Home Economics 101

It’s amazing how many misconceptions there are among people about homeschooling.   Some people think homeschoolers are a strange lot, with little contact with “the outside world”.  Others think we are constantly pouring over books with little interest in anything else.  Still others really don’t know what it is we do, but they just know it’s got to be weird.

Technically, I don’t consider general life skills to be “homeschooling”.  I consider it to be good parenting.  Regardless of whether your child is homeschooled or attends public or private school they need to be taught life skills.  By life skills I mean things like how to cook, clean, do laundry, manage money…you know LIFE skills.

I find that both the girls are great helpers.  They WANT to work alongside their father and I.  Does that mean you just tell them to do something and then leave them to it?  No, you train them in how you want it done.  It may take longer at first, but the goal is to teach them how to do it properly, speed will come with practice.   Chore charts are a fun way to organize who does what and when.   Olivia and Lindsey know to check their charts daily and that it’s their responsibility to complete their tasks.  Again, each task is something they have already been trained to do properly.  New tasks are taught along side of me (or dad).   You can print off some cute character chore charts by clicking here.

Cooking is one of those things that all kids like to do.   We have a gas stove, so for safety reasons neither girls is allowed to actually cook on it yet.  That will come with age.  What they do love is measuring ingredients, mixing, doing the preliminary work and setting the table.

Making homemade pizza is a fun family activity, a delicious meal and various “school” topics wrapped up into one fun activity. (Measuring, vocabulary, dividing, distribution and presentation.) After we measured out the ingredients and mixed everything up, the girls had to work together to divide the dough evenly (give or take).

Then we measured out sauce, cheese, toppings and set them to work.  During this step we focused on distributing things evenly and presentation.

  Their pizzas were yummy!  Olivia finally tried pepperoni and found out she REALLY likes it on her pizza!   Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the finished product after the baking period.