There was recently an article floating around Facebook. What it said (in a nutshell… you can read the article here) was that the one thing that determined the level of education that a child achieved in life more than anything was the number of books in that child’s home. The article said that research is showing that having a significant number of books in the home is equally as important, or more important, than the educational levels of the parent, what was previously thought as the determining factor.

 

After I posted the article, there was discussion on my wall about book lists and quality books and the like.  The article has a wonderful point… exposing children to books is a huge huge HUGE factor in determining if they will love reading and, in turn, love learning.   To a child who can read well and loves to read, the world is their oyster.  They can learn anything.  They can teach themselves anything.  Actually having books in hand is an important step to making sure your child reads well, and loves to read.

 

The question becomes, however, are any books appropriate?  There is a trend in society today, with our plethora of distractions and a furious attempt to get children back to reading, to say that kids reading is good, no matter WHAT they’re reading.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  There is a world of difference between a child who has grown up reading great books, good literature and wonderful stories, and a child who has grown up reading twaddle and drivel.  Captain Underpants (about two fourth graders) is not exactly on the same level as Bambi (the actual book Bambi, by Felix Salten, not the Disney movie or one of the assorted books put out by Disney) or the Chronicles of Narnia (both of which are on the Year 4 list at Ambleside Online).

 

So, the question then becomes, what makes a great home library?  Here are some pointers:

 

1)  Gather tried and true booklists. I don’t have time to read through every single book that I want my kids to read.  It’s just not possible.  I want to ensure, though, that they read good books.  So, I head to booklists that I know will have wonderful literature, great stories, and will have it broken down age appropriately for me.  My three favorites:

The Tapestry of Grace booklists.  If you’re on the fence about using Tapestry, get the 3 week free downloads.  The books for those three weeks are wonderful, and I can honestly say that in Year 1, we haven’t found a book we didn’t like, and we found more than a couple we will treasure forever.  (The TOG booklists are not to be shared, so no link to the actual lists, only to the free samples.  Sorry.)

 

Ambleside Online.  Ambleside Online’s free reading lists are outstanding.  Charlotte Mason education in its purest form, so you can be sure there will be no “twaddle.”  Broken down by years, starting with Year 0 up to Year 12, the free reading often does coincide with what is on their schedule for history that year, which might not be what you’re studying, but they’re still outstanding books, nonetheless.

 

The 1000 Great Books list from Classical Christian Education.  This list is broken down by stages, as Classical education, and has truly exceptional books on it.

 

I’ve merged the AO lists and the 1000 Great Books list together into one Exel file, and we take that with us on my tablet to the library.  The kids are to pick out two books from “The List,” and they can pick out two other books, not on the list (but subject to Mama’s approval).  At the moment, their two “other” books are usually Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.  I’m good with that.

 

 

2.  Audiobooks  Read alouds are great.  They help develop in your young ones, especially, a love of books and reading.  They give your olders time with you, snuggled up on the couch.  Here’s the problem though, in our house.

 

I hate reading out loud.  And I’m really, really bad at it.  So, what do I do?  I get audiobooks.  Lots and lots of audiobooks.  No, it’s not the same, all of the time, but it ensures that my kids are hearing great stories, read well, when I just simply don’t have the time to read it to them, and they’re not at the place to read it to themselves.  My 5 year old would never be able to read The Wind in the Willows.  But, he’s heard the entire book.  And not from me.

 

There are lots of sites where you can download free public domain audiobooks.  Librivox comes to mind.  Feel free to add any others into the comments.

 

 

 

3.  E-readers.  Space a factor in your house?  Don’t discount an e-reader.  Yes, yes, I know.  A book isn’t a book unless it has pages.  I get it.  They’re definitely not my favorite thing in the world.  But, they do have their advantages.

a.  Tons of books, very small space.  Toss them in your purse, your suitcase, wherever, and go.  It’s really easy.

b.  Free books!!  Kindle has a ridiculous amount of books for free.  Mostly classics, but stuff comes up all of the time.  Make sure you Like my page on Facebook to get them as I get them.

c.  OK, this one might only be to a small portion of my readers but… little ones can’t tear the pages out of and/or color or otherwise destroy your brand new hardback, beautifully illustrated copy of The House on Pooh Corner.  Which happened to me.  Yesterday.  :/  E-readers take that problem away.  Now, they might color on your screen, but I’ve found that to be pretty easy to clean up.  Make sure you go ahead and splurge on the insurance.

 

I personally recommend buying a tablet, because you can put on any e-reader app you want for free.  I have a Samsung Galaxy TAB, and I have Nook, Kindle, and Google Books all on it.  I’m covered.   Plus, if you buy ebooks, you can add the PDF to your Kindle (and Nook, I believe, but I might be wrong there).  You can’t use all of the features (like highlighting, or bookmarking, although it will stop and start again wherever you last read), but it works very well for us.

 

 

 

4.  Movies. OK, exercise common sense here, obviously.  But, I think that there are some excellent books that have been made into movies, that deserve places in our home libraries.  And some not so great versions, but sometimes, they’re just fun to have.  Documentaries, also, find a place in our home libary.  One option, if you’re low on space, is to get a Blu-Ray player that you can stream Netflix through.  On ours, we can stream Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Vudu.  That keeps us covered.   Our kids are only allowed to play on Netflix what I put on the Instant Queue, and I make sure there are good documentaries and some fun stuff for them as well.

 

That should do you to get started!  A home library, in my opinion, is something that should be well thought out.  Books are expensive.  Don’t waste your time and money on that which isn’t worthy of your mind.