Greenovation and Hot Green Toys

friday wrap upTGIF! Have an awesome weekend everyone! This weekend hubs and I go for round two on a greenovation project, using non-toxic paints and sustainable materials. We hope to finish so we can go to his company picnic.

Homeschooling has been going great. My son is really loving the math, science, and history. The reading is not his fave at all but I am trying to keep it fun. This week we learned about mass and matter and used a balance to measure things and we learned about nomads…we are delving into Ancient Egypt now and today we learned about Osirus and Amun-Ra. I am enjoying the lessons too…ancient Egypt was always a favorite for me. I think he would get a kick out of watching the movie StarGate after our lesson this morning. Last week we went to an ice cream social with other homeschool kids too.

One of his public school friends made a comment I didn’t like very much…something to the effect that he would know about “engines” if he had a real teacher. Ooooh! How much ya wanna bet one of his parents said something about my not being a “real” teacher??? I asked my son what he said. “Mom he was just mad because I built a Shaduf like the Nomads did over by the playhouse and he didn’t even know what it was or who the nomads were. I told him he would know if he had a homeschool teacher.” Haha!

At my daughter’s school this morning the teacher told me she is throwing away her Horizon milk cartons. I guess once you go raw you can’t go back, hehe. So, I guess since almond milk is out she will have to take water.

It reminds me of how we went to dinner with friends at Chinese Buffet last week. My kids taste preferences were VERY evident as seen by what they picked from dozens of different options. There was cake, cookies, ice cream, all kinds of meat dishes, and a few healthy dishes. My oldest ate a little of everything but mostly fish, mussels, and fruit. My daughter would only eat brown rice, egg drop soup and fruit. My youngest had chicken and beef on his plate…I wanted to test a theory and sure enough he ate the brown rice, the mushrooms, and the asparagus…would not touch the meat. Then I gave him Tapioca pudding and fresh fruit. He had a bite of the pudding and then pushed it away to eat all of the fruit. I was very happy. :) They are choosing healthier options when we go out to eat and aren’t choosing to the eat the junk. My youngest seems to have declared himself vegan too.

Cool links for the weekend:

I love this card table play house. It is so creative and easy to assemble/put away since it uses a card table for the base. It would probably not be hard to make yourself either.

A cool use for styrofoam you may have laying around….make a Styrobot!

I also love these Plum Creek Snack Bags…very cute and eco friendly for school lunches.

 

Hot “Natural” Toys that make my Hot Toy List this week are:

This Plan Toys Shopping Cart. The cart frame is wood and the basket is cloth and for a VERY reasonable price. This is so much better than the plastic ones you get at conventional stores and the metal ones too because in my experience they are so flimsy they fall apart after a month.

Also, Roxy the Sausage Dog Pull Toy. This reinvents a very old classic. My older brother had one just like these as I recall. There are also several other pull toys to choose from…all made of wood.

Have a great weekend all!

8 Comments

  1. I remember as a child that I had to be forced to eat cheese, meat, ice cream, etc. My mom said I was happiest with a piece of fruit or a bowl of carrots and celery. Ha-ha. Go figure. PS. Good for you for home schooling.
    PS. If he had a real teacher he probably would be failing his F-cats like the rest of the kids.

  2. melinda s.

    I enjoyed your post….I don’t homeschool, but our oldest goes to Montessori school, its amazing the things he learns!!! And my kids eat like that at buffets….we don’t do buffets often, but they love salad and eat like little rabbits!!!

  3. My two year old usually chooses healthy foods too. He loves fruits and until recently shunned cow’s milk. I think he is such a healthy eater because I have always given him fresh produce (local and organic whenever possible) so he knows how good foods can be. He will eat a cookie if offered one, but that’s once a month at most. People are amazed by his eating habits. I’m amazed that it is such a big deal.

  4. Great about the foods.
    Right now DS likes sweets, but I’m hoping that the good food at home will eventually wear off on him. I will say that given the choice between applesauce and fries, he picks the applesauce, But that could be a sweet thing too. LOL Maybe it’s genentic because I was raised on tofu and salad and all kinds of healthy foods and still love me some sweets.
    Oh but he LOVED the hummus I made this weekend too. So that’s pretty cool. Beans have always been his favorites.

  5. i love your homeschool story…we are learning those same things right now in our history lessons, and i think the kids are really enjoying it. Way to go for your son for defending it. HOmeschool is awesome!

  6. Kristen

    great stories! I don’t think I’m one for homeschooling myself (my kids are still small though so who knows) but I do applaud those who can and do! My wish is for my kids to choose healthy options (healthier then I have in my years) so, that was inspiring – thanks for sharing!

  7. loved your homeschool story and the fantastic eating habits story. my kids are still young but i”ve strongly been thinking of homeschooling since my first was still in the womb. just wondering how you get started? any ideas you can share? i love info!

    thanks.

  8. We have the Plan Toys shopping cart for my son (21 months), and he LOVES it. :)

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