Everyday Educator - Building a Family Library
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:03.240 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.640 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.280 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:09.920 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.120 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:16.200 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:18.840 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:22.280 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:24.560 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:26.560 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:30.540 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:34.100 | But don't forget,
00:00:35.320 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:38.600 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:43.600 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:47.240 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:50.840 | Well, listeners, it's that time of year.
00:00:55.720 | It's transition time.
00:00:58.320 | And as we transition away from summer
00:01:01.440 | and into our community days,
00:01:04.200 | many of us are dusting off our anti-charts
00:01:07.500 | and our memory work.
00:01:08.640 | And I wanna encourage us today
00:01:11.600 | to do one thing that I believe
00:01:14.440 | will set us all up for success.
00:01:17.920 | I wanna celebrate something that I really think
00:01:20.440 | is a superpower for homeschoolers
00:01:23.240 | or really anyone who wants to be a learner for life.
00:01:27.760 | I wanna talk about books.
00:01:30.280 | And today I have a fellow enthusiast with me
00:01:34.640 | who will hopefully convert you guys too.
00:01:37.080 | Jennifer Courtney, welcome to "Everyday Educator."
00:01:40.500 | - Thanks for having me.
00:01:41.340 | I love when I get to join you.
00:01:43.640 | - I love it when you and I get to talk about books.
00:01:46.680 | I really, initially,
00:01:48.560 | I had thought about calling this episode,
00:01:50.800 | "My Superpower is Keeping the Books."
00:01:53.960 | And then I was gonna introduce you
00:01:55.640 | as the keeper of the books
00:01:57.080 | and say that you would willingly deputize this all.
00:02:00.800 | But I mean, really, that seemed too nerdy even for us.
00:02:04.520 | But let me ask you this,
00:02:06.120 | would you want to be keeper of the books?
00:02:10.240 | - Well, you know what I'm gonna do?
00:02:11.600 | I'm gonna answer that question by telling a story.
00:02:15.120 | So- - Yes, that's perfect.
00:02:17.000 | - A few years back, well, more than a few years back now,
00:02:19.840 | probably over two decades,
00:02:22.760 | had a panic attack because digital books
00:02:29.280 | were rapidly proliferating and e-readers
00:02:32.360 | and bookstores were closing.
00:02:35.360 | And I stood in a bookstore in my hometown that was closing.
00:02:39.080 | And I thought, my momentary impulse,
00:02:41.840 | which I did not act on, was to buy all the books.
00:02:45.200 | And I told my husband, which is why we didn't do it.
00:02:49.280 | But I just had that moment of thinking,
00:02:52.000 | what if print books were lost?
00:02:54.200 | And so I did not buy a copy of every book there,
00:02:57.440 | but I have, ever since that day,
00:02:59.920 | been concerned that we will lose these resources.
00:03:03.000 | And so I have been building a library in my home.
00:03:06.600 | And so, yes, the answer is,
00:03:08.160 | I would like to be known as the keeper of the books.
00:03:12.320 | - Yes, and I love that you are building
00:03:16.800 | that library in your home.
00:03:19.720 | So expand a little bit on what keeper of the books
00:03:26.000 | would mean and why you think that would be an important job.
00:03:30.880 | - Yeah, so when I was reading "Animal Farm"
00:03:36.760 | with my students in challenge two one year,
00:03:40.720 | I remember thinking how easy it was for the rulers
00:03:45.640 | to take away the constitution
00:03:47.640 | that the animals had agreed on,
00:03:49.680 | by slowly erasing the parts of it.
00:03:52.600 | And I remember thinking that's kind of what,
00:03:56.840 | that was my reaction to the digital books and e-readers,
00:03:59.400 | that it would be, we need to change things.
00:04:02.640 | And also, as we look at,
00:04:05.320 | I was reading C.S. Lewis's "Abolition of Man"
00:04:07.480 | and thinking about how we are humans, we are in soul bodies,
00:04:12.840 | and therefore we like to have incarnate things.
00:04:16.640 | It's good for us.
00:04:17.640 | And so between those two readings,
00:04:20.360 | I began to really think that we need an effort
00:04:23.720 | to preserve books.
00:04:25.200 | And I think that homeschool families
00:04:27.520 | are likely to be part of that effort
00:04:30.400 | because we do value books
00:04:31.880 | and reading them with our families.
00:04:34.040 | And I already had quite a library going.
