The notion of simplicity has been on my mind lately. It started a little over 2 weeks ago when we had our carpeted first floor and stairs in our home replaced with hardwood. For the job, we cleared our living room, kitchen, dining area, and bathroom of all furniture and major appliances. Now that it is done, we are delighted and my dear husband spends weekends painting walls, ceilings, and trim. In the meantime our rooms are sparse and I like it. The children like it too. There is room to play, or lounge without constant visual distraction. It seems the family is more calm as a whole.
One of my favorite parenting books is Kim John Payne's Simplicity Parenting. How wonderful it is to have a reminder that our children, and ourselves, thrive in a simple, calm, rhythmic environment.
I intend to center our home toward simplicity over the next few weeks. This new focus will play out in both obvious and hidden ways. To begin, I need to think about our homeschool space - we have decided to homeschool our sons next term using the Charlotte Mason method with some Waldorf techniques - more on that later. There are so many charts, pictures workbooks, etc that tempt me to make it a busy space, but one of the reasons I am homeschooling my 7 year old son is the fact that he is over stimulated in the brick and mortar school. He simply cannot settle his little mind on one thing when there is soooo much to look at. So our learning space in the dining room will remain simple with 2 desks, a bookshelf and a line to clip on special drawings and paintings.
One of the biggest challenges in simplifying our home will be in the land of toys. Soon the boys will share a bedroom - a place to be enjoyed with a dreamy aspect with bunk beds, a few bookshelves, favorite stuffed animals and the much loved indoor swing. The second room will turn into a playroom that will hopefully inspire hours of imaginative fun with a train table, lego stand and a special place to hang dress up clothes, and play swords, bow and arrows and sling shots. Arranging that room will require a toy purge. Our oldest is all for it as long as we keep the legos and dress up stuff - an unexpected compliance from a child who use to pile toys all over himself and smile content to be surrounded by all his stuff. The youngest wants no part of it! If something is missing, he knows and makes it clear that he wants it back. Now!
With the challenge of establishing a more simple environment before us, we will look for day-to-day opportunities to...
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| Slow Down |
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| Enjoy Simple Pleasures |
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| See Simple Beauty |
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| and Simply Be. |
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