Books, Books, and More Books....

Every month, I give away boxes of books to the Salvation Army, AmVets, or whoever shows up at my door to collect them.

Every month, I weed through our homeschool room and cull the books that weren't as good as I thought they'd be, or that my youngest child has outgrown.

And yet, bewilderingly, we are still quite over-run with books.

These four pictures of the homeschool room represent about 20-25% of the books in our home. There are multiple bookshelves in the children's rooms, in my bedroom, in our family room, in our basement, and in boxes in the basement - although I am seriously making an effort to get rid of the books in boxes because if they are in boxes, what is the point of owning them?

I remember when I first fell in love with a book. I was about four, and a visitor to our home brought me a beautifully illustrated book, "Snow White and Rose Red". My mother was too busy to read it to me, and I was tortured all day looking at the lovely pictures and wondering what the text said, waiting for my father to get home. That was also the day I decided I absolutely, positively, had to learn how to read myself. And I did so, in short order.

When I was a few years older, my parents divorced. My mother viewed books as clutter, so she didn't purchase them for us, but she took us to the library regularly, feeding my obsession with the written word. We spent weekends with our father, and he took us to Toys R Us twice a month to get a treat. Without fail, I always bought a book - first the Bobbsey Twins, then Nancy Drew.

And I've always considered it one of my prime responsibilities as a parent to turn my kids into bookworms. I'd say I've done a pretty good job; how many kids would read a book while they are blowing out their birthday candle?



As a homeschooler, I make it a point to use "living books" (appealing books that delight kids with new ideas and thoughts and ways of looking at or interacting with the world) rather than textbooks whenever possible.

As a homeschooler, I see exactly how books affect my kids, how my kids connect what they read to their lives. I see what resonates with them. I see exactly what interests them, and what arouses their curiosity.

And as a homeschooler, I have truly come to appreciate books as the profound gifts they are. Books are an irresistable invitation to experience the world through someone else's eyes; to be transported to another time, or another place; to learn about something, or how to do something.

Well anyway. Time to go figure out my Scholastic books order....

Learning All The Time Too

Spring is Busting Out All Over!!!

Well okay, just the forsythia and daffodils right now, but I am completely motivated and energized by the sight of those yellow blossoms.

I just love SPRING!

It's a good thing I feel so energized, because spring actually means a LOT of work around the house. For example, there is our front stoop, which desperately needs fresh paint, colorful potted plants, and a new welcome mat.

Then there is the front yard, in desperate need of pruning and leaf-clearing:

Another view of the front yard:

And yet another view of the front yard, under the plum tree:

And the overgrown nandina on the side, which also needs clearing and pruning:

This is the back of the house, more leaf clearing and pruning:

And this is my deck! Even more work, it needs to be cleaned, the new deck furniture I bought needs to be assembled, etc...

I am not usually one to be motivated by the prospect of hours, days, even weeks of work! So what is so energizing about spring? Honestly, I'm not really sure.

Spring is all about new life, regeneration, and beauty, and I just love being part of it. More than New Years Day, I have the sense of new beginnings. More than New Years Day, I commit to resolutions and follow through on them. I WILL make my deck an outdoor sanctuary. I WILL protect my peonies from powdery mildew this year. I WILL train clematis to climb up my arch. And so on.

And massive rewards are just around the corner! Look at this flowering plum tree!

Look at this grape hyacinth!

All around my yard, plants are pulsing with life, pushing their way though the dirt (how I love the red tips of my peony buds), ready to explode with color. The next two to three months will literally be a parade of blooms, and I can't wait!

Disney World, Here We Come!!

Okay, so we're not actually going for another 6 plus months. But I can't wait!

I've always been a little down on Disney, all that manufactured commercial 'fun', compared to say, the more natural wonders of playing on a sandy beach watching the ocean roll in, or hiking through national parks, or visiting foreign lands (theoretically at least - we've never been able to swing this).

My kids (10, 8, 6) are not actually very Disney-fied either. While they've been exposed to most of the animated feature films, they've never been obsessed. My daughter (8) never went through a princess stage, she has no idea what High School Musical is or who Hannah Montanna is, etc...

The first thing that made me reconsider was the fact that Disney is supposed to be so fabulous about food allergies. My daughter has life-threatening allergies to milk, egg, tree nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc...) as well as legumes (peanuts, peas, chick peas, lentils) and many seeds (sesame seeds, sunflower seeds). And, apparently, Disney chefs are well prepared to feed my daughter safely! Plus, our room apparently gets a special "peanut" cleaning, to make sure any families that stayed in it before us didn't leave residue that could harm B.

Usually when we go on vacation, I have to cook all the meals for B., or worry about being within range of a McDonalds, the only "restaurant" B. can eat at, given their separate fryers for French Fries and their standardized food production procedures. I have to bring all B.'s bedding, and my own stuff to clean down the room. I may do this anyway, but it is just very reassuring to know Disney has a policy in place that is intended to protect children such as B.

The second thing that made me reconsider was actually learning something about Disney! It is a pretty impressive complex, with four completely different types of parks, each containing a wide variety of attractions, rides, shows, meals, etc....

Furthermore, I take my kids to many "manufactured" experiences - zoos, museums, movies, amusement parks - and Disney just combines all of these things into one huge complex, with the aforementioned tie-ins to their movies.

But should I really begrudge Disney that? Disney is in the entertainment BUSINESS, Disney movies entertain millions of children (and adults), has done that extremely well over several decades, and, just happens to be a profit-oriented business. And if they are a massive corporate behemoth - well, it is precisely their prosperity and size that makes them able to accomodate my daughter on a scale unthinkable for most entities that deal with children.

We have reservations in a moderate resort, Port Orleans Riverside, which can accomodate our family of five. Now, given my daughter's food allergies and asthma, I do feel a little concerned about some of the on-line reports I've read that have indicated Riverside rooms are shabby and poorly maintained. But Riverside also has many positive reports, and if the room exacerbates my daughter's asthma, I have plenty of coping skills thanks to experiences in other hotels that exacerbated her asthma. Plus, Riverside is apparently being rennovated in 2008, so perhaps they'll be finished by the time we get there.

Learning All The Time