User:Luxjessa/sandbox

[]

What Are the Seven Areas of Home Economics?

Emerging as early as the 1880s, the goal of home economics was not only to teach women how to cook and sew, but also provided an avenue for young women to attend college. It was not until the early 1900s that home economics became an organized area of study, developed by Catherine Beecher and Ellen Swallow Richards who founded the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. It was these pioneering women who first set out the seven areas of home economics in an effort to teach girls how to properly care for a home and family and to open new career avenues. Now known as family and consumer science according to the Los Angeles Times, modern home economics courses now offer a more inclusive education to all students, including those in high school.

Cooking Since food preparation was central to homemaking, cooking is one of the earliest disciplines in home economics. Early home economics programs taught women how to cook a balanced meal, and included food safety and preservation. Additionally, they studied how to properly set a table and learned how to host meals, not only for their immediate families, but for larger groups as well. This element of traditional economics still exists today for both men and women in culinary schools, culinary programs for family and consumer sciences students, and in nutrition degrees.

Child Development In addition to cooking and nutrition, home economics students were taught how to rear children. This included learning about the stages of child development and how to correctly respond to children at each stage. Today, students who study family and consumer sciences still learn child development, which has become so significant that it is, in many places, it's own major.

Education and Community Awareness Since women were the first educators for their children, teaching them basic reading and math skills before they entered school, it was significant for them to understand how best to teach these skills. Though education and community awareness, which included moral and ethical lessons, were originally a part of the home economics education, it has become so significant today that elementary education has branched into its own field of study -- but one that is still dominated by women.

Home Management and Design Early women who studied home economics learned the the elements of design in order to better decorate and care for their homes. This area of study also included cleaning and organization, which was significant because homemakers were expected to keep the house clean and organized. Today, individuals who study family and consumer sciences use these skills to enter design fields where they thrive as designers, decorators, organization gurus and real estate staging experts.

Sewing and Textiles Another of the earliest skills taught to home economics students, sewing was significant to the lesson plans because many women sewed not only their own clothes, but clothes for their children. Additionally, this skill came in handy when clothing needed mending. Because patterns require certain types of materials, an understanding of textiles was useful. This element of the traditional areas of home economics is still relevant today as family and consumer science majors enter and thrive in fashion design and merchandising fields.

Budgeting and Economics In addition to cooking, child rearing, home planning and sewing, home economics students learned how to budget. Because women did all, or most, of the family shopping, they were expected to understand how to spend wisely and make the most judicious use of available funds. Today, this traditional element of home economics is still relevant in family and consumer science programs as students learn to properly budget, balance and invest income.

Health and Hygiene In addition to caring for the home, students who studied home economics learned how to properly care for sick family members. This included sanitation, keeping the sick family member fed and quarantined from the healthy, and at-home treatments for common illnesses. Today, some family and consumer science programs offer this information to students, though it is not commonly its own area of study any longer.