When I had three kids, four and under, I learned about Charlotte Mason and her principle of spreading a wide feast of ideas. Practically, this looks like 20 different subjects in a Charlotte Mason classroom that get covered during the week.
Before we were in the formal school years, I got into the habit of discovering where all the different sections of books were at the library so I could just walk the shelves and grab some that covered a wide range of ideas without any preplanning. For years, we have had this system in place that has provided an educational cushion through all the ups and downs in our lives and given our kids a lot of learning in a very natural way.
For years, we have had this system in place that has provided an educational cushion through all the ups and downs in our lives and given our kids a lot of learning in a very natural way. I also supplement by putting books on hold at the library that deep-dive into what my kids want to learn more about so that I’m not hunting for specific books once we get there.
In this week’s episode, I’m sharing practical tips for not losing the library books and keeping free books free, bringing some great books into your home, and some of our recent favorites.
How we avoid fines and the library to keep our books free:
We moved all our personal books upstairs to a home library and have a separate bookshelf downstairs for the library books to create separation.
We have ONE library card, so we don’t lose track of the books we have checked out, what’s on hold, and what we have to return.
We try to get to the library on the same day every week so that we don’t have many different due dates to keep track of.
I try and go to our library account after we get home from the library to renew any books that we might have missed returning.
We have a library book bag that holds between 20-30 books, which creates some margin.
Recent Library Book Favorites That Were So Good We Would By Them
Professor Wooford McPaw’s History of Astronomy
Papa is A Poet A Story about Robert Frost
The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Hawk Rising
Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY
Find Me! Adventures in the Forest
The Apartment: A Century of Russian History
Under Your Feet... Soil, Sand and Everything Underground
Charles Dickens (Little People, Big Dreams)
A Walk in London
Cooking Class Global Feast!: 44 Recipes That Celebrate the World’s Cultures
How to Build Family Systems Even if You Think "I'm not a Structured Person" [Episode 157]
How to Have a Successful Shopping Trip with Your Kids [Episode 156]
Episode 155: Everything Happens for a Reason with Leila Mireskandari
Fun Mom vs Smile Mom [Episode 154]
From Surviving to Thriving to Soaring [Episode 153]
The Daily Big Three [Episode 152]
Finding Your Thing with Rachel Miller [Episode 151]
Routines Help Me Live in Alignment With Who I Am Every Day with Ashley Brown [Episode 150]
The One Thing I Needed to Start Loving My Home [Episode 149]
How to Start Something New with Madeline Casey [Episode 148]
How to Make Space to Figure Out What is Important to You with Madeline Casey [Episode 147]
How to Live in the Present with Madeline Casey [Episode 146]
Choose Your Priorities or Someone Else Will with Madeline Casey [Episode 145]
Protect the Asset with Madeline Casey [Episode 144]
Our Visions for 2021 [Episode 143]
How Adding Color Creates Clarity in Planning with Pamela Moose [Episode 142]
The Power of your Choices [Episode 141]
God Wants to Help [Episode 140]
Add Novelty to Go from Good to Great [Episode 139]
How to Create a Habit when You're in Survival Mode [Episode 138]
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