They do still teach home economics, but they call it all sorts of other things. And there are lots of boys in it, just as there are some girls in Voc Ag classes. It all depends on whether your school district is considered to be in an urban or rural area.

One of the big mistakes the politicians who are using education as a football made years ago was to curtail vocational educational courses in the mistaken belief that everyone should go to college. If everyone gets a college degree, they will be about as valuable as a high school diploma is now and you will have to have one to work at a car wash.

While I'm on my soap box, lots of people who are craftsmen--plumbers, electricians, computer repair people, etc.--command as much or more money in the market place than people with degrees. Probably the largest group of people in the country who have both bachelor's and master's degrees are teachers and they are not exactly getting rich on what they get paid.

If your child wants to become a diesel mechanic or go in auto body repair, think about encouraging him or her. froggyintexas

the local Singer Sewing Store when I was 9 or 10

i was sewing when i was a teenager but learned the proper way to sew in home ec in high school. the teacher watched me pin ,cut out & sew a dressbut when i hemmed it she kept telling me i was sewing it backwords to take it out & do it again . i did .she still said it was wrong so she watched me di it & then she realized that i was left handed & was doing it the right way!!!

I started sewing when I was about 12. My mom alawys sewed all our cloths and it looked fun. Besides simple pillows my first real project was a pair of shorts. I knew quite a bit by the time I took home ec. In fact I hard learned a few short cuts that got me into trouble because I wasn't doing it the way the teacher was teaching. My junior and senior year I took classes called Textiles and Clothing 1 & 2. I made my prom dress in that class when I was a senior.

I did learn to sew in Home Ec., starting in 7th grade where my teacher knew I would never learn, partly because I had so much trouble with a thimble. Well -- I became a professor, wound up teaching all levels of sewing, writing about it, winning awards and loving it!

And I love this Board! Thank you for all you've taught me.

Sally

i learned in 9th grade Home ec.

I also learned for a 4-H group. Had a teacher that aggravated me to no end...was a stickler for accuracy. Wish I could thank her now. Looking back, she was a wonderful teacher. When I got into home ec. in high school, they made us sew a triangle kerchief. It was hilarious. I finished it on the first day. It was a several week project. OMG...that was over 40 years ago.

No, I started sewing about 5 and by the time I took my first home ec in jr. high I had been making skirts and blouses for 4 or 5 years.

I was forced to take Home Ec when they wouldn't allow me to take shop around 1965.

I didn't know how to sew and had to ask the teacher about every step for making a dress. When I was finished, the dress was sewn inside out. That convinced me that sewing wasn't for me.

I never did learn how to sew and follow a pattern. I started quilting two years ago, and only make my own designs. Patterns still baffle me.

Yes, it is still taught in many middle and high schools. It is now called Family and Consumer Sciences. However, in my county, the curriculum director took sewing out of the FACS curriculum because "it is not a life skill anymore, but is classified as a hobby." The course is geared more to nutrition, financial planning (consumer economics), food preparation skills, child development and parenting.

Yes, I took Home Ec and learned to do some sewing of clothes. I had been piecing quilts before that. I did my first quilt when I was in 7th grade and pieced it on a treadle sewing machine. I like making quilts, but not making clothes at all.

I think I was about 10 or 11 years old. My first project was a pair of pants. Then I made a dress and then didn't sew again until 10th grade in Home Ec class. I then made a blazer, skirt and vest. I kept the vest. I am 47 years old so that tells you how long I kept the vest. Guess it was sentimental. hehe I never made a quilt until I was about 40. I've only made a handful of them too since then. A big part of why I joined this group was to help get me in gear and get busy making a quilt. I haven't started one yet, but did cut out a bag for my daughter. Anyway, I love looking at everyone else's work though :) I do have a quilt that I made last year that I embroidered for my granddaughter and I also made her a rag quilt. I need to eventually post the pic. They were the last things that I made.

I learn to sew in 9th grade. It was was favorite class. I made a blue dress with flowers. I can still see that dress[in my mind]. But I did'nt pass because most of our grade was to model our outfit in front of the whole 9th grade class , & I was not getting in front of the whole class for a good grade!!. I will never forget it. But sewing is my favorite thing to do.

I did make a little make-up bag in Junior High School, but did not want to sew again until I was 24. I was also pregant with my first son. lolololol


debra

I began in Jr. High. Made simple things an apron, a skirt. I have been sewing off and on ever since.

I learned to sew in jr. high. 1/2 semester cooking and the other 1/2 sewing. My boys took home economics in high school. I don't think they teach home economics in school now. Do they?

Yes, I learned in school. My mom also sewed but I learned most in school. We had sewing and cooking. Our first project was an apron. Mine had a tulip applique and embroidered my name. we were graded on all sorts of things from that one apron. I still have that apron and I graduated high school 46 years ago.

I got kicked out of sewing. The teacher had planned to do a gym bag. You know, the kind with the draw string on top. It was supposed to take 6 weeks. I took mine home and made it. She said my mom made it. I said no I made it. She kicked me out , said I already knew how to sew. I did, was already making my dresses because my mom taught me. My mom was still mad at me for breaking the rules and bringing it home.

Started with 4-H.
Sewed in Jr. and Sr. High.
Loved it - went on to become a Home Ec. Teacher (now called Family and Consumer Science)
unemployed went back to become Special Ed. TEacher.

Why are the important classes the first one to be cut like home ec. , agriculture, shop and autobody?
Or I remember - we do not do state testing on them. lol

With a Home Ec teacher as a mom, I learned to sew at age 6. My first sewing project was a pair of pajamas I made in Kindergarten. Made clothes and crafts until about 20 years ago and now only quilt. Too expensive to make your own clothing these days, and much more fun and adventureous to quilt! Glad I learned the basics at a young age so now can move forward. My mom laughs now when I tell her that the only time the iron gets used in my house is when I'm quilting. Actually, I'm quite sure she cringes...!

