No Mom, Not My Books!

I’m obsessed with finding books I can give away. The children are guarding their bookcases with their life!

I signed up for PaperBackSwap, a website where I can give away my books, and in return, I can get new ones. So far, I’ve given away 6 books and listed 50 books. Now I can choose books I like at any time. Then some nice person out there sends it to me. Just like that!

Now, any book that looks lonely is fair game for my PBS list. I am obsessed with finding books that I can give away. After going through my own bookcases, I bugged my husband. He got some boxes out of the garage. I went through those, so I turned to my children’s bookshelves. “No Mom! Not my books!” they exclaimed.

It’s funny how I see my bookshelves and my piles of unread books in a completely new way now.

If you haven’t joined in on the frenzy, I invite you to join me in my book sweep obsession over at PaperbackSwap.

Oh, and on a side note, my laptop is in the shop (AGAIN!). It is usually there for a week when it has to go in. This time, I’m ready. I have a whooooole bunch of reading to do.

The Library and Having Fun with Books

Hubby’s going to be gone next week, so I told the kids we’ll be spending a lot of time at the library. My son jumped up and down and said, “Yay!”

I said to him, “When I was a kid, I didn’t like going to the library. It meant I was checking out a book that I didn’t want to read, and doing homework I didn’t want to do. We didn’t go and just hang out to read things for fun.”

He was schocked. “Who made you read books you didn’t want to read? That would suck!”

“They were books assigned by my teachers in school.” I told him. “That’s one reason why we homeschool, so that you can read what you want to read, and learn what you want to learn.”

“So if you don’t read the book, you fail the class?”

“Kind of like that,” I replied.

“Then what happens if you fail?”

“You have to repeat the class, and read the same book again.” I told him.

“I’m so glad I homeschool,” he said.

“Me too, big guy, me too.”

Is it Possible to Have Too Many Books?

My mom is here today. I asked her what she wanted to do with the kids. She said, “Let’s go to the bookstore.”

How can I say ‘no’?

Even though I have 10 unread books on my night stand, 3 on my worktable, 10 or so on my desk and unknown amount of books in my bookshelf. That of course, doesn’t count the ones I have already read stacked around the house.

I cannot go to a bookstore without buying something. I can’t go to the library without checking something out.

And unfortunately, my kids inherited my addiction. I don’t even want to talk about their bookshelves and library stack.

So what do you think? Is it possible to have too many books? Should I go to Book Buyers Anonymous?

Considering Homeschooling Curriculum

There was a thread on one of my fave e-lists about which curriculum to buy for teaching a 5 year old to read. There was a brief discussion about the value of curriculum, and how learning “organically” is a good option too. I thought about this. Yes, organic is good. But does that mean that curriculum can’t be part of that?

My 9 year old son picked up decoding quickly. We didn’t use curriculum, mostly because it is expensive. I know myself, and when we spend a lot of money on something, I feel compelled to use it, even if we don’t need to. I didn’t want to become a slave to any books or curriculum. So we used cheap, cheap stuff.

My son, when he was 3-4-5, would have gobbled up any curriculum we got him. He still loves workbooks and word games. I think no matter how we introduced reading to him, he would have enjoyed it. He is an engineer, and the “puzzle” of the english language, especially spelling and phonics, makes sense to him. It’s fun. It’s easy. That’s why he likes to do it so much.

My daughter, who is 6.5, doesn’t have an interest in phonics really, or any particular affinity for it. She is more into ideas and images. She understands just enough phonics to get by. She doesn’t care to know the names of things, or how things work. She just wants to figure it out enough so that she can finish it and move on to what’s really important - getting the meaning out of what she is reading. So, curriculum doesn’t really “speak” to her. We have workbooks, and she does them (usually math), but not in the same hungry way as my son.

What I guess I’m saying is that each kid learns differently, and in most cases, the curriculum isn’t want makes or breaks a kid’s learning to read. It’s whether or not we match what we’re doing to their learning styles and what their purpose is. Are they reading and learning phonics because it’s interesting? Or are they doing it just so they can read their favorite books? Are they interested in the process? Or does talking about the process too much create a wall with them?

My daughter puts up a wall if I delve too much into describing the puzzle of language. Sometimes, she’s interested and will react positively to explanations. Generally, though, explaining why things are done this way or that (say, why some words are spelled differently) makes her frustrated. She just wants to know the facts - “OK, “their, they’re, there”, all spelled differently, each have different meanings, different words. Got it. Now I can figure out what this sentence says.” She doesn’t care why. Doesn’t want to know the explanation. Just wants to know which ones to use, and after using them a while, in their contexts, she gets it. If it’s not in context, she doesn’t get it. Doesn’t want to get it. Context is everything for her.

My son - totally the other way around. We had a whole 1/2 hour long conversation about those three words, and when they are used and how they are spelled, and even other possibilities of how they could have been spelled and why they aren’t spelled that way. “Thare, the’re, thear”, etc.

Two completely different ways of learning to read, different purposes, different ways of looking at the world. They use their workbooks, their story books and me, as a place to get info, in different ways. So, I let them do their thing, and I met them where they were at, and helped them achieve their goals and met their needs. I also had the constraints of 1. money and 2. not wanting to be a slave to the curriculums/workbooks.

