Today is all about kids in the kitchen. Well schooling in the kitchen. Can you teach your child over a stovetop?
Why yes you can and quite a bit. I’ve been actually quite surprised at how our BJU DVD homeschool curriculum seems to be able to put a bit of cooking into most of the courses.
- In Bible Class food is discussed when learning about the different Jewish holidays or maybe what the people would have eaten back in Bible times. Sometimes we make snacks that are similar.
- In English and Reading there are occasional foods when talking about greetings, how to address people or reenacting a play.
- In Science food is great to experiment with.
- But it’s Math where they have the most fun with food. In this 2nd grade math the theme is around the world so in addition to using the kitchen to learn about weights and measures we also learn about different foods in different countries and have a small snack to create reminiscent of the area in the current unit.
But this is just the schooling in the kitchen that comes with our box curriculum. In addition to all this our daughter has a drive to know much more about cooking so we’ve added it as an extra-curricular class.
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- making cupcakes
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- A little Dinette Cake
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- My first omelet
Being an overly excited mother a couple of years ago, in anticipation of this moment, I picked up the Homekeeping Skills primer Lessons in Responsibility for Girls for such a moment as this. Always meaning to use it in the summer we never got around to it.
It is meant to be used with girls starting at 6 so while she already knows much of this she really enjoys the organized manner it is laid out in.
There are 30 lessons to be used one each week, covering cooking, baking , cleaning, sewing and organization.
The cooking skills start with learning to use the peeler and progress to creating a full meal. Nutrition is discussed along with using a stove and oven.
It’s a Christian curriculum and written with the young girl in mind. Meaning my daughter can read it on her own and then I can facilitate the actual lesson.
It’s got country cute graphics and sprinkled scripture throughout.
There are two more levels for the older girl.
In addition I also picked up this book (to the right), Learning to Cook, from our library free bin. I thought she might enjoy it and I was right. But all this comes to naught if she’s not getting any application beyond the weekly lessons. Some other ways I teach her in the kitchen is with baking. It’s almost an unspoken rule that I get her help with all baking. We talk about measurements and how to treat the flour based upon what we are making. We also talk about nutrition and watch documentaries and certain cooking shows. We’re particular about which ones. America’s Test Kitchen has been a good one. We own a few Homestead Blessings videos and she has learned a bit from the ladies there. My daughter loves to cook and learns so much from this great interest. On her own she writes menus, reads cookbooks, helps me to cook, helps plan the weekly menu, helps to shop. Man! I could send back our DVDs and just use cooking to teach! I’m just kidding but it is true. There so much to be learned in the kitchen.
Read other School in the Kitchen Homeschool Ideas from the TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew.
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