
3. A prudent homeowner foresees potential problems and maintains the system before failure occurs
4. Maintenance is wasteful

Show the answer

Answer: A prudent homeowner foresees potential problems and maintains the system before failure occurs

Another 7 questions follow in the lesson itself, each one graded the moment it is answered.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 100 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.