There is good news for homeschooling parents who also happen to be eco conscious. Homeschooling is green! Here are just a few of the ways that homeschooling your child can reduce your environmental impact on our planet.

No Transportation Required – Children who attend public schools often ride the bus or get picked up and dropped off by parents. Idling in pickup lanes is a common occurrence, especially during cold and/or hot weather. All of this transportation means more greenhouse gas emissions. Schooling at home will usually mean less driving and therefore less pollution. No time constraints might also mean that homeschooling families can rely more heavily on public transportation.

Computers Reduce Paper Usage – In traditional schools kids often work with textbooks, workbooks, and paper printables. It is not uncommon for them to bring home a backpack full of paper at the end of every week with homework, artwork, reports, newsletters, and school advertisements. The use of computers to do lessons, watch video tutorials, do drills, create art digitally, or learn new skills eliminates the need for so much paper. It reduces the need for consumable supplies in general.

Green School Supplies – Most of the supplies you find within schools are not very eco friendly. Brand new paper, petroleum based crayons, and clay with PVC all have a negative impact on our planet. Homeschooling parents have more freedom to choose their own earth friendly supplies like soy crayons, beeswax modeling materials, post consumer recycled paper, and graphite pencils.

Home Cooked Food – School lunches are often heavily processed and packaged and very wasteful. Lunches at home can be significantly healthier with less processing and chemical additives. Using whole foods and cooking from scratch will mean less waste too. Growing your own organic foods, perhaps as part of natural science lessons, will also help conserve resources and improve soil conditions.

Recycling – Homeschoolers have a great opportunity to recycle by using scrap paper, printing on both sides of the paper, and repurposing items to meet new needs. Most public schools can’t be bothered to manage recycling programs. It could even be part of their studies to learn how to recycle as much as they can.

Homeschoolers Consume Less – When educating at home there is usually no need for new backpacks every year, lunchboxes, and new clothing. School supply lists grow shorter every year and items don’t get lost while at school and need to be replaced as much. Children are also likely to feel less peer pressure and the need to ask for the latest name brands, popular fashions, and cool gadgets.

Homeschoolers can Buy Second Hand – Many homeschooling parents like to buy homeschooling supplies and curriculum second hand. There are many swap sites and forums that emerged to meet this growing demand. Parents buy, trade, or sell books, curriculum sets, board games, computer games, electronic learning tools, and much more. This helps to reduce the impact on limited planetary resources when we avoid buying new.

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When it comes to having children, one very important issue will be the decision on how your child will be educated. You will have many options to consider such as public funded schools, private schools, charter schools, and home school. Many parents don’t give homeschooling any thought, but there are many benefits to homeschooling that you should consider.

When your child goes to school it is normally 20 or more students to one teacher, at least in public schools. In some areas it can be up to 30 students for each teacher. This means that children get very little of the teacher’s undivided attention. Homeschooled children typically get one-on-one time and this helps them to learn for efficiently and retain what they learn.

Learning at the pace the child is ready to learn at is important. When it is just you and a couple of children you are able to take the time to let them learn things according to their own schedule and skills. Children all have different strengths and learning styles and don’t understand the same things at the same time. In public school there isn’t time to let the kids learn at their own pace, that’s why they get so much homework. Homeschooled children need not made to meet these unrealistic expectations.

Each child learns things a different way. Many teachers only teach one way. Some children are visual learners, some learn by listening, and some learn by doing. Some teachers only teach one way though, which leaves the rest of the kids out. One of these kids might be yours…

Homeschooling also allows for more life skills training. This is one of the best parts of homeschooling in fact. You see 18 year olds coming out of high school that have no practical life skills that will help them get a job. They usually feel they need to jump right into secondary education instead. Can they budget money for their new apartment, balance a checkbook, or fix things that break around the house? Many times the answer is no. For the last 16 years they have been too busy learning how to do algebra, trigonometry, and learning definitions of huge words they will never use. Homeschooling can allow you to teach your child more practical things they can actually utilize later in life. You can teach them about saving, investing and paying bills. You can teach them about how fix things around their home, like the car, the toilet and electronics or computers. Homeschooling can give them the advantage they need.

The absolute best thing about homeschooling though is the fact you get to spend so much time with your children. No teacher will enjoy your child as much as you, nor will they enjoy watching your child learn as much as you.

No parent ever says “I wish I hadn’t home schooled and spent that much time with my kids” Think about it, in the end what are going to say? Consider homeschooling, you won’t regret it.

It has taken some time, but finally there is widespread awareness that electronic games are contributing to the poor health of our kids.  Studies are showing that kids in general are spending approximately 5 hours a day in front of the TV and/or game video screen. Sure some of these games can be entertaining or even stimulating to a point, but 5 hours of electronic entertainment is way too much time for growing kids to spend in one stationary position. 

