YESSS! I loved Home Ec in high school. Loved reading about your time spent organizing and accomplishing everything, and then reading about the lots of smiles after they ate the fruits of everyone’s labor…that must make you feel good! Congratulations, a job well done!
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You did a good deed.
Self-sufficiency in all manner of skills, whether Grade 12 reading/writing/science proficiency, hustling snow shoveling/lawn mowing if they’re possible in your neighborhood (Cripes, we had a college classmate who had two paper routes – a.m. + p.m. – of course ended up as an Establishment fixture lawyer), or making the family’s dinner before Mom and Dad got home, etc. etc. etc. is a meaningful step to living a good life of being able to take care of those who matter and those who’d be better off with a little of your help . . .
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I never wanted to take science or math classes but I was forced to take Biology in college and ended up liking it; got a lot out of it.
I do remember not wanting to dissect a frog and I wrote a letter saying my daughter could skip doing that. I felt they didn’t need to kill frogs just to give that experience to school kids, they could learn with plastic models.
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I remember “The Invisible Man”. Or maybe it was the visible man!
Please tell me someone else had this!
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So a group of students ran down a list of things that they want to do in the future. Some were insane–sushi? That’s the OPPOSITE of baking. haha There was something else. . . oh mozzarella sticks. I was like that’s deep frying and no way. But others we can do–soft pretzels, pizza, mac and cheese, Eton mess, and anything involving that Dubai chocolate stuff that I’ve never seen. I keep saying that it doesn’t have to be all sweet stuff and they ran with that idea.
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So cool they’re thinking expansively! Maybe next year there will be not only a baking club but a cooking club too!
I really find your update encouraging, what with schools cutting back (or even dropping) Home Ec programs. It’s wonderful to hear that high school kids are interested in making things, rather than just heating up stuff.
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I remember that book, but seeing it reminded me of a story (possibly fake) about an alarmed parent whose preschooler told them how much they liked playing “The Naked Man” game. Turns out the little one was talking about “Operation”. You know, this one:
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And you should see some of the things that they make for our monthly bake sales. Some students are already very experienced in baking while others want to learn. It is all good. As long as they are having fun.
I’d love to do a cooking club but I wouldn’t do it as a volunteer position. #1–just no and #2–the union discourages people doing advisor positions for free because it establishes “past precedent” which means they can force you to keep doing it since you’ve done it in the past.
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Maybe when the former advisor returns to work (assuming she returns to work), she can have the baking club back and you can start the cooking club. As a paid position, does the $600 include the expectation that you’ll buy supplies out of it, and any money left over is your stipend? Or do you get an allowance for supplies, too? (Apologies if you covered that in your original post.)
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The $600 or $650 or whatever stipend is for me. There is no funding by the school/district but we do monthly bake sales to fundraise for supplies. There was $$ in the account already from last year but we’ve raised like $800 this year. The cinnamon roll project only cost $44 in ingredients/supplies. We have about $1000 in the account right now.
I’d take on a cooking club too if it was a paid position. I doubt she will want baking club back with an infant. For now I’m happy to include savory baked things along with sweet stuff.
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So you turn it into a broader cooking club, continue to produce goodies to sell at bake sales, and use the proceeds to cook standing rib roasts and sushi (probably not the same time, though)!
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I did a survey at the start of the year to see if there was interest in cooking too. Almost none but those were students who were mostly members with the former advisor. Maybe later in the year I’ll run it again. I’m definitely a better cook than baker!
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I’ve made soft pretzels in the past. If you decide its something you and the class want to try, this is the recipe I use.
Soft Pretzels
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I’ve expanded the number of cookies I freeze first, either the dough frozen in a log, or formed cookies frozen, then baked off.
Would that work for the club? Make and freeze one time, bake and (optionally decorate/stuff) eat the next session?
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There are baked versions of mozzarella sticks - here’s one recipe
“Take out wrenched ankle!” went the operation commercial! I remember that too!
But “The Visible Man” that I am remembering was not a book; it was a plastic model you put together. I’m remembering glue, with no room for mistakes. 
Here’s a picture of one put together on eBay
Oh well! Baking club sounds like more fun!
There were many (many) Revell model kits among our childhood’s neighborhood, and no glue-sniffers among that lot.
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I saw someone demo making these Pretzel Bites out of canned biscuits. Each can makes 32 pieces and it looks like they could be whipped up in an hour or less, which might meet budget and timing requirements.
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Sounds great to me.
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