A home economics teacher typically teaches students lessons in what can be called domestic science or family economy. Home economics teachers instruct students in skills such as sewing, cooking, and budgeting so that they can have some knowledge about how to run a household as they move into adulthood. Most home economics classes are taught at the high school level. A home economics teacher usually must prepare coursework and cooking or sewing sessions, as well as quizzes and exams.
Home economics teachers typically must keep within a budget issued to them by the school. It can be challenging to purchase foods within the budget for students to prepare as one home economics teacher may teach many different cooking classes each day. The budget for sewing classes usually is not as difficult for the teacher to manage since the students typically supply all of their own materials. Patterns and fabric – as well as thread, fasteners, and other sewing notions – are almost always supplied by each student. The school typically provides sewing machines in the classroom.
Many home economics classes help students learn to purchase groceries in an economical way. Home economics teachers instruct students on how to choose the freshest produce as well as offer tips for saving money when grocery shopping. For instance, a good tip that a home economics teacher may offer students is to plan their menus around the sale items featured in weekly grocery store flyers.
Students usually keep the garments and recipes they make in home economics classes. They may try similar crafts and recipes at home to expand on the skills they learned. In the 1950s, most home economics classes were only for girls, but many of these courses later became coed and were taught to boys. In return, the once male-student-only auto shop classes became coed so that female teen drivers could also learn about how to maintain their vehicle.
Home economics teachers must carefully plan cooking classes so that recipe preparation and clean-up times can be completed within the time allotted for the class. Since home economics classes are typically offered at the high school level, class times may be exact to allow for the groups of students in their current classrooms to get to their next subject in another classroom. Most home economics teachers create short quizzes based on the cooking skills learned in each class. Typically, mid-term and year-end exams must also be prepared and graded by the home economics teacher.