The following is a guest post by Maryann Iffland, author of Healthy Home-Ec.
Many of us tend to think that Abraham Lincoln was the first to set aside a day of thanksgiving, but that’s not exactly true. In 1 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 7 it says, “Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord…” This was 28 generations before the time of Christ. Celebrating God’s goodness to us through a time of thanksgiving has been going on for a long time.
Cornucopia
1 Chronicles 16:7-36 is a beautiful song of thanksgiving that David sang, and we can “sing” too, to show our gratefulness to the Lord; not only on Thanksgiving Day, but everyday.
Thanksgiving has long been associated with the blessing of an abundance of food. As we draw closer to Thanksgiving, many of us will start thinking about cooking and baking more. Perhaps this year we could consider changing some minor ingredients in our favorite foods to make them more nutritious. For example, we could replace processed white flour with whole grain, freshly ground flour; white sugar could be replaced with an all natural unprocessed sugar such as raw organic coconut sugar, Sucanat, agave nectar, or honey; we could replace meats with organic meats; vegetable oils could be replaced with Grapeseed oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We could also replace margarine, which contains trans-fats that are not digested by the body, with real butter. We need to read ingredient labels on food packages, and avoid foods that contain preservatives or artificial ingredients and instead choose similar products that contains all natural ingredients. Substituting healthier ingredients for lesser quality ingredients is just one of the many things that a student will learn from taking the Healthy Home Ec course.
The following pictures are some of the foods a student will learn to make in the Healthy Home Ec curriculum that could be made for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner:
Stuffed Acorn Squash with Baked Potato
Arugula Beet Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts
Sweet Potato Bake
As a home-educating parent, academics are probably not our only priority. While academics are extremely important, most home-educating families have many goals, some of which probably include teaching our children about character and integrity; developing their faith in God and finding their purpose in life; developing their appreciation for the beauty of creation in God’s world; increasing their sense of well-being and worth within the home; developing their love for learning; developing their ability for discernment; deepening their relationships with their siblings and with us, their parents; and teaching them life skills, such as how to manage a home, how to manage their time and their money, how to show hospitality to others, how to plant and care for a garden, how to store food through canning and freezing, and how to cook nutritious meals. The Healthy Home Ec curriculum, with the companion blog containing further information and over 2000 photos and illustrations, the weekly reading selections, and the weekly Scripture memory verses, will help guide and equip students, not only in gaining competence and confidence in cooking healthful meals and learning about real nutrition, but also in achieving these same goals just mentioned.
As you are on this website, Piecing Together the High School Puzzle, I applaud you for even considering home-educating and training your children through their impressionable high school years.
We should be grateful for those who have gone before us to pave the way, for the many resources that are now available to help us achieve our goals, and for those who continue to pave the way for those who come behind us. Healthy Home Ec and Piecing Together the High School Puzzle are two of those resources. If you seek strength and guidance from the One who has all wisdom and power, you will not be disappointed. The rewards will far outweigh the challenges, as the rewards will not only be in the here and now, but will also be eternal. And one day, through perseverance and patient endurance, you will hear the words we all want to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”
Many thanks to Maryann Iffland for this guest post. Don’t those recipes look delicious!?!
~to your success,
Joanne
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