Living Books and My Passion for Homeschooling

There is nothing to compare to having a book that you can't wait to pick up and continue reading. As a child I was moved from Canada to England and then back again. It was a painful process with a lot of rejection, as I was a foreigner. The thing that sustained me was my love of books!

I lived about 2 miles from a library and in those days you could only take out four books at a time. For someone who devoured books as I do that was not nearly enough. I can so clearly remember my walks from my house, down an English town road, take right onto Main Street, and then cross over the bridge that led to the Thames River, and then take a left down a side street, and there... there was my beloved library.

No matter what bullying I was enduring, no matter how I missed my friends in Canada, no matter how school was not what I was used to - no matter. I had my beloved friends - my books. I would browse the shelves and pick every so carefully four wonderful books and then begin the walk back home. But I didn't just walk. No I held my book in my hands and read my way home. That walk was so much shorter on the return that on the way out.

I remember one thought that you might consider silly, but honestly, it just showed how books could carry me away from my problems. Sometimes when I walked home it would be late winter nights and it was dark. I was normally scared of the dark, but not when was carrying my books. They gave me a little extra courage. Yes, I would dash as quickly as I could to get home, and I would jump at shadows, and hide when cars passed me by.

At the same time, I would have silly fantasies of what might happen on those late evening trips to the library. Perhaps I would be kidnapped and held to ransom. In my fantasies I always returned home safe and sound. Probably because I never read books that were horrible - more romantic and adventurous in nature.

I figured I would be okay, because I had my books and I would at least be able to read them while I waited for my parents to pay the ransom. Oh the memories!! How funny!

When I was in Grade 7, my library privileges were revoked. Can you imagine!! Taking books from a child. To me that was ludicrous. Their reasoning was that I was supposed to be doing such dry subjects as Spelling or Science, while sitting at my school desk and not secreting a book on my lap. You see, I could pretend I was doing desk work, while actually looking down at my lap where I had the book between the desk and my legs. I could see a sliver at a time; just enough to read. I would slide the book further down my legs as I went down the page. I just couldn't bear to not read!

When I lived in Banff, I would also read. I was a maid in the Banff Springs Hotel. I was a good maid and my reading did not detract from doing my job. This is my disclaimed for those that think I took advantage of my job. *grin* I won employ of the month one month out of 1000 employees, so I know I was doing my job. Buuutttt at the same time.... I figured why not do my job faster and have time to read? So I would do my required number of rooms in a day, and then some more, which earned me points. *grin*. So then I did not feel guilty when my motivator at the end of each room was to stand at my maid cart and surreptitiously read a book for ten minutes before moving onto the next room! This motivation certainly caused me to work speedy fast, and of course, being the Banff Springs Hotel, we had not one, but *two* supervisors checking behind us on each room we cleaned. So there was no way I could slack off.

But those amazing adventures and experiences I read about kept me motivated while doing a mundane job as I did.

When I was a teen of 15 to 18 and had a newspaper route, I read. I used to tell my dad that I was the oldest newspaper carrier out there. *grin* I lived out in the country and the opportunities for making money were extremely limited, so I carried papers. I hated my route, as I was still scared of the dark and it was seven long miles! In the summer and spring it was fine. In the winter it was scary! I had to ride my bike down long sections of dark woods, and due to the fact that my imagination was wild from all the books I had read, (grin), I used to imagine what terrible things could happen to me. My dad probably laughed when I told him my biggest fear was being found dead and the newspaper reporting. Found dead: the oldest newspaper carrier of all time - eighteen years old! (laugh) My imagination was certainly active!

In the spring, summer, and fall days, before it got dark, I would take my stack of newspapers and put them on the bike carrier. I would then pack my novel along with me. If the roads were good I would hold my book on my handlebars with my thumbs and read as I rode down the roads! Can you imagine? If that was my child, there is no way that would be allowed to happen. Well, I didn't advertise to my parents what I was doing! lol I have *very* good peripheral vision, and I suspect it was from all those years reading books when I wasn't supposed to and having to watch for teachers, bosses, and cars! (laugh) But it made my seven miles quite enjoyable!

My love of books has not waned, but my time to read has. They say what is on the bedside table tells alot about a person. I try to squeeze in a few minutes before and after the days begins or ends. Right now, I have The Power of a Praying Wife; The Power of Praying Parent; They Are Already Gone (about adult children leaving the church); Choosing to See - a personal story about Steven and Mary Chapman's loss of their precious baby girl, Maria and their ability to celebrate their faith through it; A Lasting Promise - a book about marriages. Sometimes, rarely, I have time for a riveting good read. But mostly, I love a book about someone's life. I love biographies. I loves stories that triumph or adversity. When I was a girl I loved stories about families and devoured anything I could get my hands on. World War II and the human side of that became a passion for me. Reading about escapes and people helping others drew me in and I couldn't put the books down.

