Monday, September 8, 2008

Book Addicts Anonymous...

Today was a great day at the library. I think we checked out 47 books. We also got a good look at the homeschoolers of the area. Walked inside in the middle of the day and thought "Aha! There you are fellow homeschoolers! You can't hide now!" (Insert devious maniacal laughter.) The librarian and another mom got into a great No-Child-Left-Behind discussion that I would have loved to have joined in on. Alas, I was distracted by the half a million books being brought to me accompanied by "Mom, we HAVE to get this one..." How can you turn down the kids bringing you books?? Ok, so there has to be some line, I guess, and ours is very easily drawn by "When the crate is full, its time to go." Let me tell you, that crate was REALLY full. Do you know how much 47 books weigh?

We really do read a lot of books...and lots of different kinds. Everything from the simplest reader books (Iggy mostly) to chapter (with pictures) books like Magic Treehouse and Captain Underpants. Today we read a whole book on the origins of Halloween...why? Because it looked cool, and you know if you try to get that library book at Halloween time it will be at someone else's house lost under their couch. So we read it today. Because they wanted to. I learned a lot. I love Halloween (mostly because I love fall, but anyway) and have never understood the newish anti-Halloween thing that goes on. And (gasp) I even go to church.

As far as reading/writing curriculum, I guess we don't have one. We play a lot of games: A to Z (both with the board and without) Boggle Jr., Scrabble Jr., rhyming games, making up stories and books. The book "Games for Reading" by Peggy Kaye is wicked awesome and has also brought a lot of cool homemade type reading "games" to our school shelf.

I absolutely adore books. They rock my world.

2 comments:

Ruralmama said...

"Hi, My name is Sarah"
(chorus of "Hi Sarah")
"I'm (sniff, giggle) a... a... bookaholic"
(round of applause)
This is one thing that I think it's completely OK to be addicted to and I understand the grocery-sized receipt you get from the library is unwieldy, as well as the the crate (or the re-useable grocery bags, as we do) can be, but really, that's EXERCISE, right? Right, roight (insert pirate-y accent here). Meanwhile, we have 5 thousand books in our house and can still come home with 47 (yes, we have maxed out the library's limit at 100) books from the library. It's free entertainment, most libraries have the best kids DVDs, music and some even have puppets you can check out (Hennepin Library system, for example) as well as any book you can dream of. Fantastic, welcome to the club, grab a cup or joe (or a beer, if you'd rather) and sit back and READ!
BTW, we learned today in the Welcome to Felicity's World 1774 book (a American Girls collection book) that babies were nursed (as you'd expect) but that to keep them quiet they were given warm beer in a bottle-like thing! Nowadays that's called child abuse and neglect; back then it was "child management". Fascinating!

Jennifer said...

I think that's why I avoid the library, lol. When I was young I used to go to the library and check out a bazillion books and then wouldn't get the time to read them. I'd look for one subject and clear the shelf, lol.
I really should get my kids over there though. I'm sure they'd find some cool ones and maybe get more interested in reading like your kids are.