Does your child's middle or high school offer FACS/Foods/Life Skills/etc. classes?

[golfgal]

Dh is a public school teacher. The guy he carpools with teaches these courses at his school. When they advertised this job last year, they had over 200 applicants.

The jr. high where my child goes replaced their retiring home and careers teacher a few years ago, with no problem at all.

That doesn't mean it is like that in all parts of the country. Your husband's carpool partner teaches cooking and sewing?

 

[Luv2Scrap]

OP here - I appreciate all the replies - good to know these classes aren't being eliminated by most schools...

As far as whether or not the school is able to find a replacement, I don't know if the principal was telling the truth or not, but I have to wonder about the fact that they have not had the position posted for this entire year. I don't know when the previous teacher retired, but if they really wanted to fill that position, I believe they could.

If they don't make people aware that there is a position open by posting it on their website (at the very least), they are all but guaranteed NOT to find someone for the position!

 

[minkydog]

In my school district everyone takes FACS in 6th,7th, AND 8th grades. They learn about nutrition, budgeting, cooking, sewing, laundry, and a little about parenting(they have to take care of egg babies in the spring.) My DD16 loved FACS. They didn't make the aprons, etc, that we made in Home Ec. They made stuffed toys and quilt squares. Geometry, you know.

DS23 was homeschooled until 9th grade so I did all that with him at home. He started sewing on my machine around age 10. We all got pillows for a couple of Christmases and he made himself a long flannel nightshirt. Boys AND girls need to know their way around a needle and thread.

 

[Fire14]

I took Home ec/life style classes from 7 grade on, prior to this I was in elementary school.
7 grade: I had to take Shop, Sewing, Cooking, And 1 other (health maybe) each was an 8 wk class and all the 7 graders rotated thru all 4.

8th grade: Took Woods, metals, Cooking, Sewing, art, and ? rotated thru each on.

9th grade: I chose to take Cooking, sewing( was class of 9 girls so we got fashion, makeup tips also), woods shop ( nothing like being one of 4 girls)
10th grade: Basic core classes, Latin and pe

11th grade: Basic core classes, Food, Latin, took consumer math 1 semester, buisness math other

12th grade: Had to be there but no special classes other than 1 semester of Gov't, So I took Restruant ( 2 hr class on menu planning, cooking, serving etc working restrurant), Human gowth and development 1 sem, Child Dev 1 sem, Family living( basic life skills other than cooking/sewing),Sewing. Sad part was I still had 2 free hrs

And to this day I hate cooking and sewing LOL, Had fun in shop classes and Dad got some nice stuff out of it.

 

[Pigeon]

Your husband's carpool partner teaches cooking and sewing?

Yes, he does.

 

[rie'smom]

My daughter took a FACS class in the Fall. It was sewing and nutrition. I've sewn since the age of 12 and am very happy that she wanted to learn.

 

[Katy Belle]

My kids go to a Private International School. To my knowledge, none of these types of classes are offered. It is considered a college prep school, so I guess that is the reason. Honestly, if you are taking everything you need to get into college and are in band or chorus, there is no room for any other electives.

 

[golfgal]

My kids go to a Private International School. To my knowledge, none of these types of classes are offered. It is considered a college prep school, so I guess that is the reason. Honestly, if you are taking everything you need to get into college and are in band or chorus, there is no room for any other electives.

Well, in our high school there is plenty of room for electives even taking everything you need for college-not so much freshman/sophomore year but junior and senior year there is.

Our grad requirements are:

1) Satisfactorily complete 66 credits of coursework at the high school level,
grades 9-12 inclusively, as specified below:
• English/Language Arts – four years (12 credits);
• Social Studies – four years (12 credits) ;
• Science – three years (nine credits) ;
• Mathematics – three years (nine credits) ;
• Arts – one course (one credit) – from the Art Education or Music and
Dance departments or Housing and Interior Design, Marketing C:
Advertising, Photography I, Photography II, Photography III, Digital
Photography I or Digital Photography II or Architectural Drafting A;
• Health – two courses (two credits);
• Physical education – four courses (four credits);
• Safety Education – one course (one credit);
• Other – 16 credits, of which not more than 12 credits of instrumental
and/or vocal music may be applied toward fulfillment of the graduation
requirements.
2) Pass the Graduation-Required Assessment for Diploma (GRAD) test in
written composition, which is given for the first time in grade 9, and
3) Pass the Graduation-Required Assessment for Diploma (GRAD) embedded
in the
MCA-II reading test, which is given for the first time in grade 10, and
4) Pass the Graduation-Required Assessment for Diploma (GRAD) embedded
in the
MCA-II mathematics test, which is given for the first time in grade 11.
(Students who do not pass the Mathematics GRAD test are eligible to
receive a high school diploma if they:
• complete with a passing grade all state and local coursework and
credits required for graduation by the school board granting the
students their diploma,
• participate in the assessment until they pass the Mathematics GRAD
test or participate in at least two GRAD retests, whichever comes first,
and
• participate in district-prescribed academic remediation in
mathematics.)

With 7 class periods a day there is plenty of time to fit everything in. We are on a trimester schedule vs a semester schedule so that helps as well.

edit: one thing that is not listed is that all students have to take Economics for a trimester too-I wonder why that isn't on there. It is offered either junior or senior year, most kids take it senior year.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My son is in 8th grade at a public middle school. They don't offer anything that even remotely resembles the classes you guys are talking about. They have 7 periods per day, and the semester is 3 marking periods of 6 weeks each. PE (2 semesters) and computer (1 semester) are required electives. There are no cooking, sewing, life skills, etc. classes.

In high school they are required to take a semester of health and a semester of speech, I think 3 semesters of PE, 2 semesters of computer, plus all the academics required for graduation. I happen to have the sheet right here - there is no requirement for Home Ec and I suspect they do not offer it.

 

[clarabelle]

My kids go to private prep school -none of those kinds of classes.
It is a trade off for us -they miss out on consumer ed and a few other things -but the school has some other great positives that were worth it for us.