The Messy Homeschooler
Home Economics is tough work!
Photo by Jan Hatchett
Some days it would be easier to find someone else to teach things to my children, but what would be the fun in that? Some things need to be very hands on and accessible, like Home Economics.
This summer, my sons and I are learning a bit about cooking. They will (over the next few months) learn to cook 30 family meals from scratch. They will choose the recipes, help shop for the food, and prepare it. They will keep successful recipes in a binder that they can take with them when they leave home.
When I married, I could hardly cook, so I understand the absolute necessity for boys to learn these skills. Thank goodness that my hubby is an excellent cook and he helped me to learn so much in the early years of our marraige. I honestly didn’t think I would ever need to know these things.
Boy, have I learned better! And my boys are learning, too. So far, they have mastered things like spaghetti with salad and garlic bread, and pulled buffalo chicken sandwiches and salad. We have tried a few other things also (like some homemade bread, see photo above) where Mom has learned to be super specific with her instructions because she forgets that the handsome sons don’t know to do things like flour your hands because the dough is sticky. Oops! You might have noticed that the boys favor salad as a side dish because it is “less work” to them. That’s okay, I like to see them eating veggies, any way I can get them to do it!
Youngest son also makes delicious fruit breads with whatever is in season from apple to zucchini. We love to let him practice that one!
I want them to think in meals and to include veggies and at least some moderately healthful in their choices for this class, but I am really hoping to help them (and all of us) develop healthy habits that will stick.
Y0unger son is pretty good about washing laundry, both helping out with the family stuff and doing his own, but we will be making that a bit more of a scheduled event. Our eldest is our Aspie and we are slowly working in that direction and we will get there, creating an engrained habit by the end of the next school year. Slow and repetitive works best for him.
But, isn’t that the beauty of homeschooling? Each of my boys learn differently, so I teach to their strengths and let them go at the pace that suits them best.
Till next time,
