Reason #127 to Homeschool…
There are so many wonderful children’s books!
Growing up I read book after book. (Yes, I’ve always been a nerd, just ask my brother.) However, very few of the volumes I read are remembered or revisited.
At the library I checked out whatever looked interesting: Nancy Drew mysteries, Grace Livingston Hill romance novels, or historical fiction. My random searches hid some amazing authors. Now I get to discover these imaginative writers with my children.
After lunch I read aloud Brighty of the Grand Canyon.
“One more chapter please!” begs my three-year-old. Her five-year-old sister crowds close and grins widening bright blue eyes. Eleven-year-old, Bug, peeks in almost every chapter. As the verbs bounce off my tongue, the suspense of the story pulls him away from Lego.
Our collection of Marguerite Henry’s horse books was rescued from the trash. Library books thrown out to make room for new stories. Brighty of the Grand Canyon taken home only once in eight years. Was this spirited burro on the shelf at my school library? If he was, I didn’t take him home either.
Marguerite Henry was not introduced to me in my youth. But I know her now.
Her stories are revisited often in this home. Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin roam the house resting next to Father’s side of the bed, then Mother’s. Justin Morgan Had a Horse cracks my voice and spills tears over my eyelids. Children gasp, “Why are you crying?”
For many reasons, I’m sure. Because life is full. Because ideas are powerful. Because children crowd around me to enjoy the lacing of words. Stories crafted to communicate ideas of liberty, hope, and faith. Morsels I want to savor together as we read book after book…
Tags: children's books, Homeschool
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~Renae Deckard
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Another reason to love homeschooling: you get to read all kinds of amazing literature, enjoying your favorites and finding new ones. And you can appreciate it this time around! :)
I have to say: this is one of my favorite reasons for homeschooling! I love being able to share books and my love of reading with my entire family.
Lately my husband has been reading “Farmer Boy” to all of us and it just makes me so happy to look around the room and see my whole family (even the baby!) enjoying the story.
Anna-Marie,
It’s true. I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in elementary school, but I only remember waiting and waiting for Aslan to appear. Now I enjoy all the images and, of course, I’m delighted my children enjoy it more than I did.
What are your favorite children’s books?
Karen,
My son enjoyed Farmer Boy when he was about Sunshine’s age, but the girls didn’t get absorbed in the story. Maybe they don’t like food as much as little boys. :)
I always giggle at the descriptions of plate after plate full of homemade goodness.
I’ve been hunting for days for my copy of Benjamin West and his cat Grimalkin! I think my husband took it to his first grade classroom. AHGHGHGHG. He can’t find it. One of our family’s favorite books.
I haven’t read Brighty yet, but I have it slated for my daughter to read next year. Maybe we’ll pull it at out as a read-aloud. You put me in the mood. ;-)
Amen to that! I’m discovering most of them as an adult, thanks to homeschooling as well. Tabitha is reading many of Margeurite Henry’s books this year as part of her horse study, and she is so anticipating reading about Brighty, since she loves donkeys.
Thanks for sharing Renae, love this post and can totally relate, since I get all teary and choked up during many of our read-alouds as well!
Amen-Amen-Amen and Amen! ( :
You know how I feel about sharing good books with my family! We just read Charlotte’s Web for the second time around because my youngest were too little when I first read it to the kids. Now we are on to Stuart Little. I look forward to reading Marguerite Henry’s with the kids.
Even my husband (not a book lover whatsoever) has been hanging around the family room and listening in during our evening read-aloud times lately. I think I will make a book lover out of him yet. ( ;
My husband and I were both big readers (still are) and both our children love to read. My daughter loves horse stories and she’s read the Marguerite Henry’s horse books over and over except for Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin. You’ve given us a new book to find! :)
Yes, yes & yes! I have always been a reader. I was great friends with the school librarians growing up :o)
I love sharing good books with my son now. I was surprised that he enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables books as much as I did. We live in the middle of nowhere and end up spending a lot of time in the car. I can’t even begin to tell you how many books we have listened to on audio books. As soon as we finish one, he is ready to start another. So much fun!
