I've been doing some pre-spring cleaning lately, and it has occurred to me, yet again, that if we'd ever take the time to actually read all of the books we have crammed onto our overloaded bookshelves, stacked on dressers, stuffed into drawers, or boxed in our closets we'd have covered the equivalent of a good high school education, and then some.
If you're like me (and I've been in enough houses of other homeschoolers to know that you most likely are) you like books.
You probably had a number of books before you started having children, or ever imagined you'd homeschool them - favorite books from childhood, old texts from high school or college classes, used bookstore finds, and new series splurges.
Then, when you started homeschooling you acquired more. Some of them you bought, some you borrowed and never returned (sorry Mom), some you were gifted -
"You homeschool don't you? My aunt just died, and we're cleaning out her house, and she had a whole set of World Book Childcraft Encyclopedias..."
They've been on your shelves all these years. You've lugged them with you from house to house, shuffled them from room to room, bought new bookcases to accommodate them. They've flattened folded papers, pressed flowers, held down the edges of forts, formed the foundations of ramps...
… but have they been read? I mean really read, not just plundered for bits of information or a forgotten poem.
If you're like me, you kept them for the day when your children would be old enough to read them, appreciate or understand them. Some you thought would be good, but were over their heads, or just not what you were looking for at the time. You hoped you'd get back to them eventually.
If your kids are in high school, or about to be, eventually has come. So, let me encourage you (and myself) to stop overlooking, and start your teens reading, the great books stacked on shelves right in front you.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
If you're like me (and I've been in enough houses of other homeschoolers to know that you most likely are) you like books.
You probably had a number of books before you started having children, or ever imagined you'd homeschool them - favorite books from childhood, old texts from high school or college classes, used bookstore finds, and new series splurges.
Then, when you started homeschooling you acquired more. Some of them you bought, some you borrowed and never returned (sorry Mom), some you were gifted -
"You homeschool don't you? My aunt just died, and we're cleaning out her house, and she had a whole set of World Book Childcraft Encyclopedias..."
They've been on your shelves all these years. You've lugged them with you from house to house, shuffled them from room to room, bought new bookcases to accommodate them. They've flattened folded papers, pressed flowers, held down the edges of forts, formed the foundations of ramps...
… but have they been read? I mean really read, not just plundered for bits of information or a forgotten poem.
If you're like me, you kept them for the day when your children would be old enough to read them, appreciate or understand them. Some you thought would be good, but were over their heads, or just not what you were looking for at the time. You hoped you'd get back to them eventually.
If your kids are in high school, or about to be, eventually has come. So, let me encourage you (and myself) to stop overlooking, and start your teens reading, the great books stacked on shelves right in front you.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
I totally feel every word of this post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and true for us as well. We loan some of our home library to neighbors, friends, and extended family.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the books you realized your kids have mostly outgrown, but you never got around to reading because there's so many books to read.
ReplyDeleteWe are not even homeschooling and yet we have way too many books in our house. This is why almost all our last 1,000 books or so were Kindle books :)
ReplyDeleteI love this post and think it is a great challenge. Used book stores are eye candy for me and very dangerous places to enter! LOL. I need to take this challenge myself, especially since we want to channel more money into travel and I have tons of books on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn