By: Nicolette Behm
Welcome to unschooling! Where you don’t need a curriculum to teach your children.
One of the most under utilized proponents of homeschooling, baking!
I know what you’re thinking, cake isn’t good for you… blah blah blah.
Guess what there’s healthy recipes out there, but this isn’t about feeding your stomachs, it’s about feeding the mind. This can be applied at any recipe but lets start with a cake and breaking it down into how it can teaching lesson.
Start with a recipe, really any recipe, you pick. Have your kids help you gather the ingredients needed. For littles, it’s simple, eggs, milk, flour, salt, sugar…
If you have some older children something very cool to do is get a magnify glass and show them the different crystalline structures between salt and sugar !
Next comes the measuring, how to read the meniscus on a measuring cup when measuring liquids to get the correct amount. Try using smaller cups for things like flour, example: need 2 cups of flour? Use 1/2 cups to teach them to add fractions! Obviously you can tailor this to the age of your children.
Count the eggs, how to crack the eggs… whoa! what is an egg ? If you have older children you can explain the scientific terms like zygotes, white and yoke will do for the younger ones. Talk about where it comes from, is it a chicken egg? Duck? Dinosaur?!
Mix up the recipe, teach them the different state of matter, what was a solid (butter, sugar, etc) is now a liquid!
Time to get the pans ready! Use a measuring tape or ruler and teach them how to measure using those tools.
Grease the pans and bake. Teach them how to keep track of the time, the chemistry of why it rises when you add heat. Teach them how to set the oven to a specific degrees and why it can’t be too hot. (Don’t do this one by example, no one wants a burnt cake)
Doing something as simple as baking a cake as you can see can be math, science, Home-Ec lessons ! All while creating memories and teaching your kids important skills in life.
So take the time to break down all the steps, make memories, trust me that cake you made will taste even better !