Daisy,
I hope you find your Benjamin West book. It’s not as easy to come by as the others.
Beth,
Whew! I’m glad I’m not the only one who bawls while reading to children. My kids think it is so funny, but I suspect when they are older they will understand.
Mandi,
Good for you! My husband has been pulling in a bit closer during our latest stories, too. He even cried while reading to Bug one night, but now I can’t remember the book he was reading. :(
Denese,
I was never very interested in horses. They are beautiful, but Sunshine is obsessed with them. Marguerite Henry gives the animals in her stories such personalities though. How could you not love them?
Alicia,
My son enjoyed Caddie Woodlawn, but not as much as The Chronicles of Narnia. ;)
I keep meaning to download some audio books for him. It would be easier if we had another mp3 player. That might be a nice birthday present…
I don’t know if you do awards (you don’t have to to this one), but you were one of the very first bloggers I thought of when I received this award. Because you inspire me… Come and see.
Daisy,
Thank you for thinking of me. What a gracious gift! Awards are fun. I just rarely get to them unless it’s to beg for votes during the Homeschool Blog Awards.
It may be time to do another award ceremony. I’ve found so many wonderful bloggers lately. :D
Ah, Nancy Drew. I remember how crushed I was when I moved to a new town and the school librarian told me they did not have Nancy Drew books because they were too violent for girls. Not long after that, I found a huge box of them at a garage sale for $5 (a ton of money back in the 1960s) and got a big advance on my allowance to buy them. I still have them, btw, and my girls read them but didn’t love them the way I did :)
Homeschool moms are the most avid bookworms I know.
Yeah for great books!! Right now I’m reading “A Door in the Wall” to the kids because we’re studying the medieval times. Excellent book.
Barbara,
Hmm…I don’t remember Nancy Drew being exceptionally violent, but it’s been a couple decades years since I read them.
Glad you still have yours. They are probably illegal to sell now because of CPSIA. :(
Jennifer,
That’s the other book we are reading! My son and I read The Door in the Wall after the girls are in bed. I almost wrote about it, too, but figured my gushing about Marguerite Henry was enough. ;)
It still may appear in a post, because it is ministering to me with its thought-provoking theme.
Just put this book on hold at my local library! So glad they still have it! YAY! And thanks for the recommendation!
I loved Grace Livingston Hill too when I was a kid.
Mary, homeschooling mama to 10
I was fortunate enough to discover Marguerite Henry in elementary school, and devoured every book in my school library. Brighty was not one of them, but my daughter recently read it and LOVED it. As a child, I collected all the Breyer horses, including Misty and Star, and now Kathryn plays with those same horses — now 25 or so years old (and they still look new). ?
Thanks for submitting this to the CM Carnival.
Reason #127…a very good reason!
I so much enjoy reading with my children!
Marguerite Henry is new to me. I’ve got Brighty in Jemimah’s list of AO Free Reads for this year. I can’t wait until she chooses it!!
I too have loved meeting all of these wonderful children’s books and their authors. It is one of the things that drew me to CM from the first.
Jeanne
http://www.ohpeacefulday.blogspot.com/
I am not sure who gets more excited over the books,me or my son. I remember before my daughter graduated(from homeschool) and I would read to both her and my son,who was maybe 5 or 6 and she was about 16. She would say Mom you know you do not have to read to me, I can read it to myself later. I would start anyway and within just a few minutes she would be sitting on the couch listening and asking me to read more. Those are memories you do not forget.
Thank you,
I agree! This is one of the best parts of homeschooling. I love the excuse to both buy and read all these wonderful books that I missed out on as a child, and the chance to share the experience with my children is a blessing, indeed.
Thank you for sharing your delight of children’s literature.
If I was just being introduced to Marguerite Henry, I would start with Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin or Justin Morgan Had a Horse. Brighty lost our interest a bit during the middle.