The Unplugged Schoolhouse

During the month of March, my homeschooled son and I have decided that our "one small change" will be to pull the plug on all electrical use during at least one school day per week.

For a while, my family has celebrated--albeit inconsistently--a weekly powerdown evening where (after the meal is prepared) we spend the rest of the evening together without using electricity. We light the table with beeswax candles, spend time together reading aloud and playing recorder trios and just talking, and go up to bed on the early side. I hope we will get back in the habit this month.

For our unplugged schoolhouse, however, the challenge will be a bit different. My son and I plan to turn off any lights as well as the laptop by 8:3O or 9 am, depending on when we wake up. Everything will stay off until 3:30 or 4. Although these are traditional school times for many children, most of that time is not actually "school" for us. Instead, it is time for music practice, free reading, yoga or running around outside, and other pursuits such as knitting or drawing or folding paper airplanes. (My son would add that his chore of taking out the compost also falls during this time.)

We're honestly fairly removed from a lot of plugged-in entertainment compared to many families, I guess.  We don't own a TV or some game system or anything like that. But significant amounts of our days disappear to the hungry soul of this laptop. We've fallen into the habit of using it as a teacher sometimes--especially enjoying things like Thinkwell and the free Hippocampus. My son loves to watch old Pink Panther cartoons and Buster Keaton movies--as well as Myth Busters--on Netflix instant-watch.  Not that these things are bad; they certainly aren't occasionally.  But too much always seems to leave us further removed from any real-life connection than I think either of us wants.

A powered-down homeschool day also forces us to get out the solar oven and cook in the sun at least one lunch a week.  On days that are very cloudy, we'll have cold sandwiches.

By not starting the day until 8:30, I can make a pot of tea for myself and encase it in my homemade recycled-sweater tea cozy to keep it warm for a while.  Cheating?  Maybe.  But a hot beverage seems to be the only way I can stand freezing our buns off this season.

We're allowing ourselves the liberty of deciding which day to celebrate the unplugged schoolhouse.  Mondays are our free day.  When we are home, it will be ideal.  But we do sometimes go on adventures in downtown DC on Mondays and would therefore be mooching off a museum's electrical supply.  On Tuesdays, my son has a piano lesson at home.  The room with our piano is one of the darker rooms in our house--and our deal is that if it is a cloudy day, it will be perfectly acceptable for my son and his piano teacher to turn on the light in that room during the lesson.  This Tuesday was our first day and although it was cloudy, neither bothered to turn on the lights when they walked in the room.  (The teacher has no idea about this game, by the way.)

Just like last month's small change of not eating out, this day of powerdown is not something I imagine keeping rigidly for the rest of our lives.  Instead, I hope that this month will get us in the habit of relying on ourselves rather than our devices--and making us more conscious of the role of electricity in our lives all the time.

Anyone want to join us?

One Small Change: Eating In Recap

Last month, my "one small change" was to eat dinner every night at home. The month was quite a success--more than I could have predicted.

There were a few rough spots, but not many. On one afternoon, I was craving take-out pizza as we came home from a day at the Smithsonian museums, but by dinnertime we were ready to spend the effort for a home-cooked meal. On the night where I could just not stand the idea of cooking at all, my partner David took over the complete preparations.

One evening, our 10yo son served us a lovely candlelight dinner. He played both chief cook and waiter. He was even the evening entertainment, serenading us with his violin. (He did not play the role of chief bottle-washer, unfortunately.)

We went to a party at friends' house one evening where we had vegan take-out from a locally-owned Middle Eastern restaurant in town. It was yummy and we did not feel like we were cheating at all. There is something about time with friends that changes all the rules.

On the last night of the month, I stayed home recovering from a stomach bug while my fiddling son and his Papa went to a local Scottish pub for a children's Irish music session. (As odd as it sounds, I suspect Irish and Scottish pubs in this country probably do a lot of crossing over....) Like eating at our friends' house, this meal seemed right, even though it technically broke the rules.

So what is it that made these seem like times to bend our self-imposed regulations? I think it is because both times we were after something special--not just the default position. A special event, a time of togetherness, a celebration--these are things I do not want to miss as time goes forward. Even a special meal--be it a cuisine I've never tasted, or a meal at a new downtown restaurant in our little inner suburb, or a feast at an organic or local restaurant--could certainly count. We have no intention of continuing this "one small change" in its extremity--but it has set us up to be more deliberate about our choices.

Of course, when I began to eat again after my stomach bug, it was March--and we immediately went out to my favorite Pho soup restaurant. (David chose a vegan dish, mostly to avoid what is probably CAFO meat. Sometimes, especially in the face of Pho, he is simply a better person than I am.)

