I recently took a quick tour through a modern bookstore. I usually avoid them, knowing that most of what is currently published is devoid of beauty, both of sight and of mind. But I had a few minutes to kill so, as the bear who went over the mountain, I went in to see what I could see. I left dejected, uninspired and definitely unimpressed. What little life that was there was crushed among the death-obsessed tomes.
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One of the greatest joys of our lives is to have hosted foreign exchange students from all over the world. Two boys in particular have become like sons to us. In fact, when folks ask how many children I have, I say I have five boys including two French sons. You see, for us France is more than just a spot on a map, more than just landscapes and landmarks. It is two very special people.
As a librarian who is also a homeschooling mama, I am often asked by prospective patrons if I have the books listed on various homeschool curricula book lists. I remember as a new homeschooler 18 years ago trying to find a curriculum that utilized real, living books. After we finished our time with Five in a Row, we definitely did not want to settle for dry facts common in the textbooks listed in most homeschool catalogs and marketed at homeschool conventions. I found only one such curriculum at the time. We plunged in, enjoying the books we could locate on that list, substituting books we could not find or...gasp...leaving them out altogether. It really never occured to me that my child's education would somehow be ruined if I did not have the exact book recommended on a particular list.
Many parents eagerly embrace living books when teaching their young children. Snuggling on the couch, making memories around books is lovely. Other parents use living books only for history. Biographies and historical fiction truly make history come alive, making us feel as if we are really there. Some families, however, fail to recognize the value of living books for science and math, relying instead on textbooks and workbooks, especially in the later years.
Tis the season...for snow! Science for the seasons is one meaningful way to develop a relationship with the natural world. These resources will cause your children to stand in awe of a Creator God who does all things for His glory and for our good.
I remember one of my favorite books growing up was Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who. Horton, the loveable elephant, is determined to save Whoville from extinction no matter what the cost to himself. In an effort to make themselves heard, all the Whos in Whoville cry from their roof tops, "We are here, We Are Here, WE ARE HERE!!!" The battle seems hopeless as those who only accept what they can see are determined to destroy an entire culture.
Today one of my library patrons passed an article on to me which relates the destruction of over a quarter of a million books by a Virginia library system. I told of another library who is required to do the same thing in a previous post. The Virginia library states budget cuts and moving toward a digital world as their reasons. |
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