Home Library

I had a good-sized collection of books when Billy and I got married, mostly children's books my parents gave me during my growing up. Ever since, we've been collecting books from garage sales, library book sales, and other places here and there. At first I just got children's story books. Billy gravitated toward old children's science and history (and of course, grown-up theology). I quickly saw the merit in collecting non-fiction as well (although story books still have a special place in my heart--and my book bag). I rarely pay more than a dollar for these books. Often they cost from 10 to 50 cents.

This week, Silas (who's 4) and Elizabeth (6) got on a map kick. They wanted to know all about maps...Where certain places were...If the blue was water (Silas's question)...On and on. It was such fun to be able to pull these two books off my shelf to get them started. When we got home from church that night, Billy turned them on to Google Earth. They stayed up late looking at places around the world, and I can hardly pull them away from it now. They are virtual world travelers.

You've probably heard the saying by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire." It's such a joy to actually see this in action. I feel very fortunate that my children are in an environment where we have the freedom to drop everything and pursue something when they are interested in it. That's how passions are born. I'm especially happy that we've taken the time and invested the (relatively small) amount of money to make sure we have resources on hand when interest strikes (or just when it's time to study a particulars subject). Our little home library is increasingly important in our children's education. What fun, when they express an interest in something to be able to say, "We have a book about that!"