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Home > Teaching Cooking as a Handicraft (+ a free printable!)

Teaching Cooking as a Handicraft (+ a free printable!)

12 July 2021

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Teaching Cooking as a Handicraft - ahumbleplace.com

What is The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children?

I first found the cookbook Nourishing Traditions in 2011 and it flipped my food world upside-down. You can read a little more about it here, but essentially it completely changed the way I looked at food as well as what we were eating in our home. Over the last ten years, I have used many of the ideas and principles found in this book to keep our family eating healthy, nourishing foods.

Because these ideas of healthier living through food have been such a huge part of our family life, I want to instill these values in our kids as well. I remember when my son was small, each day when we sat down together for lunch, I’d pull out my battered copy of Nourishing Traditions and we’d see what “Sally” said about whatever it was we were eating that day. When I found out several years later that a kid’s version of the cookbook was being released, I was ecstatic!

While Nourishing Traditions itself is excellent reading material for older students (AmblesideOnline first mentions it as a guide for studying nutrition in Year 9), The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children summarizes many of the ideas found in that book in a much simpler way. This allows younger kids to also take in these ideas and understand why the quality and types of food we eat are important for our overall health.

With this in mind, I knew I wanted to go through this book with my kids, but didn’t have a good opportunity until this last year. For the last several years, all of the handicraft plans for our homeschool were made by one of the other capable moms in our co-op. Because of this, I had very little to do in this area other than making sure we completed our “homework” assignments. This last year, however, as various families moved away or chose to not participate in the co-op, we decided to eliminate a few communal subjects and handicrafts was one of them.

I’ll admit that I was intimidated by this at first. Handicrafts was the one subject that I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in actually being able to pull off regularly at home. I know myself all too well and unless something is all laid out for me with supply lists and weekly plans, chances are it won’t be done. But along with this was also a little excitement at the idea that if I could pull it off, it might be fun for me to be the one to choose what we learned. I decided I would take this opportunity to incorporate The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children into our homeschool. I’m so glad we did as it ended up being a huge success!

Teaching Cooking with The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children

The book is made up of 13 sections, each covering a different part of real food cooking including why sourcing high-quality ingredients is important as well as why it’s important to include various types of foods in our diet. The first two sections, “Kitchen Tools” and “Measuring Guide,” were similar enough that I felt we could combine them and spread the remaining sections out with one per week for the rest of the term.

I appreciate that each section covers a different aspect of eating healthier foods and also includes recipes specific to that topic. My younger daughter, who wasn’t quite yet reading when we started using this book, loved that each ingredient and piece of equipment needed for the recipes was drawn as well as written so she could participate in the cooking as well.

The first week was sort of an introduction as we had no recipes scheduled that week. During our morning lesson time, I brought the kids into the kitchen and we pulled out all of the equipment and tools mentioned in both sections so they could see what they were, where they were located, and how to use them while I read about them.

For the remaining weeks, I scheduled time during our morning lessons each week for us to read the section overview together which I also had the kids narrate. Then they’d pick out which recipe they wanted to make and we’d schedule a time later in the week for them to make it. They chose simpler recipes toward the beginning of the book that worked well to be made as snacks in the afternoon. Later, when they began choosing slightly more complicated recipes like baked beans and beef stew, we planned for them to make that as a meal.

Cooking Time

When it was time for them to cook, I propped the cookbook up on our stand on the kitchen island and stepped aside as they took over. Because the book lays out everything needed for each recipe, including ingredients, they started by gathering everything. Then my son read through the entire recipe out loud before going back to the beginning to go through each step. They were pretty good about delegating and taking turns on certain tasks like measuring and dumping. There were other things that only my son did as he is the oldest, like chopping and slicing. The recipes they chose mostly did not have much stove-top cooking, but when it was necessary, I stepped in to do that.

WeekSection TopicRecipe
1Kitchen Tools & Measuring Guidenone
2Incredible Eggs!Egg Yolk Smoothie
3Mighty Milk!Spiced Milk
4Butter is BetterButter
5Super Snacks!Buttered Blueberries
6Vibrant Vegetables!Sweet Potato Wedges
7The Secret’s in the Soup!Chicken and Rice Soup
8Friendly FermentsPickled Cucumbers
9Soak, Sour and Sprout!Baked Beans
10Meet Your MeatBeef Stew
11My Healthy LunchChicken Salad
12What’s for Dessert?Whipped Cream

The table above lists all of the recipes my kids chose as we made our way through the book. All of these were very simple and mostly hands-off for me. I stayed in the kitchen in case I was needed but otherwise let them do all of the work. It was not only nice to not have to cook a meal or prepare a snack or two, but it was also gratifying to see them doing something like this for themselves. They worked together well and learned skills that will serve them throughout their lives. If you haven’t considered teaching cooking as a handicraft, I highly recommend adding it to your homeschool!

Free Printable!

If you’re wanting to try teaching cooking as a handicraft with The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children in your own homeschool, I’ve got a free printable for you! Enter your email address below to receive the guide that includes the schedule above as well as an overview of the weekly routine!

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  1. Heather says

    14 July 2021 at 1:00 pm

    I just picked the original up for myself and plan to read it this year. This may need to be our handicraft for the kids next term! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Rebecca says

      14 July 2021 at 2:58 pm

      You’re welcome! It was definitely something we enjoyed doing together!

      Reply
  2. Erin says

    5 August 2021 at 7:18 pm

    This makes me so excited! My mom started cooking with nourishing traditions when I was still at home and it’s now a foundational cookbook in our home. We also own the kids version but I had never considered using it as a handicraft but had planned to improve my kids independent cooking this year. So the timing of this couldn’t be better. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!

    Reply
  3. Rondalyn Ohrenberg says

    3 December 2021 at 4:35 pm

    We have tried to incorporate cooking into our homeschool routine (“White sauce Wednesdays” – there are so many recipes that start with a basic white sauce . . . ), but I haven’t really systematically covered kitchen tools, etc. I am looking forward to using Rebecca’s guide this year! My daughter has a lot of food sensitivities (or rather, food ADDITIVES sensitivities, and I think that Nourishing Traditions will be a good resource as we avoid those.

    Reply

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Hello! I'm Rebecca. Wife to E, homeschooling mother to B and C, and currently living in Colorado. I have a degree in art history and find joy in being able to offer art-related resources to homeschooling families as well as a gentle, Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum. I also share our own homeschooling journey in the hope that it can be a help to others! Read More…

