It seems that many of us homeschooling moms-- and moms in general-- naturally become interested in ways to "green" our lifestyle. From making our own eco-friendly cleaning solutions to using cloth diapers to buying organic, locally-grown food, searching for sustainable lifestyle practices becomes an important priority. And so it is this Christmas that we have told Santa and our friends and family that we'd prefer either no gift-wrapping (just a big red bow), or wrapping in old newspapers or paper bags.
And we are following the same practice for the gifts we give, including purchasing smaller gifts with less packaging and sliding them into a monogrammed Christmas stocking that we reuse each year. M has found this new practice to be particularly exciting, as she collected old, leftover wrapping paper scraps and "wrapped" her grandfather's present!
We are also trying to encourage fewer toys, partly because of our limited city space and partly to be more eco-friendly. We've been purchasing sustainable and natural toys to reduce reliance on hard plastic toys that are generally not durable nor meaningful nor good for the environment. I read this great article on Mothering.com entitled, "No More Junk Toys: Rethinking Children's Gifts" which includes lots of good ideas for higher-quality, higher-impact toys. Just trying to think up new ways to reduce unnecessary waste-- and I'm very excited because I think Santa is bringing me a composting system for Christmas!
