Last week I completed the Recyclebank challenge to green my school supplies shopping and prep. This week Recyclebank is challenging us to green the first day of school.
Luckily we did not have to get up at 6:00 a.m. like the mom in the challenge. Yikes! Our day started at 7:00 a.m. I got up and showered about a few minutes before that and then woke my daughter so she could shower next. She has to have time for her waist length hair to dry. ;) My oldest boy was already up and ready by this time, dressed in his khakis and polo uniform. He ran out the door at 7:30 when the car service his school uses arrived. On a normal day his sister would be catching a bus about 15 minutes later but today both parents had to be at the school for the first day so she drove with us. My husband had the task of getting our youngest up and dressed while I contemplated breakfast and lunch. All three kiddos will be taking buses or a carpool to get to school/therapy so definitely the greenest option, other than our own two feet. Honestly we do like that our house is outside of the walk zone. I totally admit that. When we did the walking thing the year before last it was very good most of the time but the coldest parts of winter were pretty bad, especially when neighbors and even the school itself did not regularly shovel walks. We like the bus after that experience. We get 10 points via Recyclebank for doing so…
Although it was not smooth sailing for my youngest kiddo and his speech classes. The bus never came to pick him up and when I called the transportation department so ask what was up. They were like “duh” the bus ins’t there so take him to school yourself. The guy literally told me to stop bugging him since he was busy. Oh and he would “try” to put him on a bus home. Can I take 10 points away from that heinous anus transportation director? Grrr!
Anyway… more points were to be had for considering what you can do to green your child’s classroom, study habits, and their lunch experience. I pledged to serve some leftovers in school lunches so that less resources are used. That is easy enough for me since I already do that. During the school year dinners are planned specifically to make leftover lunches easy.
Most of the challenge in greening your school year is done in the planning and shopping phase but there is still much to be done on the first day to. I came home with a bunch of useless paper so I am off to see how much can go in my printer and how much can be used as scrap paper for my little artists. How did your first day of school go?
