Is it me, or has Earth Day exploded? Just a few years ago, most people probably had not even heard of Earth Day, but now the entire globe joins together to make a difference. This Earth Day, my family and I are going to take some extra time to conserve, educate and recycle. My wife and I feel it is important to discipline our children from an early age in responsibility and the need to make right choices. So, here are a few things my family will be doing together this Earth Day.

Turn off the lights

On Earth Day, our family goal is to use as little electricity as possible. This means no TV, no excessive usage of lights and turning our air condition up a few degrees to conserve energy (we’ll turn it off if it’s not hot outside). Although the lacking energy usage will make our lives a bit more inconvenient, it will also make the day more memorable for our children. Experiencing something is one of the best ways to teach and learn a lesson. This will be a first for us, so let’s hope it goes well.

School class

My wife home schools my son, so we’re going to dedicate his home-school class to learning about Earth Day, the environment and the importance of recycling. Instead of learning how to spell or write each letter correctly, he’ll be venturing outdoors and taking a tour of our recycling bins in the garage to learn about plastics, paper and metals. He’s at the age where he loves to learn and ask questions about everything, so I’m sure this will be an extended home-school session.

Enjoy outdoors
Despite my children’s seasonal allergies, we are going to go outside to enjoy the earth. We live in Florida, and many people spend most of their day indoors to avoid the heat. We find that our family is in the house a lot as well because the environment is more controlled. For Earth Day, we plan to take a picnic to the park across the street from our home and feel the grass, avoid the fire-ant hills and eat some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

It’s the small things in life that can have a deep impact on our children and their children. This Earth Day, we don’t have any big plans; just staying at home with our kids and intentionally emphasizing the importance of the earth and how we have been given a responsibility to take care of it.