I knew I had soul-mates on this eating-in journey, but I had no idea how many I would find. As I mentioned before, my initial inspiration came from The Conscious Shopper--but during the course of February, I also discovered Cathy Erway's blog and also her brand-new book The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. To celebrate the release of the book, Huffington post sponsored The Week of Eating In--which drew an enormous number of other folks to the same challenge I was setting for myself. And what I thought might be a challenge that could isolate us introduced us to a whole new online community!

Tomorrow: One Small Change for March.

One Small Change: Staying Home

Last month, my "one small change" was to take reusable containers with us when we were out of the house.  We were very good about making sure we had not only our stainless steel water bottles or coffee cups as well as cloth bags with us--perhaps because these have been habits for years.  But this month we were much more consistent about bringing utensils, cloth napkins, and even tiffins or lunchbots with us when we went to restaurants, so we could pack away our leftovers.

This month, inspired by the Conscious Shopper, our goal is to avoid going out to restaurants at all.  For a long time we've been committed to spending the majority of our restaurant dollars at locally-owned places--but for this month, every dinner will be cooked and served at home.

This one small change will dramatically reduce our wastes, potentially reduce our waists as well, definitely lead to healthier meals, lead to a healthier pocketbook, save a bit of gasoline, and give us some extra family time to boot.

I'm a bit late getting this post up--but that simply means I've already had a week on this challenge.  Although I did have one evening where I was craving pizza and a movie, we survived on leftovers and a movie instead.  One of the keys to success seems to be to have the makings for both easy throw-together meals and meals that satisfy the foodie in me.

Although many people swear by having a fixed menu plan, I really like having a list of meals for the week, then stocking the fridge and pantry with those ingredients so we can have the flexibility to choose each afternoon or evening what we would like to prepare.

Things have been really easy for the last few days--since we've been snowed in!

We've set ourselves this challenge just for the short month of February.  We have no intention to keep ourselves completely out of restaurants after the month is over--but I want us to learn from this one small change to keep eating out special--to always be conscious of the choice rather than have it as a default when we're tired.

One Small Change: Greening Up Away from Home

While my family decides how best to approach our green resolution for the year (to figure out how to reach the "Hanukkah Standard"), it is really nice to have some little doable steps to take along the way. With a goal as complex and amorphous as ours, it seems especially important to be able to reach milestones along the path.

Hip Mountain Mama suggests that we all try to make one small change a month to work towards our goals. I've had a wonderful time reading through all the participants' ideas and can't wait to see how everyone fares this month. It looks like an inspiring community!

We've begun the month traveling an enormous amount. We've visited both sets of grandparents as well as attended a conference in a place which has a lot of history for both David and for me. But by Wednesday morning, we'll be back home with plans to stay there for the rest of the month.

In the past, we've often felt that we cannot make any real changes while we're away from home. As soon as we get home, we'll get started...

But on these trips, we've done a pretty good job at using our reusables, producing less garbage, and trying to do right by the planet. We haven't been perfect--but we've tried hard and are starting to build habits for our long trips.

1. We packed our Klean Kanteens and our reusable coffee mugs--and used them regularly. For coffee out, we've used our mugs for years. And for years we've carried our reusable water bottles for hiking and for outside festivals, etc. But on longer trips, we've never used our Klean Kanteens before.

For a family who drinks no soda at home, we have always managed to stack up a zillion Diet Coke bottles when we were on long drives. This year we were much better. We had water in our Klean Kanteens handy which we could replenish from the tap at rest stops. And David even filled up his Klean Kanteen with Diet Coke a couple of times when he was craving a cold caffiene hit.

2. We carried not only reusable bags with us but cloth napkins, cloth hankies (which came in handy when I came down with a cold), reusable cutlery as well as a sharp knife we bought along the way--and even a small box of stemless wineglasses which we used for our evening picnic date one evening in south Florida.

3. We brought snacks from home when we could--and acquired some snacks from grocery stores (like baby carrots and rice cakes) rather than gas stations on the highway. When we stopped at restaurants, we made sure they were locally-owned places instead of chains.

4. We carried a tiffin and a lunchbot with us so we could pack up leftovers in restaurants. Although we've talked for a long time about our need to make this change, we finally started doing it regularly and are committed to continuing the practice.

* * *

Our goal for the rest of the month is to continue these habits. Many of them are things we've done for a long time at home, but #4 is not a habit yet. Strangely, I think starting it while on a trip made it easier. Since we were in the car so much of the time, we always had the tiffin with us. When we're at home in Takoma Park, our car is far less convenient as a storage spot.

David takes a filled tiffin (and the car) to work with him most days. But our 10yo homeschooled son and I explore DC on foot and using public transportation. It is not uncommon for us to have a violin and a fencing bag with us--as well as all the books and knitting projects that have to accompany at all times in case I get a free moment. Without really planning ahead of time, the containers (shamefully including my coffee mug!) just don't make it out of the house with us. But from now on, I'm committing to making that plan. I'll update you at the end of the month to let you know how things go.

We are already looking forward to February's changes!