Organic household cleaners

Because this topic has been on my mind since our board meeting at Eden Co-Op the other day, I thought I'd post something I found.

This article was found on www.essortment.com. I have used vinegar as a cleaner, but I never thought I could wash my dishes with lemon juice! I think I'll try it...


"Most households contain dozens of bottles of unnecessary cleaning products. People invest in separate products for individual cleaning jobs: furniture polish, bathroom floor cleaner, bathroom fixture cleaner, kitchen floor cleaner, kitchen fixtures cleaners, oven cleaner, bleach for white clothes, 2-3 laundry detergents for stain removal and dark colored laundry, glass cleaner and many more. All of these products are costly, dangerous to your home, family and the environment. A household needs only 2-3 homemade organic products with which to keep the entire house sparking clean! Why organic products? Because they are non-toxic to your pets, family members and the environment. Organic cleaning products that you make yourself cost only pennies, whereas the average cleaning product is $2.99.

Let's start with the kitchen. Rather than use a different cleaning product for the stove, kitchen sink, cabinets, floor and refrigerator, there are only 4 products that you need, and you can purchase the products in any grocery store. They are white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and salt.

*Kitchen Floors- In a bucket mix 1/2 cup white vinegar with 1-gallon hot water. This is safe for hardwood, linoleum, tile, and any washable surface.

*Oven Cleaner-Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon salt, and add 1/2 cup hot water. Make a gritty paste, apply to the oven, heat slightly, cool and then wipe away with a damp rag.

*Refrigerator Seals-The plastic seals of refrigerators can be wiped free of debris with a rag dabbed in white vinegar.

*Kitchen Cabinets-1/4 cup of lemon juice mixed with 1 quart of hot water. Lemon juice helps to remove grease from wood and metal.

*Dishwashing by Hand-In a small spray bottle, fill 3/4 with water and 1/4 with lemon juice. Lemon juice is the main ingredient in dishwashing detergent because it is an excellent grease fighter. You don't need any of the other ingredients that make up commercial dishwashing detergents--mostly fragrances.

For laundry, there are three products to use: washing soda, white vinegar and salt.

*Laundry Detergent for White Clothes- use 1/4 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate) in place of bleach. Bleach is one of the most toxic substances for the environment. Washing soda costs only a few pennies per wash load, and it is far less expensive than bleach. Along with the washing soda, add 1/4 cup of white vinegar.

*Laundry Detergent for Dark Clothes-use 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup of salt.

Salt helps restore faded colors, and to remove dirt and grime.

For carpets there are three choices: salt, baking soda or cornstarch.

Just as salt helps to restore the color of dark colored laundry, it also helps to bring out the color in carpeting, while at the same time, removing dirt. Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt (depending on the size of your rug or carpet), let it sit for 15-30 minutes, and then vacuum. You can also alternate between salt and cornstarch. The instructions are the same. To remove odors from carpets, add 1/4 cup of baking soda to the salt (or cornstarch) and make a powder with the mixture, sprinkle on the carpet and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, and then vacuum. If you want to add a fresh scent to your carpet, you can sprinkle Cinnamon, or All Spice on the carpet, let it sit for 15 minutes and then vacuum.



Bathrooms no longer have to be a chore to clean. The same cleaning products used in the kitchen are suitable for the bathroom; white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. However, you can use rubbing alcohol and you've got a great glass cleaner.

*Bathroom Glass Cleaner-1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with 1 quart of water in a spray bottle. To remove oily fingerprints and hairspray from the mirror, dab on a little rubbing alcohol and wipe with a linen rag.

*Bathroom/Bathtub Glass Sliding Doors-1/4 cup white vinegar mixed with 3/4 cup of hot water. Those hard water stains will wipe away like magic!

*Bathroom Floors-The same as kitchen floors: 1/2 cup of vinegar with 1-gallon hot water. This is safe for hardwood, linoleum, tile, and any washable surface.

To polish wood furniture, wood floors, or even wooden blinds, and to have a wonderful citrus scent, use citrus oil. You can purchase a gallon of citrus oil from any home improvement store, or the local Wal-Mart. It costs about $5.00 a gallon, but will last you at least 6 months.