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"I’m painting with the gusto of a Marseillais ea "I’m painting with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won’t surprise you when it’s a question of painting large Sunflowers. I have 3 canvases on the go, 1) 3 large flowers in a green vase, light background (no. 15 canvas) 2) 3 flowers, one flower that’s gone to seed and lost its petals and a bud on a royal blue background (no. 25 canvas) 3) twelve flowers and buds in a yellow vase (no. 30 canvas). So the last one is light on light, and will be the best, I hope. I’ll probably not stop there. In the hope of living in a studio of our own with [Paul] Gauguin, I’d like to do a decoration for the studio. Nothing but large Sunflowers. Next door to your shop, in the restaurant, as you know, there’s such a beautiful decoration of flowers there; I still remember the big sunflower in the window. Well, if I carry out this plan there’ll be a dozen or so panels. The whole thing will therefore be a symphony in blue and yellow. I work on it all these mornings, from sunrise. Because the flowers wilt quickly and it’s a matter of doing the whole thing in one go.” (Letter 666 to Theo, 1888)​​​​​​​​
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Perhaps some of Vincent's most well-known paintings were his sunflowers series which he painted in preparation of the arrival of Paul Gauguin to Arles in 1888. He wrote with humor and painted with gusto at this time as he was excited for what he hoped would be the start of an artist colony in this town in the south of France. I see a lot of hope in his sunflowers.​​​​​​​​
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This is also an announcement that the Vincent van Gogh Picture Study Aid and Art Prints are back in stock in the shop! Those on the waitlist should've received an email yesterday. You can find it at the link in my profile!​​​​​​​​
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#charlottemason #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #charlottemasonpicturestudy #picturestudyaid #picturestudy #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolarthistory #arthistoryforhomeschoolers
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Let's talk about kindergarten! 📚
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I’ve read in a few places that kindergarten is now considered the new first grade. Whereas in the past, kindergarten was more play than academics, in more recent years, it has simply become a precursor “grade” to first grade. Chances are, the kindergarten you remember from your youth is very different from the way it is today.
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I think homeschooling parents of kindergartners especially feel pressure as they're either just starting homeschooling, and/or they're worried about what friends and family think about their choice to homeschool. With this in mind, they want to do all the "right" things for kindergarten. They want to be able to check all the boxes and introduce the academic rigor that they assume is necessary for that first year of education.
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But I'd like to suggest that maybe all of that -isn't- actually necessary. I'd like to suggest that perhaps one of the benefits of homeschooling your kids during the kindergarten year is that you don't have to aim for academic rigor. Maybe you don't need worksheets. Maybe you don't need flashcards. Maybe you don't need intricate lesson plans. I'll even venture to suggest that maybe you don't even need a phonics program. 😳😲 (We didn't. 😊)
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Instead of planning a jam-packed kindergarten year of lessons and hours of structured learning every day, maybe keeping everything simple is actually the better path. Taking that extra year to just spend time with your child, reading living books with them, playing with them, taking them on nature walks, and protecting that childhood for a little bit longer.
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There are even several studies out there suggesting that a better-late-than-early approach for 5- to 6-year-olds is actually -better- for them. If you're interested in reading more, I have a post about a Simple Kindergarten Year at the link in my profile!
London Fog at @wesley_owens_coffee. It's funny how London Fog at @wesley_owens_coffee. It's funny how a place can invoke multiple trips down memory lane, but as I've spent some time here working this week while my kids are at a local horse camp, I have found myself reminiscing quite often.
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I walked into this little coffee shop with more than just a little trepidation one Tuesday night in May six years ago. At the time, we had just moved to a new town and I was at a point in my life where I was desperate to make friends, so I stifled my introvert self and reached out to the leader of a local Charlotte Mason book group to see about attending. (I still have that email, by the way, @the_sacredwilds. 😊)
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I look over and watch my timid self making her way to the couches in the corner where Lindsey and Kelly were already sitting. I see the table where we gathered for snacks that Niko brought that first time I went. I gaze through the front windows and find the spot where I stood in the cold with Jennifer and Dawn talking about the upcoming retreat a half-hour after our book group had finished.
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I do not exaggerate when I say that coming to that group literally changed my life. I met some of my dearest friends who, unbeknownst to me, came along at a time in my life when I would very much need them. It changed the lives of my kids by providing them with a beautiful homeschool co-op experience and wonderful friends. It gave us community and love in more ways than I can count.
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It's been a little bittersweet for me to be here this week as neither the book group nor the co-op happens anymore. I miss those times and the faces I got to see so often. But I am so thankful that I made that decision to walk into a coffee shop on a Tuesday night.
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If you happen to be traveling through Monument, Colorado, you'll find this little coffee shop just off I-25. I highly recommend it. ☕️⛰
"I have drawn things since I was six. All that I m "I have drawn things since I was six. All that I made before the age of 65 is not worth counting. At 73 I began to understand the true construction of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes, and insects. At 90 I will enter into the secret of things. At 110, everything - every dot, every dash - will live. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age, I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign myself 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing.'" Katsushika Hokusai​​​​​​​​
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Hokusai, as with so many other artists, was an interesting character. I have read that he was crotchety, reclusive, and hated cleaning so much that he simply moved when his current house became unbearable rather than cleaning it. He is known for making a painting so large that the entire thing could only be seen from the roof of the palace, as well as a painting so small that it fit on a grain of rice. While some may be myth and some maybe be fact, his claim of calling himself “The Old Man Mad About Drawing (or Painting in some translations)” is evidenced by his skill and the sheer multitude of art that he put out during his lifetime.​​​​​​​​
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I'm excited to announce this week that I now have a Picture Study Aid and art prints available for Hokusai in my shop! You can find it at the link in my profile or at https://ahumbleplace.com/product/hokusai-picture-study/​​​​​​​​
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I love when modern artists take inspiration from art history and Diane Stanley is a shining example of this practice. I wrote a paper in college on the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, an illuminated manuscript from the early 15th century. Every week this year when I opened Stanley's version of the story of the Maid of Orléans to read to my daughter, I felt like I was looking at the Très Riches Heures again. I enjoyed it. 😊​​​​​​​​
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Making wheeeeeeey! . #whey #wapf #westonaprice #no Making wheeeeeeey!
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This piece, "The Banjo Lesson," is one of the most famous, if not -the- most famous, of his paintings. When it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1894, it was so popular, and the crowd around it was so thick that many people never got to see it close-up. I like to imagine that they were all leaning in.​​​​​​​​
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In case you missed the announcement to the waitlist last week, my Henry Ossawa Tanner Picture Study Aid and art prints are back in stock in the shop! You can find them at the link in my profile or at https://ahumbleplace.com/product/tanner-picture-study/​​​​​​​​
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#picturestudy #artiststudy #charlottemason #charlottemasonpicturestudy #picturestudyaid #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolarthistory #arthistoryforhomeschoolers
In April, I introduced a series of blog posts that In April, I introduced a series of blog posts that I plan to go through over the next few months, sharing some of my favorite Charlotte Mason homeschool resources broken down by subject. These are the ones we've tried and have been so helpful in making our days run more smoothly. They have also engaged my kids in whatever subject we're covering. In some cases, they're resources that have been made by other homeschooling moms or are from reputable homeschooling companies, and sometimes they're just different items that have been helpful to us in a specific subject.
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These are by no means the only resources out there, and I will offer others in some subjects that I have heard of but haven't had the chance to try yet, or I have friends who have used them and appreciate them. But the main list will be the resources we've used in our homeschool over the last (almost!) six years that have been so helpful to us.
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This week I'm sharing resources for Geography and Math! As with my other posts in this series, these are two subjects, especially geography, that look very different than what I experienced in my elementary school days, but I definitely consider this a good thing!
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You can find the post at the link in my profile or at https://ahumbleplace.com/my-favorite-resources-for-charlotte-mason-homeschooling-geography-and-math/
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#charlottemason #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolmath #homeschoolgeography #homeschoolresources #homeschoollife

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