What would you include in a home ec type class?

[worm761]

I will start with saying that we homeschool. DS will be starting his freshman year in January. DS has ADHD and is high functioning autistic. I am just wondering what other people would incorporate into a home ec class. What do you think should be taught?

 

[Juliegirl1]

All the stuff he would need to know to run a household. Budgeting, grocery shopping, menu making, cooking basic skills, cleaning, laundry, hygiene, sewing a button or hem, etc. We also took care of "babies" in home ec - we decorated eggs to look like babies and had to carry them around with us for a week.

You know your child's limitations so whatever you think he can handle but I would teach him the skills he would need as if he were going to be moving out and living on his own. That would all qualify as home ec. I'd also include basic checkbook/bill pay skills in that - I always felt like that should be a part of every child's basic education and can't understand why they don't teach it in school.

 

[tlbwriter]

Financial literacy
Housing (finding it, paying for it, taking care of it)
Clothing (finding it, paying for it, taking care of it)
Basic menu planning and cooking
Basic health and physical development

 

[lovesmurfs]

I will start with saying that we homeschool. DS will be starting his freshman year in January. DS has ADHD and is high functioning autistic. I am just wondering what other people would incorporate into a home ec class. What do you think should be taught?

It's been years since Home Ec (we had a quarter of cooking and a quarter of sewing). I'd Google "home economics curriculum" and see what comes up.

Offhand, I'd include general cooking information -- how to read a recipe, measure, etc. Practice with baking (cake, cookies, etc.). Maybe a meal from planning, shopping, cooking and clean up.

Perhaps how to fix a hem without a stapler and how to sew buttons -- general guy survival info.

Also, something that I think is overlooked in my kids' education is budgeting. How to handle money coming in, money going out and balancing a checkbook. How to save and plan for monetary goals.

Have fun with it!

 

[dawson5]

When I was in HS, our Home Ec class covered the basic cooking, sewing and laundry, but we also learned to patch drywall, fix a leaky faucet and change a lightswitch and/or plug. I know for cooking we focused on looking at a recipe and determining what we would need to make it and making our own grocery list. I know we cooked a few things, I wish they would have taken it a step further and had us figure for the whole year cooking items, so we could put together a realistic grocery shopping list. Possibly showing at the beginning of the year compared to the end and were we correct in our listing.

My cousin who is a few years older than me, went to the same HS. The boys were required to take a class that showed them how to do all of that and balance a checkbook (budgeting I guess). It wasn't as involved as Home Ec., but just made sure the guys when they went out on their own, could survive on other things beside mac & cheese and canned soup. They stopped that by the time I was in HS.

 

[worm761]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

All the stuff he would need to know to run a household. Budgeting, grocery shopping, menu making, cooking basic skills, cleaning, laundry, hygiene, sewing a button or hem, etc. We also took care of "babies" in home ec - we decorated eggs to look like babies and had to carry them around with us for a week.

You know your child's limitations so whatever you think he can handle but I would teach him the skills he would need as if he were going to be moving out and living on his own. That would all qualify as home ec. I'd also include basic checkbook/bill pay skills in that - I always felt like that should be a part of every child's basic education and can't understand why they don't teach it in school.

DS is no longer an only child. LOL...he gets real live how to care for a baby everyday. DD is only 9 months old.

 

[bgirldeb]

Being that you homeschool, you have a unique opportunity to have a lot of 'hands on' stuff like meal preparation and shopping.

I agree that budgeting/ checkbook balancing would be a really good idea. When I was a senior in HS, and had to take an elective, I took a "consumer management" class that was offered by the home ec teacher, where they taught things like this.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Fixing simple recipes to learn measuring, safety and baking/cooking skills. MICROWAVE cooking and safety. If you have needle and thread, how to make simple stitches to repair a hem or darn a sock.

 

[LuvOrlando]

All the stuff that goes into being self sufficient. I like the things mentioned but you can also make a long lesson about shopping. Maybe one day you could go through your shopping list, some store circulars & Sunday paper coupons and another day go on a outing to the supermarket and watch them buy the groceries. This could easily morph into a lesson about selecting & weighing produce or about basic economics. I know whenever my kids go with me we talk about minimum wage and how long it would take a cashier on minimum wage to pay for our groceries. The realities of life are pretty sobering when presented in a concrete way.

