Are you enjoying home economics in your homeschool? One of the benefits of homeschooling is having the time to teach your kids all the skills they will need to use after they leave the nest, and being able to make it a fun part of your homeschool day! Another great benefit is that your kids can focus on a home economics subject if it’s one of their passions, such as the culinary arts – including cake decorating.

Culinary Arts in the Homeschool:

Enjoy Cake Decorating

The culinary arts are a big hit with both my 18 year old son and my 13 year old daughter. My son has even been working in a kitchen for two years now. They each started helping me in the kitchen when they were toddlers and could cook simple meals by the time they were 6 years old. Many days, you can find my kids both singing and dancing to music in the kitchen while they cook homemade chicken nuggets and fries or beef stroganoff, or bake chocolate chip cookies or homemade brownies. I love moments like that – especially when I get to enjoy the fruits of their labour!

My daughter developed a particular interest in cake decorating, years ago. I’m no expert, but I love making fancy cakes for birthdays. Kids love piping frosting on cakes so we often allow guests to decorate their own cupcakes or collaboratively decorate a cake at her birthday parties.

At first, my daughter enjoyed simply baking cakes from scratch with me. Then she started to experiment with decorating them. A lot of her inspiration and information at first came from videos she watched through Always Icecream.

She started to get interested in making and decorating with fondant. I knew absolutely nothing about it, so we turned to Craftsy. Craftsy classes and resources taught my daughter how to make fondant and use it to great effect! She has watched their videos countless times, and each time she wants to use one of the techniques, she watches the video while she works. Check out their Fondant 101 Guide here.

My daughter has insisted on making her own birthday cakes for years now! She made this dragon egg (nesting in the sand) cake for her dragon themed birthday party a few years ago:

This cake is a masterpiece from a few years ago:

She also enjoys making fondant flowers:

And my daughter still loves having fun decorating with buttercream frosting as well. Here is a Pinky Pie (from My Little Pony) cake that she created freehand:

Craftsy offers a bunch of great, free mini-courses, many of them in the culinary arts, so be sure to check them out! And then, if your child loves them, they can move on to classes such as Advanced Fondant Techniques and The Art of Painted Cakes.

Does your child have an interest in the culinary arts? Do you have any fun ideas to share? Please let me know in the comments below!

If you’d like to see how other homeschoolers cover home economics and life skills in their homeschools, check out Add Life Skills to Your Homeschool at The Canadian Homeschooler.

Love, Luck &
Laughter,

Kimberly

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Please note: This article was originally published in October, 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.