Home Economics

[bethben]

I am looking for a home economics course.  I've been eyeing some of the lifepac units that will do decently for non cooking units.  She will also do a finance course in a year.    I've been wanting to do a cooking course of some sort.  The cooking course is my hangup.  There is a new Abeka course coming out that I'm waiting to see samples for.  Here's the issues - my husband and I eat Paleo (our kids do also as a general rule although both the remaining kids at home have jobs with access to other foods) and basically, we don't believe in the food pyramid nonsense.  We don't eat grains or sugar and most of these curriculum for teens are teaching them to prepare foods that we can't eat.  I'm not good at a DYI approach.  I have also become a reluctant homeschooler of my last child mostly because all my attempts to find a smaller school that can handle a slower learner in math and science has failed.  I need something that is pretty open and go.  

[Rosie_0801]

You can't just give them a cookbook to work through? 

[bethben]

Thought about it---I have one, but I don't like all the recipes in it.  I also need something simple to start.  For example, what does mince mean?  What does julienne mean?  All those terms that she doesn't know - she's easily frustrated which we've worked through to a point.  I'm wanting to be a little more hands off in some ways.  Basically, she needs this, and I just don't want to have to teach every recipe in detail.  Her high school program is VERY practical since I'm looking at a kid who just needs to know how to work well and survive on her own without relying on frozen mac n cheese.

[Janeway]

43 minutes ago, bethben said:

Thought about it---I have one, but I don't like all the recipes in it.  I also need something simple to start.  For example, what does mince mean?  What does julienne mean?  All those terms that she doesn't know - she's easily frustrated which we've worked through to a point.  I'm wanting to be a little more hands off in some ways.  Basically, she needs this, and I just don't want to have to teach every recipe in detail.  Her high school program is VERY practical since I'm looking at a kid who just needs to know how to work well and survive on her own without relying on frozen mac n cheese.

The Betty Crocker classic cookbook covers the basics. I would get that and use it. In fact, this is what I do. It even tells you how to boil an egg.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Janeway

[Rosie_0801]

4 hours ago, bethben said:

Thought about it---I have one, but I don't like all the recipes in it.  I also need something simple to start.  For example, what does mince mean?  What does julienne mean?  All those terms that she doesn't know - she's easily frustrated which we've worked through to a point.  I'm wanting to be a little more hands off in some ways.  Basically, she needs this, and I just don't want to have to teach every recipe in detail.  Her high school program is VERY practical since I'm looking at a kid who just needs to know how to work well and survive on her own without relying on frozen mac n cheese.

You could go through and put an asterisk on all the recipes you do like.

You might also give her access to the internet so she can look up any words she doesn't understand: 
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/an-a-z-guide-to-cooking-terms-and-definitions-5192433

I don't think it is possible to remove the trial and error part of cooking, but if she works better from video, there are lots of paleo food vids on YouTube. 

[MagistraKennedy]

5 hours ago, bethben said:

Thought about it---I have one, but I don't like all the recipes in it.  I also need something simple to start.  For example, what does mince mean?  What does julienne mean?  All those terms that she doesn't know - she's easily frustrated which we've worked through to a point.  I'm wanting to be a little more hands off in some ways.  Basically, she needs this, and I just don't want to have to teach every recipe in detail.  Her high school program is VERY practical since I'm looking at a kid who just needs to know how to work well and survive on her own without relying on frozen mac n cheese.

Have you ever taken a look at Kitchen Stewardship? She's much more naturally minded and has a kitchen knife skills course for kids. 

[8filltheheart]

How about combining a Great Course video series with her finding recipes that everyone in the family will enjoy.  (You can find recipes for anything by just typing in ingredients on your search bar.)  If she is 16, make it simple.  She watches 1-2 lectures a day and cooks x number of recipes.

This GC lecture series starts with paleo.  How Food Effects the Human Body - Understanding Food Science (thegreatcourses.com)

[silver]

You could combine youtube videos on technique (ex: here's a knife skills playlist) with a cookbook that has recipes you will eat. You wouldn't need her to make every recipe from the cookbook.  

