EducationSchool aged children, frugal college students, and adults returning to college discussions. Public, private, and parochial school topics. Teaching-learning resources. Fun activities.
Aimee is in 7th grade and her school doesn't offer home econ. and I 've been checking around - a lot of schools no longer offer it. I loved home ec. It was kind of dumb but it got me interested in domestic things which was totally opposite to my mom. I would like to run a little home ec program for the girls in my community but you are always so tied by licensure and govt programming. Are any of you helping your daughters/sons and their friends with this? Please tell your ideas on how to teach/share these skills cuz soon they will go by the wayside!
Well, our local public school still has "home ec" but. . . . it's listed under Foods/nutrition and Clothing (which includes not only sewing but fashion design, color matching etc), there is also a Child rearing/parenting class that used to be covered under home ed when I was in school.
That being said-- I simply have my kids help and eventually take over the daily household chores. They clean, cook, sew (yes- even my boys!) budget, do childcare, etc.
I love the idea. I think the best way is to start small and work from there. I was as a pre teen incredibly discouraged when I tried to bake a cake, it came out horridly. I mean it could have been an excellent door stop. Had I started on items that were more forgiving, say ... cookies maybe, I wouldn't have waited until my 20's to learn to bake. Mom had a pattern that i wanted desperatley to do. So she gave me small "lesson building" projects to start and build on. I wanted to sew myself a dress, so I began with a pillow case to get the feel of the machine. A small tote bag to learn seam allowances, a small doll out fit to learn darts, gathering basting and so on. by the time i got to the dress, i had it down pat and was very excited with a semi-professional looking result. Silly sounding, but i never really understood the ins and outs of vacuumes and there for never did a good job with cleaning until I learned how a vac/ steamer/ etc worked. I would say..in short, start with the basics of basics and build from there. (I know way too much about floors now however...more than will ever come in handy, LOL). Mom taught me about budgeting in a simple way. Each month she gave me monopoly type money. I had to "budget" my monopoly money based on our real family bills...ie our car bill was 300 a month i had to give back 300 from the monthly amount i was given. and we went on like this for a few months till I got the hang of it. Weird, but it worked. Anyhow, there are a few ideas maybe.
__________________
~~ Missy ~~
Planting and raising an urban homestead in the middle of Downtown big city!
Wow! what an awesome mom!! I am so jealous. (I hope aimee feels that way some day!!) Is your momma back East or is she here with you? I think I am going to try teaching a 4H class on home ec somehow - Aimee's friends don't even know about altitude baking or gas temperatures! And who couldn't learn from menu planning!!!
Yeah, my whole family is all in Maine. I am actually the only one of all of my family to be living out side of NewEngland at all. In fact though, my mother just visited for ten days ending last week. It was a great visit and I miss her already. Missed her the minute she left. It keeps me going to know that I have nearly talked DH into moving once before...
She was a pretty effective teacher when it came to showing me how to do things. I learned things from her that are so second nature I don't ever think of them until someone brings it up. But during her vivit I was soooo excited to turn the tables. I showed her money saving methods to use in the laundry room that she just loved.
Gee...I went :topic: didn't I? Anyhow, If I think of other Home Ec type things she did with me and my brother, I will try to remember to post them
__________________
~~ Missy ~~
Planting and raising an urban homestead in the middle of Downtown big city!
Hope you have success with this Kimmee, I used to love what was called Domestic Science when I was younger in England.
The teacher didn't like me but it didn't really matter, I loved the subject! These days so many young women just don't seem to have a clue about these things!
Julia
__________________
"If you do not do the thing you fear, the fear controls your life."
__________________
If you'd like to help support Frugal Living by Sara Noel, my syndicated column, e-mail, write, or call the managing editor at your local newspaper and ask them to publish it in print or online. It's syndicated through United Media. Thank you for supporting Frugal Village.
I started my oldest dd doing laundry when she was 12. From that time on I never washed any of her clothes. It was HER responsibility. The most valuable thing I learned in home ec. (cooking) was how to make a basic white sauce. That is the basis for any cream soup, cream gravy, etc. I love to make (and eat) cream of potato soup! My mother was NOT a cook. When I was growing up, we ate a lot of frozen fish sticks and TV dinners.
__________________
Deb
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi
Here home ec doesn't start till High School, I guess there just isn't much need for it before that or at least thats the way the school system sees it.
I loved home ec. It was a great class (and not just because it was easy).
In our school it was Home Ec from middle school thru your Jr. year of high school. The Sr. class Home Ec was called "Independent Living" it was suppose to get us ready to be on our on in college or life what ever we decided. We had to cook, sew, make budgets, take care of a "baby" design our home, and decorate it. It was so much fun. Even the guys liked it.
Connect with Facebook
no home ec in public schools!
These days so many young women just don't seem to have a clue about these things!
Linear Mode
