Home Economics

Mrs. Bell was my seventh grade Home Economics teacher. When she had a baby girl, and named her Liberty, I thought that it was weird. Other than her odd child naming skills, I loved being in Mrs. Bell's class. In addition to learning the art of hemming my own corduroy pants, and attaching a button back to my polyester poncho, I learned how to care for children as a babysitter and went on to earn the big bucks babysitting for the Behnke family. They had good snacks, and the job paid well.

In high school, I was intimidated by the art class, didn’t have enough testosterone for auto shop, and thought that ceramics was too messy so I took a quilting class. I learned about batting, hand sewing, and the length of time it took to complete a quilt by hand. I loved the class so much during my senior year, I took advance quilting. I don’t think they would offer a class like that at my daughter’s high school.

I’m fairly certain that these days, the high schools only offer the basics, art, drama, auto shop, wood shop, and photography, as an elective. Do they even have a Home Economics class? Do students still learn how to make cream puffs, pancakes, and grilled cheese sandwiches?

My kids need to take a laundry class. They could shove loads of laundry into their backpacks each day, and learn how to wash and dry clothes, and iron their dad’s shirts. Another option would be a class on proper bathing. My children have the uncanny ability to exit the shower with patches of dry hair on their heads and dirty fingernails.

What did you take as an elective in junior high or high school?

Comments

Jennifer said…
I had to laugh at the teacher's kid's name. I knew a girl in school -- last name England. First name? You guessed it -- London. My home ec. teacher's name was - I kid you not - Mrs. Needle. I LOVED that class and still have some of the sewing projects and recipes!

~ Jennifer
Heidi said…
Somehow this reminds me of a girl I went to school with whose name was Penny Nichol (nickel)and a rumor I heard that another friend, whose last name is Cotton, had a brother who named his daughter Polly Esther. Some people are so creative.

Anyway, in our public school, it seems home economics has been changed to a class called "Decisions" where students and teacher discuss how to handle dating situations and activities that sometimes arise from dating situations. Ugh. In this class, one assignment is to carry a fake baby, that really cries and needs to be fed and changed, around in a car seat for an entire week. The internal computer in the baby records if the student neglects to feed or change it and the student's grade is adjusted accordingly. Nice, huh?
Heidi