Love and learning in books...

I'm one of those people who loves school starting.  You know the smell of new penciled, paper, binders....fresh crayons, markers and row upon row of supplies you can get at the store.  But for me the best of all supplies are books.  If I had one material weakness it would be books.  I love them old, new and in-between, but especially old books.  I love the smell of a library or used book store.  I want to curl up and read or wander for hours through the books for my finds.  I can't leave a  book store without making a purchase, small or large.
Home schooling just feeds this addiction!  Each fall with my husbands blessing I get to purchase books.  It's just the icing on the cake in my mind of home schooling.  I spend hours looking through catalogs for just the perfect purchases to inspire my children to learn and to keep my mind sharp...and I'm passing my passion on to my kids.  They race to see who get's the Rainbow, timber doodle, Alpha Omega, Home School Science and oriental trading catalog etc. first, to see who can find the coolest things to add to the want list.  How I would love to have an unlimited budget!  But alas after tabbing and marking my purchases we begin the work of finding the best deals for the books we want.  Even that part I enjoy...it's a challenge to see how much I can get for my budget.  Kinda like a scavenger hunt. 
This year has been the best ever for preparing for school.  It's our slimmest budget yet but the purchases I've made are like gold.  This is a huge reading year for us as I now have an 8th grader going to private school (but I still do things with him at home) and a 4th, 6th and preschooler.  4th, 6th and 8th grade are working on biographies and I was able to get a group of "Hero's of the faith" books.  My children are eating them up. 
Real life stories are the best!  They lead you into a world that is so much bigger than self.  And biography's are by far some of the most valuable books around in my opinion.  Because they are real.  These people really lived, struggled and triumphed.  They are not fictional folks with made up issues. They are the real deal.  They have real issues to deal with and real problems to solve and the best part....they aren't perfect.  A real biography will show the good with the bad the ugly with the beautiful.  It's nice to know that we're not the only ones to make the wrong choices.  Just look at the Bible it's full of imperfect people with real life issues, trials and triumphs.  Imperfect people that God chose to use.  Guess what we are imperfect people that God chooses to use!!    I think books, the bible included, remind us that being human is not such a bad thing.  We are human because God made us human.  The difference between being a sinful human and a forgiven human is simple.  Those who are forgive live in a state of redemption from themselves and the sin state that we are born into, surrender to our loving Creator and dependence on His leading in their lives. and those who chose to live in a fully human state live lead by whatever they deem appropriate.
Just pick up any biography and you'll see this lived out in Christian and non-Christian lives. 
A biography always challenges me with the questions of...
Who or what do you live for and what would your biography say about you?  I can only hope that I live a life full of joy and love and that Jesus shines through more than I do! 

See what books can do....

Oh as far as schooling goes I think this will be our best year ever!  I'm sure if you stick around you'll hear more about that too :-)

Good Home school books or learning resources are:
http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/
http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
http://www.aleks.com/   for math
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
http://rainbowresource.com/index.php
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/science-curriculum/c/7/