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Post by iamkristinl16 on Feb 24, 2023 22:58:20 GMT
Every once in awhile I see a post on social media saying that we need to “bring back” life skills classes that teach basic sewing, cooking, etc. There are always a lot of comments that say that those classes are no longer taught but in my kids’ schools (high school and middle school) they still have these classes. I’m wondering if they really don’t exist in some states or districts, or if the people who make those comments don’t have kids so they believe the classes aren’t taught due to posts saying that they aren’t. So, do your schools still have these classes?
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Post by mommy2sandb on Feb 24, 2023 23:01:35 GMT
My kids have them in both the high school and the middle school level. It is one of the core required classes in 7th grade, but an elective after that. My daughter loves these classes!
ETA: I have 4 kids ages 22-13 and it was offered for all of them.
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Post by malibou on Feb 24, 2023 23:05:33 GMT
My Ds is 22. Those classes were not offered in our middle school of high school. I truly wish they had been and think they should be a requirement for all students. We did teach Ds those skills.
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Post by happyOCgirl on Feb 24, 2023 23:15:04 GMT
Yes…and I am the teacher! It is the most popular elective at our middle school. I have 220 students. We cover such important information that I know students will need to know. Unfortunately, Home Ec has been out of schools for years so many parents didn’t have the classes (so they don’t know the information). I feel very lucky our school still has the program.
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Post by busy on Feb 24, 2023 23:26:03 GMT
I have no idea what FACS is, but DS's middle school required 8th graders to take "Teen Survival" (I think that was the name). Basic cooking and other home skills, basic finance, interpersonal relationships, etc. Good solid life skills stuff. He seemed to think it was pretty fun and they learned some useful skills.
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Post by littlemama on Feb 24, 2023 23:33:00 GMT
Ds had a cooking class as an elective in high school.
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Post by katlady on Feb 24, 2023 23:33:54 GMT
In Jr. High, I took Home Ec. The first semester was cooking and the second semester was sewing. LOL! We made gym bags and that is what all the girls carried to gym classes. Boys took shop classes. I don't recall any Home Ec/Shop classes in high school. My boys took shop in middle school. I don't know if it is still offered.
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Post by freecharlie on Feb 24, 2023 23:36:12 GMT
The school my kids went to did not have them.
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ellen
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Post by ellen on Feb 24, 2023 23:41:43 GMT
At my smaller district it was cut several years ago. My daughters attended a bigger school that employed two FACS teachers. They had to take a semester in 7th grade and later on they could take electives.
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SabrinaP
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Post by SabrinaP on Feb 24, 2023 23:43:00 GMT
We have lots of CTE classes. Kids can take culinary classes. Our high school even has a restaurant. We have a welding school and animal science where they run a doggie daycare for staff.
Next year they are adding cosmetology and automotive. I’m pretty sure they have some health science stuff too.
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Post by padresfan619 on Feb 24, 2023 23:43:40 GMT
I have no idea if those classes are still offered in my area but I took a food science class in middle school in the early 2000s. I still say to myself “pan handles turned in” every time I go to use a pan on my stove because of that class.
When I was in high school my algebra II teacher taught us the formula for compound interest using real life sale examples to show us how much we’d end up paying for that “sale” item if we only made the minimum payment on our credit cards. I credit him with the reason I pay my credit cards off in full every month. I think it’s important for things like that to be taught more than cooking.
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snyder
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Post by snyder on Feb 24, 2023 23:46:05 GMT
My son or grandson did not have these classes available. Driver's Ed, Auto Mechanics, Woodshop, Cooking and Sewing went by the wayside at our schools around mid 80s.
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Post by katlady on Feb 24, 2023 23:46:39 GMT
We have lots of CTE classes. Kids can take culinary classes. Our high school even has a restaurant. We have a welding school and animal science where they run a doggie daycare for staff. Next year they are adding cosmetology and automotive. I’m pretty sure they have some health science stuff too. As someone who was on the college track in high school, I would have been envious of those who could take those classes! I couldn't even be on the year-book staff because the class was at the same time as the Physics class I *had* to take. |
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peabay
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Post by peabay on Feb 24, 2023 23:51:38 GMT
Our middle school curriculum includes “Life Education” - which is essentially Family and Consumer Science. Our high school doesn’t have it per se, but there are cooking classes and personal finance classes. We don’t have “shop” classes any more - we just didn’t have enough kids to take them (our school is heavy on college prep) and we have a nearby magnet school for kids interested in trades.
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Post by longtimenopea on Feb 25, 2023 0:11:57 GMT
We do, but relatively few students really have time for it in their schedules. Students need to pack in 3 credits language, 4 math, 4 science, 2 PE, 1 personal finance, and so on - the only way to fit in FACS is to exclude another elective such as band, theater, marketing, engineering, etc.
