Category Archives: Ch-ch-ch-changes

How To Be A Crunchy Gym Rat

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Okay, so it’s no secret that I adore the YMCA. I like to lift weights, need a place to run when there isn’t daylight or heat during my slotted running hours, and I have designs on taking a yoga class one of these days with a friend of mine.

I also take my children there for gymnastics, rock climbing lessons and swimming classes. In the past, we have also participated in Kid Fit, tae kwan do, dance lessons and water polo during other sessions at the Y.

In fact, since we began homeschooling, the YMCA has been a steady and important part of our weekly pattern.

This past summer, I went to a whole new level of crunchy. I started using beauty and hygiene products with the lowest possible ratings from the Environmental Working Group’s data base. This was similar to the transition we made away from convenience foods in the past. It seems crazy and impossible at first; it sounded suspiciously like everything was going to be more difficult and take more time. As it turned out, none of that is true, it simply took some adjusting. Here are some ways I have combined these two parts of my life:

I still wash my hair with baking soda and condition with a white vinegar rinse. I take the baking soda in a ziplock bag. When I get out of the pool (oh yeah – I’m taking swimming lessons now too. And wow it is going to take a long time to make a swimmer out of me, but hopefully my knees will thank me eventually.) I hop in the shower with my baggie and dribble just a bit of water into it. I use the paste to rub on my face like a mask – it has been amazing in terms of minimizing my pores and reducing my acne. Then I fill the bag half full of water. I seal it and shake it up, then pour over and scrub my hair. I bring the vinegar in an old, empty shampoo bottle which allows a great deal of control over how much I’m squirting over my head at one time.

I bring my ZUM goats-milk soap in a little old tupperware.

All the chlorine is doing new and interesting things with my skin, so I have found a lotion we like (Hugo Naturals) and slather it on before dressing.

I would love to experiment with using oils for moisturizer – does anyone hanging around here reading this have experience in this department? Angela? Delena? Maureen?

Crunchy gym rats also like a good breakfast, so I’ve been taking a banana along to eat on the way there. When I get home I have a little bowl of oatmeal made with coconut milk, which really powers me through a morning of homeschool.

Are you exercising right now? What great routines do you use to combine practical beauty and staying fit?

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Homeschool Progress Reports

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We are always trying something new. A recent success at our house: Take a day off from lessons to evaluate how things are going.

We called it student-teacher conferences.

It was a beautiful autumn day. Everyone played outside as one child at a time came in to the kitchen table for a special snack and some one-on-one time. We talked about the first ten weeks of our school year, with special emphasis on: “What are we doing in school that you love most?” and the predictable “What do you like the least, and why.”

It was a revealing and helpful set of meetings. Like parent/teacher conferences from days of old (when we were in regular school), it was a great overview of the trenches from those actually shoveling in them. It was wonderful to see how empowered the kids felt in discussing their schooling. We went a single subject at a time, talking about what they enjoy and where/how they felt they are learning the most. When we arrived at the “what is sucking” portion of the meeting, we made suggestions and brainstormed ideas for changes. We made plans for implementing those we liked best.

I wrote down everything they said.

To wrap the conference up, we went back over the notes I had made and listed our new plan of any changes we wanted to make.

This was a great way to introduce some concerns I have been having (you haven’t been practicing typing/your spelling is atrocious/I think this math is too hard for you) and helped invest the children in the changes we are making to our routine for the next quarter of the school year. An added bonus was the renewed excitement with which everyone approached the new week following our conferences.

Have you done any recent evaluations of things around your ponderosa? If so, how did it go?

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Teaching Textbooks Review

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FINALLY, since I’ve mentioned it three or four times now, I will regale you with the details of our new math program, Teaching Textbooks.

I’ve been looking at this math program since we began homeschooling. I will be honest with you in telling you that I chose Singapore Math over it for two reasons: First of all, Teaching Textbooks doesn’t begin until around a third grade level. Second, it is far more expensive than a year’s worth of materials for Singapore math. I also had concerns about switching programs as we were going, and Singapore Math can be used pretty indefinitely. (I may as well add that I’m also a hard-core homeschool convert and the word ‘textbook’ is a total turn-off for me.)

We finally switched because I felt the children were not all getting enough one-on-one time with their math, and it won’t be long for Shooter (if he continues to choose homeschooling) before he will need to be utilizing other resources (read as: Not me.) for his math lessons. Teaching Textbooks is an all-in-one package. It contains the lectures, practice problems, assignments and grade book. It does all of these things on a computer.