Home Ec in H.S. Loved it most days cooking and sewing were the best. My first project was a skirt and jacket. I remember having problems with the jacket so dear ol mom helped. I think I might have gotten maybe an A or B on it. Never wanted to sew a jacket ever again.

I knew how to sew before JR High Home Ec. when others were making A-line skirts I was making shirtwaist dresses with button down fronts. In HS Home EC another girl and I knew how to sew so much better than the teacher that she never bothered to look at our things as long as they hung on the hanger straight. Anna - was making lined sunday church coats. She was better than I was but we were both better than the teacher.

No, my mom taught me how to use the sewing machine at age 7 or so to make doll clothes. So by the time I got to Home Ec years of high school, my mom insisted that I need to take other classes, cause she & my grandma can teach me how to sew & cook. And they did!!!!!!!!

Sewing classes for me was also in jr high. At that time it was a girl's only class. Cooking was heterosexual. I already knew how to sew and use a machine, but I was thrilled to use the [new] brother's basic machine.
Sewing classes have gone the way of the dodo in my city schools. It's a shame.

I iftd,some not as weel as woth
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4reracgers

I did learn in Jr. High, but did not continue Home Ec in high school so never really learned to sew clothes well. I can make easy things (clothing) but have never tried anything difficult. I was able to sew my boys shirts and pants when they were little and some things for myself. But I have always loved hand work, starting embroidery when I was 7th grade. Started quilting 22 years ago when I wanted to make my 4 year old niece a cuddle quilt and the rest is history!!! Even when my sons were in Middle School they learned to sew and cook which I thought was great and they and their wives are grateful!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :D

We did two years of home ec and two years of shop. We learned how to change a flat tire, wire an electrical cord, that sort of thing. We all seemed to enjoy both classes. What was really fun was to watch the boys sew and cook.

:mrgreen:

i learned from my mom starting about age 4 or5 with needle and thread. then i went on to her featherweight, and then home ec in school. loved it so much i taught it. still sew clothes as well as quilt. i should say, still sew clothes, thank goodness, Better than i quilt. lol! my husband does most of the cooking now. i am still burnt out (oops, another pun). my son sews and cooks, my daughter-in-law sews and cooks, and the rest are lazy bums. but i love them still! my husband could probably sew if i let him use one of my machines, but he likes to take things apart to see how they work and when he gets them back together there's usually a piece or 2 left over. i let him play with other tools instead. as an ex-home ec teacher it's interesting to see the responses.

Yes, I learned to sew in Home Ec in my Freshman year in High School (many years ago). The teacher had us all make smocks, if you can imagine! And we had to make our own hand-sewn buttonholes on the smock. As I recall, I had some horrid material that my Mom probably got on clearance at the JC Penney store in the little town where we lived. I loved the class but hated the project. Don't know where that smock ended up - I sure never wore it, LOL! From that point on, I must have learned well, because I made a lot of my own clothes as a young business woman, and fancy little dresses for my girls. I loved to sew, but got away it until I got back into the crafty end of sewing.

yes in high school. I took all 4 years in Louisiana. loved it. i made my first dress, altho it was way to short to wear.

I learned from my mother but i did take home ec in H.S. & learned even more. Now I mainly jus do the quilting & a hemming of something when needed. Althrough the DH is always have me make something to cover a light on the boat, a new gun case etc. he thinks I'm a reguler seamstress.

I'm oing to tell him any different.

Love the Betty Crocker Homemaker award stories. I still have the little silver charm they gave us in 1974 with my special treasures! I learned to sew from my dad. He did upholstery work. I had to rip everything out. Just started sewing again after 40 years!!

Did a little here and there, then just dug in.

I learned 1st by my Mom and 4-H, when I got to home ec, I was so far advanced with sewing that the teacher let me make a dress with a fully lined spring coat to match. Made most of my clothes in High School, then most of my kids clothes. Love to sew, quilting is new to me. Hope to do more when I retire.

Yes I learned in 7th grade home ec, made many of my dressy clothes throughout my school years . Have been quilting for about 20 years, cannot imagine life without quilting :o)

I learned to sew before junior high school. In junior high home ec I learned about cheating -- girls would take their projects home and have mom finish them to get their A.

yes, made a skirt & apron, great how you remember that from 50 years ago.

Learned how to cook/sew from my mom way before HS....I thought a sewing machine was part of household appliances...did not realize that some people don't know how to sew/cook until I became a "bride"........I still know women who have a kitchen because it came with the house and a sewing machine is a foreign language. But, I am that way with a lot of computer stuff, IPODS, smart phones, etc....so we all have black holes.........But I am happy in my world........

My mom and grandma taught me when I was 8-9. My other grandma taught me to embroider before that. I remember doing tea towels & pillow cases when I stayed with her, still have some of them. Took a sewing class at the YMCA when I was 12, and 1 year of Home Ec in 9th grade. From then on I made most of my clothes. I remember cutting a dress or top out and sewing it up in a day or two. Remember those pantsuits in the 70's ?? We weren't allowed to wear jeans to HS then. But mini dresses were OK (if they met the fingertip measure) I was tall, so it really helped to sew my own ! :roll: :)

I won the award the first year of the contest (1955) and the prize was a pin which was a wheat sheaf with a hanging engraved heart. My winning was such a shock and family joke to everyone that I never wore it. Years later as a care coordinator in a hospital that required my wearing dress clothes I wore that pin and received many compliments on it. I still have the Betty Crocker cook book that I won with the newspaper clipping about that my mom pasted inside the cover.