Simplicity...

Ah, simplicity. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, simplicity is: the state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded. I look around at my life, and it is anything but simple. I tend to heap more and more upon myself, and others, at nearly every opportunity I get. So, when I was reading a friend's blog entry, I felt inspired, not so much about friends as I don't have that many anyway, but with stuff, which I have in abundance. I found this on a web site: "The stunning beauty of a Japanese home is partially due to its clean, uncluttered look. While Western homes tend to be filled with furniture, textiles, and ornate decoration, a Japanese home seems almost empty in comparison. Japanese interior design, then, is not about "adding" extra items to the room. Instead, the goal is to minimize distractions." I could definately go for a clean, uncluttered look! And so I think 2010 will, for me as well as my blogging friend, be about simplicity, both as it applies to stuff and to daily life. This is a year too of my kids being involved in a lot of activities, and I think next year I will curtail that a bit.

On another note, Fairy is making progress with reading! We've been doing Phonics Pathways and using simple readers, like the Dick & Jane books of old. She loves the illustrations, as do I. I think taking a two-pronged approach is helping. She's doing the solid, foundational work of phonics, and at the same time is getting read books, which gives her a sense of accomplishment. I read aloud from a page (usually only 3-5 words, each used a few times), and then she reads it back to me. Today she was able to read a sampling from Dick & Jane aloud to her brother and dad, which made her beam with pride (and me too)! That kind of accomplishment is leading into her asking to do phonics and copy work, so that she can "hurry up and learn to read already!"

Besides that, we're enjoying listening to the Prince Caspian audio book. Lynn Redgrave is a wonderful narrator! After a lot of debate, we are opting to listen to the books in order of their writing/release, rather than in the order they were later arranged into. We're also continuing to enjoy local Native American studies, continued Greek history (almost to Rome!), and our life science program of choice. So homeschooling is going pretty well, though I'll admit I am already on the hunt for treasures for next year. I am trying to find ONE program for each subject that will really work (see simplicity above, and no, I am not counting library books). I think I may go with this great workbook edition of Intermediate Language Lessons for Elf's language arts next year, since it seems very complete, and with plenty of variation, though I wish they had a similar format for Primary Language Lessons! We're pretty much enjoying Writing Tales still, but it's the same format week after week, and I think Elf would do well with a little more variety. I also like that ILL, and PLL, involve memory work, as well as grammar, writing, and even some art appreciation!

For now though, we'll stick with what we're doing, with only minimal updating/changing. I am getting Word Families back out for Fairy in the next couple of weeks, which I can easily mix in with the Word Family Reader from Oak Meadow. I have some Story Starters for Elf to work with for a more creative approach. In science, we're working on life cycles, and then classification. Math-wise we're on track with Saxon. We haven't been doing art appreciation, or music appreciation, like I had hoped, so I am going to try to fold those into the mix.

And that's it for now!