I wish they delivered it through our schoolwide advisory time - they do that in middle school but not at the high school level. i think all kids need life skills. It’s part of the sped curriculum but I think all kids need it.
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Post by Linda on Feb 25, 2023 0:19:44 GMT
As someone who was on the college track in high school, I would have been envious of those who could take those classes! I couldn't even be on the year-book staff because the class was at the same time as the Physics class I *had* to take. I'm sorry - I earned a computer programming certificate (from the Vo-Tech that shared our high school campus) despite being college track. My youngest is taking welding this year along side her AP/honours classes. My older two were also AP kids - one took Criminal Justice at a magnet school, the other tried out Ag science and hated it. OP - home ec type classes are available as electives in 7th/8th grade here...my son took woodworking and ag science, my daughter took cooking - and complained that they didn't actually COOK real recipes, just stuff like taking Pillsbury grands biscuits (in the tin) and rolling them in cinnamon sugar and baking. My youngest was homeschooled in 8th and picked Art and Spanish as her 7th grade electives. They've all learnt useful life skills at home and through Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts. There are quite a few trade preparation programs at the high school - CNA, welding, ag science, vet assisting, construction trades, logisitics, cooking, banking...I'm sure I'm missing some... |
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milocat
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Post by milocat on Feb 25, 2023 0:43:51 GMT
My girls took Foods in the past few years. There is also shop offered because the teacher who taught it, eventually became principal then he retired from that and is just teaching shop class now. My girls really liked shop also.
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kiavonne
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Post by kiavonne on Feb 25, 2023 1:45:38 GMT
I wish these classes were still around. Cooking, sewing, auto mechanics, etc. I mean, I cannot sew well, but I learned how to use that machine and follow a pattern, and could do it in a pinch if I had to. I don't like to cook, but I certainly can and have been doing so more since things are rather pricey these days for pre-prepared foods or going out. Healthier, too. And, after high school, I took a basic auto maintenance class that taught such things as being able to change a tire, change my spark plugs, change the oil, etc. Cars have changed a lot since then (late 70s), but knowing some basics can actually be life savers, too. Sad that driver's ed is no longer taught, too. I suppose the "liability" is part of that problem. I actually took a "cop out" class in high school called "General Math" because I didn't quite make it through Algebra, and I learned a lot I still use today - taxes, account balancing, etc. Oh, I took Algebra again later, struggled and made it with a B+, and do use some of it generally, but that "cop out" class has stood by me. And, then, there is cursive writing. Stars, I wish this would come back. There have been several studies that have proven that handwriting actually helps retention vs all this crazy automation. Ten times the workload because of computers and recorders, but we can only take in so much at any given time. Ah, well.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Feb 25, 2023 1:45:58 GMT
I have no idea what FACS is, Family & Consumer Sciences, which is the term now used in place of Home Economics, but most of us 50+ still refer to it as Home Ec or Home Economics. I have found that it depends on the school district and/or size of the town you are in. My cousin and I both have a BS in Home Economics and she opted to teach with her degree. She taught in a small town high school outside of Austin for over 30 years before retiring. In our district in Houston, it was offered in middle school as a one year elective, which DD took. It was not an option in the high school where so many of the kids were doing college track and AP classes. DD graduated in 2006, so I'm not sure if that is still the case or not. Will have to check it out. |
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Post by supersoda on Feb 25, 2023 2:09:23 GMT
I don't think so, but in high school they did offer culinary classes and fashion design classes as part of the career-oriented tracks.
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breetheflea
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Post by breetheflea on Feb 25, 2023 2:30:34 GMT
No, and they schools don't have a classroom with the ovens to teach them.
There's a magnet high school chef-training of some sort of program but that's about it that I know of.
I took one semester of cooking in 8th grade, and have often wondered how I thought I was going to eat because I didn't take more classes... they would have been more useful than what I did choose to take! We eat three meals a day, cooking is kind of a big deal...
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anniebeth24
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Post by anniebeth24 on Feb 25, 2023 2:32:16 GMT
Our middle school has a home ec type course as a one trimester elective.
Our high school is rather divided as you're either on the vo-tech track or the standard academic track. Vo-tech courses are at a completely different facility about 45 minutes away, so kids can't take just one course. They have intensive programs that are a half day for a year and then full day the second year. These include auto mechanics and cosmetology.
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Post by Scrapper100 on Feb 25, 2023 2:56:11 GMT
My son had it in middle school they did cooking and I know they had to do laundry. No idea what else they did. My son had to sew in Boy Scouts.
I think it’s great if schools teach this in case their parents don’t teach them.
