Jodi

    Gender: Female
    Location: MD
    Children: Proud Parent
    # of Kids: 2
    Height: 5'4"
    Yahoo: jodiplume
    About Me: Hi, I'm a WAH/HSing mom of 2. We've been homeschooling since birth (or 10 school years). It's been a fun, not always smooth, ride. And I wouldn't have it any other way! When I remember to post *wink*, I'll share with you some of what's going on in our tiny little home. My Family: Hubby - Randy; Daughter - Amanda (she's 14); Son - Jake (he's 12).

    I am a consultant with Usborne Books at Home. I've been with Usborne for over 9 years now and love it!

    School Year 2008-09 Plans:

    Both Kids -
    Math: Math U Pre Algebra & Key to Workbooks
    Science: Joy Hakim's Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way along with accompanying Student Quest Guide
    History/Geography: Beautiful Feet Medieval History study & Knowledge Quest's Blackline Maps
    English/L. Arts: Daily Grams (last half of he book) & Word Roots

    Amanda -
    Language Arts/English: Shakespeare Study, other Book studies
    Photography

    Jacob -
    Language Arts/English: Book Studies ( Harry Potter books)
    Game Designing

    My Favorites -

    Music: Tim McGraw, Simple Plan, Celtic Woman, Enya, John Mayer, and a bunch of others
    Movies: Pretty Woman, Notting Hill (or pretty much any Julia Roberts movie), You've Got Mail, Sound of Music
    TV: Lost, House, Ugly Betty, Robin Hood (BBC), Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, Kitchen Nightmare's
    Books: I don't really have a favorite book, but I do like certain authors: Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown & VC Andrews.

    Books I have Recently Read:
    ~ Living like Ed by Ed Begley, JR.
    ~ A Cartoon History of the Earth: Birth of the Earth; Dawn of Life both by Jacqui Bailey
    ~ Story of the World Vol 1 by Susan Wise Bauer

    Books I am Currently Reading:
    ~ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (audio book)
    ~ It's All Too Much - An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh
    ~ A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
    ~ The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David

    Books I am Planning to Read:
    ~ Bottle House: The Creative World of Grandma Prisbrey by Melissa Eskridge Slaymaker
    ~ Good masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

    Likes: Pasta!

    Dislikes: Mosquitos (I've been feeling like I am their private blood bank this past week or so)

    Hobbies: Knitting, Scrapbooking (when I can find the time), being online, playing games (love Trivial Pursuit.. but can never get anyone aside from Dh to play), listening to music, reading, spending time with the family.

    Vices: I yell a lot.

    100 Ideas for your green family

    Thursday, July 3, 2008, 08:21 AM EST [Family]

    This is an older post from my fav blog, TreeHuggingFamily. There are fabulous ideas here, and they really aren't hard to do. Enjoy!!

    5) 100 Ideas for Your Green Family

    There are so many great ways to contribute to a healthy planet. Some steps are larger than others; some are quick and some eco-friendly ideas take substantial planning. We'll eventually talk about all these ideas at length but just to get you thinking here are 100 various ideas that can help your family go green.

