Cassie has been showing an interest in cooking lately so I have been taking full advantage of this window of opportunity and trying to teach her all I know. On Sunday we made a cheesecake together. It didn’t turn out so well. It tastes good enough but the texture is not right and so the kids, who generally devour cheesecake, weren’t too interested in it. I used the failed cheesecake experiment as a lesson to teach Cassie the importance of following a recipe. It’s not good enough just to gather the ingredients together and use the right measurements. It is the ORDER you put the ingredients together that makes all the difference. Our mistake with the cheesecake was not putting the items into the bowl and mixing in the correct order. Result? Cheesecake that was not as good as it should be.

Last night we made macaroni and cheese. With a white sauce. Very important to do that in the correct order or you will have very lumpy sauce. Cassie was very interested in my stories of Home Economics classes in 8th grade. She thinks that has got to be the best class in school. Until I told her we still had to do tests and homework and it wasn’t all just about cooking food and eating it. She feels that it should only be about the cooking. That is what is so great about homeschooling. It can be just about the cooking! But at the same time I showed her how to read the measuring cup and to find out how many tablespoons are in a cup and how many teaspoons in a tablespoon. She also learned about thickening agents and seasonings. And how just a little bit of salt can really make or break a dish.

In the meantime, while cooking was happening, back in the bedroom, Eric was working with his dad on how to find out where his air con was leaking from and how to rig up a system so that the dripping water landed in the bucket and not on the floor. So a little home building, mixed in with physics came into play. And a little lesson on electronics and water, and how the two just don’t mix.