When a homeschooled child makes a cake is it home economics or is it just making a cake? When does the homeschool day begin and when does it end?
I have been around the homeschool block for ten years and quite often the question of what counts as homeschooling comes up. Homeschooling moms have asked if everything from grocery shopping to playing board games. Most of the time the response is that anything counts as homeschooling. Homeschooling moms are excellent at squeezing a lesson out of any activity. At first glance it may appear that homeschooling moms are making desperate attempts to insert hours and lessons. After all, even putting on socks has some educational value, right?
Let us take a second glance at this issue. Home education goes beyond the textbooks and the classroom. A home education includes life skills from making the bed to showing respect for authority. Homeschool moms understand that they are raising future productive adults. Since homeschooling is a lifestyle the areas of strict academics and life skills gets intermingled. Often the life skills serve as real world examples of previously learned lessons. Making a cake is the manifestation of lessons learned on math, science, and following directions. Learning experiences are all around us and rarely does a minute go by that a homeschooled child is not learning. Homeschoolers encourage a curiosity about life and a hunger for learning. The children begin to see everything in the context of learning. Life is learning. I certainly hope we all take the time to learn something new everyday.
Did that answer the question? Perhaps not for those who must calculate hours per their state laws. The state is looking for a more concrete answer. If you engage in an activity for the purpose of academia then feel free to count it. If your child spent an hour making dinner and has a home economics requirement then by all means count the hour toward the class. You need not look for opportunities as they are all around you. Homeschooling is a lifestyle centered on learning.