00:04:35.960 | My parents, I'm very fortunate,
00:04:37.360 | my parents moved around a lot for my dad's work
00:04:39.720 | and everywhere they went,
00:04:41.080 | they took all of my childhood books
00:04:42.680 | and then when I had my own home,
00:04:44.480 | that was the seed for my library that now is in my home.
00:04:48.680 | - That's great, that's great.
00:04:51.560 | So you actually had some that you could build on.
00:04:56.080 | So is that how we become keepers of books?
00:05:00.160 | I want you, you've alluded a couple of times
00:05:02.480 | to your library and I happen to have seen pictures of it,
00:05:07.480 | which I envy greatly.
00:05:11.080 | I want you to talk to us about building a library
00:05:15.840 | because I can feel lots of us thinking,
00:05:19.320 | what do you mean by that?
00:05:21.200 | Do you just have lots of books in your house?
00:05:24.480 | Do you have lots of bookshelves?
00:05:26.240 | I had one of my girl's friends ask one time,
00:05:31.240 | y'all have a lot of books.
00:05:32.960 | Do you just have books everywhere?
00:05:36.160 | And my daughter opened up a cabinet in the living room
00:05:39.520 | that you couldn't see unless you opened the door
00:05:42.360 | and showed them more books
00:05:44.240 | and then she opened a door in our house and said,
00:05:46.600 | this is the unfinished part of the basement.
00:05:48.560 | We have shelves between the slats in the basement
00:05:53.280 | and this child's eyes got really big.
00:05:55.160 | But what does that mean?
00:05:56.640 | Tell us about your library
00:05:59.360 | and how we could become keepers of the books.
00:06:03.080 | - Yeah, so like you, I have had a lifetime
00:06:06.680 | of having books all over my house, in closets, in cabinets,
00:06:11.120 | sometimes on the floor,
00:06:12.280 | although I don't love it when that happens.
00:06:14.640 | Between my collection that I started with
00:06:18.400 | of children's books and then I majored in English literature
00:06:21.120 | so I had a lot of books from that.
00:06:23.040 | And then when I became a homeschool parent
00:06:25.600 | and was researching homeschooling and classical education,
00:06:28.320 | I acquired more books.
00:06:29.880 | And over the years, of course,
00:06:31.080 | I've acquired many books to read with my children.
00:06:34.760 | So this past spring,
00:06:37.960 | I got to have a lifelong dream fulfilled.
00:06:40.880 | My husband and I started shopping for bookcases
00:06:43.920 | and rolling library ladders
00:06:45.800 | because we finally--
00:06:46.640 | - Oh.
00:06:47.480 | - I have many, like you, I have many children
00:06:49.400 | that are growing up and leaving me
00:06:50.600 | so I finally had a space where I could do this.
00:06:53.200 | And so we bought the shelves
00:06:56.080 | and then my daughter who is in her last year of college,
00:07:02.520 | over Christmas break,
00:07:03.920 | she inventoried all of our books on a digital app.
00:07:07.520 | And then my parents came over.
00:07:11.760 | This is quite a whole family effort.
00:07:13.320 | So my husband--
00:07:14.280 | - That's what I was gonna say.
00:07:15.360 | Everybody's in on this.
00:07:16.680 | - Everyone is.
00:07:17.520 | My husband did the shelves and built the rail
00:07:20.880 | for the ladder.
00:07:23.040 | My daughter inventoried the books
00:07:24.920 | and then my children and my parents
00:07:28.720 | sat around my dining room table
00:07:30.160 | and we covered all of the children's books in plastic
00:07:33.440 | and checkout cards in the front
00:07:36.200 | and stamps that showed that they belong in my library
00:07:38.960 | so that when this academic year starts,
00:07:42.840 | homeschool families can begin checking out my books.
00:07:45.240 | So what is upstairs in the official library
00:07:48.160 | are books that I'm willing to loan.
00:07:49.720 | I still have collector's books in the downstairs
00:07:52.400 | and books that I use for work down near me.
00:07:55.480 | But the library is actually a library
00:07:57.600 | where people are already coming
00:07:59.280 | and borrowing books that I have.
00:08:01.120 | - That is, I wonder if people are listening
00:08:06.080 | and they're like me, I'm sitting here listening to you
00:08:08.320 | and my mouth is sort of hanging open.