We love workbooks BTW. And, we’re not unschoolers in the sense that we say “no” to anything schoolish. I’m in the “do what works” variety. We have goals, we do what works to meet those goals. We see the world as one big set of tools, and we get to pick the tool that works. Usually, there are many tools that work. And sometimes, the tool that works is something entirely different than what common wisdom would suggest. Or sometimes, everyone’s just “used” to certain kinds of tools, when there are a lot of them out there to choose from.

Kind of like guerilla marketing - guerilla living/educating/schooling - do what works.

The Reading Tree

Being that I’m a list person, this project sounds like a lot of fun!

I gave my son a book that allows him to write down all the books he’s read and what he liked (or didn’t like) about them. I was SO excited to give it to him.

Well, he had zero interest in it. Didn’t even give it a second glance.

I see it on the shelf, and I covet it. I didn’t get it for him. I mean, I did. But I got it because I thought it was cool. If I had though about it for a couple minutes longer, I would have realized that the book appealed to me, not to him.

Instead of getting a book where I list all the books I’ve read, I’ve been chronicling my books on my family blog. Eventually I will have to put them all in one place though. Because I’m starting to forget what I’ve read, or at least, which book is which. And those blog entries get buried.

I really like books. And I like making lists. Looking at lists. And talking about my lists. I’m really the only one in the family that’s so obsessive about it. But I’ve caught my hubby and my son using lists here and there. They don’t like to admit it though. They are more than happy to let the list making belong to me.

Maybe one of my daughters will grow to like lists too? And we can have list-making parties. Book-reading-list-making-discussion group?

Do you keep track of books you’ve read? Why or why not? Do your kids enjoy keeping track of what they’ve read?

The Great Gatsby

I had never read the The Great Gatsby. In fact, I haven’t read many books that are considered some of the best stories of the 20th century. So, I decided it was time to become literally cultured beyond 1990’s pop lit and nonfiction books.

Have you read it? Do you think it’s one of the best books of all time? Why or why not?

Also, did you know that there were many versions printed? And that F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t like the title “The Great Gatsby”?

Looking at it from a literary perspective, there sure are a lot of things to say about it. But looking at it from a fiction writer’s perspective, I wonder, if it were printed today as a new book, would a publisher have bought it? Would people like it?

And, from a writer’s perspective, I found it very interesting that the language was timeless. It really could have been written today. I loved the descriptions of Gatsby’s house, and the different characters. His words are strung together like printed music. Being that descriptions are one of my writing weaknesses, it was a marvelous lesson in how to paint a scene without being flowery.

If you haven’t read it, it’s very approachable (unlike some other famous 20th century stories). It takes a few pages to get into what’s going on and who the characters are, but once you’re in, it’ll be an easy sweep to the end.

Next on my list, Ulysses. Apparently that is the best book written in the 20th century. That got me curious. So I’m gonna read it.

Five Things - Language

Think about this:

In your child’s life, what are five ways that they are learning about the English language?

Answer number one is “books”. That encompasses every single book they ever are exposed to, including text books, English exercises, literature, grammar workbooks, everything.  Books are only one way to learn about language.

What are four other ways that your child learns about the English language; any and all aspects of it?

Three Year Old Learning to Read

My three year old is curious about reading.

There are two possible reactions I could have to this:

1) See it as a sign to get out the phonics readers. To jump on this opportunity to start teaching her the ins and outs of reading.

2) To answer her questions, keep reading to her, and allowing her understanding of reading unfold on its own.

I’m choosing number 2.

Today, we were reading a book. She would point to words and ask what is said. I told her. Over and over we did this. She would guess the word, I would say what the word really said.

At one point, she insisted that the word “bear” said “goodnight”. So I said, “Ok.” and left it at that. There was no reason at all to correct her. She would soon enough forget about that word. She doesn’t know enough about how letters work to know why it’s wrong, and she was obviously enjoying the story told in her own words. Go for it sistah. Read your book your way, and I’ll read it mine. No worries. It doesn’t bother me one bit.

I know, that if I allow my daughter’s interest in words and books flourish at its own pace, she will continue to learn to read. And eventually, she’ll be off like the other two, reading books on her own.

Homeschooling Spelling

Yesterday, I finished up our family holiday letter. After about ten runs through the printer, I fixed many typos, adjusted pictures, and made it “perfect”. Just before I sent it off to print 30 copies, I asked my 8 year old to look it over and tell me if there were any spelling errors.

He found two. Two errors that I hadn’t noticed.

This is from a child who has never had a spelling lesson in his life, has never memorized a spelling list and has never been asked to write anything just for the sake of writing.

So, he said to me, “Mom, even really good writers can make spelling errors.”

I chuckled, told him, “Yes, you’re right.”

Then he added, “Even you.” (This made me a happy mommy on so many levels!)

No judgement. Just a statement of fact. Just an observation. Then without any fuss or needless contemplation, he went back to putting together his K’nex roller coaster.

My five year old demanded to see my errors. She made no comment, but I know her. This conversation sunk in.

Today, she’s helping me print out the “perfect” copies, and is getting ready to help me decorate the holiday cards.

Life without school, well, it just rocks.

Story From a Late Reader

Stephanie writes about learning to read. She is one smart mama.

Her son was a “late” reader. He was lucky. His mama didn’t push him (well, she tried a little, but it didn’t work very well since he wasn’t ready). And now, even though he didn’t start reading until eight years old, he loves reading and books.

Ah, I just love when I hear that a child genuinely enjoys books. Makes my heart flutter.