Is anyone else seeing masses of xmas rubbish being fly-tipped at every layby and public bin? I hope the council get on top of it while most of it is still sealed in bags One windy day and the stuff will be everywhere.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Moved to a new home and mixed grammar school aged 13 and there, if you did Latin or German you didn't do domestic science or the boys' equivalents of wood and metalwork which would have been useful and interesting.
At my comprehensive school we all - boys and girls - did half a term each of woodwork, metalwork, technical drawing, needlework and cookery. I don't remember what we learned to cook. I made a cactus stand in woodwork which was adapted into a kitchen roll dispenser that is still in use today in my kitchen. I skived through needlework. Then in second year, if you were good at maths you were 'persuaded' to take Latin instead of 'crafts' (i.e. the headmaster told you that's what you were doing).
Mum was a handicrafts teacher (which is why I skived through needlework - I was already pretty adept at sewing) and a decent plain cook. I didn't learn to cook at home really, but I knew how to shop for simple ingredients and what 'real' veg look like and I just muddled through with help from a flatmate at uni who was a very proficient cook. OH is also a mostly self taught decent cook. He and I have learned together over the years. Food allergies mean we can't have ready meals and everything has to be cooked from scratch. I've learned to bake bread this year from a book and some tips from forum members here .
I think if school gives you even only a brief glimpse of 'crafts', it takes away the fear factor and makes it much more likely you'll get a book and jump in on your own later in life.
ETA My Dad was the touch typist in our house. He was taught to type when he lost his sight, and given a typewriter by the RNIB. I never learned.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Does anyone else find that holiday advert involving a child lying on a beach, disturbing? It may be because it reminds me of the refugee child washed up on a beach. I don't know.
I don't recall seeing that one, but now Christmas holiday is nearly over hopefully we will see far fewer appeals to adopt every form of wildlife, feel sorry (guilty) enough to contribute to every cause going (accompanied by almost subliminal carols.
Mine was a comprehensive. Mixed. Boys could do domestic science as it was called then. Girls could do woodwork too. I made a very nice table that came with me when I married. Also a few fruit bowls.
Domestic science taught the basics. Mum was a good cook and my grandmother was head cook in service. I had good teachers.
My worry isn't with the state of education but more with the lack of boredom now. Necessity might be the mother of invention but boredom is the father. The internet can teach us to do anything but it also distracts us from achieving anything from what we've learned.
Speaking of which; my wife left our 2 year old in charge of Youtube and now I have the German version of Old McDonald stuck in my head.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
My school (girls' grammar) taught needlework but it was all making clothes. It would have been much more useful if they'd taught us mending and altering clothes. The first project was to embroider a piece of unbleached linen to make a cover for our hymn book; we were shown several patterns then chose three colours and as many different stitches as we liked, so each one was unique. I enjoyed doing that, and I still enjoy doing a bit of embroidery now and then. Next we made a blue gingham apron to wear for the cookery lessons which started in year 2. I don't remember much of what we cooked; I learned to cook from helping my mum with the family meals.
One of the daytime TV presenters today said they have come off social media because they like the nice comments people make about them, but the negative ones upset them. Pathetic. Not everybody is going to like you, that's a simple fact of life. If you put your life out there people will comment on it. Certainly some will simply be downright nasty, but others are simply expressing their honest opinion.
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At my comprehensive school we all - boys and girls - did half a term each of woodwork, metalwork, technical drawing, needlework and cookery. I don't remember what we learned to cook. I made a cactus stand in woodwork which was adapted into a kitchen roll dispenser that is still in use today in my kitchen. I skived through needlework. Then in second year, if you were good at maths you were 'persuaded' to take Latin instead of 'crafts' (i.e. the headmaster told you that's what you were doing).
Mum was a handicrafts teacher (which is why I skived through needlework - I was already pretty adept at sewing) and a decent plain cook. I didn't learn to cook at home really, but I knew how to shop for simple ingredients and what 'real' veg look like and I just muddled through with help from a flatmate at uni who was a very proficient cook. OH is also a mostly self taught decent cook. He and I have learned together over the years. Food allergies mean we can't have ready meals and everything has to be cooked from scratch. I've learned to bake bread this year from a book and some tips from forum members here
I think if school gives you even only a brief glimpse of 'crafts', it takes away the fear factor and makes it much more likely you'll get a book and jump in on your own later in life.
ETA My Dad was the touch typist in our house. He was taught to type when he lost his sight, and given a typewriter by the RNIB. I never learned.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I don't recall seeing that one, but now Christmas holiday is nearly over hopefully we will see far fewer appeals to adopt every form of wildlife, feel sorry (guilty) enough to contribute to every cause going (accompanied by almost subliminal carols.
Domestic science taught the basics. Mum was a good cook and my grandmother was head cook in service. I had good teachers.
Didn't Flanders and Swann do a song with all the farm animals speaking in Greek? Something about cockerels going 'Kee-koreekee-kee'. Hang on....
… here you are WE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nRlAPtoM0g something to keep your 2 year old's education moving forwards.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”