Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading. That, in short, describes the people in our house perfectly. Our house consists of several thousand books, not including the thousands more we borrow from the library each year.
Even if we weren’t homeschooling, books would have been an important part of our lives. My husband had a collection consisting of several hundred before we got married. When we got together, the set was increased by my addition of several hundred. Before kids, we added another hundred or so. Since having kids… Oh, my!
Since we homeschool, we have discovered books aren’t just an important part of our lives, they are essential. Not a day goes by that we don’t use several books to help us get through our studies and keep us entertained.
Our collection of books is vast and eclectic. We have a little bit of just about everything: comics, graphic novels, classics, fables, poetry, art, architecture, design, mystery, adventure, fantasy, and logic. We have Stephen King, Norman Geisler, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, C.S. Lewis, and the list goes on.
One of our favorite activities is perusing the public library; nabbing the latest and greatest, along with the old and well-loved. We now have five library cards between the six of us and, even then, often max them out. We have been known to check out a hundred books a week.
I find it interesting that when people see our cart full of library books – Yes, we have a cart. A bag just wouldn’t hold them all. – they immediately assume we homeschool. It’s as if the books are an arrow pointing to our methods of education. We’ve also found it interesting that some parents hinder their children from selecting a larger number of reads from their local library. One parent was overheard to have told their children, “Two books. No more.” My children were horrified. However, it was a great catalyst for conversation. I’m sure the mama had a justifiable reason for her statement.
Should we ever find ourselves in a predicament and not know what to read, there are several resources available. Honey For a Child’s Heart, The Book Tree, and Books Children Love are just a few. Fortunately, we don’t have to use these resources very often. There are always great reads waiting in the wings!
Books are a huge part of our lives; they bring us together, entertain, and instruct. We’re extremely grateful to the Lord for the multitude of resources He’s made available to us, and the many books we’ve been blessed with over the years. May He bless us with many more!
Chime In!: Do you love books, too? Which book is your favorite?
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A Homeschool Mom 
My favorite books are anything written by Frank E. Peretti. We too had a large personal library. We quit going to the public library because we preferred to hit Half Price Books or Barnes & Nobles…and then Amazon happened and I could order them and have them delivered (and they could be used)…it was awesome. But, downsizing happened to us and I’m thinking after reading this article we need to check out our library. Thank you for writing this inspiring piece.
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We have a small library at home. Usually we keep what we love or find the most useful, then move the rest on. I also encourage a limit on books, purely because we can keep track of 30 books better than we can 50 (that 30 is five per child, which includes one compulsory pick from the non-fiction section and my own selection for set reading). I like to avoid the $5 penalty for each individual book that might end up overdue.
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I completely understand limiting books for this reason. It happens.
How often do you visit your local library?
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Normal routine is once a month. I should have added that during the holidays we’re a lot more flexible with this limit.
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I couldn’t help but laugh as I read your post. Book lover, say no more. It is sad to have books equated to homeschooling. I would love to have it equated to knowledge. I am famously (my circle of acquaintances) known as the person who loves his library. Yes, I have a room I call my library. Much of what you list can be found in my library.
Going back to homeschooling, it is sad that I see my local library used as a babysitting service where school children go to wait for their parents to get off of work. These youths spend their time on their smart phones. There is truth to the fact that homeschoolers are well-read when compared to public school children. Reading is imperative for homeschoolers where they do not receive class lectures.
There is nothing more enjoyable and loud (for me) than to hear the silence in my house because four of us reading books. The bonus arrives when we compare our thoughts on the books we read and discover our differences concerning the books. The only downside, according to my family, is my draconian nature on how to treat books. Yes, the chuckle at my expense is worth it.
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It IS sad when books are equated with homeschooling, instead of knowledge. I would hope everyone could appreciate the joy of literature, no matter their educational choices.
It’s interesting that you mention the library being used as a babysitter. When visiting an out-of-town library on vacation this week (cause we’re that kind of family), my little lady commented how lovely it was to see people using their local library. Only upon closer inspection, we noticed the kids were using the wifi and playing internet games. Not reading. So sad.
