Home Ec

 I failed Home Ec.  - sewing project in particular.   Sad fact but true.  Mrs. Hack was not pleased with me in 7th grade. I declare she had it in for me!   You see, I didn't follow her instructions on how to put in a zipper.  I had already been sewing for two years, making my own skirts and dresses with zippers and the popular pin tucks back then.  Back then, girls wore skirts and dresses to school.  No pants allowed.  I had already been taught by my mother in the art of zippering.  I tried Mrs. Hack's way but it just didn't look as good to me as the way my mother taught me.  So, when I finished my red plaid jumper, it was a big fat F.   I was almost afraid to let my folks know.  However, my mother, always the staunch seeker of what's important and what's piddling stuff, long before there were soccer moms, told me the teacher needed a broader view of sewing.  In essence, she was stoopie!  Now for my mom to call someone STOOPIE was akin to cursing.  I mean I used to get soap in my mouth back then for saying "darn it".

Not many schools offer Home Ec. any longer.  I know I am dating myself here but gosh, it was required to get out of seventh grade.  While I got a failing grade on the zipper insertion, I did learn a lot from my teacher.  I learned how to cook fresh asparagus,  use a timer - a handy dandy tool I often use when I am sitting in front of the computer - I learned or rather re learned the daily tasks of house keeping.  We were taught how to make a menu, iron, and set a table.  My mom is a great homemaker and had already schooled me in a lot of housework chores.  But I still learned recipes that I still use today.

I don't know when Home Ec fell into oblivion.  Recently,  I understand the high schools are teaching young girls how to care for a newborn.  They are assigned a doll that cries every so often for feeding, changing ~ really?  But what about how to cook for your family?  With the headlines screaming about obesity in the population, it would make sense to me to teach nutrition and how to achieve a balanced meal?

Any longer it is not thrifty to make clothes from scratch like when I was a teen.  Good fabric is expensive!  We can get cheap clothes from overseas.  Of course they won't last a season most of the time and please buy a size or two larger because once laundered, they will shrink into XXS.

I am sad for the generations that do not learn the discipline of planning out a menu and then shopping for it.  In these days of wash and wear, how many know how to iron?  Or what it is. lol?  It was always my least favorite chore, ironing my dad's work clothes, heckfire shoot! Back then we even ironed pillow slips and sheets!
On occasion I think of Mrs. Hack when I am sewing on dolls, quilts, table runners, pillows, quillows, curtains and when I am completed I often think, Not bad for a Home Ec failure.