Researchers from Yale University and the University of Hawaii published a paper recently stating that by 2010 more than 50% of children in America will be overweight.  That’s a statistic that no one wants to see realized.  So what can we do? For many families it will take a significant effort to change some activities that have become hard to break habits.

Electronic games and DVDs have become the modern pacifier for many kids.  Parents will often pop in a DVD or whip out the Game Boy to keep kids occupied during long trips, while seated in waiting rooms or at any moment in the day when a child says “I’m bored.”

The challenge is to find ways to control (or better yet eliminate) the use of electronics as a means of childhood entertainment.  To get some ideas as to what you might do to entertain your kids, let’s take a look back to the pre-Game Boy era…

It’s a Wednesday evening, dinner’s done and the kids have finished their homework.  Mom looks to the game cupboard and pulls the Twister box off the shelf.  Twister is the game where the players are the game pieces.  Unfold the game “sheet” on the family room floor, get the spinner out, spin away and start moving arms and limbs onto the colored dots as directed by the spinner.  Last person to fall wins.  Now that’s a fun way to end a typical week day.

While Twister is a game from the past, it is very much available today as are a good many  traditional games that are engaging, fun and require no batteries or adapters!  The following are great games for all ages that you might want to pick up either on ebay, at a local garage sale, or your local toy store:  Monopoly (not the electronic version), Sorry, Battleship, Clue and Scrabble.  

What to do on a snowy Saturday afternoon?  Why build a snow fort of course?  Moms and Dads can and should join in this game since the more hands involved in fort construction the sooner it’ll be ready for its military inhabitants! All that snow that is cleared from the driveway and that is on the lawn, will be put to great use as building material for the family snow fort.

Who doesn’t like the game “Simon Says”?  This classic movement game is fun for any age and the best part is your 2 year old can have as much fun playing this as the 12 year old.  Assign a young child to be “Simon” for a really neat “Simon Says” session. Mom and Dad can be pretty good at giving orders around the house let’s see how good (or how able) they are at following directions especially when the order is “Touch your toes!”  Keep your chiropractor on call during your “Simon Says” sessions.

The best part of any “non-electronic” family activity is the good conversation and laughter that are so much a part of family life.  Watching your kids giggle as you trip over yourself during a game of Twister is a priceless moment no electronic game can replace.

When many parents consider homeschooling their children they often think the longest about all of the challenges that would face them as homeschooling parents. Often times the hardships, perceived and real, dwarf the benefits. Parents wonder how they will find the time to homeschool. They may doubt their ability to be a good teacher or instructor. Lack of socialization and structure may also be a concern.

What about the benefits though? Are they receiving the same consideration or do they get trumped by all of the potential hardships and problems? What are some of the benefits? Here are few things to consider:
Homeschoolers Can Work at Their Own Pace

The public schooling system is often times criticized for its failure to consider the individual needs and learning styles of each child. In classes with 20 or more students it is impossible for children to get the one on one attention they may need and it is easy for a child to be labeled as “slow” or learning disabled because they appear to be behind their peers academically. The problem with this thinking this that it does not consider the very real possibility that they are simply learning and working at their own normal pace and development. When one standard of excellence is forced upon all children then inevitably some children will fall behind and be made to feel inadequate. Homeschooling can be incredibly liberating for you and for your child when they are allowed to grow and learn on their own terms and at their own unique pace.  The one on one time you spend with your child may be just what he or she needs more than anything else.

Homeschooling Is Not Constrictive

Parents of publicly schooled children are all too familiar with pressure. Their lives are dictated by alarm clocks, bus schedules, lunch money, school activities, teacher’s conferences, homework, and bedtimes just to name a few. It may seem that public school is the easiest option for a busy parent but when all of the demands placed upon parents by the public schooling schedule are considered it starts to look more like a burden than a benefit. Homeschooling can be done on any schedule that works for your family.

Homeschooling Allows Parents to Teach Family Values

Parents of publicly schooled children will often be the first to tell you about how the issues that face young children in schools today are of great concern. Children are exposed to foul language, drugs, smoking, illegal activities, and sex just to name a few. Most parents would probably consider this peer top peer education to be inappropriate and lacking. Parents that homeschool are in the unique positioned to be the able to teach their children about these issues on their own terms and at the appropriate time without too much outside influence counteracting their instruction.

Homeschooling Can Increase Socialization for the Whole Family

The availability of homeschooling playgroups and support groups and other homeschooling activities such as travels to museums and historical areas of interest provide opportunities for socialization for everyone. More and more homeschooling parents are realizing that they don’t need to stay home and assist their child with workbook drills. They can take their children out of the home and benefit from real life experiences, meeting to new people, and seeing new things and places. The whole family benefits when learning is expanded in this way.

