There seems to be some renewed interest in the subject of Home Economics recently. Perhaps all the extra time families are spending at home has reminded us that the care and operation of a home requires knowledge and dedication. It’s not as simple as one might think.
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Your Home and You: A Home Economics Course
Many, if not most, schools have done away with the traditional home economics course. Not only do I believe that has been a mistake but I think it needs a major revitalization and updating for modern times. AND I think boys should take it, as well as girls.
Despite A Revamped Focus On Real-Life Skills, ‘Home Ec’ Classes Fade Away
A couple of days ago I pulled an old book off my shelves:
Your Home and You: Unit Course in Home Economics
by Carlotta C. Greer
As I browsed through this 1949 edition I realized that it still contained much useful information. It occurred to me that it might be interesting for me to do a series of blog posts on the topic of home economics using this book as a guide.
There are seven units in the book:
Unit I: Food is More Than Flavor
Unit II: Helping Your Family
Unit III: Self-Development — Manners, Personality, and Vocations
Unit IV: Wise Budgeting and Buying
Unit V: Personal Appearance and Clothing
Unit VI: Your House and Home
Unit VII: Play and Work For Leisure Hours
Within these units there are a total of 46 chapters. So if I take this study at a pace of one chapter a week we should wrap it up by the end of the year. We’ll see how it goes. There may be some weeks I’ll get more than one chapter review written depending on how much content they contain.
I’m using the 1949 edition of this book. I bought it at a used book store many years ago but it’s long been out of print. Here is a link to a copy in good condition but it’s over $40:
Your Home and You – AbeBooks.com
Amazon has a 1960 edition:
You may be able to find a less expensive copy if the condition isn’t very important to you. I don’t know how much difference there is between the various edition but I suspect there might be some updated nutritional guidelines.
Some of the information in this book is sure to be outdated and I’ll do my best to provide more modern alternatives where that might be important. But at the same time, I do think there may be some value in familiarizing ourselves with the way homemakers of the past ran their homes. We might not choose to uphold the same standards in all areas but understanding the rationale can help us decide where to up our game and where we can choose to relax those old ways a bit.
Throughout this series I’ll look for other resources that might be helpful or interesting and share them with you. For instance, this: 1950s Home Economics Documentary
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Homemaking is More Than Cleaning
Old-Fashioned Homemaking ~ 14 Tips From the Past
When I was still in school, they still taught these skills, and girls and boys were taught the same thing: both girls and boys were taught cooking, sewing, woodworking, and metal working. I also went to an interior design course at one point, and it was both genders in that too. They only taught the very basics in school though, and even many of those who went to school at the same time as me over here have only a basic grasp of the skills (or have forgotten what they were taught from lack of use of the skill). I learned much more from my time in Girl Guides and the things my Nan (Dad’s Mother) taught me, with a few lessons from my Mam thrown in.
I doubt a school course could teach more than the basics but from what I see, even that might be helpful. 😉
Agreed.