Homemaking Curriclum Ideas

Cards from Victorian Trading Company

Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. -Proverbs 8:10-12

Please see the previous post for curriculum ideas you can make up, yourself.

There may be things in these books that are not needed for everyone, but if you concentrate on the things that you can use, they will be most useful. If you have daughters at home and you really want to motivate them to be enterprising and productive in the home, these books will be of value:

Future Christian Homemakers Handbook by Laurie Latour: Illustrates with photographs of her own home keeping classes at home; contains food studies and home keeping skills, and instructions for the temperament (kindness, goodness, etc) Most excellent with assignments.

Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills by Martha Greene: lovely home keeping book with everything in it from laundry to Home repairs; includes knitting and other needlework skills, how to make a sewing box, cooking, the home office, and much, much more. Has work pages to fill in. This is a very worthwhile book for study or for keeping. Has historical notes and quotes in it.

Keepers of the Faith: This is written for little girls, but what fun it would be for an older girl at home to take it chapter by chapter and do the assignments in it and fill up a notebook with samples of the skills contained in it. I would like to do it too!

The Joy of Womanhood: This is mainly a Bible study containing Bible examples and verses that pertain to womanhood. In the back of the book are exercise pages that teach you how to manage family finances, and give assignments such as reading a book on bread making, reading a book on home organization, keep your own room neat and organized for 6 months, keeping a journal, reading ("read 20 books ob the following: biography-4 books, history-2 books, how-to--4 books, poetry-1 book, nature, 1 book, etc;) writing assignments: write a letter to your congressmen on a particular subject, write to a local newspaper; physical fitness, and serving the needs of others. A small book but full of ideas in the back.

The Christian Girl : Book One, Book Two, Book Three and Book Four; these were last authored in 1964 but are still being published as new, today. I have reviewed the lessons in these books and the scrapbook assignments at the end of each lesson. If young girls were taught these lessons, they would be happy to do what is right and good and be pleasing instead of peevish, happy instead of harping, and serving instead of sullen. Check out recent posts I've had about these books.You can order these booklets by calling The Christian Herald Bookstore at 1-800-939-6767.

American Girls Handy Book: This is not a Christian book but it has some very interesting activities that were popular in Victorian times. It is divided into four parts: spring, summer, autumn and winter, with activities for each season. Some you will want to ignore, but others are quite good. For example, the summer section contains instruction for summer cottage decoration, and what to take to a picnic. There are paper crafts and other kinds of crafts done in the 1800's as well as how to play games of the times. I have always treasured this book. It is called a nonpareil book.

A young lady's education should draw her closer to her home and family, and draw her family closer to her, and make her desire, more than anything else, a home and family of her own. Education that detaches young women from such values, has gone beyond education and is tampering with the emotions and the mind, outside of the word of God. In my opinion, women who are educated at home can take on any issue with intelligence and clarity. Such women are well-read and knowledgeable on many different issues.

Very Useful Websites http://members.truevine.net/theingrams/index.html

Here is one written in 1910 http://www.scribd.com/doc/898476/Practical-Suggestions-for-Mother-and-Housewife-by-Marion-Mills-Miller and here is a place to order a hard copy: http://www.allbookstores.com/book/9780762436101/Marion_Mills_Miller/Practical_Suggestions_For_Mother_And_Housewife.html

I have read it and would suggest you read it carefully to understand the meaning and word usage and expressions of the time and get an understanding of the whole subject. There is a lot of instruction directed to daughters before marriage, who are at home with their families. It could be quite a classic and it gives a glimpse into what people used to think that young girls should be busy doing.

More book titles will be inserted into this post soon.

The previous post contains ideas of being a librarian for a day or week, a hostess for a day, a reader, and other things that give hands-on experience for young ladies at home.