Did you know that over 700,000 families in the United States prefer to homeschool their children? That number is growing everyday and 30 to 40% of those families create their own curriculum based on the spiritual views and lifestyle of the family. In a recent poll, an overwhelming amount of families stated they would add green living to their homeschool plans if they only knew where to start since very few pre-made curriculum options were available. GoGreen would like to help you start adding green living to your homeschool plans and teach your children the importance of conservation, green living and sustainable lifestyle options. Here are some ways to get started.

Solar Projects and Green Kits

Discovery stores, craft stores and science stores have project kits that you can buy for your children. These kits help your child create solar powered robots, weather stations, rocket race cars, solar generators and wind power stations. For around $10 each you can purchase these kits, with full instructions, and model the kit around a new project. These give children hands on examples of how sustainable green living and energy can work within their lives. It’s great to tell kids about how it helps, but actually showing them and letting them be an active part of the process is priceless.

Wildlife Trips

Local camp grounds generally allow fishing and have camp sites that do not have electric hook-ups. This is a great opportunity to incorporate sustainable green living concepts into homeschool plans. Take the children on a weekend camping trip and use some of the solar projects or green kits along. Let them see what living off the grid would mean and how they can still have some of the comforts they are used to with the use of solar power during the trip. Let them fish, cook and live ”off the land” while teaching them conservation lessons and environmental preservation.

Create Themes

Choose a green living theme for the week that flows with the current science project, English projects and math projects you already have in place. Children learn and retain more information when they can incorporate it throughout different aspects of their lives. Choose a book or story that talks about an aspect of green or sustainable living, create math problems that use the same characters or concepts and create hands on projects that bring it all together. A classic book that may help you with ideas is “The Giving Tree,” by Shel Siverstein.

Cooking Lessons

Make dinner for the family while teaching your children about solar heating. Create a solar oven or buy a solar oven kit. Incorporate math into the recipe you will be using that night. A great idea is to find a recipe that feeds ten or more people and have the kids break down that recipe to feed three or four people. Cook all of the food outside with a portion in the solar oven. Incorporate emergency preparedness into the lesson for a full lifestyle lesson and curriculum addition. Each day during the week of July 23 the content staff of GoGreen will present our readers with a new Green Living homeschool project for kids. These projects can also be used by adults who are interested in off-grid living or utilizing the idea as a sustainable green idea for their lifestyle. To stay up to date on our latest postings please subscribe to our RSS feed. GoGreen encourages discussion. If you have tried any of the green living options we discuss in our blogs or if you have ideas you would like to share please comment on our blogs to get the discussion going!