Wednesday, June 18, 2014

"New" Home Ec

Read a nice article about specific FACS courses being offered in a variety of states - check it out here!

I have two trains of thought on this article. The first one is that I like some of the ideas in it - a combination strength training/conditioning/nutrition class would be fabulous! I work the topic of physical activity into my foods lessons quite a bit, but we don't engage in any REAL physical activity as part of the class. It would be pretty great to sincerely combine them all. Something else that caught my attention was a free curriculum about the food system developed by Johns Hopkins University. I have not looked at it yet, but going over it is definitely on my to-do list. The food system is another one of those concepts I incorporate along the way but feel like I should be doing more with it - and when you say FREE that tends to get my attention!

Here's the second thought. It's beginning to annoy me to see so many articles about the "new home economics," how it's "not just for Suzy Homemaker" anymore and that the students do "more than just bake apple pies" (quotes from various articles over the past several years, sorry not documenting). Um, this is WHAT WE DO! It's not some brand-new, new-fangled, revolutionary idea that just popped up in a couple of schools over the past year. Seriously, what's with these "journalists" who can't do an iota of research about what's really going on in FACS classrooms and instead just write from a place of their own general impressions and stereotypes? I'm thrilled that these classes are in the news and that the ideas from them can be shared, I  just wish that the "news" world wouldn't perpetuate outdated schemas about "home ec."

Regardless, hope you enjoy the ideas and resources from the article!


  1. Unfortunately, I think there are plenty of "home ec" teachers who are still doing some pretty outdated stuff. I attend the NC CTE summer conference every year and see the recipes they are making in their class. I met a lady who teaches knife cuts by deep-frying everything... I try to incorporate healthful foods as much as possible, but the curriculum doesn't always lend itself to that. Many of my students have never made the most basic foods- getting them to try quinoa or fish tacos would certainly be a stretch.

    1. You're definitely right about the outdated teachers - fortunately I think the tide is changing (deep-frying, ugh). I agree it's really difficult to get kids to be even the slightest bit adventurous when it comes to food that doesn't come out of a box or a sack!