Books and Curricula (or, How A Homeschool Mom Attempts to Regain Some Sanity)

On Friday I did one of my favorite (yet most guilt-inducing) things to do: I buried my nose in a book, almost all day long. I had an intimidating list of things I should have been doing... and yet. The book was Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson. It's... well, you could say it's detective fiction, but that really wouldn't do it justice. The detective is believable and the victims all seem like real people, set in real families, whose losses seem unbearable because the author paints such a nuanced portrait of them. I had never heard of the book, or the author, but I came across it at the Scholastic Book Sale and thought it looked intriguing. Nice to have a hunch play out.

I also picked up Amy Tan's Saving Fish From Drowning and Anne Tyler's The Amateur Marriage. Summer projects. Oh! And how come none of you have ever told me about ANNE LAMOTT??????? Oh. My. Gosh! I'm in the middle of Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith, and I'm already plotting to figure out how I can amass everything she's ever written. I picked this one up at Costco purely on the title, and figured out about three pages into the book that I needed to read anything of hers I can ever get my hands on. And I also figured out, after mentioning her to some of my friends, that I'm apparently the last person in America to have heard of her. That, my friends, is one of the hazards of homeschooling, isn't it - Head In Sand Syndrome. (I was also the last person in America to hear of this guy - and how sad, too, since what he's accomplished is so extraordinary!)

Furthermore, to report back in on a book previously mentioned, sometime over the winter I finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Unspeakably good.

And for Patty (and other Dallas Willard fans out there), I'm maybe a third of the way through Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Which is making me wonder about how different my life might look if I practiced even a small fraction of the spiritual disciplines that I know I should. Not in a guilty way, either - more in a curious, maybe-I-should-try-that way.

And Crissy, wow, I can't believe that you remembered that I was looking for new math and grammar programs! Except that I probably am ALWAYS doing that. Sigh. Anyway, I did buy MathUSee for my daughter last month. I'm still giving her the (expletive-expletive) Saxon worksheets for now, but we're not doing any of the (expletive-expletive) lessons. I'm just kind of finishing the book to a point where I feel satisfied, and we'll pick up the MUS at the beginning of next year.

BUT, as for GRAMMAR, I have purchased something that I LOVE, so far - Analytical Grammar. Ah! This program is wonderful! (Yes, I'm infatuated!) It has straight-forward explanations. No-nonsense worksheets. No overkill. Easy to schedule. But thorough instruction. And... diagramming. (Be still, my heart!) We started it last week, and I will let you know how it goes this summer. But so far, it's the New Best Thing.

Now, if I could only figure out the New Best Thing for teaching Algebra. Yes, the time I have dreaded since beginning homeschooling has now arrived: I must research, and select, an Algebra program. Pray for me. Not since potty-training have I had less enthusiasm for a parental duty.