If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

What fills a homeschool mom’s mind? Books. Do we actually get to read the books? Maybe 🙂 But what is really happening is constant researching what to read next, what to recommend to my kids and what books would serve our family in the best way possible.

My kids were shocked when I told them that the majority of time I spend on my phone is taken up on our local library’s website, or on goodreads.com or on various instagram accounts, searching out what books we can read next!

You’ll never hear me recommend a reading curriculum, but you’ll always hear me recommending books. I firmly believe a child needs nothing to supplement their reading lessons except for books that are interesting to read. This is also where the dear Charlotte Mason and I part ways a bit. If you know anything about her, you understand that she only tolerates “real” books, and things like comics, books based on kiddie tv shows or abridged versions of novels are a big no-no to her. I absolutely beg to differ. I believe that a child will learn to read if they are reading books that absolutely evoke a feeling of excitement and wonder. Is your seven year old simply obsessed with Mickey Mouse? Then find some great pre-readers with just a few words in them to grasp their attention. Is a boy lost in thought over pirates and daredevil feats but they just aren’t ready for the full dialect of Kidnapped, Treasure Island or Robinson Caruso? Then let him read the Great Illustrated Classics over and over until he is ready to dive into the full texts. Let’s not hold back anything from our kids because they might then learn to read “wrong.” Instead, find what they are passionate about, and fill the house with books about that subject.

Here is our stack of books for March:

1. The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton

We are about 3/4 of the way through this fun, silly, at times inappropriate, preposterous book! We are having a really good time with it. FYI: it takes us 3-5 months to read one book aloud.

2.  The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson

Zach (age 11) finished this book and the next two in this Door Within series. I will forever be indebted to this author for igniting a spark for adventure novels in my son.

3. The Mandy Series

It took her 6 months, but Abby (age 13) read all forty books in the beloved Mandy series.

4. Sophie Mouse

Lily’s reading skills (age 9) just soared the moment she picked up the first book in the Sophie Mouse series. The adorable stories about tiny animals and their friendships is just what she was looking for.

 

As for me, I read 19 books in 2016 (my goal was 16!) and my goal is 17 books for 2017 (see what I did there?) So far I’m on my 3rd book (and it’s only February! Yay!) and the books I’ve read have been fiction that I don’t need to analyze or go deep with. If you’re anything like me, you rarely read a non-fiction book without a highlighter and sometimes I just want to get lost in a story.

Do you feel that way? Or do you prefer books that are non-fiction or inspirational?

As always, let me know what books you are reading, if you have any recommendations or if you have any questions on our choices of books!