How to get Home-Ec in simple and easy ways while you homeschool

When you homeschool, consider the fact that your daily living is all in fact teachable moments. Yes, you may ask your child to fold their clothes or clean up their table dishes each day but there is a difference between chores and intentional home ec. Both are important, but the purpose is different. The way you teach your children home economics can be as informal or as formal as you like, just as noted before in homeschooling program that is right for you. You live your own way and with your own styles and environments. What may work for you may not work for another family.

If you have very young children that you are homeschooling, this may take a very different form and approach and be limited versus if you have middle to highschoolers. I don’t pretend to know the best option for you because one, I have children all in the middle range where they aren’t quite teenagers but they aren’t toddlers anymore. But here are some of the things that have helped our children informally.

Relaxed Home-Ec for any age

Early on for our young family, between the chaos of having multiple toddlers at the same time running around with who-knows-what in their hands and our family constantly moving city to city due to job fluctuations, we often found simple tasks a more feasible option. And feasible was because it was born out of necessity to simplify our lives. Often times I would make some food and then let our son stir the batter or I would let him dump in the pre-measured mix of flour. Yes, it got messy but it taught him the idea that food takes steps to complete and it’s a process with time and patience. Cooking is the go-to easy option but home economics can also apply to many other aspects of your day to day living. Young children have energy and inquisitive minds. Directing a simple task to help them learn and complete a a home-ec goal is a good start.

Many hands make light work…

Our now seven year old boy has always been a bit small for his age but that doesn’t deter him from being resourceful and clever. He can quickly figure out ways to get to the cupboards or find a snack if he wants to. Although he has small skinny fingers, he manages to open up bags and can easily fold laundry when asked. From an early age, we found him eager to please us by helping in any small way he could. We used this to your advantage and so can you. A little one can learn a lot by starting out small. Even simply stirring the pancake batter can teach them the process and order of making food from start to finish. Learning is a journey and the little ones are just setting foot on the road to adulthood. If given them a chance, they might just surprise you. They are just a mini version of you anyway.

Easy Home-Ec Ideas for Your Elementary Homeschooler

As they grow so does their understanding…

Our now eight and half year old is a ball of intense energy and has ADHD. He can complete a task instantly if asked. He also has the uncanny ability to lift items beyond his body weight from his sheer strength. Curiosity has also presented many fun interactions with him and so we encourage his energy, strength and curiosity when it comes to learning the basics of home-ec. While he may not enjoy folding laundry or dusting, he has a knack for getting groceries organized in the cupboard and vacuuming the carpets with gusto. He actually enjoys a lot of the activities because it gives him responsibility for a task to be completed by himself. So often times we give him options and then let him attack the task with his high positive energy. It may not be done perfectly but he’s owning the task and that is what matters.

Easy Home-Ec Ideas for your Older Homeschooler

The little boy begins to turn into a man…

We constantly hear the saying, “oh how time flies!” and “they’ll be grown before you know it!” but how true that sentiment rings some days. I look at my almost eleven year old and realize how independent he truly has become. So many times I hear, “mom! I can do that!” Yet, all the “stuff” he has to still learn is astonishing to me and I begin to question, do I have enough time to share all the knowledge before he leaves? The answer will always be no because you can’t ever completely explain the entire world and the wealth of knowledge or the do’s and don’ts before they leave your nest, however, you can impart a few pieces of wisdom and maybe a trick or two along the way. There will never be enough time to share it all, but as we have learned and continue to learn, when you have children there are many hidden treasures in the everyday mundane that teach your children that lifelong and priceless lesson about living that they will remember forever.

So our almost eleven year old is not quite a man but not still a boy so we treat him as such. There are many in between tasks that can guide him to a successful future, so invite your growing child, soon-to-be-teen, almost a grown-up into your day to day world and let them build that bonfire with you or make a meal or just sit and talk while folding clothes. You won’t regret it and they’ll appreciate you for it (probably much later in life) but that’s okay because that is just one of the many milestones in the life of being a parent.