We are in our 6th week of using Teaching Textbooks and all I can say is that I wish we had tried it sooner. I love it. The boys love it. It gives them a level of independence to schedule and manage their own math lessons (Farmer Boy usually tries to get his done before breakfast while Shooter is practicing his horn for band). It makes the problems fun to do. If a problem is solved incorrectly, there is a second chance to find the right answer. The student can also, at any time, ask to see the solution, where the program will work the problem step-by-step for the child to see.

The narration is excellent. There are hints to new or difficult problems, different funny little characters the student can utilize, and the ability to go back and try a problem or listen to a lecture again at any time. The graphics are fun and easy to read. Because we have a laptop, our math is portable and the boys have done their lessons all over the house as well as on the road. Shooter typically does his while Farmer Boy has phonics tutoring, and several times Farmer Boy has brought his along to do in the Suburban while Shooter is in band.

I’m especially pleased with my dyslexic son’s abilities with this program. He just *shines* with Teaching Textbooks. Math has been an exercise in hard work and frustration for him for a long time – Singapore is heavy on the word problems (one of the reasons I love it – Singapore focuses on practical math) which were a constant struggle for him. He also found it intensely frustrating that I continued to insist on seeing his work (all the writing was just another piling-on). With Teaching Textbooks, the problems are all read to him as he goes, and the computer doesn’t require showing any work (he just keeps scratch paper at hand).

I was concerned about being able to know they were ‘getting it’ since I would not be going over/looking over their math every day with them. It has been quite the opposite. Teaching Textbooks gives me the ability to look at every single try on every single problem if I want to (I don’t) and keeps a running grade book of each lesson and quiz. It’s awfully simple to tell at a glance how well a child is mastering the lessons.

See how well my Farmer Boy is doing?! He is so proud.

The last reason I am loving Teaching Textbooks is the least important, but it still matters a great deal. It is saving me truckloads of time. I also appreciate the frustration it is saving the boys when they needed to wait for, wanted a review of, needed a check about, or just didn’t understand the way I was explaining their math.

The only drawback? Little Cowgirl wishes *so badly* that she could do her math on the computer. Next year, my darling.

Do you have a third-grader or older you are homeschooling and your math time isn’t fun and easy? I recommend giving Teaching Textbooks a try. We bought ours second-hand at the used curriculum sale last spring and I intend to pay full price for any grades in the future I can’t find a used copy of. The bottom line is that this program is worth your hard-earned money.

Disclaimer: Teaching Textbooks did not ask me to do, nor gave me anything for this review. I am not actually an important blogger or any sort of celebrity (cue song “If Wishes Came True” by Sweet Sensation – WOW I’m dating myself) so I doubt they will ever know my review exists. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a great product. Consider yourself notified.

What Works Wednesday

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I’m linking up again today with Heather over at Upside Down Homeschooling for What Works Wednesday.

Here is the most recent household tip that has really been working for me: A new laundry soap recipe!

A couple of years ago, I started making my own laundry soap. It was kind of a process, though not difficult, and I blogged about it. I was really happy with it for a while, but then my whites started looking really dingy and all my laundry was holding onto an odd sour smell. I didn’t update because I was looking for something else. Then it was just sad when I didn’t find anything that worked for me. So I was back to store laundry soap and I really didn’t want to blog about that. Even more sad.

Enter my friend Maria discussing crunchy hair with me and voila, She gave me a new laundry soap recipe. She found it somewhere on the internet and it is ALL OVER out there, but she gave it to me with out a site credit, so I’m just taking the lazy way and crediting her for it.

Easy Liquid Laundry Soap

Boil 4 cups water (I use a large glass measuring cup and put it in the microwave).
Stir in
– 3 TBSP Borox
– 3 TBSP Washing Soda
– 2 TBSP dishwashing liquid (the kind you put in the sink, NOT the kind you put in the dishwasher)

Let sit until cool. Pour into a gallon jug and fill remaining space with cold water, allowing suds to run out over the top.

Use about 1/2 cup for a very large or very dirty load.

We have very dirty loads OFTEN at our house

Although they are typically from farming, not running.

I have been using this homemade laundry detergent for months now and I am so pleased. All the clothing smells wonderful and it is at least as clean as when I was using the expensive ‘environmentally friendly’ store soap. I love how easy and quick it is to mix a batch and Little Cowgirl loves helping to do so.

