HOWSTUFFWORKS - home economics and management

Home Economics and Management, the study of the science and art of homemaking. Its objective is to educate the individual for family living. The subjects studied include food and nutrition; clothing and textiles; home-maintenance skills and organization; family economics; home furnishings and interior decoration; family health; child care and development; and personal development and family relations.

Courses in home economics are offered in some elementary schools and in junior high schools, high schools, and colleges. They are taught also in extension programs, community activity programs, and adult-education classes. Newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations regularly present material in this field. Home economics courses not only prepare young people for home management itself but, at higher educational levels, train them for future employment as teachers, dietitians, clothing designers, interior decorators, caterers, home economics agents, and institutional managers.

Basic Skills

The basic skills of home management are selecting and preparing food; buying, making, and taking care of clothing; and home maintenance.

Food

Introduction to the subject of food and nutrition is through cooking classes, which usually start in junior high schools. Students are taught fundamentals of nutrition and learn to use recipes and how to set a table and serve a meal. Later courses include meal planning, marketing, and food-preservation methods. College courses deal with the chemistry of food, the science of nutrition, and the planning, preparation, and serving of meals to large groups.

Clothing

Junior high school sewing classes start with basic techniques and the making of simple household items and garments. Some courses also deal with personal grooming. Later courses take up design, selection, construction, and care of clothing. College studies cover color theory, the history of costume, costume design, and fibers and fabrics.

Home Maintenance

High school homemaking courses teach the care of the house and its equipment (that is, appliances) and furnishings. The organization of household tasks for greatest efficiency is stressed. College courses take up household management of institutions (such as hotels and hospitals) as well as advanced home maintenance.

Other Home Management Functions

Home economics courses for older teenagers and for adults take up many aspects of home life not included in the basic homemaking skills. Principles and methods of budgeting are taught, and training is given in consumer economics. The house and its furnishings form a broad subject that includes home selection and financing, furniture arrangement, purchase of furnishings, interior decoration, and landscape design.

Courses in child care and development place emphasis on psychology as well as on physical welfare. Family-health courses stress hygiene, prevention of accidents and illness, and first-aid remedies. Home nursing takes up all matters concerned with care of the sick. Courses in family living draw on psychology and sociology to explore means of maintaining a home in which family members find emotional satisfaction and appropriate outlets for their energies.

Development of Home Economics

Homemaking as a formal study began in the late 1800's. Cooking courses were introduced in schools, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture began a nutrition research program. The first college courses were offered in the 1870's. Under the leadership of Ellen Henrietta Richards (1842–1911), home economics education was broadened to include scientific, as well as practical, instruction.

Federal funds, administered by the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture, are made available under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, and other legislation.

The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, founded in 1909, is the professional organization for home economists. Publications include ACTION, a quarterly. Headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia.