Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Oh, the Perils of Living with a Homeschooler



I actually got a very good start on cleaning my room Tuesday. It looks so much better. I am not done yet, but it is a vast improvement. I was going to show you, but then today we received our Lego Robotics kit for First Lego League. The Young Adult and Cookie Boy were dying to sample it, so I let them, but only in my room. Legos litter the rest of the house, and I do not want to get any part mixed up. They had a blast, but it did add additional clutter to the room. Sigh! Oh well. I will keep on keepin' on!

One thing that has been making me giggle. I am really and truly not a hoarder. However, we homeschoolers are notorious for saving everything, because we will /might/could use it for a project!

"Ummm, honey - why do we have 42 soda bottles in plastic bags?"
"Oh, I am saving those for my science project this fall. It is going to be really cool. It will demonstrate torque and use string and tape and ...."(here follows a long explanation where I gush and I think ArtGuy's eyes glaze over)

Why is the green pool noodle so short compared to the other two?
Oh well, I cut up half of it into discs for a game we played in PE using bowls and carpet remnants and....

Me - "What are you doing? Don't throw that toilet paper roll out! Are you crazy? I need 120 of those for this awesome art project we will be doing!"

Yes - we save everything!

Another thing I am loving on as I clean....books! I love books. I love to read and I love the books themselves.
I love chocolate, too. I have my own M&M jar, and the M&M fairy magically fills it when it gets low. But do you wanna know much I love books? If I had to choose between books and chcolate, I would give up my M&M's in a heartbeat. No matter how busy I get, I have to read. Sometimes just a little. It keeps me sane.

I love the smell of books, the feel of them, the way they look. I do not have to have hardbacks or fancy editions. Unpretentious paperbacks thrill me about as much as a special edition hard-cover. I just love books.


A set of O Henry books I picked up at Half-Priced books today for $1 each! They are in great shape, and certainly printed before 1960. Will have to work on it to figure it out, as there is no publication date listed....




Another Half-Price find today - art books for $.50 each! There are five in all, and better yet, each book comes with....

slides!!!!!! A little yellowed, but still perfectly fine! How fun! Art lessons, anyone?




My little brother picked this up for me when he worked for....you guessed it! Half-Price books! I read The Divine Comedy to The Young Adult when he was a baby. Hmmmmm - maybe that is why he is so strange! Really though, nothing can beat this epic for mystery, suspense, romance, and spine-tingling writing:
I am the way to the City of Woe.
I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence,
Primordial love and ultimate intellect.
Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here
      Canto III, The Inferno

This special edition of Dante's The Divine Comedy was published in 1944 and features gorgeous illustrations by William Blake! Yum! I love this book!



My mother's Marian Missal, in Latin and English. Her father (who died before I was born) gave this to her in 1959, or so he inscribed on the title page.



This did not turn out well, but this book is my Library of World Poetry. My sister purchased this for me so I could read some of my favorite poems. Second only to Dante's Divine Comedy in my heart is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner":

All in a hot and copper sky
the bloody sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the moon.

Day after day, day after day 
We stuck, -nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water everywhere
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.



My Tolkien shelf! I have a set of LOTR books in hardcover and a set in paperback! And yes, that is The Origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth for Dummies....and it rocks!


My 2 CS Lewis shelves! Including an interactive timeline book! Whoo hoo! The bottom shelf contains 2 complete sets of the Narnia books. I found them for $.50 per book! I will pass these on to my children one day. I believe everyone should have the foundations of a good library, starting when they are young! Books are priceless!


One of the many bookshelves in my house. ArtGuy custom built three bookshelves for downstairs (aren't they preeeety?). Plus The Young Adult has a small shelf, the school room has two large ones, and my bedroom has a medium one and a small one.

I love books!!!!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, I have bookshelf envy...those shelves your hubby built are awesome!

And I agree...you can never have too many books! I refuse to buy a digital reader for e-books because there is something satisfying about turning the last page of a good book that I am pretty sure you don't get from reading an electronic version.

--Lee

Camille said...

I am both a hoarder and a book lover myself! It drives hubby crazy! There should be a support group...or maybe a group for both hoarders and the hubbies- ha! I will have to contact you once my kiddos are starting to read LOTR and CON! :)

Unknown said...

Lee - I actually have a digital reader, too. A Kindle. I LOVE it!!!! I can download books quickly and when I travel, I only have one slim Kindle. It isn't glare-y, like a computer. I was worried about missin a book feel, but I really haven't. It can never replace my actual books, but it is great in its own way.
Camille - definitely a support group for the hubbies :) Chris always teases me with the line from "Beauty and the Beast" - "How can you read that book - there are no pictures"!

Stephanie said...

I remember in 10th grade we were allowed to come to school on Halloween in costume. I dressed as a character from Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Crazy! My teacher didn't know what to think when I showed up as "Night-mare Life-in-Death" but the description was fabulous. Thanks for bringing back the old memories.

Patty said...

Oh my goodness...I throw everything away! I have to be careful with gifts...I've been known to throw out gift cards with the gift wrap.

Heather said...

I feel the same way about books! When we recently cleaned out dh's mom's house we kept all of the books! They are awesome ones, too.

Have you read Joseph Pearce's book on Tolkien (Tolkien Man and Myth)? I got it last year at the IHM Catholic Homeschool Conference. He spoke about Shakespeare and I was quite impressed. I had to read his thoughts on Tolkien, so I purchased his book. It's wonderful! You can borrow if you like, but I think after you read it you will want one of your own!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Heather! I will check that book out! You know how I feel about Tolkien :)

mandd3 said...

Alas, I too am a bookaholic. I don't think I can do the digital though, I need to feel and smell the book. A bookstore makes me tingle. Sad but true. I have books stored everywhere. I need more bookshelves desperately. I save everything too, formula cans become headband holders (art), 2 liter bottles become biospheres, old CDs become hovercrafts, my husband also thinks I'm nuts!