Now, if only there were something I could mix up to fold and put away the clean clothes. Let me know if you have a recipe for that!

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Wednesday linkup

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This Wednesday I am linking up with my friend Heather on her new blog, upside-down homeschooling featuring “What Works Wednesday.”

Here are some things that are working for us right now:

Homeschool preparations

We are going to try “notebooking” our history and geography lessons this year. I have been making some ahead of time using this great tutorial. You can read more about notebooking (sometimes called lapbooks) here. I purchased this ebook from the notebooking fairy and received a free membership to notebooking pages which includes access to many of their free page templates. This is a new experiment and I don’t know how it will go in practice, but in theory I’m in love with the idea and I hope the children find it to be a joyful part of our school year.

I gave each of the children clipboards this year. They will be for working on school when we are on the go – or when they feel like working somewhere without a flat surface. (My children have been known to do school work in every room of the house, in every part of the yard, and any unconventional place they can find once we left ‘regular school’ behind.) Little Cowgirl is so excited she has started her math for the year just so she could use her clipboard.

Crunchy Hair

I’m still loving my crunchy hair and crunchy cosmetic products. I’ve been ridding our home of the more toxic personal hygiene products we had been using and other than a few grumbles from My (poor, unsuspecting) Farmer who misses his chemical-laden soap and toothpaste it has gone so well. My blogging friends Alison at Mama Wants This!, Christine at Quasi Agitato, Alyce at Mrs. Bartel’s School Family and Dorie at Homeschooling Just Next Door have all given crunchy hair a try.

MathTacular!

We received the bulk of our school curriculum last week – most of what we use in our homeschool comes from Sonlight. In one of our packages this year, a program called MathTacular! was included. When I was shelving everything, I just set it down beside the kid’s computer (our old laptop). WOW it’s getting a workout! I thought it was games to play on the computer and some simple math exercises. It is NOT. It is math lessons on a DVD – they are hilarious and appeal to all of my children even though several of the concepts are far too advanced for my soon-to-be second grader. I’m ordering another MathTacular! edition for her that will be more in line with what she will be learning this year. I keep following the sound of children laughing to find out what is so hysterical. MathTacular!, that’s what!

Sisters

I have been so blessed with three truly fabulous sisters-in-law and one baby sister of my very own. They are all amazing women who are instrumental in my life. I’m so thankful for each of them. I especially appreciate that each of them knows me as well as they do, accepts and loves me the way I am and that we have relationships that provide us with giving and taking support from one another whenever it is needed. *happy cry*

What has been working for your family this week?

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Crunchy hair and other crunchy things.

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At the beginning of the summer, I posted about ridding my home of the cosmetic products that were high in toxins and carcinogens.

I was really concerned about finding replacements for my deodorant, my acne treatments, and of course my make up (in that order).

A happy surprise was that my deodorant (Secret solid unscented) was rated quite good! So I’m still swiping my pits with the same thing I started using clear back in the 19-hundred-and-somethings.

An unhappy surprise included our sunscreens, our toothpaste and our bar soap. These have been easily replaced, even the toothpaste!

Most of you know I have been experimenting with crunchy hair, here are some new before/after photos, this time with strait hair:

Here I am at the start of the day, right after styling.

I didn’t use any products (aside from my flat iron) and I brushed once in the middle of the day.

Here I am at the end of the day, after taking the kids to the water park. It held up great!

I currently have no plans to go back to using shampoo and conditioner. I’ve been so pleased with the texture of my hair using this method, and I think it is continuing to improve as my hair detoxifies. All three children are now voluntarily sporting crunchy hair as well.

The biggest news flash I have for you concerns make up. I’ve fought for years now with finding makeup that my face doesn’t react to. I’ve tried most any brand of makeup you can buy whether over the counter, from your girlfriend’s kitchen table or off an infomercial (Mmm-hmm, oh yes I did). The only one that didn’t make my eyelids break out in weepy hives was physicians formula…but I could only wear it a few days a week, and I had to wear the mascara on special occasions only. Too many days in a row and my skin was peeling and flaky (gross, I know!).

I went make up shopping at our local whole-foods type store. There was a huge selection. I took my iPhone with me and used the EWG website to find the ratings on the cosmetic products (I was surprised how many there were on the shelves with poor ratings!). I am especially pleased with the ZUZU products I purchased: Concealer, lipstick, mascara. I purchased Larenim pressed powder and I’m happy with it as well. These items are pictured in the bottom of the photo below.

My new crunchy product line-up.

