Still don't own anything. The cursive parts are Mickiesthoughts.

HOME WORK-TEACHERS NOTES-CURRICULUM

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y

I have the curriculum ready for spring term. I think both students and parents may find this a bit odd, but the course is Home Economics and I plan to do so much more than just let them bake cakes and knit mittens. This is going to teach the kids valuable life skills. During my time at MIKG I got to hear a lot of parents from other countries talking about education from their home. I'm excited to implement that knowledge to my students.

We'll start by pairing them up, preferably girl-boy, luckily there's an even amount. No one wants to be the third wheel. Most of the work can be done in class but it will require excursions out in the real world. I don't necessary believe that you have to be a couple to do this assignment but I think this is what's considered 'normal'. Look how 'normal' turned out in my case.

1) Find a job. The pair will both choose a profession, research what qualifications they need and where they could find such a job. Interview someone in that field. This includes salary, benefits, vacation, maternity leave, pension etc.

Maybe I need to narrow the jobs down to people I know. Not everybody appreciates a teen calling you asking 'dumb' questions during your very busy day. This way they won't feel discouraged. I also need to prohibit them from calling classmates parents or relatives. Or is that too harsh? I'll think about it some more. And while I too think the president has a nice salary it defeats the purpose of this task.

2) Find somewhere to live. By or rent - house or condo - pros and cons. Living costs like insurance, heating, water, gas, maintenance and transportation. Do domestic chores at home. Bake a cake, do laundry and ironing. Separate and recycle. Plan and shop for lunch or dinner, make the meal. Clean a window, dust and vacuum. Try to find ecological ways for everyday living.

Provide a few real estate agents names, home inspectors and car sales men.

3) "Live a year" plan two calendar holidays, both your birthdays, Christmas, summer and winter vacations.

I remember this was always a struggle at home. Mom wanted to celebrate every holiday on the calendar. Who ever heard of National Doughnut Day or National Hug your cat Day, especially when we didn't even have a cat. But mom wanted to throw a party. And not just a small party, if she didn't invite the whole "Burg" at least the whole block was at Casa Plum. Thinking back now, there were always ladies in the kitchen with mom 'getting refreshments'. And they were giggling and having fun. Me and my friends also wanted to giggle and have fun but we were shooed out. This was for adults only. Or the times when Mr. Morelli or Mr. Molnar came over to 'help' mom with something when dad wasn't at home. Mom was giggling then too. She always had to lie down after those parties. I remember dad was sad, I think he wanted to help mom. He told me I was a good girl when I told him that Mr. Morelli fixed our leaky faucet. I asked him if it was a really hard job, because he had to go and lie down with mom afterwords. And was that the reason he him self didn't fix it. I don't think Mr. Morelli came to fix anything after that.

4) Have an "accident".

Here I might call in Joe, a friend who's an EMT, to teach basic first aid. Also the film shown at FA1 might prevent them from texting and driving in the future.

5) Presentation. Each pair will present their project complete with facts and figures for a minimum of 20 minutes and an essay of no less than 1500 words.

We have from mid January till the end of June to complete this. We only have two hours a week so we'll need at least three weeks for presentations. For the last class we'll have a party and invite the families. I think we'll have the party in my backyard and maybe on a weekend rather than 9 to 11 on a Wednesday. I need to call Hector and find out what he thinks of my plan.