Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

In setting up our new homeschooling space, I wanted to create an easily accessible place to hang art and classroom materials without a lot of fuss and on a strict budget.

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

Inspired by this pin, I decided to set two small nails in the wall about two feet apart, with upholstery thread pulled tightly between them. (For extra long displays I used three nails to create two segments to hang from.)

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

Then using wooden clothespins (good for developing hand dexterity in little kids too!), we hung artwork (including those sweet American flags), our independent reading log for June, handwriting alphabet (for reference), map of China, illustration of moon phases, and more.

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

This little homeschooling space is starting to come together.

The State of the Pantry

I’ve been exercising like a mad woman (well, sorta), I feel fantastic, but am still stuck at my pre pregnancy weight (i.e. twenty pounds higher than I’d like to be). Wah wah.

One thing that’s looking lighter around here though is our pantry.

Here’s what it looked like a year ago:

Peak in our pantry

And the state of it today:

State of our organizaed pantry

Oh, and here’s our baking cupboard:

State of our organizaed pantry

While we have less food in the pantry, there’s WAY more foodstuffs in the fridge. (I love the summer produce season.)

State of our organizaed pantry

In fact the fridge is stuffed to the gills with salad fixings and veggies, cooked quinoa, hard boiled eggs, nuts, stews, braised meats, grass fed beef hot dogs, handmade salad dressings…

Despite no dairy, gluten, nightshades, corn or chocolate in our my diet, we’re eating well around here!

Now to really up the exercise… as much as I love the yoga and walks, they don’t impact my weight the same way that running does. (Good thing I love, love, love my runs!) So I gotta prioritize and find the time to run more than once a week. Right now I feel like it may take a miracle. I’m going to aim for three runs a week and go from there.

Breaking Our Plastic Baggy Addiction

This year on Earth Day I resolved to curb our reliance on plastic baggies:
Breaking Our Plastic Baggy Addiction
We started using plastic sandwich baggies several years ago when we joined Costco, where they are cheap and BPA-free, and found them to be incredibly convenient.

I tried to bury my feelings of guilt over the waste of natural resources and money; guilt over sending hundreds of baggies to a landfill where they’d take hundreds of years to break down.

Ugh. I feel a little sick just thinking about it.

Time for a change.

Now instead of reaching for a sandwich or snack baggy:

Breaking Our Plastic Baggy Addiction

When we open our baggy drawer, we grab a LunchSkins Reusable Bag (BPA, pthalate, lead-free and dishwasher safe):

Breaking Our Plastic Baggy Addiction
Breaking Our Plastic Baggy Addiction

We also have glass Pyrex containers (with BPA-free lids) and bell jars topped with BPA-free Tattler reusable canning lids in the cupboard.

A friend recommended these stainless steel snack containers and I’ve been eyeing these Lunchbots containers to supplement our container storage (especially since we can’t bring glass containers to the pool and we plan to swim all summer long).

I hope to sew these washable container covers reminiscent of shower caps. (My mother-in-law has washable plastic ones like this that work great with leftovers, especially during the holidays.)

Do you have any tips or product suggestions for us? We’re excited to jump back on the plastic-free bandwagon again.

Homeschooling Room Progress Report

We’re making tremendous headway in the unpacking and organizing of the homeschooling room!

Not too long ago it looked like this:

Homeschool room in progress
Homeschool room in progress

halfway unpacked and completely unusable.

A few weeks ago we had made some more progress so I shared these photos on Instagram:

Homeschool room in progress

We’ve unpacked or moved most of those clear boxes, bags, and bins in to the garage. The stacks of art still need to be hung throughout the house. I only have several more boxes to unpack, and then we can really begin to use this space!

Here are some more snippets from around the room, with many more photos to be shared soon:

Desk space in the Homeschool room
Trays of magnets in the Homeschool room
Math and science activities in the Homeschool room preview
Sea shells and magnifying glass in the Homeschool room
Lunar Phase Calendar in the Homeschool room

I feel giddy with excitement over the learning and fun we have ahead of us in this space.