The top left is the moisturizing face cream I bought in place of what I’ve been addicted to for three years now. It’s made by Weleda, and is nice, smells good and doesn’t make my face sting though it’s not as fabulous as my toxin filled anti-aging stuff (which I gave away and will not buy anymore). The top right is samples of eyeshadow and blush as well as a nail polish from Honeybee Gardens. I love the eyeshadow and blush and I’ve ordered full size of those, but the nail polish (while beautiful) is not meant for people who garden and do dishes every day. I had chips by the 24-hour mark though I followed the directions to the letter for proper curing.

You can see me wearing all the makeup I mentioned in the first picture of this post. (Obviously. I’m even wearing lipstick!)

I can’t believe the difference in my face since changing to 0 or 1 rated products from the EWG site. I don’t itch or sting, I don’t have rashes or flakes, my eyes don’t hurt or sting. I can wear this makeup every single day and have been doing so for a month now! I’ve been washing my face with good-for-me bar soap and in place of all the acne treatments I was using I have just been making a quick mask of baking soda and water. Though I still have had breakouts this month, they have been lesser and faster to heal.

I’m still on the lookout for a good nail polish – I’ve noticed that the lighter colors are rated better as a large generalization. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

In the mean time, I feel good about having so much success with this experiment and assuring you all how easy it has been to switch my family over to safer products (ignore the soap, deodorant and shampoo my husband is using – he is resistant to change and that’s okay).

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Of Crunchy Hair…

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Alright, peeps, let’s talk hair. I’ve been talking and tweeting about my crunchified hair lately. I have been washing my hair exclusively this way since that post. I know I said I wasn’t going to only use the baking soda/vinegar method…but every time I get in the shower I do it again. I have some more news to report:

First of all, I have tried using apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. It does make a difference in the texture of my hair. I want to say it’s a bit softer, but I’m not sure that’s an accurate description. It is less prone to snarls but more prone to static. I also much prefer the smell of white vinegar, so plan to go back to it on the next wash and see if it is still different or if it’s just that my hair is adjusting to this new way of washing.

PLEASE NOTE: When I talk about the smell, I mean only during the shower. My hair has absolutely ZERO scent once I rinse the vinegar out.

Secondly, I convinced Little Cowgirl to let me give it a go on her hair. I told her I had new shampoo, and I used a spray bottle to rinse the baking soda with vinegar. She LOVES it. She told me her hair is shinier, faster to wash and has no snarls (that’s debatable, my friends). It does seem to be working well. I thought she would balk at the vinegar smell (she doesn’t like to help with cleaning if it involves vinegar) but she has never mentioned it.

I’m taking the spray bottle with me the next time I shower – I think I’ll need much less vinegar that way.

I have a pictorial for you as well today. Two days ago, I washed my hair right before bed (after we came back from the water park). I went to bed with wet hair. I have lots of hair so it was still a bit damp when I woke up the next morning. I blasted it for a few seconds with a blow-dryer and took five minutes with the curling iron to this effect:

Beginning of the day...see how "bright" the different colors of my hair are? it's the vinegar, I swear.

We spent the day running around to tutoring and harvest broohaha, did a bit of yard work (watering things) and helped Cowgirl fly her kite. I never brushed or touched up my hair. Last night at 10:00 pm this is what my hair looked like:

Ouch - nice florescent lighting effects. But the hair still looks pretty good.

I know some of you have been experimenting with this as well. If you have tried it and would like to write about your experience (good or bad) please email me at closeenoughblog@gmail.com so I can feature your crunchified hair.

Here is what my hair looked like this morning – just rolled out of bed and brushed it. I always like the texture of my hair on days two and three after a crunchy wash (sorry if that’s TMI about the frequency of my hair washing) because it maintains its softness and the style relaxes.

7:00 am - after brushing. I work hard on my hair, people. I had to lift my arm five or six times.

Are you thinking about crunchifying your hair? It’s worth a try – it’s been nothing but surprises for me. It’s a simple process:

1) Mix about 1/4 cup (I use more) baking soda with a cup or so of water. I just take a plastic bowl of baking soda into the shower with me and spray some water into it. I mix it with my hands and pour some of it on my head, then I scrub that part of my head. I have a lot of hair (and a figuratively big head) so I like to pour a bit on at a time in sections (top, side, side, back, long hair that hangs down) followed by scrubbing that portion.

2) Pour vinegar over your head and let it bubble (I’ve been keeping a small, screw-top bottle of vinegar in the shower). Interestingly, I read the original description a friend found of this method and it suggested rinsing the baking soda out with water first. I missed that part and put the vinegar on while my head was full of soda. But I really like the fizzy feeling and plan to omit rinsing with water between steps one and two. This may work better on different types and textures of hair – we should experiment!

3) Rinse with water.

Three steps to crunchy hair (four if you rinse between steps one and two) – and I mean crunchy in a good way, like eats steel-cut oats/composts/makes granola from scratch crunchy; not makes a snapping sound/feels hard/then crumbles kind of crunchy (which is only good if you are taking about chips).

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Crunchy Product Reviews

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Last week I talked about my summer project of replacing toxic cosmetic products in my home. I thought I’d give you an occasional update and review some of the products or ideas that we have been trying.

I know you are all dying to know how the baking soda hair wash went. I washed my hair using this method a week ago and kept track of my thoughts for you. My concerns were as follows:

1) Sticks
2) Ants
3) Brillo

To translate – I was concerned that my hair would be snarly and dry, that my scalp would itch and that my hair would look like #3. I have VERY strait hair, but it can also be pretty course.

I was surprised on all three counts. First of all, it was a pleasant sensation to scrub with the baking soda and water paste. When I rinsed with the vinegar (I just used regular old white vinegar) it was a bubbly party on my scalp. It felt so…gentle. I was expecting to feel more like I was scouring with Comet (it makes your mouth turn green…). When I got out of the shower the made-for-wet-hair brush literally slid through my hair. Once it dried, my hair looked like this:

I felt that the vinegar brought out lots of the reds in my hair.

Styling was simple and I used no products at all. My hair was very cooperative. And mostly it felt very, very clean. This was not a clean feeling I’ve had with my hair and scalp before. It was generally quite nice. My style (five minutes spent with a curling iron or strait iron, depending on my mood) held up great. My hair felt soft, but in a different way. It also felt much lighter. I was at two different functions the next day and two close friends of mine complimented my hair – I asked them to feel it and they were both shocked and all “NO WAY” when I told them I had crunchified it.

I thought I would have static or frizz issues, but that never happened either. I will say, however, that I live in Kansas and it’s super-windy here, so snarls can be a problem. I did find that my hair tangled easier and more often, so I was taking a brush to it more frequently.

This is certainly something I will be doing again. At this point I don’t think I will do it every time I wash my hair because I am trying out other products for the kids to use as well, but washing with baking soda and rinsing with vinegar is going to become a regular part of my routine. Did anybody else try this? What were your results? If you haven’t, do you think you might?

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Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…

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Several years ago, the Environmental Working Group came out with a list of cosmetic products, including toothpaste, sunscreen, makeup, shampoo, soap, lotion and nail polish. It is a full-disclosure database about what is inside these products. I’ve been avoiding it for years, though I did replace our toothpaste, soap and shampoo after reading about some of the initial information.

This summer I would like to experiment some more with finding safe and healthy alternatives to cosmetic products. I’ll keep you posted as I work on finding healthier options for my family and my planet. I would also love to find ways around the lazy approach I’ve taken thus far – which is a single-step plan involving purchasing very expensive alternatives. I grew up on a farm in the 1980s, so it goes without saying that spending more than $7 for a small bottle of shampoo is something that I feel I need to take to the confessional. (Please absolve me, mom!)

I think this issue is on the mind of my friends as well. My darling Tarah, of spoon hooker fame, sent me this link not long ago about making your own body wash.

Yesterday one of my internet friends (one of the two people I can’t wait to meet in real life but am also kind of afraid that we will cause some sort of nuclear reaction with our fantasticalness – not a word but it says what I mean – in the same place at the same time) posted a link to this method of hair washing.

My foodie mentor and homeschool guru Maureen wrote a great post about making deodorant at home.

I told my baking-soda hair washing friend yesterday that I’m extra-vain, especially for a crunchy gal. So I’m going to be pretty picky. And the idea of giving up my quick-dry, one-swipe nail polish kinda makes me want to cry. But the idea of giving myself cancer makes me feel much worse – let’s not even talk about the fact that my daughter loves to have her nails painted. I’ve been having problems with makeup for years now…I can’t wear eyeshadow at all in the last month because of the constant reaction it causes. It’s time to make some more informed and aggressive changes around here. The first step begins with evaluating the items I am using on the EWG website.

So how about it? Would you be interested in sharing some of this journey with me?

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