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luckyjune
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Post by luckyjune on Feb 25, 2023 6:46:13 GMT
The district where i taught and from where all our kids graduated has shop, home ec, art, and music for middle school and high school.
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Post by bianca42 on Feb 25, 2023 13:15:50 GMT
In my district, it's a required class for one semester in both 6th and 7th grade. DS2 is in 7th grade and is currently taking FACS this semester.
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Post by Merge on Feb 25, 2023 13:42:01 GMT
Our high school didn’t have it. Not when I was growing up and not for my kids. I have mixed feelings about people saying those classes should be required or are “more useful” than other courses. I mean, I get it. Certainly we all have to eat every day and cooking is a basic skill everyone should have.
But I also kind of think the purpose of school is to teach us how to think and how to be more thoughtful humans and citizens, not how to do life. I’m not sure basic life skills should be the purpose of going to school when schools are so stretched already.
I learned some very basic cooking/baking growing up. Most of what I know, though, was learned from Food Network back when they had cooking shows, and other places like YouTube. I could not have had a musical experience like I had in my choir classes after the fact, on TV, so to me it was more important to take stuff in school that I couldn’t get elsewhere.
I also worry about a push from certain factions to value homemaking skills, particularly for women, over learning accurate science and history. And I worry about the anti-intellectualism we see now saying that practical, job-related skills are the only things worth learning.
So anyway. My two cents.
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caangel
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Post by caangel on Feb 25, 2023 15:34:53 GMT
Our middle school does not. The principal said in a parent meeting he has been looking for someone to teach it for many years and it has been really hard to find some one.
A mom said she knew someone that was interested and ready to teach and asked what certificates were needed... I think she was very surprised that a teacher would be expected to have a degree and a teaching credential. Cuz anyone can teach! 🙄 (Yes I know there are people who are natural teachers but I hate they way our society thinks I did kindergarten I can teach that.)
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caangel
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Post by caangel on Feb 25, 2023 15:39:25 GMT
Our high school didn’t have it. Not when I was growing up and not for my kids. I have mixed feelings about people saying those classes should be required or are “more useful” than other courses. I mean, I get it. Certainly we all have to eat every day and cooking is a basic skill everyone should have. But I also kind of think the purpose of school is to teach us how to think and how to be more thoughtful humans and citizens, not how to do life. I’m not sure basic life skills should be the purpose of going to school when schools are so stretched already. I learned some very basic cooking/baking growing up. Most of what I know, though, was learned from Food Network back when they had cooking shows, and other places like YouTube. I could not have had a musical experience like I had in my choir classes after the fact, on TV, so to me it was more important to take stuff in school that I couldn’t get elsewhere. I also worry about a push from certain factions to value homemaking skills, particularly for women, over learning accurate science and history. And I worry about the anti-intellectualism we see now saying that practical, job-related skills are the only things worth learning. So anyway. My two cents. I agree! And of all the things for people to complain about these are things parents CAN teach their kids. (I know that not every kid has a capable parent, I'm more speaking to the parents who are complaining.) I think it would be great to offer not 100% sure about required. |
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Post by elaine on Feb 25, 2023 16:05:44 GMT
Every once in awhile I see a post on social media saying that we need to “bring back” life skills classes that teach basic sewing, cooking, etc. There are always a lot of comments that say that those classes are no longer taught but in my kids’ schools (high school and middle school) they still have these classes. I’m wondering if they really don’t exist in some states or districts, or if the people who make those comments don’t have kids so they believe the classes aren’t taught due to posts saying that they aren’t. So, do your schools still have these classes? Last year when I was substitute teaching, I subbed numerous times in the FACS classes at my local middle school. They are definitely taught here in our large district. Our local middle school even has TWO full-time FACS teachers. eta: they are not required, but offered as an elective to meet some requirement that they can meet with that class or some others. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Feb 25, 2023 17:13:08 GMT
My kid’s middle school doesn’t have it. The only “elective” (if you want to call it that) for 6th and 7th is the choice of band, orchestra or choir, of which they are required to choose one. For 8th grade, their elective options are foreign language, band/orchestra/choir, art or design & model (which is basically how to design using CAD software and using 3D printers and laser cutters).
When I was in middle school, we were required to take home ec where half was cooking and half was sewing. There was also a wood shop class that I remember taking, so one semester must have been home ec and the other was wood shop since I was only at that school for one year. In high school we had the option of taking either home ec or early child development. I can’t remember if it was an elective or a required class. Pretty sure there was also an auto shop and maybe wood shop classes that were electives. I took the early child development class because my best friend at the time wanted to take it and she arm twisted me into doing it too. It was boring as hell and I remember wishing I had taken the other class.
I just looked online at the courses offered at the high school my kid will attend and it doesn’t look like home ec as we knew it is offered.
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