Polishing Wood Furniture-Pour a small amount of citrus oil (undiluted) onto a lint-free rag, and polish to perfection.

Cleaning and Polishing Wood Floors-Dilute one cup of citrus oil in one-gallon hot water.

Use a sponge mop and mop floor. For heavy duty jobs, do not dilute.

Cleaning Wooden Min-Blinds-Dilute 14 cup of citrus oil with water in an empty spray bottle. Lay the blind out on the floor or outside on a towel. Spray the blinds lightly, and wipe gently with a sheet of fabric softener.

For crayon marks, spilled candle wax, and residue left from tape and other adhesive, dab with mineral oil and wipe gently with a rag. Mineral oil is the main ingredient of many commercial products that advertise the removal of greasy wax stains and marks.

To further ensure that you are helping the environment to remain toxic free there are a few simple things that you can do:

*Use Cloth Rags-Never use paper towels or the new "Disposable Wipes." Such products are bleached, and are therefore toxins. Recycle old clothing, sheets and towels into rags. Wash once a week and you'll never have to waste money on paper products again.

*Recycle Paper and Plastic Bags- Never buy plastic garbage bags. Use the bags that you get from the grocery store to dispose of cat litter and household garbage. Invest in cloth bags to use for groceries, and take only 1-2 plastic or paper bags from the grocery store to use as trash bags. Paper bags are the most environmentally friendly, however most cities have ordinances against using paper bags for weekly trash pick-ups. Minimize your use of plastic.

[If you live in towns that require you to use clear trash bags, like ours does, it's a little tougher to get away with just using store bags and paper bags. Though I wish we could. Growing up, my mother never bought garbage bags. Why spend money on a box of bags when we were accumulating at least 5 paper/plastic bags per week from grocery shopping? I had never thought of it as helping the environment, I only thought we were saving money.]

A little planning can go a long way. Our planet and our homes deserve to exist as toxic free as possible!"

Montessori Monday

Montessori programs encourage creativity!

"Creativity flourishes in an atmosphere of acceptance and trust. Montessorians recognize that all children, from toddler to teenager, learn and express themselves in a very individual way.

Music, art, storytelling, movement and drama activities are integrated into American Montessori programs. But there are other things particular to the Montessori environment which encourage creative development: many materials which stimulate interest and involvement; an emphasis on the sensory aspect of experience; and opportunities for both verbal and nonverbal modes of learning."

Www.amshq.org.

Check out your nearest Montessori classroom and look at all the cool materials that encourage creative growth in your child!

Or come see Eden Cooperative Nursery School, A Montessori Environment!

Summer reading!!

Here's some awesome books for your kids to get into this month!









Also, check out this link for summer reading lists by grade!  Summer Reading

Montessori Monday

Every Monday I'll be posting a story or article that is Montessori-related.  The goal is to increase knowledge about this creative and forward-thinking method of educating children.  The more I learn about the Montessori method, the more I love it, and I'm amazed that I didn't learn about it more in college, where my degree was based around education and child development. 

Montessori Education Provides Better Outcomes
Than Traditional Methods, Study Finds

September 28, 2006—A study comparing outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school with children who attended traditional schools indicates that Montessori education leads to children with better social and academic skills.

The study appears in the September 29, 2006 issue of the journal Science (see article full text; available free through Montessori-Science.org).

Montessori education is characterized by multi-age classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time blocks, a collaborative environment with student mentors, absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in academic and social skills. More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.

The Montessori school studied is located in Milwaukee and serves urban minority children. Students at the school were selected for enrollment through a random lottery process. Those students who “won” the lottery and enrolled at the Montessori school made up the study group. A control group was made up of children who had “lost” the lottery and were therefore enrolled in other schools using traditional methods. In both cases the parents had entered their children in the school lottery with the hope of gaining enrollment in the Montessori school.

“This strategy addressed the concern that parents who seek to enroll their children in a Montessori school are different from parents who do not,” wrote study authors Angeline Lillard, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Nicole Else-Quest, a former graduate student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin. This was an important factor because parents generally are the dominant influence on child outcomes.

