Home Of Your Own

Moving into a shared living situation — whether a group home, college dormitory, or apartment with roommates — is one of the most significant transitions a young person can face. For students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, this transition comes with unique challenges around cooperation, personal boundaries, and household responsibility that are rarely addressed in traditional curricula and almost impossible to teach through lecture alone.

Home of Your Own tackles these challenges head-on with 24 video-modeled scenarios built around realistic domestic conflicts. Each lesson presents a relatable situation — a disagreement over chores, a noise complaint, a shared-space boundary issue — and shows both productive and unproductive ways to handle it. Through real-life video modeling, students see what cooperation actually looks like in practice, not just in theory, making abstract social concepts tangible and memorable.

The program is designed for ages 16 and up and spans over 2 hours of video content across 3 carefully structured units. A detailed teacher's guide accompanies every lesson with structured discussion prompts, comprehension activities, and role-play extensions that bring the scenarios to life in your classroom. Whether you are preparing students for group home placement, supported living, or semi-independent apartments, this program builds the daily-living social skills they will need most.

Home of Your Own is available through a Stanfield+ subscription, providing instant streaming access to all 24 lessons and the complete teacher's guide.

Across 24 lessons and 3 units, Home of Your Own systematically builds the interpersonal and practical skills students need to thrive in shared living environments. Every lesson uses paired video scenarios — right way and wrong way — so students can see the direct consequences of different choices and discuss what makes one approach better than another.

Conflict Resolution at Home

Disagreements are inevitable when people share a living space, and students need strategies for handling them before tensions boil over. This section teaches students how to address problems calmly rather than letting frustration escalate into shouting, withdrawal, or resentment. Video scenarios model situations like a roommate playing music too loudly, a dispute over borrowed belongings, and tensions that arise from different daily routines and habits. Students learn to identify the real issue, express their feelings using respectful language, and negotiate compromises that work for everyone involved. These are foundational skills that prevent small annoyances from becoming relationship-ending conflicts.

Household Responsibilities

Keeping a shared home clean and functional requires genuine teamwork and consistent follow-through. This unit covers dividing chores fairly, following a cleaning schedule, managing shared groceries and supplies, and taking responsibility for common areas like kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms. Students watch characters navigate situations where one person is not pulling their weight, where expectations about cleanliness are unclear, or where different standards of tidiness collide. The lessons emphasize personal accountability, follow-through on commitments, and the importance of routine — understanding that your actions in a shared home directly affect the quality of life for everyone who lives there.

Cooperation & Communication

Living with others demands ongoing, honest communication — a skill many students have never had the chance to practice in a safe environment. This section helps students develop skills in making group decisions, respecting differing opinions, and asking for what they need without being demanding or passive. Video scenarios cover planning shared meals, agreeing on household rules, coordinating daily schedules, and handling overnight guests. Students practice active listening, compromise, and the art of bringing up difficult topics before they become entrenched problems. These communication patterns transfer directly to workplace relationships and social settings as well, making them doubly valuable.

Personal Space & Boundaries

Understanding where your space ends and someone else's begins is essential for peaceful cohabitation. This unit addresses respecting closed doors, asking before using someone's belongings, managing shared bathrooms and kitchen time, and understanding privacy expectations in a communal home. Students learn to set their own boundaries assertively and clearly while respecting those of their housemates. The lessons also cover what to do when a boundary is crossed — how to speak up without aggression and how to accept feedback about your own behavior gracefully and without defensiveness.

Every lesson is supported by a comprehensive teacher's guide with vocabulary lists, discussion questions, and suggestions for classroom role-play, so educators can reinforce video modeling with hands-on practice that deepens student understanding.

After completing Home of Your Own, students will have the interpersonal skills and practical knowledge needed to live cooperatively with others. They will understand how to handle the everyday friction that comes with shared living — from chore disputes to noise complaints to boundary violations — without letting conflicts spiral out of control.

Students will be better prepared for group homes, supported apartments, college dormitories, and other shared living arrangements. They will know how to communicate their needs clearly, respect others' boundaries, share household duties equitably, and resolve disagreements through calm, respectful conversation rather than avoidance or confrontation.

Teachers and transition specialists report that students who complete this program show measurably improved cooperation and self-regulation skills in both residential and classroom settings. The video scenarios give students a lasting mental library of "what to do when" situations arise, building confidence, independence, and a genuine readiness for community living.

Home of Your Own is available as part of a Stanfield+ subscription, which provides unlimited streaming access and the complete teacher's guide. It pairs naturally with other Stanfield transition and life-skills programs — including Community Man and Making the Effort — for a comprehensive independent-living curriculum.