Home Economics Curriculum.

The average girl wants to be able to keep her house with the least possible strain, and in order to do this she must have good training. This can best be achieved by taking a good course in home economics." Eleanor Roosevelt

I confess; I love Mennonite curriculum! It is simple & straightforward so that even a dunce like me can grasp what's going on.

I have a highschooler ~ middle school for my American friends but in Oz high school starts in grade 8. No middle school. By this age a child should have grasped the basics of reading writing, math. The more academically gifted will continue to build on those skills looking toward college but what to do with the child who declares they don't want a uni degree? Who is not academically gifted? Whose main interests & gifts lie elsewhere?

I have had a fistful of the bright but not academically interested children ~ & not for want of pushing on their mamma's part because I have a university degree & a good education ranks right up there with me. But what is a good education? Is it a degree or is it fitting a child for life? I would argue the practical skills that fit people for life are equally important with a sound academic footing ~ & some are quite simply fundamental. Home economics is fundamental.

Now most of our daughters are going to pick up the very basics from us just because they live in our house & those of us with larger size families know perfectly well things just won't tick over at all unless everyone shoulders some of the responsibility for the smooth running of the household. Necessity meant all mine learnt to cook early. Cooking is my least favourite home management activity of all time. I'd rather clean the toilet & I have 4 men using the facility! Everyone from Joss to Ditz can plan & cook a 2 course meal. So why a home economics course? Because I am academically inclined & my weakness is in the practical life skills department. A curriculum ensures I will cover all the things that should be covered.

Why this particular curriculum? Firstly because the Amish & Mennonite women are housekeepers extraordinaire! Everything from canning to child care. Secondly, this is housekeeping from a Godly perspective & there is no better reason. Thirdly, it is clear & simple & believe me for things like sewing I am easily confused!

I was making vague noises along the lines of I think I'd like this curriculum & doing nothing because I spend a small fortune on basic curriculum as it is & a rather larger fortune on music for Ditz & I was having trouble justifying to myself spending any more money on anything. Then my good friend Mama Olive at Nothin' but time in the olive grove offered to loan me her curriculum. Mama O is in England! She packed it up & posted it off & it arrived yesterday.

I haven't had a chance to have a thorough look at it yet but even a cursory study has been enough to tell me not only Ditz but Liddy as well will benefit from this study. It is as clear & straightforward as I expected from a Mennonite curriculum. It starts with the basics & builds on a firm foundation. In many ways Ditz is an extremely practical child & whatever she decides to do with her music, & consequentially her life, knowing how to run a well ordered household will never go amiss. Cooking, cleaning, sewing are with us till the end of the age, unfortunately, & that being the case doing it efficiently will not only save her time for other things but will provide pleasure & a sense of satisfaction for an inevitable part of life that far too often, for far too many women, has become an onerous burden for which they are ill prepared. Luckily for me my daughters are far more orientated towards household skills than I ever was.