    1. Buy less stuff.
    2. Fix that leaky sink
    3. Change one regular old light bulb to an energy efficient bulb
    4. Visit the library instead of buying books
    5. Buy in bulk
    6. Grow an egg carton herb garden
    7. Invest in a kitchen compost
    8. Hand down clothing from bigger kids to smaller kids
    9. Eat at least three vegetarian meals a week
    10. Use a flea comb on the family pet instead of toxic chemicals or try this method
    11. Rotate the tires every 8,000 miles on the family car
    12. Recycle old school notebooks
    13. Look for the star
    14. Grow your own container lettuce - click on the picture to see more cool container ideas!
    15. Just say no; to Post It Notes (come on, you know you have scratch paper around the house)
    16. Attend a beach or neighborhood clean-up as a family (note: this will open in pdf, but is a great resource)
    17. Install a low-flow shower head
    18. Have a green picnic
    19. Power toys with rechargeable batteries
    20. Stop using plastic baggies
    21. Use cloth diapers
    22. The next time you go to a park take five minutes and clean up some trash that other people left behind
    23. Play material free; think hide & seek, leapfrog, and tag
    24. Quit buying coffee filters
    25. Buy recycled pencils for school kids
    26. The next time you feel like redecorating try rearranging your current stuff instead - you may not need to buy any new items
    27. Take your ink cartridges to a recycling center (better yet, mail them - no gas)
    28. Get your next load of veggies from a local farmers market
    29. One evening this week turn off all the lights and the television; light a candle and tell spooky stories
    30. Put homemade pudding in the lunch boxes instead of pre-made pudding packs
    31. Find your perfect green home
    32. Make Halloween costumes out of items you already have at home
    33. Make a natural air freshener instead of buying a commercial product
    34. Use both sides of a piece of paper
    35. Mamas, if you wear make-up try going natural one day a week
    36. Live within your means
    37. Buy organic apples
    38. Decide what you want before opening the fridge
    39. Visit a forest
    40. Make popsicles and eliminate cardboard and plastic waste
    41. Buy recyclable toothbrushes
    42. If you build a home, build green
    43. Cancel the newspaper if you don't honest to god read it
    44. Gather up used plastic easter egg containers and reuse them next year
    45. Quit singing in the shower
    46. Purchase Fair Trade coffee
    47. Shop for household items at a thrift shop
    48. Weatherize your windows
    49. Invest your money using green sensibility
    50. If you need a Christmas tree get a living tree
    51. Spend 10 minutes a day discussing green living issues with your children
    52. Forget the yellow pages
    53. Find out what birds are local to your area
    54. Make sure empty toilet paper rolls make it out of the bathroom and to the recycling bin
    55. Buy or make organic baby food
    56. Cancel two magazine subscriptions
    57. Paint the kitchen toxic-free
    58. Buy unsliced American cheese instead of individually wrapped slices
    59. Use both sides of and then recycle your tin foil
    60. Look into greener transportation
    61. Donate your old glasses
    62. Take a walk, late at night with your kids (does nature look different at night?) what does it sound like?
    63. Quit using drinking straws
    64. Color hair naturally
    65. Give a hug and some time instead of a new toy to a child
    66. Use baking soda to freshen your toilet
    67. Cancel your junk mail
    68. Introduce yourself to one new neighbor this month. Ask them if they like the idea of a neighborhood clean-up, pot-luck, or other community event.
    69. Use refillable shampoo bottles (most co-ops have this option)
    70. Spend less; work less; and be with your children
    71. Design, your own art instead of buying new
    72. Visit five other green-minded blogs (see my sidebar for ideas)
    73. Make soup from scratch using some leftover item in your fridge before it goes to waste
    74. Support at least one green business
    75. Plant a tree for each child in the family
    76. Be a breastfeeding family
    77. Visit a butterfly conservatory
    78. Read TreeHugger and learn something wicked cool every day
    79. Use the sunshine to make fruit roll-ups
    80. Throw away mothballs and use cedar blocks
    81. Turn off the lights when you go to bed
    82. Make every long distance phone call count
    83. Share an electric or push lawnmower among neighborhood families
    84. Carpool to work and school
    85. Create or join a community garden
    86. Go see what's new at the local recycling plant (call ahead)
    87. Stomp around in the rain and see how many worms you can count
    88. Take off your shoes in the house
    89. Stop using real bleach
    90. Give used toys to a good cause like a woman and children's shelter
    91. Play eco-friendly kid games on the computer
    92. Purchase bulk peanut butter in your reusable container from the co-op
    93. Stay put if possible; relocation is not very eco-friendly.
    94. Use fewer fabric sheets; see if one half works as well
    95. Install solar outdoor lighting
    96. Build or obtain a rain barrel and paint it a beautiful color
    97. Kids; become an official planet protector!
    98. Learn what size of footprint your family makes on the planet
    99. Read Tree Hugging Family (I had to go there)
    100. Dream that a greener planet is possible in your children's lifetime

    What are you already doing as a family?

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    June was the Reusable Bag Challenge at Tree Hugging Family

    Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 08:47 AM EST [Family]

    I love reading this blog, and if you haven't yet, get over there and check it out! :) Tree Hugging Family Blog.

    So, June's challenge was to reduce the amount of plastic (or even paper) bags you bring into your home. I've been trying to reduce our *plastic dependency* anyways, so I was all for this challenge. I started keeping our reusable grocery totes in the van, so they are always with us. I am not so terrible about remembering them for grocery shopping though, it is those trip to Target or the mall I tend to forget my bags.

    So in total, we brought in about 6 plastic bags. Some I blame on DH because he let the bagger use plastic. But on the plus side, we had made a quick run to the grocery store, and I forgot my bags in the van. So we just placed the items back into the cart and bagged our things at the van. LOL

    There are so many cute and functional reusable bags, it is hard to pick new ones. I mostly need some produce bags like these at ecobags.com and I want some Chico Bags to have for mall shopping. My older canvas bags are still holding up just fine, and while I'd love to have new ones.. I can't justify buying them until these are unusable.

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    Morning Jodi, :)
    Just thought i would pop by to see how your weekend went :)
    We went to the church and ate dinner and they shot off fireworks, It was cool,

    Renee'
    July 07, 2008
    09:16 AM EST

    GREAT Thanks Jodi :D, I will be sure and also show Jacob :D

    Renee'
    July 03, 2008
    09:41 AM EST

    Hi Jodie, thanks for the welcome :)
    Hope your Sunday is going good :)

    Renee'
    June 29, 2008
    05:29 PM EST

    Hi Jodi,
    We live in Eastern PA. - North of Allentown. We were lucky the storms didn't get too bad last night. The sky was lighting up really nasty, but we only had a quick shower and it passed over us.
    It was great to hear from you. I hope you have a nice Sunday! Doing anything fun today?

    Lorie
    June 29, 2008
    11:23 AM EST