When They Want To Cook...Tapping Into Their Passion

When my oldest was in Grade 6, our home school board offered a series of  cooking/baking classes at a local culinary store. After taking these classes, Devin was hooked on the culinary arts.
He wrote out all the recipes they made; including homemade calzones, home made healthy chicken fingers, muffins, etc. We still make the pizza dough recipe...its tried and true and yummy!  Since this experience, Devin has turned into quite the little baker and chef. He's entered into our local fair and won prizes and ribbons for his chocolate cake and bread. He planned, prepped and cooked everything for our last New Year's Eve party. Yes, there are and were times my kitchen looked like it was hit by a hurricane, but sometimes you need to let go of the mom OCD to let your kids find their passion.

Was their a special curriculum we used? No. During his younger years, I found some great cookbooks geared towards children. As options for high school, Devin did take some Food Studies classes offered by Alberta Ed. for credits. His high school classes were his only "formal" studies for cooking and baking. Usually when Devin wants to bake or cook, Google is his main source for some great recipes.
If you're looking for some great cookbooks for your kids to start them off in the kitchen, this is what we use and used. This is our own personal "young person's stash" for girls and boys, and I'm sure you can find them at your local bookstore or even library.

All of the above books have great pictures and instructions for simple, healthy recipes that children can follow with some adult supervision 

So...what's he going to do with his cooking classes? Well? One of Devin's options when he was deciding what to do after high school was to go to culinary school. His main passion is sports though; and he chose kinesiology. He wants to be an athletic therapist.  Has he given up on his passion to cook and bake? No. It's his creative outlet and his calming zone when his stress level is too high. He's even entertaining the thought, that it would be neat to take his athletic therapy to another level and incorporate nutrition into his future studies.  Fixing up athletes and coaching them how to eat properly...Not bad for someone who likes to cook, bake  and play sports.

I'll say it again...homeschooling is awesome! Why? It gives you the parent a chance to really mentor your kids. You can gently lead them and mold them into wonderful people as they try and discover what they like to do. They discover their passions and their talents! It's a pretty lucky and great place to be when they discover their "A-HA" moment.