Children were evaluated at the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and elementary (6- to 12-year-olds). They came from families of very similar income levels (averaging from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for both groups).

The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for their social and behavioral skills.

“We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups,” Lillard said. “Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area.”

Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.

Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as “significantly more creative and as using significantly more sophisticated sentence structures.” The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and there was not much difference in academic skills related to reading and math. This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.

In social and behavioral measures, 12-year-old Montessori students were more likely to choose “positive assertive responses” for dealing with unpleasant social situations, such as having someone cut into a line. They also indicated a “greater sense of community” at their school and felt that students there respected, helped and cared about each other.

The authors concluded that, “…when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools.”

Lillard plans to continue the research by tracking the students from both groups over a longer period of time to determine long-term effects of Montessori versus traditional education. She also would like to replicate the study at other Montessori and traditional schools using a prospective design, and to examine whether specific Montessori practices are linked to specific outcomes.

Lillard is the author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. More information is available at: http://www.montessori-science.org/.

Etsy Lovers!

Check out our Etsy shop here!  One of my students is designing and creating purses and jewelery and we are putting them up for sale!  Proceeds will go towards a charity of her choice, which will be announced at a later time (when she decides)!  She's super creative, and all of her work is completely her own!

An authoritative style of parenting is more beneficial than authoritarian... what's the difference?

This was one of my undergrad professors at Alfred University.  Dr. Lichtman is incredibly intelligent, and remains to this day one of my favorite teachers.  As it says in the article, Dr. Lichtman was also one of the founders of the Alfred Montessori Preschool.
I got this article from Alfred University's site.

Lichtman authors new guide to parenting 8/01/11

Alfred University Psychology Professor Louis Lichtman, with more than 40 years of teaching and research behind him, says children are most successful when they are "self-directed" rather than parent-controlled.

His advice, presented in his new book, A Practical Guide for Raising a Self-Directed and Caring Child, runs counter to the current popular authoritarian parenting style advocated in Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

"Many of the problems facing our country today stem from the way we raise our children," said Lichtman. Surveys show that parents are failing to teach their children appropriate values. In the past year alone, about 30% of teenagers stole, 60% cheated, and 80% lied about something important.
Also, about 50% admit to bullying other children.

His own experiences with what he calls "unhappy and poorly adjusted college students" prompted him to offer the parenting course and, eventually, to write the guide. Since its introduction in 1987, over 1,200 students have taken his parenting seminar.

With the media attention on the "Tiger Mother" style, Lichtman says he is concerned "parents will adopt a strict authoritarian style," even though the preponderance of research findings indicate "an authoritative style "- where parents offer guidance, not orders - works best for raising well-adjusted children to adulthood.

"Parenting is a complex and challenging task for which most people receive no formal training," said Lichtman. He compiled what he has learned as a psychologist, teacher, and parent into the guide, which received an Editor’s Choice award from iUniverse.

Lichtman earned a BS degree in psychology from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maine. In addition to a long teaching career, he has been a chair of the department for 13 years, and has served for 10 years as an associate dean or acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

He was one of the founders of the Alfred Montessori Preschool. He and his wife have two grown daughters.

 

*************************************************************************

 

In his book, Understanding Parenting, Michael L. Jaffe offers some definitions of authoritative and authoritarian styles of parenting.
Authoritative parents are warm towards their children, but firm. Parents who use this style use reason and persuasion to gain the compliance of their children (it should be noted that these parents are not permissive, and when reason fails, they are willing to use power to gain compliance). They explain rules to their children, and encourage their children to be independent thinkers.

Authoritarian parents value obedience over anything else. They limit their child's freedom by imposing many rules, which they strictly enforce. These parents mainly use power to gain compliance ("Because I said so"). Parents who use this style do not encourage their children to be independent thinkers.

 

 

 

We published a book!

One of my kids and I wrote and published a short children's book!  This is so exciting!  You can check it out here:
Click here!

...This link seems to be broken.  I'll figure it out after we come back from hiking!