When considering homeschooling for your child it is easy to dwell on the hardships that may be presented by this choice but don’t forget that there are a lot of benefits too.

During warmer months it is easy to send kids outdoors for some fun in the sun and fresh air. Bike riding, tree climbing, soccer, hopscotch, and dozens of other outdoor activities provide children with hours upon hours of creative play that is healthy for their bodies and mind. Less than favorable weather such as rain and extreme cold may present a problem at times though and moms need to get creative in helping their kids to find productive play activities. In an age where video games and TV can easily become too important in a child’s life, many parents are reluctant to encourage these things. Luckily there are many alternatives for parents that want to stress productive and creative play.

Help Them Make Believe

Pretend play is particularly important for a young child’s development. It helps them to develop their critical thinking and communication abilities. The great outdoors provides a grand stage for this type of play but parents can facilitate make believe any time with just a few clever props. A box of costumes can create hours of pretend play fun as your kids pretend they are pirates, fairies, knights, or even characters from their favorite movies and books. Homemade forts also provide an excellent opportunity for kids to imagine they are playing in a log cabin, a castle, or a tent. A simple sheet draped over a table can provide hours of fun and creative play.

Creative Toys

Instead of toys with lights, sounds, and movement give your children some basic toys that they can use to build and create. Legos and wooden blocks are usually very popular among kids as they can spend hours creating virtually anything they can come up with. Take some pictures of their creations and help them create a photo journal to record all of their inventions and accomplishments as mini architects.

Play kitchens and play food can also provide hours of creative play as kids pretend to cook their favorite meals and serve their family. Even an item as simple as a playsilk can be used as a flag, as part of a costume, as a sail on a boat, or a doll sling or hammock. Give them the raw materials and watch them create!

Books for Homegrown Adventure

For younger and older kids it is great fun to read a book aloud and ask them to re-enact it in a play or with puppets. They can build the set, create the costumes, and then act out the part of their favorite character. If you have a video camera handy you or an older child can record these performances to let them view later and to create memories that the whole family will treasure for years.

For children that insist on TV time perhaps you can strike a deal asking them to select a movie that originated from a book and then after they read it you can all watch the movie together and discuss how the book and movie compared.
These are just a few of the ways that parents can encourage creative and productive play and leisure within their children.

The cost of homeschooling your child can vary greatly with each family. It all depends on what method you choose to use, what grade level your child is at, and how much information you can provide on your own when it comes to the lesson plans.

Homeschooling requires teaching materials like textbooks, workbooks, and during the science years, lab materials (not to mention project materials, too).

If you don’t feel confident developing your own curriculum, then you’ll want to invest in one that includes a teacher’s lesson plan, preferably a daily one to make the educational process more convenient for you.

Purchasing lesson plans can be quite expensive.  To help cut costs, find out exactly what you need for your child’s curriculum and check with the local public school to see if they will lend you some of their textbooks.

If not, check your local library for resources to use to teach your child’s lessons.  You can purchase new books for your child to use, but you might also be able to get by with buying used texts from a family whose kids are past that stage of learning.

The Internet is an area with a vast amount of free resources.  Don’t be afraid to search for some daily lesson plans that you can print out – as well as project ideas you can assign to your child to make learning fun and interactive.

Network with other homeschooling parents.  Many have book trades, where they either sell or give curriculums to other families who need them.  You may have to change a few things to make it more personalized for your child, or supplement it with something you find at Barnes and Noble, but used materials can shave hundreds of dollars off of your expenses.

Maximize your field trips. Sometimes lessons can be taught at a museum or zoo by asking the guide questions. If you’re learning about monkeys in your lesson plan, then why not learn about them at the zoo instead of looking at pictures in a book?

Learn through nature. Nature hikes at your local parks can teach a lot about our environment and can make learning more fun for your child. It’s more interesting to get outdoors and walk, run (and even play) while you learn something, and it helps the child retain the information better, too!

Join a homeschooling community or start one of your own. Sometimes a community of like-minded people can get donations for some of the equipment needed, like chalkboards, textbooks and more from the local schools or other organizations.  Check garage sales, local thrift stores and flea markets for equipment to use. You may be able to find chalkboards or notebooks at a discount price. If you belong to a group of homeschoolers, then you might consider buying materials in bulk for a cut in the costs. Homeschooling can cost as much or as little as you want it to, depending on how you decide to develop your curriculum.  It’s been reported to cost some families almost $3,000 - but there are plenty of ways you can cut costs and work it into your budget.

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