 

[MiniGirl]

I will start with saying that we homeschool. DS will be starting his freshman year in January. DS has ADHD and is high functioning autistic. I am just wondering what other people would incorporate into a home ec class. What do you think should be taught?

We homeschool as well, and we do have what we (okay, I) have started calling "Life Skills." Now, my girls are younger than your son, but generally I pick a project for us every other week or so for them to help me do. A couple of weeks ago we went through the pantry, and they read all the expiration dates. We threw away what had expired, (yes, I was embarrassed by the amount of food we tossed.) and they helped to reorganize it. Putting items we use a lot within easy reach, etc. I figure eventually we'll get through most things. They are also learning basics in cooking, laundry, and cleaning. I was never actually taught how to clean, and made the mistake of mixing amonia with bleach when I was first on my own. Ack!!!

So, I would say, in addition to what others mentioned, whenever you or your dh have a project to do, get your ds involved. I have been surprised at how much my dds seem to enjoy these things.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Different cooking methods for various types of meat and how to know if they are done when cooked. Guys need to know that an oven is good for cooking something other than frozen pizza!

Sanitation of food preparation areas and how to avoid cross contamination.

Teach the basics of managing minor home catastrophes. He should know how to shut off water at a main valve, electricity at the breaker panel, and gas. How to relight a pilot light once gas service is restored.

How to know when it is time to call in a professional!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Household operation...aka what your child needs to know to function WELL on their own.

How to plan and prepare a healthy meal (work up to 4-5).
How to grocery shop.
How to balance a check book.
How to budget.
How to wash, dry, fold laundry.
How to make a bed.
How to clean a bathroom---SO THAT IS SANITARY
how to sweep/mop/vacuum
how to mow a lawn


Basically----think of what you and your husband do and then add your son to it.

Some things can be learned in a fun way...others not.

We homeschool---so I just incorporate the kids into all of the chores and am busy teaching them how to do things. Since you wish to teach it...you will NEED to spend several sessions working side by side with your son, then some sessions overseeing...and then you will know when to let him do it on his own.


Nor curriculum other than to just pick a time when he will learn.

So as not to overwhelm him---teach only one chore at a time while having him assist (without you teaching each part of) other chores. I would make a list of all the things you want to learn and then pick the item he would seem to most enjoy and work your way through that.

My 10 and 7 year old are learning how to properly clean a bathroom. That task was chosen because for some unknown reason---they like to clean bathrooms.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I will start with saying that we homeschool. DS will be starting his freshman year in January. DS has ADHD and is high functioning autistic. I am just wondering what other people would incorporate into a home ec class. What do you think should be taught?

Kitchen classes which includes math of measurements, cooking safety, temperature/food safety, appliance usage care and cleaning. Include the microwave in there.

Then you have knife handling, cutting and safety.

Proper utensil usage while making food and cooking.

If you have a grill you could teaching grilling outside.

Then you have recipes. You could do food lessons on certain foods.

Start with with a food type, like eggs. You can teach things from how to boil an egg to making omeletes. Or pasta, from making spaghetti to macaroni salad to lasagna. You get the idea there. That would be interesting to handle it that way.

Or you could pick a country or a type of cooking like Italian. So many ways to do it.

Sewing, which will include the basics. My dd took it for a semester and had to make a bag on a sewing machine.

 

[Buckalew11]

And I'd include setting a proper table and table manners and what fork or what course, lol. (Think Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman or Anne Hathoway in Princess Diaries. )

 

[Katy Belle]

I took some home ec classes in HS. One thing I remember that was really helpful was a unit on car care/maintenance. How to check the oil, change a tire, etc.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Most useful thing I learned in home ec was budgeting. We had to find a aparment in the paper, find a job (and call to find out what our job would make), pay utilities, buy food, and pay for our car. It was a enlighting peek into the real world.