Forest for the Trees

In my last post, I mentioned the quantity of materials that arrived for the children.  I realized that I have any unique opportunities now.  The children have  their own assigned teachers so I have two children to 'supervise'.   I do not have to go over dozens of papers each night.  I should be able to check them as we go, or maybe have a few papers to look over in the evening.  Something that I saw instantly as something I would like to change is paper usage.
One of the most difficult things to overcome with children is paper usage. We go through so much paper teaching one child. There are countless textbooks, worksheets, and notebooks for them to "show their work", never mind the countless art projects.

We are going to embark on a new journey. My children will be part of this online education system. Now, it may be a 'virtual school' and they will not go to a typical brick and mortar school building, but they will not spend all of their time in front of a computer. One of my initial fears was that my children would become the drones from a bad futuristic movie. Quite the contrary. There are classes and research and tests completed online, however, there are plenty of worksheets, workbooks and even notebooks.

I am determined to reduce the amount of forest destruction that my family is responsible for, so I came up with an idea.    I can ask them to 'show their work' without needing to save the work. Yes, for now, there is no way to get around using notebooks at times, but I created dry erase boards to use as often as possible. This both gave me a momentary creative outlet and hopefully will give me more peace of mind as I continue to try to find more ways to reduce our waste.

I plan to shop for brighter ribbon to personalize them for each child tomorrow, but here is an example:

Yes, there is a balance. Children simply do need to have hands-on projects for art. They also need to be comfortable using a computer. There are some fantastic art projects that we can do together that will be of benefit, rather than ending up in an attic or a landfill. (Yes, I do throw away some lovely macaroni art, paintings and general crayon projects.  I cannot store everything they produce.  That is exactly my point, how many toilet paper tube angels do I need?  How many times do I want to see a crayon drawing of our dogs?) Life is an ever changing opportunity so we will learn to alter clothing, create a display for their medals and many other projects. I have made a list on my laptop of things that we can create, learn from and use. I am so grateful that my children are now old enough to do these types of projects more.  One more paper with glued cotton balls and bits of noodles and I would lose my mind.  Those projects have a place in childhood development, and it has passed.  I have saved a few that were particularly memorable and now we will move on to the next stage. 

     One of my children is taking an art class as her elective.  She will have assigned art projects and gratefully, I saw no noodles! I have always 'added' to my children's education, so I have my own agenda for extras this year.