So when a sweet friend of mine gave me the idea for a "first day of homeschooling lesson" that involved cake I was intrigued.
Here's my version of the Baking Lesson:
Connor (9) and Sara (6) were given the following instructions:
Today- you are to make a cake from scratch. You may not use a cake mix. You get to create the recipe all by yourself. Mommy and Daddy can not help you...you are in charge of what goes into the cake and how much of each ingredient you put in to the cake.
They were so excited to jump into their first day of school. Sara even said- "Wow! This is going to be the best school year EVER! We get to make cake on our first day."
So off they went..with their mixing bowls and wooden spoons to mix their cake ingredients together. As they were assembling their ingredients, they made comments such as:
" ooo I'm so excited to make my own cake"
"I can't wait to taste it!"
"I've never made my own cake all by myself before!"
"I want to add a "surprise" to my cake."
They were so sure their cakes would be culinary masterpieces that they had my niece Raychel write down each ingredient just in case we wanted to make it again sometime.
Here are their Recipes:
Here are their Cakes!
They were optimistic, yet a bit skeptical to take the first bite of their creation.
I wish..you could have watched the expression on each of their faces as they took the first bite!
BLEH!
Um..Mom, do i have to eat anymore of this?
I don't think I want to keep this.
Then we talked about the experience-
1. It seemed like a lot of fun making the cakes but the results were bad.
2. It was fun to be in charge of what they were doing but no fun that their cakes tasted so icky.
Then- we made Brownies... with a recipe.
Connor and Sara followed the instructions to the letter with Mommy's help each step of the way.
When we put the brownies in the oven, we talked a bit about which experience they felt was more successful. They both, without hesitation agreed that they enjoyed making the brownies even more than creating their very own cakes from scratch.
Now when the brownies came out of the oven and tasted FABULOUS!! Well...they certainly were huge fans of following instructions
The point/moral of this lesson-
Success- takes a lot of different ingredients mixed together. Math, Science, History etc..
Mommy n Daddy's job is to train and equip Connor and Sara to live Successful adult lives. The way we do that is by instructing them everyday in a variety of subjects. Once they have all the ingredients ...and know how to use them...they will be well equipped to live happy, successful adult lives.
I wasn't quite sure at first..if this lesson would really have a ton of impact. Until Connor explained it in his own words to his friend like this...
"I could try to do stuff all by myself and not follow instructions, but that will just mean trouble. If I let Mom n Dad teach me how to do stuff, even stuff I don't like, I have a better shot at being a success when I grow up."
Well..there you go!
Sara says- "I don't want that icky cake...I want the yummy brownies. I like following instructions Mom, I didn't understand it all, but I'm glad you helped me with the brownies, they are awesome!"
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