My GD lives with me. She has autism. I have taught her to sew. She is in a cooking class in high school. Some of the things that come to mind to teach is safety and sanitation. DGD has been introduced to the use of large chef knives and all the safety that goes along with their use. If a knife is falling off a counter top -- step away. Never put the knife down into a sink of water --- wash it and put it away. How to prevent fires and burns. Each student must pass the safety test to be able to go into the actual cooking part of the class. Then there is safety in food handling -- washing hands, keeping foods safe to eat, etc. I have addressed safety in handling rotary cutters and scissors, keeping hands away from the sewing machine needle. With the iron - - keeping the cord out of the way so no one would trip over it and pull the hot iron down on themselves, or keeping these things out of the reach of a toddler. In cooking how to put out grease fires, turn the pot handles so no one would knock a pot off of the stove. AND I just bet that an older member of the family can have some stories of how things were done in the "olden days". GD and I actually churned butter when we talked about the earlier settlers and how foods had to be prepared. We had a book about earlier settlers kitchens and another book introducing the use of baking powder. My mother, born in 1914, was still living and I asked her what they did to make cakes without the use of baking powder. She remembered when baking powder was being introduced to the homemakers and told how relucent families were to use baking powder. People thought it would "eat up the linning of their stomach", so the "peddlers" who traveled to rural areas selling all kinds of products from coffee, kitchen utinsels, dishes, and black pepper to "snake oil" had info about the use of baking powder. Perhaps your grandmother will remember Watkins, Jewel Tea, Stanley Products, etc. In fact your "student" could do research on these things and write an English paper killing two birds with one stone. Hope this is food for thought