Life Skills, Home Economics & Finance List

Description

Life Skills, home economics, cooking &  finances! This may be an ambitious list that changes often and eventually splits, so I will not yet attach a free PDF. When this does become a product, remember that you can recheck the file/download section of your account for updated files.

This free list of compiled resources has not all been vetted, and it will consist two portions: Lutheran resources & non-Lutheran resources.

There are many ways to teach the management and skills of home economics. Sometimes living life is enough and more than enough! On the other hand, some curriculum companies include them as an academic study. There are also organizations, like Dave Ramsey’s, that are dedicated to certain aspects. However you approach it, here are some compiled resources to consider.

Will some of the resources be directed more toward girls than boys? Yes. We can also teach our children that God said, “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish” (2 Kings 21:13) & that Jesus criticized the scribes and Pharisees for cleaning the outside of the cup and platter, while leaving what is inside unaddressed (Matt. 23:25). LutheranHomeschool.com does not mean to imply that only girls need home management or other life skill.

Generally, Home Ec considers:

• Cooking, menu planning, shopping with sales tax
• Self-Care: Hygiene, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep
• Sewing
• Money management (Budgeting, balancing a check book, basic contract sense, investments, etc)
• Laundry
• Housekeeping/cleaning
• Home maintenance & basic repair (Unclogging a drain, hang a picture, hammer a nail, etc.)
• Etiquette & manners

Life skills includes:

• Time management & calendar/ scheduling skills (Deadlines, routines, appointments, etc)
• Technology skills (Protecting passwords, backing up files)
• Organization & Filing (for taxes, warranties, etc)
• Survival skills (Typical precautions, emergency preparedness, basic first aid, etc)
• Map & manual skills
• Car repair (Adding oil, changing a tire, etc.)

Lutheran Resources

Life Skills/ Home Economics (Combined Studies)

Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers by Barbara Frank. Here is the Cathy Duffy review (likely on an earlier edition). Rainbow Resources seems to have more details on it than Amazon, though both places offer a look inside at the the Table of Contents and a bit beyond that.

Finances

The Nitty-Gritty of Money: Constructing 12 Money Principles for Youth and Adults by Brad Brunkow. This is the story of a brother and sister who attend “money camp” at their grandparents’ one summer for late elementary or middle schoolers.

Non-Lutheran Resource

Life Skills/ Home Economics (Combined Studies)

Home Economics from SchoolhouseTeachers.com goes through personal hygiene, basic cooking, and hospitality for grades kindergarten through fourth.

Household Economics Household and Personal Management Skills (Plain and Not Plain) has 18 unites toward a half credit hour in home economics (to be paired with Home Economic Kitchen Skills listed below for a full credit). This course does have a unit at the end on women’s puberty issues, so Amy Maryon also created Life Skills for Young Men, which can be bought as a book or found online here.

Cooking

The US Department of Health & Human Services has a FREE food safety course!

Home Economics for Homeschoolers: Once-a-Week Curriculum from Pearables is for those around 6 years old.

Kids Cook Real Food offers memberships for “quality time with littles,” “whole family together,” “big kids by themselves,” and “group settings.”

Kids Cooking Activities is a website with lessons, recipes, and more.

Home Economic Kitchen Skills (Plain and Not So Plain) is a free course designed with 16 unites for a half credit hour in home economics.

Articles/Recipe-based project ideas

• “A Brief History of Baking” (Paid article)
• “American baking down the decades” article series by King Arthur Baking
  • • 1900-1909: Birth of the Brownie
    • 1910-1919: Packaged Cookies Catch On
    • 1920-1929: Cake Meets Technology
    • 1930-1939: The Original Chocolate Chip Cookie
    • 1940-1949: Head over heals for pizza
    • 1950-1959: Road Food
    • 1960-1969: Breakfast leaves the table
    • 1970-1979: The crunchy granola era
    • 1980-1989: Everything bagels and garlic knots
    • 1990-1999: Artisan bread comes home again
    • 2000-2009: S’more cupcakes and more
    • 2010-2015: Farm to Table

Finances

Beyond Personal Finance by Charla McKinley. Twenty lessons, with both online and physical components, teach teens about planning for college, marriage, and more. Even the cost of divorce is investigated although divorce is not ultimately included in the life scenario.

Dave Ramsey has books, online courses, and other resources for kids & teens.

Financial Literacy for Everyone has free lesson plans, quizzes, and tests about money, budgeting, and bill payment, as does Center for Economic Education and Hand-On Banking.