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We're doing a co-op on Fridays and looking to add in something else "fun" that day. My 2nd grader wants to learn some basic sewing, baking, homeEc skills. I can do those things well, but would really like to not have to plan anything else! I'm looking for a simple curriculum or book to use as a basis appropriate for that age with short lessons we can do over the year. Any ideas?

I came across these books last spring that I thought would be a fun way to cover topics like cooking or sewing. They are the Mary Frances books. There is one each on cooking, sewing, and housekeeping. Each one is written like an adventure yet it teaches skills along the way. I think it would be possible to use those maybe a chapter or two each week and make it into a curriculum. The books are around 100 years old so they are available in the public domain as ebooks or you can get reprints in book form. I have thought about trying to use these with my daughter. Also I ran across a neat little sewing course at my homeschool conference this year: http://sewingwiththesower.com/ It looked like it would be good at teaching some basics of sewing.

Those are some things that I've run across but haven't implemented. If you find something great, I would love to hear about it. I have often thought about trying to incorporate some formal lessons for my dc but haven't done it yet. They are learning some of these things along the way by helping with chores around the house, helping in the kitchen, and making the various projects in HOD. They are gaining a lot of skills without me having to implement a formal curriculum, but my dd especially has indicated an interest in sewing so I think she would enjoy something more formal.

I don't have a program to use but we got started sewing by making barbie quilts and simple clothes for american girl dolls and cooking by using a simple child's cookbook.

Patty, thanks for the info about the Mary Frances books. They look great!

I just went on Amazon and added the cooking and gardening book to my cart, as well as See and Sew: A Sewing Book for Children. From what I could tell, the Mary Frances sewing book gets into making doll clothes which, from experience, is not easy. My dd wants to learn to cook, and she loves the outdoors, so I thought the gardening book would be good. These will make nice Christmas presents, although I will probably let her have the cooking book now. She is so eager to learn.

Along with the skills in HOD, I do have Little Keepers at Home and Keepers at Home. I haven't really gotten into those yet. They cover a little bit of everything. Many, many different skills to choose from.

As Patty said, just by having our dd's working along side of us, they can learn a lot. Having a guide is nice, though. I can sew, but I like to have a guide when I'm making something. Even if I have cooked something many times, I like to have a recipe in front of me. I was cleaning out and organizing my food cabinet yesterday and found a few 'expiring' things, so we are going to be baking cookies today. DD is also anxious to get started doing some serious cleaning. I need to take advantage of this!

I am so very much a book person and so UNpractical, that I always have to search for a book to help me teach the life skills. So far my kids (dd 7yr., ds 10yrs.) have been thrilled with Sewing School (Amie Petronis Plumley & Andria Lisle)! It has really nice pictures to help the kids go step by step through every project, different levels of difficulty, and a fun variety of projects. My kids took off with it and started sewing lots of little pillows and clothes for their stuffed animals out of felt. Now they're anxious for me to buy some real cloth to sew the "your little friend" project with their buddies. I'm even learning how to sew a bit! : )