Wednesday, August 15

Home Economics, Part 1

Home Ec, as a high school course of study, takes a lot of knocks. Some, admittedly, are well-deserved. My brother took Home Ec in high school to get an "easy A", and to meet girls. (Both plans worked quite nicely.) Thirty years later, I took the same class (though not for the same reasons), with... the same teacher. I did learn a few things:

1) There is a school of thought that says you will go straight. to. hell. if you open your cookbook and leave it on the counter while you're cooking. The only people allowed in heaven are those who dutifully transfer all their recipes onto index cards (preferably then laminating the cards), and keep cookbooks stored out of the kitchen at all times.

Yeah, this did wonders for the instructor's legitimacy in the eyes of a bunch of junior high kids. I can tell you now that if it weren't for the grease stains and bits of stuff stuck to my recipe pages, I wouldn't ever be able to find the right pages. I hope they have double ovens in hell. :-S

2) All you need to know about nutrition you can learn from the Four Food Groups, no, I mean, the Food Pyramid, erm, wait, from the Five A Day poster... and all you plebes who are still following the Basic Four Square from the Stone Age know nothing. Not like the government NOW knows. NOW it's infallible. NOW we've learned all there is to know. (Until the next revision.)

Nothing like a little PBS cartoon-based educational film to prepare young people for going out to forage for themselves in a couple of years, eh?

3) You will have to model in front of a hundred other students (who also don't want to be there) whatever hideous project you end up sewing. Whether that impacts your project choice or not -- entirely up to you. But now you've been warned.

This is when I learned that knits are not for the intemperate, and that a sewing machine WILL sew straight through your pinky finger and spit it back out the other side before you can get out enough bad words to be sent to the Principal's office. (True story.)

And that's... it. That is all I learned after nine long months of taking Home Economics.

Imagine my surprise when I learned you can actually Major in that in college. (You can, wait, what? No. *snort* You can't be serious?) YES! And what's even better? It's a great degree. A degree in Home Economics is a very rich, well-developed Bachelor of Science degree that offers far more than the milktoast high school programs would lead most people to believe. Some of the studies included in college level Home Economics programs include:

Chemistry
food science
economics
math
chemistry (got a little carried away, there)
nutrition
dietary development needs
child development
home management (budgeting, etc.)
cultural studies/sociology
merchandising
textiles
agriculture
husbandry
soil conservation
water management
safety and sanitization (both private and commercial)
food management...

There is a host of other beneficial topics, depending on the focus of study for degree plans within BSHE programs. What a fantastic degree program! Many of the programs I've looked at include teaching certification, corelated to the specialization the student chooses. The only drawback I see in the Home Economics field is that so very much of it is relegated to government jobs. There's no reason for the private sector not to jump on these. There are so many innovative opportunities that are waiting to be made use of by an enterprising individual with a Home Ec. degree. But I guess if most of us just don't know about it outside the out-dated high school classroom set up, it would make sense that it often slips under the radar for those not previously inclined to look into the social services or service/food industry degree applications.

Anyway, all this to say that we've always planned to include "Home Ec", in some manifestation, in the children's studies, but in a vague, not-certain-how-to-pull-it-off, sort of way. Now we're getting closer to building a defined scope and sequence for a year-long high school level course that would work beautifully toward providing children with the knowledge and tools they'll need to manage the Economics of their Homes, as well as to develop an interdisciplinary approach (an almost holistic approach, really) to managing their own decision making processes. It's a lot bigger than making a t-shirt and brownies, and I'm really excited about it.

In the meantime, of course, we cannot just sit idly by and "waaaiiiittt, wait for it..." We include them in all ages and stages in discussions on money management, budgeting choices, allocating funds and projecting plans for future options, preparing meals, maintaining the home (the car, the lawnmower), caring for our bodies, meeting the needs that need to be met, in general, "how it all comes together". Perhaps that's what's helping the high school course idea to gel: seeing what needs to be addressed, and then, addressing it.

And that's how we spent our evening after the children were in bed: discussing ideas, options, tie-ins, and benefits of various courses of study. What a delightful evening!

If you could create, or re-write a high school level course, what would you choose? What would you do differently? What would you incorporate? And have you done it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

7 comments:

mere said...

When I first started homeschooling I had this vision/idea in my head called the "treehouse project". It went something like this:

1. Select three trees somewhere on our property. Identify each species, and evaluate each tree for a building site. (Is it healthy? How old is it? Can it support a stucture? Why or why not? Are there other creatures living in it? What are they? Etc.) Write a paper discussing building site options, and then select a tree to build a treehouse in.

