Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Schooling In The Kitchen

If you have been around my blog for any amount of time you know how much I love to cook. That includes baking, learning new recipes everything. When we started our homeschool journey a couple of years ago my eyes were opened to how easy it was to teach without books or formal lessons. I never really thought about it to be honest. My mind frame was that school was where we learned, homework was for us to help at home with and everyday life things were just that. Everyday life. When I started researching homeschool and truly opening my eyes to those everyday life things, it was I who learned something. Everyday life can be everyday learning. When I started looking at things that way boy did it become an adventure!

One area I want to focus on today is learning or schooling in the kitchen. I have to admit. At first I was one of those that really didn't want to take the time to let him do it. I thought he would hurt himself or it would take entirely too long. I have learned to take a deep breath and let him learn. LOL 

Now.. what can you do? How is that school? Guess what!! You can learn math, science, reading all in the kitchen. Recipes? Let them read and help you gather the ingredients. You can also make it a treasure hunt as they go around the kitchen looking. Science? How does vinegar and baking soda react together? What do you get if you leave an ingredient out of the recipe? All those are great items that you can learn about. Math? Well, fractions abound, measuring cups are the tools of the trade and learning the difference between a tablespoon and teaspoon is very important. One of our favorite recipes that Boo Bear has been making is our easy pancake recipe. He's learning how to beat an egg properly, crack the egg without getting shell into it, measuring the right ingredients etc. It's fun and it's learning.

Here are a few ways school can transfer over to the kitchen:

- Find kid friendly cookbooks. There are tons of them out there. Your local library may have some you can look at. Use these to get recipes that are easy for kids to make and for you to let go and let them.

- Look on Pinterest. The recipe you use does not have to be a gourmet meal. Let them help make cute little snacks that will not only be healthy but fun too! You can check these ideas out here, here, and here.

- Cook dinner together. If you are like me the thought of your child helping in the kitchen was a little bit intimidating. Especially when they are 5 or 6 and want to chop things.. sigh. oh my! But this is where my teacher brain took over and said okay. So I told him the knives in the kitchen he could use and his own little cutting board. We have talked about safety in the kitchen and much more! It can be a fun experience working together and they are learning the entire time.

So when it comes to homeschooling moving to the kitchen remember these tips:
- Relax
- Have fun
- Take a deep breath and
- It's okay if something spills or if flour gets everywhere. These are wonderful memories!!!


2 comments:

  1. Other important math concepts that can be taught most easily in the kitchen include mesurement conversions (how many ounces are in a cup etc),time relationships(there is so mcuh so it has to cook for so long). These are things that can be hard to teach from a textbook but easy to teach in your kitchen.

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  2. Wonderful post, Jen! You taught me some things about schooling in the kitchen that I had either forgotten, or didn't know. Wish I had done this with you and Joe!

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