Teaching home ec to yourself

leopard trek

Hey guys
I'm in ty at the minute, we are choosing our subjects soon. I was wondering how hard home ec would be to learn it by yourself and generally how hard is it?

Thanks

thegreatescape

I'm in 6th year and do Home Ec. I got an A2 in my mocks (89%..one percent off grr) but still find it to be a challenge.

I'd imagine studying it by yourself would be quite difficult, unless you have someone you can talk to about things or have a very scientific mind.
A lot of the course is based around food science and microbiology etc, so you'd want to be interested in Science (has a great overlap with Biology)
Another big aspect to the course is a Business section (Consumer, resource management, loans, housing etc) which is quite boring to be honest, but manageable if you've done Business or are doing Business.

If you're strong willed enough to do it by yourself then go for it, but higher level is not easy. Only 2% of the 2012 Home Ec Leaving Certs got an A1 which is quite low.. Some things are quite difficult to understand at first so persevere! If you've any more questions about Home Ec pm me :P

xoxox1994

I would definitely advise to get some grinds if you are planning to teach yourself. I agree it would be difficult but if you are doing Biology or Business there would be a small bit of crossover. You must remember the project too which is worth 20% which I would definitely advise you to get help on.

If you want to teach yourself you really are going to have to put the time in. It may be advisable to try the ordinary level paper if you are struggling.

Home Ec is a big step up from what you learnt in JC and there really is no comparison between the two.

Best of Luck

spurious

You will also need a teacher to sign off on project/practical work and that you have 'followed a course of instruction' for SEC purposes.

leopard trek

thegreatescape wrote: »

I'm in 6th year and do Home Ec. I got an A2 in my mocks (89%..one percent off grr) but still find it to be a challenge.

I'd imagine studying it by yourself would be quite difficult, unless you have someone you can talk to about things or have a very scientific mind.
A lot of the course is based around food science and microbiology etc, so you'd want to be interested in Science (has a great overlap with Biology)
Another big aspect to the course is a Business section (Consumer, resource management, loans, housing etc) which is quite boring to be honest, but manageable if you've done Business or are doing Business.

If you're strong willed enough to do it by yourself then go for it, but higher level is not easy. Only 2% of the 2012 Home Ec Leaving Certs got an A1 which is quite low.. Some things are quite difficult to understand at first so persevere! If you've any more questions about Home Ec pm me :P

Thanks so much I will be doing biology and ag science.. I'm planning on starting ag science and home economics this summer - an hour on each per day. I attend an irish school but the home ec teacher will be able to help me with some parts of the course.
What's the project?
Thanks again

leopard trek

xoxox1994 wrote: »

I would definitely advise to get some grinds if you are planning to teach yourself. I agree it would be difficult but if you are doing Biology or Business there would be a small bit of crossover. You must remember the project too which is worth 20% which I would definitely advise you to get help on.

If you want to teach yourself you really are going to have to put the time in. It may be advisable to try the ordinary level paper if you are struggling.

Home Ec is a big step up from what you learnt in JC and there really is no comparison between the two.

Best of Luck

Thank you

happywithlife

leopard trek wrote: »

Thanks so much I will be doing biology and ag science.. I'm planning on starting ag science and home economics this summer - an hour on each per day. I attend an irish school but the home ec teacher will be able to help me with some parts of the course.
What's the project?
Thanks again

Project is coursework - 5 cookery assignments to be completed under the supervision of a teacher who will sign off on it for you. Each assignment has to be thoroughly investigated, and a 5 page write up per assigment must be written up. A LOT of work involved in it and there's no way you'd get through it on your own.
Assignments are generally completed during 5th year and submitted late October / early nov of leaving cert year.

thegreatescape

leopard trek wrote: »

Thanks so much I will be doing biology and ag science.. I'm planning on starting ag science and home economics this summer - an hour on each per day. I attend an irish school but the home ec teacher will be able to help me with some parts of the course.
What's the project?
Thanks again

Someone already answered this but I'll tell you my view anyway :P You do 5 assignments relating to cookery, which are extremely difficult. You spend most of your time in 5th year doing them and yes, you send them off before the Halloween break in 6th year (not a lot of time to do them). It's only worth 20% which is little compared to the amount of work you put into them.
They're very hard to do on your own and I had to do numerous practice booklets before I could write in my actual booklet.
It was probably the most stressful part of a subject I've ever done and I wouldn't sit around doing nothing in 5th year when doing the booklet. Get stuck into them in 5th year to save yourself the hassle and hey, it's worth 20% of your Home Ec before you even sit an exam!

Siobhnk

I did Home Ec. last year for the Leaving Cert, and I would have found it impossible without the guidance of my teacher. Like said above, you need a teacher to sign off on practical work, and also the fact that only 2% of candidates achieve the A1. Now I was lucky enough to get my A1, but a lot of blood, sweat and I'll admit tears went into it. The course is a very broad one and very hard to get to grips with without an experienced teacher. It goes from being very scientific to all about business in the space of a chapter!!

I'd have a very long think about doing Home Ec by yourself.

Jade.

I agree with what everyone is saying. There is a lot of chapters in home Ec that are very basic to learn and almost nearly general knowledge at times e.g the family, marriage etc.

But there is also a lot that is hard to understand without someone explaining it to you e.g lipids, parts of electrical appliances etc.

It will take a lot of your time so just be aware of that if you're going to do it on your own.

aimzLc2

I also agree with everyone else, very difficult to do on your own and very little people get the top marks in this subject, if you were able to avoid doing this on your own i would.

RH149

Doing Home Ec yourself used to be a popular way of getting an honour in an honours subject when you need the points if doing too many Ordinary level subjects- that is if you also study Biology and Business as many areas overlap. I think when they brought in the Home Ec 'journal' and projects that have to be overseen by a teacher that made that option very difficult if not impossible. Talk to the Home Ec teacher in your school and see how willing they are to do this.

aimzLc2

RH149 wrote: »

Doing Home Ec yourself used to be a popular way of getting an honour in an honours subject when you need the points if doing too many Ordinary level subjects- that is if you also study Biology and Business as many areas overlap. I think when they brought in the Home Ec 'journal' and projects that have to be overseen by a teacher that made that option very difficult if not impossible. Talk to the Home Ec teacher in your school and see how willing they are to do this.

I have seen many people say that many areas overlap , they do not ,trust me. There is one possible consumer studies question and one possible biology one - a microbiology question , the chances of both of these coming up the same year is a little low as microbiology does not come often, therefore taking the short questons, compulsory question 1 , 2 other long questions and the elective ,the overlap does not count for much percent of the course.

hannahmatt1

Got an A2 in home ec in the leaving cert and its just one of those hardcore learning subjects. I made a 10 week study plan for it and put about 3 different topics in each week e.g fat soluble vitamins, water soluble vitamins and food preservation
then i would do a quick summary of each and get it into my head! The only reason a teacher would be absolutely essential would be for the practicals! You could probably get away with drawing them up yourself but personally i would get a bit lost because there are so many finicky things you must write to obtain full marks such as Key factors of cooking method etc.