2. Design a treehouse that will not damage the tree in any way, and make as little impact on it as possible. Write a proposal, including drawings, and why you want to build this house. Research dwellings of all kinds to get ideas and info....

3. What do you need to build this house? How much money will you need to build it? How will earn the money to do it? Who can you hire to help you build it? How will you furnish it?

Etc...Eventually we would actually build the treehouse, after the kids had done all the work of planning...everything would need our approval. This would only work if we actually had a piece of land with enough trees to choose from, which we don't have (yet), but I still like the idea. It puts everything into practice that people need in the real world: planning, drawing, researching, writing proposals, calculating, economics/budgeting, using tools, reasoning, etc. I'm sure that there are some highschools out there that might be willing to let kids do something like this, but I haven't seen it.

mere

Spinneretta said...

Sounds like a VERY useful degree for a homeschooling mother!

As for rewriting a High School Level course... ack! I can't think of anything beyond making English Literature more interesting by reading better books ;) (There are so many out there, why did they have to pick the BORING ones??? ;))

Anonymous said...

You know, I'd say the economics of the home but in truth, I've known so many people to take those and have not a single bit of it apply to their lives. That's more of a habit and something kids must learn while with their parents with real money.

Home decorating would be nice with all the variations on sewing for the home to refinishing wood. Can save a bundle. Appliance repair, obviously basic sewing and cooking skills, I would value more information on food science - like why bread rises and what will help with various problems in baking, etc.

Natural health care and herbs, child care, and someone please teach me how to preserve food besides stuffing it in a freezer. Keeping a home cleaning schedule and proper care of a house, though that really is a better hands-on experience. Most are but I think some of the science basics would be good for a "class".

Cheryl

Claudia said...

At Master's, they had a Home Ec major that was the joke of most students. The non-marriage minded guys aslo knew to stay away from those girls that had chosen as that major. :-) AFTER Sam was born, I really wished that I had majored in Home Ec.

Dy said...

Oh, Meredith! We've been planning to do that very thing! I think it would make an excellent six week adventure. But yes, trees would help, definitely.

Spinneretta, I told Zorak the very same thing this weekend. There are SO many gripping, thoughtful, interesting books, poems, and plays out there. Why, oh, why did we not receive exposure to any of them in school? It blows me away.

Cheryl, yes, those are the very things we're looking to include - lawnmower repair, basic wiring, appliance repair (or at least troubleshooting), nutrition therapy, dietician studies, the chemistry of foods - the hard science behind it. *sigh* So many good things to know, to learn, and to learn how to figure out in the future.

Claudia, LOL - we always referred to Home Ec and British Lit. as the "MRS" degrees, b/c it seemed the only girls taking those majors were just hanging in there until they got the ring and set a date. Then, pfffttt. That's part of why I never delved too deeply into the degree -- I had no idea it had so much to offer. But then I found out Aunt B has a degree in Home Ec - and she's really got it going on, she's uber-smart, was in the Navy, has so many wonderful skills. That's what got me looking at it a while back. But yes, now, I could use an MRS degree of my own, instead of getting it through, um, "apprenticeship". LOL.

Dy

Spinneretta said...

I was thinking they could easily have done such great things. Shakespeare, followed by a visit to the Globe theatre (OK the globe was not up and running then, and I didn't get to go on the trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon), or a study of different novels with a similar theme (maybe the distopia novels), or any one of the dozens (hundreds even) of authors I never touch because I am never sure I will like them... until a friend recommends a book and I LOVE it!

Jenni said...

It sounds like I lucked out on English teachers. I had one teacher my freshman year and then we moved and I had just one teacher for my sophomore, junior, and senior years (small school). Both of my high school teachers inspired me. The selections we read in class were enjoyable and not at all boring. Sure, it could have been better, but it still tied with history for my favorite class.

Your Home Ec. stories cracked me up, though. This is definitely the class that could use the most improvement. Health would be next. Or how about getting Algebra and Geometry teachers who enjoy teaching and can actually teach to students for whom higher math is a second language?

My 8th grade Home Ec. experience sounds a lot like yours, although I don't remember actually cooking anything. I *do* remember the hideous too pink shirt with little white hearts all over that I sewed that year. We had to participate in a fashion show for the whole middle school. No wonder the color pink and being in the spotlight are two of my least favorite things.

The other thing I remember about Home Ec. is a test on kitchen utensils. Apparently a "pancake turner" must *never* be referred to as a spatula. I've never heard the term "pancake turner" outside of Home Ec. class.