Five Ways to Add Fun to Your Homeschool Day

*This post was originally published on 2/1/19.  Enjoy!

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Five Ways to Add Fun to Your Homeschool... Maybe more!

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Teaching Your Kids How to Treat Books

 *This post was originally published on 9/7/16.  Enjoy!

We are a small house with big readers.  All three of my kids started reading at four years old, and of all our homeschooling accomplishments, giving them a love for reading ranks as #1 in my eyes.  But between the public library, the school library, and our own personal library, there are literally hundreds of books in our home at one time and with the privilege of reading so many books, comes the responsibility of caring for them.  So how do you teach your little ones, and your big ones, to care for all these books?  I've compiled 5 tips to get you started in teaching your child how to treat books.

1. Picking Age Appropriate Books-- Just as you wouldn't give a child a butcher knife, so you're also not going to hand a 2 year old a first edition Velveteen Rabbit.  The goal is to cultivate a love of reading.  So fill your home with chunky board books in a variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction.  Make them accessible and allow your child to "read" on his own initiative, free from the worry of tearing pages.

For older children, verse yourself in the classics.  Fill your home with Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and Pollyanna.  Look for stories that have stood the test of time.  Introduce well-rounded, beloved characters and thoughtful story lines.  A loved book is more likely to be treated with care.

2. Everything in it's place--As I've said before, our house is small.  But we've always found room for books.  Still having a home for all these books is important.  Children can't be expected to take care of books that don't have a place.  So in our home, we have three bookshelves, one in each kids' room and one in the living room.  Beyond that, we have a designated shelf in the entertainment center for library books and heavy canvas bags for transporting borrowed books back and forth.  All library or borrowed books stay in common living areas and are put back on the shelf after use.  We talk to our kids about the privilege of borrowing other people's books and how important it is to return them in good shape.

3. Keep pencils, markers, stickers, and more, out of reach--Little ones look at books and they see paper.  What fun it would be to fill all that paper with their own illustrations and stories!  So pencils and markers (as well as stickers, scissors, crayons, etc) are kept well out of reach and only used with mom's supervision.  We talk about how books contain someone else's stories, and if my little one wants to write a book, he can write on some of mom's copy paper.

4. Valuing the old as well as the new--I personally have a love for older books.  Not only are the story lines often rich, but I like to imagine the many people who have loved and enjoyed that book through the years. Maybe that's why I'm enchanted by used book stores.  Not only are there new stories to discover, but there are notes inside covers, dates and dedications written between family members, and even more history than the book can ever tell.  So we take our kids to used book stores, book sales, yard sales, and search out these treasures.  They've learned that whether a cover is worn or the pages are yellowing, there's still a whole world to discover.  And sometimes that makes them even more valuable.

5. Let them see you read--The more my kids see me reading, the more they realize what a privilege it is.  What we model for them is often times what they become.  So when it's reading time for the kids, I do my best to read as well.  We talk about the stories we're reading and the books we would or wouldn't recommend.  And we also talk about using a good bookmark, how to place a book on the shelf so the pages won't fold, reading books with clean hands, and more.  And by them seeing me reading, they realize that I'm following my own advice and take it to heart.

Wherever life may take them, I hope that my children will take a love of reading with them.  And when they outgrow a book, I feel confident they will leave it behind in good shape for the next reader.

How do you teach about/organize books in your home?

What I Read and Our Homeschool Read Alouds ll April 2025

What I'm Reading:

Living Fearless by Jamie Winship

Author Jamie Winship has lived and worked in some of the most volatile places in the world, helping leaders work through conflict and find resolution.  Through his experiences, he's found that much of the world's conflict is a result of fear and not knowing one's identity.  Using Biblical principles, even in hostile environments, he's brought peace and identity to many of God's children.  In his book, he teaches readers how to abide in Christ and sift their mindset, allowing God to use them wherever they are.  This is one of those books that requires multiple readings and deep soaking, but is so worth the time and effort.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

This one is a classic.  It's been quite some time since I picked it up, so I had it playing on audiobook this month.  Two sisters, two different temperaments, a repressed society, hidden love... mistaken intentions... it all comes together in one big happily ever after.

The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum

Another classic, but this one I've never read before.  It carries on much like the movie, but in the last 1/4 or so, it takes a decided turn as the characters must now use their gifts... brain, heart, and courage.  It's through their travels to different lands that they truly see what they're capable of getting Dorthy back to her home.

Our Homeschool Read Alouds:

The Cricket War by Tho Pham & Sandra McTavish

Based on a true story, The Cricket War follows a young boy, Tho, as he flees Vietnam in the early 1980s.  His family scraps together the money to send him to an uncle in America, but his voyage is anything but predictable.  Adrift on a small Vietnamese fishing boat... as a stowaway on a pirate ship... and waiting in a refugee camp, Tho dreams of reuniting with his family.  This age-appropriate read-aloud takes a closer look at refugee life without being too gritty for the middle-grade age.  The main character made the refugees' plight accessible and was a great addition to our history curriculum.

Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman

Kabir's mother was put in jail before he was even born.  So the women's prison is the only home he's ever known.  Now, at the age of 10, he's released and sets off to find the grandparents he's never met.  But life on the streets turns out to be unpredictable, and luckily, he meets Rani.  Together, they set off to find a family and hopefully free Kabir's mother.

This was very good, very well done.  I read it with my 8th grader, but we could have read it really anytime in middle school.  It's a tough topic, but the author approaches it with a lot of grace.

What are you reading?