Young people in our homes get out and do things: zip lines, canoeing, go-karting, bowling, the cinema, the zoo. These are good days, and they are worth having for their own sake.
They are also doing something less visible. Trying an activity you are not sure about, in front of people, and finding out you can do it is one of the few experiences that shifts how a young person sees themselves. It is hard to argue with having actually done it.
The independence work sits alongside that and is far more ordinary: planning the day, handling money, reading a timetable, cooking afterwards, getting yourself somewhere and back. Skills that are easy to miss out on if nobody has ever expected them of you.
The aim is not a full diary. It is that a young person leaves with a slightly longer list of things they know they can handle.