Serving Up Life Skills

Have you ever asked yourself, or had a conversation with someone about the important things you did NOT learn in school? For instance; I wish I had learned the basics of cooking in school. Everyone eats…..right? My mother told me, “Get out of the kitchen,” when she was cooking. I’m not sure why she did not want her kids in the kitchen but I was never taught the basics of cooking (my poor husband). What makes it a crime; is that I grew up in New Orleans. Some of the best food on the planet is made and consumed in New Orleans. Cooking is a life skill that every person needs including how to prepare food safely.

Financial curriculum, in my opinion, should start as early as elementary school. We all have to know how to manage money to be successful in life. Luckily for me my dad taught me how to balance a check book at age 8. I think I was just slave labor because he had me paying bills for my families personal finances and several of his businesses. Nonetheless, I learned some critical financial skills. My mother taught me to save money and pay cash when you purchase a car. I have not always been able to do that but it is important to teach our children the difference between cash purchases versus credit purchases. It’s important to teach our children about saving money and living within a budget.

Everyone eats and everyone uses money, so why don’t schools have a curriculum that incorporates these vital skills? Hugh Acheson, famous chef and owner of 5 & 10, The National, and other restaurants decided to do something about this. His daughter took a Family and Consumer Science class at Clarke Middle School in Athens, Georgia. One of the baking lessons taught baking by opening a box of Betty Crocker…need I say more? Now, that may be the only way I know how to make a cake but there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. Acheson contacted Philip Lanoue, Superintendent and National Superintendent of the year for 2015, of Clarke County Schools to give constructive feedback. Lanoue agreed with Acheson and asked if he would like to “fix it.” I believe this is how it all got started.

Seed Life Skills was born. Here is an article in Modern Farmer that gives more information about how and why Seed Life Skills was formed. Acheson hired Almeta Tulloss, Program Director, for Seed Life Skills. I am grateful for the opportunity to volunteer for such a worthy cause. Tulloss, Acheson, and others (me), are crafting the new revised curriculum for Family and Consumer Sciences. Clarke County Middle Schools will be the first to experience this curriculum. Acheson wants to eventually take the curriculum nationwide.
Have I intrigued you? Do you want to donate to this worthy cause? Serving up Life Skills can benefit all students. Now, if we can make Family and Consumer Sciences a mandatory course instead of an elective.
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Adele Tusson-Gross
Chief Executive Organizer
Simple Solution Organizing