A while back I posted a picture of my new bookcase (lovingly made by my dad).
I thought y'all might like to see it with books on it!
I'm so happy to have a tiny bit of white space and wiggle room. It won't be around for long.
My sister, Holly, and I share books, particularly for history.
She has many of my modern history books (which is why I have room for history encyclopedias on that shelf),
and I have quite a few of her Medieval history books.
In the next couple weeks, I might have to do some rearranging, as I borrow her huge collection of late Renaissance/early modern history books.
Looks great!
ReplyDeleteLove the bookshelves. I need to make our books more accessible.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, have you ever used Five In A Row. ANy thoughts? Also, when you do SOTW do you get through a volume in one year?
Alison
Alison~ I've heard great things about Five In a Row, but haven't ever used it. We *try* to get through a volume of SOTW in one year, but luckily we started 'early' (in Jan. when Levi turned 6 instead of Sept.) and have a very flexible year-round schedule. So we are just now on the last couple chapters of Vol. 2 and will be heading straight into Vol. 3. Some chapters we linger on, and some we just read and move on (occasionally covering more than a chapter a week).
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas. I live in Corvallis and came across your blog on another friends site who actually lives in Arkansas. I get lots of "field trip" ideas from you since we live in the same area. Love the recent pics at the Albany depot. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery nice... I am planning to do WTM /SOTW, but realized we're just not there yet. I was forcing some activities that would be better served with a child that has a little more handwriting & reading under his belt(we call this year the year that would be Kindergarten.)
ReplyDeleteI am currently enjoying several of the books from FIAR, as a great guide for books that are quality. I also use MtHopeAcademy as a resource for books to read aloud & books for my young reader to start on. I LOVE the systematic style of WTM, but don't want to push. I want to actually enjoy it & do it right!. Heidi, your blog is always a guide for my boy readers to be... thanks!
p.s. my previous comment was an opinion about 2 different subjects, but FIAR usualy turns into a mini-unit study, with all subjects included.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to share an opinion about FIAR Heidi's the one with the experience & I'm so glad you share it! I was telling a new Mom to a boy about your reader son just the other day... her daughter has been a model student, & she hears my less than model moments and panics. I tell her all the time, there are so many helpful mom of boys who share with excellent book list & experience.
Thanks again...
Awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteYour bookshelf looks great :D, very organised.
ReplyDeleteOh I am in love with your home library....
ReplyDeleteHeidi, you are the homeschooling supermom we all aspire to be!
I can't remember the last time I saw something so beautiful...obviously I'm a long-time homeschool Mom ...hehe! Destiny
ReplyDeleteWow. And how organized does it stay from day to day? ;) We use more books from the library than we do books that we own for 'school,' so our system ends up being a bit modge podge. I do hope to collect more books over the years, though.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Alison, we used FIAR for kindergarten and loved it. My oldest really loves SOTW, so we switched to that in 1st grade. Once you get the principles of FIAR under your belt it becomes easier to implement that style of learning on your own. Good for any homeschool mom's development. :)
Mrs. Q~ Oh, trust me, it takes more than an awesome bookcase to be a super homeschool mom... I'm still working on the other skills. :)
ReplyDeleteCarole~ Believe it or not, the bookcase stays in fairly good orginizational shape. It is the rest of the room that is a disaster. :) I need to come up with an organizational system for our library books, too. Thanks for sharing your experiences with FIAR.
let's talk about that book organization, shall we? i've been thinking this through, as it will most likely be my big summer project... have you seen kendra's post on organizing libraries (preschoolers and peace, y'know from twtm forums)? she and her friend lisa use specialized (with their last names on them!) labels and i think organize by dewey decimal system. i've always sorted my history/science books by the 4 year cycle (one year, 12 years ago, i started using colored dots on the spine by year so the kids could put the book back where it goes, but.... haven't kept up with that, and have lost/gained many, many books since then).
ReplyDeleteso.. what do you think is best? fiction by author? homekeeping by author? 4 year cycles by dots? or do it all by dewey?
thanks for sharing! i love it!
jodi in pa
jodi~ Well, dear, in my expert opinion... bwa-ha-ha!!! :) I say, organize books how you use them. I sort 'school books' by subject. We study history in 4 year chronological sequence, so that is how I organize it. Historical fiction and literature is blended in with history, because that is how we use those books. Dewey would drive me crazy. :) Children's fiction, well, I have those books organized only by very broad reading level categories. Board books, picture books, easy readers, beginning chapter books, and regular chapter books. I would be setting myself up for insanity if I expected them to be any more organized than that. My 3 and 5 yo just grab stacks of books to read/look at. (The 3 yo, more often than not, takes ALL the books off of the shelf, argh!!!!) My oldest is the crazy-reader, but he is also my chaotic/non-sequential kid. He is in the middle of 20 different books here and there. When he has 3 minutes (usually when he is supposed to be doing something else), he just grabs another book off the shelf and starts in. We treat fiction as a delight, and there would be no delight in me trying to make the boys keep the books in alphabetical order by author (or trying to do so myself... I have better ways to spend my time). So there you have it. :)
ReplyDeletethe stuff that dreams are made of. =)
ReplyDeleteAs a linear, anal-retentive organization freak, I can honestly say that that is a thing of beauty!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful and exactly what I have been thinking about lately: how to organize all our learning materials. Do you have labels on the shelves? Is this a "mom-only"-type shelf? Do you have ideas on how o organize your kids' bookshelves? Our books are so crazy. The kids' shelves are such a hodge-podge. I feel like a need a "system" so I can go through and organize our books.
ReplyDeleteJodi, you mentioned a helpful post on libraries. Do you mind sharing that link?
I tried to click on the picture to see if I am could make it larger to read all the titles. It is beautiful! How wonderful for you that your dad is such a handy man. I think in a year or two you will be needing another one!
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