I know we were talking about this earlier, but I couldn't get the search thing to pull up home ec. It would only do home. Soooooo.... I want to get that out of the way for my ds who is in 9th grade. He cooks and bakes a lot, so I will count that. I will teach him how to sew on buttons. I probably need some kind of sewing project for him, huh? Any suggestions on what we could do? What else would I need to fulfill requirements for home ec for a boy? Would some kind of home repair project fit the bill? How many credits would that be worth-- 1/2 or 1? Do you need home ec only once for credit? Thanks for any help you may be able to give me!
I don't know what your state requirements would be, but when I was in highschool, home repair projects fell into the "shop" category. Home Ec was only cooking and sewing. Our sewing projects where a pillow the first year and an apron the second. If we finished either in enough time, we made stuffed Christmas Trees. Our home ec class was 1/2 credit with Shop making up the other 1/2. And yes, we had to take two years of Home Ec... BUT... that was in PA, a dozen years ago, and probably specific to that district.
I would consider any type of cooking, cleaning, sewing, or home repair part of home ec. But I am in Texas and don't have to turn anything in to the state. I think any aspect of running or taking care of the home should count. But again I do not know your state laws. I think it is awesome you are teaching your son these things. Home Ec was not required when I was in high school. It was an elective.
Home Ec isn't required here anymore. When I was in Middle school we were required to take one semester of Home Ec - sewing & cooking, and one semester of Shop - we made a stool (I still have mine & it still gets used). For my kids, I count cooking/baking, sewing, basic car care, personal financing (budgets, balancing a checkbook, etc.), menu & meal planning, comparison shopping, and cleaning skills as Home Ec. Working with hand & power tools and doing home improvement or building projects will be shop. Both my kids will learn all that stuff. I personally think that it's important for boys & girls to know it, because it's all part of being an independent, well-rounded adult. I believe that any basic skills they need for life in the real world should count as Home Ec. As for a sewing project, you could have him make a pillow (or something else that he would actually use).
let me think.. in home ec I made.. a gym bag, a pair of shorts, a quilted Christmas stocking, a locker pocket (easily made into a back of door organizer), and I forget what else. I loved home ec and took every extra course in it I could. It's not required here though.
I didn't like Home Ec. In the sewing part, we spent half the time on 'learning the parts of a sewing machine', then we made a small drawstring bag, & some organizer thing with pockets. In the cooking part we made fondue, fruit dip, and english muffin pizzas. It was just too easy for me. I've been cooking since I was six, so I was hoping for something a bit more challenging. I enjoyed Shop a lot more, probably because I actually learned something in that class.
Thanks so much for your responses! I don't think it is required here, WA state is pretty easy-going with homeschoolers. The reason I'm thinking about it now is that the school where my oldest ds is going requires it for their kids. My ds, now 14yo (as of the 23rd), is wanting to go there when he's a junior, so just in case he does go there, I want to get this out of the way beforehand, so he doesn't have to worry about it then. Besides, it's good experience for him! So maybe I should do a 1/2 credit of home ec, and a 1/2 credit of shop? There are a couple of home repair projects that I'd have him do that I think would be great experience for him! Hey, just thought of this....awhile back we were talking about "square foot gardening". If he did a project like that, would that be shop or home ec, or a mixture of both.....or neither? Brandi, ds has always liked cooking, so he's been making stuff for us since he was little too! What did you make in shop?
When I was in school we got 1/2 credit for each. We took shop one year and home ec the next 1 day a week. Or maybe it was half a year and half a year.. I forget now! But then after we did each one we could chose one to be our "special" for the following year for a full credit.
Ohhhh, so he would get 2 full credits for shop and home ec over two years? I'd have to come up with some big projects for a whole year! Hmmmm, a friend of his, same age, took a "chef" cooking class 1 or 2 days a week, all day over the summer. His mom is going to give me the number to see if my ds can get in it. It's part of a special school with classes for advanced students in that district she thinks. But it's worth a shot!
In this district, gardening is an Ag class. When I was in shop, we made a cutting board the first year and a wall sconce (wood and metal) the second year. We also worked with plastics our second year. We did basic home repair stuff both years.
Where I went to Middle school, we had a Horticulture class, so gardening would've fallen there. Of course that was a tiny toen in the middle of no where. The school was K-12 in one building & graduating classes were about 25-30 students. The only reasonwe had Horticulture was so that the Science teacher had someone to work in his greenhouse. However, where I went to High school didn't have Home Ec or Shop, not even as electives.
Amie, we only made one thing in shop. It was a stool. I still have mine & we use. It's held up quite well. We had a limited amount of tools in the shop, so it took a long time for every to get done, which is why we only made one thing. I was going to take shop as an elective in High school, but we moved my freshman year & the school I ended up at didn't have it.
Just a thought...talk of pillow cases sparked it...a fun project my kids love for home ec is tye~dying. Plain pillow cases are good to start with but if you have a big enough pot you can do sheets, quilt covers, shirts...whatever his little heart desires.
Wow I didn't have to take any of these classes in school. Wish I did though. When I moved away at 18 I didn't really know how to cook anything but spaghetti and pancakes! My mother didn't teach my anything.
Tmom suggested knitting.. here are some helps on that! http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php http://www.nexstitch.com/Tutorials.html (this one is crochet.. but my 8 year old ds learned to crochet from watching their videos after he couldn't figure it out from me!)
Those tutorial videos are great! I might finally learn to crochet. Do you know of a good site with similar (free) tutorials for knitting? I'd also really like to learn to knit.
The first link is knitting. I haven't tried to learn to knit yet.. I enjoy crocheting alot, but honestly don't know if I would like knitting.. I have a silly fear of knitting needles