About those book rules (ahem)… Yeah, my kids are probably sick of, “Please turn pages from the outside corner.” “Please do not have a drink next to the book.” Please… Please… Please… But, our personal library will last well until great-grandchildren begin to arrive. There’s beauty there, and tradition. Some day, my kids will thank me.
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Our house too 😊
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We can’t get enough of books! I am truly sad when I realize that I will never have enough time in my life to read everything I want to read. I will however, enjoy the time I do have, diving into whatever adventure or advice awaits me! My favorite book is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Some of my children’s favorites are, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Limony Snicket, and The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis.
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We love books in our home. Though this statement doesn’t apply to all 8 of us, it does to most (5 out of 8). Some family favorites are the Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings series. Some of my favorites are the Circle books by Ted Dekker, Wuthering Heights, Killing Lincoln, Ciudad de Las Bestias… I’ll stop there because I can go on forever.
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Love this post! I couldn’t even begin to choose a favorite book, but I am loving being a grandparent and getting to read children’s literature again; from classics I loved as a child to amazing new picture books that their parents purchase or I find at the library. My love of books just continues to expand!
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“A” favorite, never! There are far too many awesome reads in the world. And many more we’ve yet to explore.
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Oh boy, too many to list here but anything by Barbara Leoni Picard (lots of historical fiction), E. Nesbit books, Lois Lenski books (particularly Indian Captive), Lois Lowry (particularly Number the Stars), Bright Candles (adult fiction on the Danish resistance), and Eloise Jarvis McGraw’s book, Mara Daughter of the Nile. Some of my personal favourites from my 20 something years were Jane Eyre, The Hobbit, Watership Down, Not Without My Daughter, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And for the very young my favorite read alouds were Time for Bed by Mem Fox, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, Bunny Bungalow by Cynthia Rylant, and The Old Woman Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant, and anything by Barbara Cooney. I could go on and on but I’ll stop there!
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Great post!!! What a rich life to enjoy books together as a family! Reading aloud is absolutely one of my favorite parts about homeschooling. I’m so thankful for our many wonderful libraries.
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There is no secret here, we love books too!!!
I hate trying to choose favorites it is like asking who’s your favorite child! I can say for read alouds I do favor classics (The secret Garden, Narnia etc) But I found that we are really enjoying Harry Potter series too.
For myself, I like classic, non fiction (in particular anything that is related to the psychology or why people do what they do) , historical novels but sometime Fantasy are great escape 🙂
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I’m a librarian AND a Homeschooler, need I say more? Love this shout out to Public Libraries!
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We have 15 full bookshelves in our house, plus more books in random other places. I am a bit book obsessed. I used to delude myself when I would go to antiques stores thinking I would buy something cute or random, but I would always come out with stacks of old books. Same thing at flea markets or anywhere where used books might possibly be sold. We have library cards to three different systems and have been known by name by a rotating staff of employees at our closest branch since my daughter was born. I have so many things come in on hold that I think there’s a special place on the shelf just for me. I haven’t resorted to a cart yet, though I’ve been known to bring in a rolling backpack. I go several times a week just so that I never have to carry too many things at once. In less than six months it appears I’ve bought enough books to get my daughter through her first five years of homeschooling at least. Oh and I’ve been keeping a list of all the books I’ve read since April of 2001. I wish I’d started sooner, but the list is still quite long. Hooray for books!!
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We can relate to the amount of holds. Our librarians flag us the moment we walk in. Aren’t librarians wonderful?!
As our children have gotten older, they’ve even noticed their move from picture books to novels; saddened at their growing up so fast.
Keeping lists of reads is always a great idea. If we may make a suggestion… Be sure to highlight (or asterisk) particular favorites. This ensures easy finding, should you wish to reread them at a later date. We’ve forgotten this step on occasion and had to Google certain books which we’ve long since read.
Thank you for sharing with us!
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We converted our formal dining room into a library to hold all our books. The room gets much more use now. King is one of my faves. I still haven’t read”It” yet. The movie terrified my as a little kid so I’m nervous the book will send me over the edge even though I’m well into adulthood now.
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