My children have been exposed to classics since they were babies. The first books they are read are Beatrix Potters stories, and the the Winnie the Pooh books. These are followed by: Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Aesop's Fables, Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson, Charlotte's Web, Just So Stories, Peter Pan, Pinocchio. They adore these books!

As each year goes by my children are given more and more to read. To quote a site that shares 1000 Living books with you:

The criteria we used to judge inclusion are: Does the book have literary value? Does the book re-emphasize a Biblical worldview or the Judeo-Christian heritage in some way? Does the book teach, through whatever means, what is moral or just or true? Does the book encourage to love and good works? Does the book exemplify warmth, tenderness, courage, humor, and other values and characteristics that we desire our children to be exposed to? Does the book nourish the intellect and fire the imagination? Does the book cross age barriers to be enjoyed by all?

1000 Living Books

The site has books organized according to ages. I am thrilled to be able to say that though I read a lot of Twaddle growing up, I have learned to appreciate a Living Book. They are truly *so much better* than Twaddle. For those that haven't heard this word before:

Twaddle: (n) silly, trivial, or pretentious talk or writing; nonsense

So much that is on the library shelves today is twaddle. When the libraries have had their book sales for the last fifteen years, I have been there to clean out the books they want to get rid of. The books that they consider not necessary. They are throwing out books that are not borrowed frequently, and sadly, for the children of today, that means the good old books are gone! Books that are really enjoyable to read, for all ages!

Thankfully for me, this means that my library is huge. I keep on adding books as I find them. And then, when I don't find them in libraries, I find them in Best Online Classic Children's Books or Project Gutenberg - these are two sites that are bringing back books from the past. This next one is specifically books that are in the public domain and are Canadian books: Canadian Gutenberg Project.

I hope you enjoy discovering the difference between Twaddle and Living Books! Do you realize how many people don't even know some of the classics! That is outrageous to me! When I was a child my dad always read in the evening. Behind the living room couch there was a floor to ceiling book shelf filled with classics, and books from my parents' childhoods and youths. I can still see myself going behind that couch to choose another wonderful book to read. This evokes such special memories to me.

When I moved to England at age thirteen, one of the first thing I did was search out the library at my school. There were librarians there, but really, they weren't doing much, as not many people bothered to check out books. Why? The shelves were filled with cloth bound books. No flyleaves, no write-ups on the books. Nothing to entice you to read any particular book. That didn't stop me. I picked up a stack of books and took them to the large window seat and sat back to see what I had. Book by book, I opened the covers to see what magic or treasure was hiding within the old, dusty, covers. And magic there was! The feeling is so clear to my memory. Each book was an old story, but so full of life and adventure.

Another magical memory of childhood I have is when we moved into our tall duplex house in a southern English town. This house was four stories tall with a main floor, two upper floors, and a cellar. Each floor had two main rooms, a bathroom or closet area, and a staircase and landing. You can imagine how many stairs there were in this house! My bedroom and my brothers was up on the top floor, and there was a tiny bathroom and a quaint little kitchen right at the top of the landing for us. I loved it up there!

When we moved in, we discovered a coal cellar in the basement, complete with a coal shute. The basement wasn't really used so the areas under the stairs were just like something out of a good old book: dusty, cobwebs, old cobblestone and brick. There were two fireplaces on each floor and so you can imagine being the chimney sweep in that house!

Down in one of those rooms was an old cupboard. When we opened it we discovered a huge treasure! Books. Glorious books! Some of my favourites that came from that cupboard were the William book series. Wonderful, funny stories about a naughty boy named William and all of his adventures. Ageless, timeless stories. The first book is called Just William, by Richard Cromptom. They were published in the early 1900s'. These books were like the others: red cloth bound books that might have been passed by by someone who didn't love books as much as I. I wouldn't call these 'moral books', but rather delightful adventures of William and his friends. These are books that make a wonderful read a loud, simply because you, the mum, will enjoy them also!

If you want to find old books that are no longer published, try going to Abe Books. You can find almost anything you want. The prices are good and you can reckon on paying about $10 shipping on each book, which when you consider the cost of a new book, is about right.

Enjoy discovering the wonder of books, if you have not before. You may find yourself and your children hooked! *smile*

Next to come: My Passion for Homeschooling has come back. Watch out. You might want to get out your notebooks. *laugh* I am talking to those that have told me they like the homeschool posts. *grin* Wait til you see what we are up to! Funny.... hmmm... I thought I said I was barely going to homeschool this year??? Well, the passion is back, and I will just have to figure out how to get it all done: wiring a new house, insulating, drywalling, laying floors, and homeschooling! lol
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