Skills For Living/Family is easy and exciting to relate to Jordan Middle School adolescents because it is their life. The comprehensive scope of the semester of Skills For Living and Family and Consumer Science includes time and money management, personal and family relationships, food and nutrition, clothing and textiles, child development, health and home safety, home furnishings, home management and career exploration. They are taught by Mrs. Sharon Bayless.
Special projects for the year include a Project Taking Charge where students are challenged to do just that: start taking charge of their lives. They are taught that independence is like a scale; that they must be willing to balance all the freedoms and all the responsibilities of the adult world to deserve independence. They set goals for their life with action steps and target one goal to start with.
Another project is Egg Babies, where 7th and 8th grade students have the responsibility of taking care of a hard boiled egg for one week. You will see 100 students walking through Jordan's halls carrying their delicate little bundles of joy at the end of November. After one week, all babies (cracked or not) are turned into Mrs. Sharon Bayless (Skills For Living) for a check up and given up for adoption.
The longest project is the clothing construction of boxer shorts. Students go on a field trip to select their shorts fabric. This gives them a sense of ownership and individuality as the cloth and thread transforms into a garment in their own hands.
The cooking lab projects are the most awaited projects of all! Students work in self selected teams, preparing dishes from each food group of the food pyramid. They progress in difficulty from cinnamon monkey bread and orange julius to a complete Italian meal. The spring semester climaxes with a Teacher Appreciation Tea prepared and served by the students in restaurant style. The Jordan Staff is invited to come and be pampered!
Every SFL/FCS student is automatically a member of our Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Club (FCCLA). They learn about leadership using parliamentary procedure. Club members help the community in several ways including providing a Christmas Party for a San Antonio children's home.
The advanced class has units in interior design, families and parenting, clothing construction of long or capri length cargo pants and foreign foods labs. Students design a dream bedroom and care for a computerized baby. In Skills for Living and Family and Consumer Science, students experience that learning can be lots of fun, as well as very beneficial to their total development.
