Home economics curriculum teaches practical life skills including cooking, sewing, budgeting, home maintenance, and personal finance. Homeschoolers can earn high school elective credit by documenting skill mastery through formal curricula or real-life learning experiences.
What is Home Economics Curriculum?
Home economics (also called family and consumer sciences or life skills) teaches the practical competencies needed for independent living and household management. Rather than academic theory, the focus is on real-world skills: preparing nutritious meals, managing money, maintaining a home, basic sewing and clothing care, and family life skills. Homeschoolers can integrate these skills naturally into daily life or teach them through formal curricula. Either approach can earn high school elective credit when properly documented.
Key Takeaways
- Covers six major areas: cooking, sewing, finances, home maintenance, personal development, and family life
- Can be taught formally through curriculum or informally through daily life
- Counts as high school elective credit (approximately 120-180 hours per credit)
- Skills learned once count toward credit—repeated tasks don't accumulate additional hours
- Modern home ec is for all students regardless of gender
Typical Subjects Covered
Typical Subjects Covered
- Cooking & Nutrition
Meal planning, food safety, kitchen organization, nutrition basics
- Financial Management
Budgeting, banking, credit, taxes, saving and investing
- Sewing & Textiles
Basic sewing, mending, clothing care, laundry
- Home Maintenance
Cleaning, organization, basic repairs, routine maintenance
- Personal Development
Time management, hospitality, etiquette, first aid
- Family Life
Child development, babysitting skills, family communication
Curriculum Options
SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers an 18-unit comprehensive course covering 32 weeks. Christian Light Education provides Home Economics I with incremental daily lessons. For budget-conscious families, Freedom Homeschooling offers free life skills curricula. SkillTrek provides 450+ video lessons with printables for $45/3 months. Many families skip formal curricula entirely, instead documenting skills learned through everyday life—cooking family dinners, managing personal budgets, maintaining their rooms—using hour logs to track credit.
Earning High School Credit
Home economics qualifies as an elective credit on transcripts. Track hours using the Carnegie Unit standard: approximately 120-180 hours equals one credit. Document skills learned (not tasks repeated)—teaching your student to cook spaghetti once counts; making spaghetti every week doesn't accumulate additional credit. The mastery approach works well: award credit when students demonstrate competence in budgeting, meal planning, basic sewing, household maintenance, and related skills, regardless of how long mastery took or whether formal curriculum was used.
The Bottom Line
Home economics fills a genuine gap in many educational programs—teaching the practical skills needed for adult independence. Homeschoolers have unique flexibility to teach these skills through formal curricula or natural integration with daily life. Either way, document what's learned and you'll have legitimate elective credit plus students actually prepared for independent living. That combination of transcript value and practical preparation makes home ec worth including in any homeschool program.