I've not looked at it, but the creator of ELTL has a paleo nutrition book for teens:
http://barefootmeandering.com/site/primal-nutrition/
https://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/primal-teens/ebook/product-19z8rmke.html

[happypamama]

I would get something like Joy of Cooking or Betty Crocker's all purpose basic cookbook (whatever it is called) and have her work through it, one unit at a time.  Skip things that really don't work for your family.

 

If you come across a term that you don't know, if it isn't explained in the unit, then you can google it.

 

My 9 and 11yo boys want to learn to cook.  The 11yo currently has a Skillshare trial, so he can follow videos and directions from there; he's been into baking, but it might also have some cooking classes that you could try.  They give a free one month trial.  Other than that, I am thinking we will simply work our way through Joy of Cooking, one chapter at a time, picking what looks interesting.

[HomeAgain]

Could I suggest a Good Eats cookbook or America's Test Kitchen book?  I like Good Eats because it focuses on the science behind the dishes as well as the recipes.  You can pick and choose what you want to use from there, but the kid gets a solid base of WHY things are done the way they are and how to substitute as needed.  America's Test Kitchen is more likely to dip in, but not go as far.  The cookbooks complement the shows, so there's always that to bring in, too, if you wanted.  We used GE books when oldest ds was learning to cook.  We started with book 1, did the recipes our family would eat, and went through the book in order.

[welltrainedmomma]

My suggestion is to focus more on cooking basics (equipment, safety, terms and procedures) and then use your favorite recipes to practice.   Start small with mastering basics, then add on in complexity.  For example, frying an egg involves understanding basic safety and sanitation,  what a spatula and frying pan are, how to turn on the stove top, how to monitor heat, when to take off the pan and how residual heat continues to cook the egg if you leave it in the pan, etc.  Once that is mastered, expand on that another day with sauteing vegetables or cooking bacon, etc.  

I taught Home Ec and other Family and Consumer Sciences a long time ago in public school, but not as a course in our home school, so I cannot suggest any home school curriculum for you. I think even a solid beginner's cookbook can help with targeting what you want to teach.  (I like the New Doubleday Cookbook by Anderson and Hanna).

 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

While I imagine Bethben has already selected an appropriate book, here's what I would do in this situation:

Consider getting a cookbook that explains every term it uses, that is specifically geared towards the beginning cook. If possible, I'd be inclined to go to the local library, look through some introductory cookbooks and order whichever one is likely to be the most appropriate. If torn between multiple choices, pick the one you'd find easiest to teach from - while cookbooks are useful, nothing beats having someone around who understands what the book is trying to say when beginning to learn to cook. Regularly check what recipes the family actually eats and make a note of them somewhere. Then, when the student gets to a point where the necessary techniques have been taught for a given recipe, teach the family recipe as a means of securing the knowledge and also start to pick up the family-specific takes on cooking that no commercial cookbook will ever teach.

Examples of books that look like they could fill such a need include Leith's Cooking Course, The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook, Delia's Complete Cookery Course or Delia Smith's How To Cook. All of these are designed with the assumption that one will skip the recipes one does not wish to cook; the latter is organised from the simplest to the most complex within each chapter.

After completing this, one way to reduce dependence on a recipe is to get a cookbook that deals with recipe variations, preferably in an area of cooking where the family tends to eat quite a lot of food. I learned how to adapt recipes by using a book that had 50 Italian recipes, each of which listed how to do 5 different ingredient swaps (at least 1 of which would require changing one or two steps in the recipe). Unfortunately, I don't have that cookbook to hand to give the name or author, but there are quite a few other cookbooks out there that teach variations.

[Brittany1116]

There are some excellent youtube videos on kitchen basics- tools, techniques, terms etc. I would supplement any book with some vids that get into specifics of knife skills and internal temps. 

[pmeilaen]

This is a fantastic book that can be used with almost not prep at all: Home Ec for Everyone.

[klmama]

If you prefer not to have to search through videos of cooking techniques on YouTube, this CD set might be helpful.  Note that used copies are very cheap!

 

[ChrisB]

I came across a basic Home Ec and Lifeskills free curriculum on a homeschooler's website (Amy Maryon). She has several offerings, so scroll down for Home Ec. I've never used it, but it may be worth looking through.