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