Posted by mochaviolino on 2005-02-15 13:15:08
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Boys could sew pajama pants.
I like the Life Skills concept better than Home Ec. And I agree that stuff like embroidery might not be well received. Perhaps knitting, though.
i agree. i took a life skills class in middle school and the guys weren't embarrased by the stuff we did. plus my class had a good mix of different people, so it couldn't be anything that was cliched in surburbia. we learned the basics:
+ how to mend clothes & sew on a button
+ how to plan & make basic, healthy meals
+ how to get a job
+ how to balance a checkbook
+ everyone learned how to sew a pair of pajama pants
i don't remember what else, it's been at least 7 years.
Posted by sallysunshine on 2005-02-14 16:51:41
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I think that traditionally, home ec was a pretty gendered concept: it was the bits of the house for which women were considered responsible. And I'd much rather see a home ec course that covered the whole home. Think of it as Life Skills, rather than Home Ec. So here's my thought:
1. Basic cooking. Everyone should be able to make him or herself dinner. Food safety falls here. You might throw in some very basic stuff about meal planning and nutrition.
2. Basic financial stuff. How to make a budget. What financial information should you save? The basics of saving (ie do you put your money in the bank, in a CD, in a money-market fund, etc? I still don't know what half those things are.)
3. Basic home repair. What can I fix myself? How do I know if the job is too big for me?
4. Care of your home: how do you keep it clean and all that.
5. Maybe basic car repair. How does a car work? How do I do the stuff that I can do myself (like change my oil?)
6. Basic sewing, such as how to hem pants or sew on a button.
7. Basic gardening. Here, again, you might want to address environmental concerns: how do you have a nice lawn and garden that are also environmentally friendly.
8. Could you fit first aid in here? Or is that a whole other class.
It might be fun to do stuff like embroidering and tatting, but I think the core of the class should be the useful stuff. But that's just me.
Posted by amygdala on 2004-06-04 11:31:04
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My best lesson from my mom was just the example she led by being independent. She taught my sister and I not to take crap from men (or anyone) and that we could do whatever we wanted with our lives. When she finally asked my dad to leave, we were actually proud of her because he totally belittled her and her career (she's a speech therapist, which is nothing to sneeze at. I mean, she has a masters and then some!). She wasn't a very domestically-oriented kind of mom - she can hardly sew on a button - but I think she taught us more by having her own life and not being dependent on my dad or anyone else. She really taught my sister and I that we were valuable individuals. And I got to teach her to knit this year, which was really fun. I don't think I would be in a traditionally male field if she hadn't encouraged me to do well in things like science and math and to speak up and not be afraid of beating the boys like so many other girls were.
I love my mom. She rules. And I think this is a wonderful thread.
