A FULL YEAR!

WOW!! It has been a very long time since we have been on here to do some serious blogging! Since you last heard from us, we've gone through a whole year of homeschooling, all three kids have had birthdays, we've had another anniversary (9yrs!) and we've made some serious strides in turning our house into a "green" home. I must confess that the reason for going green is more financial than global. We are a one income family so we need to save where we can, going green is the way we do that.

First things first, our year in homeschooling. My girls did their 2nd & 4th grade year at home with me. There were many obvious perks to having them at home. (1)Spending time with my kids (2) School work in PJ's (3) Our day is our own (4) Coordinate school day to how my kids learn (5) I was involved with every aspect of their learning, a dream for a parent like me (a bit OCD if I may be so bold). The downsides were few (1) Girls had a hard time with the dual role of Mother/Teacher (2) Children thought it was vacation time ALL the time (3) Stress from everyday life added to the homeschooling (4)My 2yr old wanted more and more attention, making it near impossible to break myself in half and do both things. All in all I would say, that while homeschooling had it's incredibly stressful times, it was very rewarding as well (both girls tested high on their I-SAT & my 2nd grader even moved onto 3rd grade work by the end of the year). Would I do it again??? Sure I would! However, the girls have asked to return to public school next year. They miss their peers and the environment and I told them that I would support them in their decision, so it's off to school they go (in a month!)

Now onto "Going Green" ☺ Here is a list of the ways we have decided to go green and therefore save money:

1)Make our own laundry soap
2)Hang dry our clothes
3)Use soap nuts and vinegar for our cleaning supplies
4)Switched our son to cloth diapers and wipes
5)Ordered reusable sandwich/snack bags from a local WAHM
6)Shop thrift stores for our clothing needs
7)Make some of my childrens clothes myself
8)Reuse plastic bags & foil
9)Use reusable tumbler from a local coffee shop for my coffee
10)Unplug electric appliances when not using them
11)No lights during the day
12)Drive as little as possible (shopping once per wk, etc...)

This is what we have done so far, I'm sure the list will be doubled at best by this time next year, heck next month even!

I believe you are pretty much caught up as of right now, thank you for stopping my our blog and getting reaquainted with what's going on with us!