Line upon Line Learning

Homeschooling and lifelong education . . . one day at a time

Enjoy life-long learning. . . one day at a time.

Hands-on learning activities, ideas, games, and printables for parents, homeschoolers, and educators

  • About
  • Read the Blog
    • Preschool Learning
    • Elementary Learning
    • Homeschooling
    • Parenting and Family
  • Become a VIP
  • Shop
  • 0 items
Home » Elementary Learning » Family and Home Ec in Our Homeschool

Family and Home Ec in Our Homeschool

Post by Rebecca Reid 2 Comments

home ecI think one of the greatest educational benefits of homeschooling is the chance to learn and study family and home economics. Homeschool home ec class is the most natural of our daily learning.

I decided Friday morning that I was tired of cleaning being the last priority every day. The house just seemed cluttered and dirty. Those dust bunnies in the corner were taunting me. So we switched our schedule around and started with chores. Home Ec class time!

My kids (ages 2 and 6) helped with cleaning the floors (with the Swiffer), vacuuming, dusting, tidying rooms, cleaning the bathroom counters and toilets, and scrubbing the kitchen counters. It felt good to me to see my kids working like that! And it felt good to me to show my kids that cleaning is a priority in our home.

We did school, too, after our chores were done. But I will admit that I let history go in order to get the house cleaned up! And it felt good to let my son be an active part of that task.

As I pondered these necessary, every-day skills that he needs to learn, I began to think of other ways he learns about family and home economics during our homeschool weeks together. Here are just some of them that come to mind for me right now.

Budgeting. I tell Raisin our grocery budget for the week and while we shop, he helps me estimate how much all of the items in our cart add up to. A few times he’s stopped me. “Mom, that is not on our list and it costs $___, are you sure we need it?” I love seeing him recognize limits.

Laundry. My son regularly is the one that collects and sorts a load of laundry. Many times he then starts the laundry too! The other day, I was working upstairs getting my toddler down for a nap: when I came down he had moved the laundry into the dryer and started it! I love to see him taking the initiative on family chores like that.

Chores. As I mentioned, Raisin (and less so, Strawberry) was very helpful in doing some routine cleaning around our house today. Although he often complains about cleaning chores, today he was pleasant and helpful for a long time. As I said, I love seeing him take part!

Cooking. I informed Raisin that this year I’d like him to step up and prepare dinner. I initially told him “once a month” or “every few weeks.” His response was that he wanted to do it every week! We found recipe books at the library that he likes (his current favorite is a Sesame Street “themed” one). He selects the recipe, writes me a shopping list, helps me find the items in the store, and then helps me prepare it. Yes, cooking takes far longer when he’s the one in charge. And his recipes have not been my favorites. But I find he is more daring that I expected. He did not know what tuna was, for example, but the pasta and tuna salad recipe caught his eye. It turned out that he does not like the tuna (I don’t like canned tuna either) but he’d never have considered it before. I was so pleased that he tried something new like that.

Sewing. I admit, I am not a seamstress and I don’t even have a sewing machine. But in our co-op class last year, Raisin learned some basic stitches. He is always eager to try his hand at sewing a button back on something!

I am always pleased when I see how closely the things we do in our daily life relate to things I feel my son should learn in his school. These correlations continue to keep me happy to be homeschooling. Yes, there are hard days. But as homeschoolers we can always call it “home ec” day and make the daily tasks into learning experiences.

image credit: Dollar Photo Club

If you like this post, you may also like...

Homeschool How To: How Do I Help My Child Be Social? Sending My Child Away All Day is Overrated Why We areWhy We are Grateful to Homeschool Homeschool Open House: Kim and Family in Tbilisi, Georgia A Happier Home: Working with Your Kids + Giveaway

Filed Under: Elementary Learning, Homeschooling and Home Learning, Parenting and Family Tagged With: parenting

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Filter Shop by Keyword

Line upon Line Learning’s Products

Our digital learning products are available at these sites:

The Line upon Line Learning Shop

TeachersPayTeachers 

Boom Learning

(What is Boom?)

Are you considering homeschooling?

The Yes, You CAN Homeschool: Debunking the Nay-sayers digital course will help you overcome some of your worries!

Discount pricing ends September 3, 2020.

I’m a Contributer!

Big Book of Homeschool Ideas Vol 2

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas vol 2
ebook
| Hard copy (Amazon)

Learn with Play

Learn with Play ebook

Get the eBook 

Advertisement


Note: I include advertisements on my site. See my disclosure policy for more details.

 

Advertisement

Copyright © 2021 · Line upon Line Learning · Privacy and Disclosure Policy · Log in