00:08:10.880 | That's the coolest thing ever
00:08:13.080 | that you have that in your house,
00:08:15.880 | like a real room dedicated to books
00:08:19.840 | that you are willing to lend out
00:08:23.040 | intentionally placed on, I happen to know,
00:08:26.160 | a beautiful shelving with, my heart's desire,
00:08:30.480 | a rolling library ladder
00:08:34.000 | and you're ready to lend them.
00:08:35.560 | I love that you are covering the children's books
00:08:39.440 | with plastic, knowing that to love a book
00:08:42.960 | is a messy thing for a child.
00:08:45.160 | But I think that's cool that you are super,
00:08:51.000 | you're not just willing to lend your books,
00:08:54.520 | you are preparing to do that intentionally
00:08:58.080 | and in an orderly way.
00:08:59.920 | That's a cool thing.
00:09:01.240 | - It's very fun.
00:09:02.080 | So I do have, my library specializes
00:09:05.360 | in lots and lots of older children's literature.
00:09:08.560 | So I have sweet mysteries
00:09:13.160 | from the 1930s to the 1950s series for young readers.
00:09:18.160 | And my mom at first was,
00:09:20.880 | when she was helping me with the library said,
00:09:22.920 | I can't believe you're gonna lend these.
00:09:24.520 | And my point, what I said to her was,
00:09:27.360 | they are four children and they're being lost
00:09:30.320 | and I want them to be read.
00:09:31.880 | And if something happens to them, I'll replace them.
00:09:35.680 | But I don't want them to sit on my shelf.
00:09:38.520 | I want small children to read them.
00:09:40.880 | And so I have one very faithful six-year-old
00:09:44.640 | who in fact is coming over tomorrow
00:09:46.720 | to get her next batch of "Happy Hollister" mysteries
00:09:50.120 | from the 1980s. (laughs)
00:09:51.920 | So it's really fun to have some repeat customers.
00:09:55.520 | - That is so dear.
00:09:59.080 | I like that, that you have,
00:10:01.080 | I like what you told your mom
00:10:03.200 | that books are made for children to read.
00:10:07.760 | Children's books are for children to read.
00:10:09.880 | And if you really are worried that books are being lost,
00:10:14.200 | the way to fix that is not to hoard them,
00:10:17.840 | but to share them.
00:10:19.560 | I like that very much.
00:10:21.560 | So you collected your books from childhood
00:10:28.120 | and you described that a little bit as you went along.
00:10:32.680 | And I found myself thinking, oh yeah, I got books there.
00:10:36.880 | Oh yeah, I bought a lot of books there.
00:10:38.800 | Oh, I have those books too.
00:10:40.760 | I think a lot of us are probably realizing
00:10:43.680 | that we have a lot of books.
00:10:46.560 | How do we go about organizing our books?
00:10:51.040 | - Well, that was an interesting quest for me.
00:10:54.160 | So what I finally decided to do is,
00:10:58.000 | because I didn't want it,
00:10:59.400 | I don't have enough books to really,
00:11:01.760 | form a Dewey Decimal System, for example.
00:11:03.840 | - Right.
00:11:04.680 | - I don't have-
00:11:05.520 | - Right, right.
00:11:06.360 | - I have about 1700 books.
00:11:07.920 | So at the moment and climbing.
00:11:10.000 | So what I decided to do is have shelves by genre
00:11:16.280 | and so I have a shelf for mysteries,
00:11:18.920 | a shelf for contemporary literature,
00:11:21.640 | a shelf for older classics,
00:11:24.560 | a shelf for history and so on.
00:11:26.960 | And what I did is I put them in order by,
00:11:31.120 | of course, by author and series.
00:11:33.760 | So they're alphabetical by author
00:11:35.280 | or they're organized by a series.
00:11:36.880 | But I started with the youngest readers at the bottom shelf
00:11:40.640 | and then so that the adult books are on the highest shelves
00:11:44.240 | and it goes down until the youngest children
00:11:47.160 | are on the bottom shelves where they can reach them.
00:11:48.800 | I want them to pull them out and look at them
00:11:50.440 | and see if they're interested, so.
00:11:52.640 | - That's good.
00:11:55.040 | That makes sense.
00:11:55.960 | That makes a lot of sense.
00:11:57.320 | I think that,
00:11:58.160 | yeah, I think that is,
00:12:01.240 | I know that for me and my husband,
00:12:03.400 | organizing all of the books we have,
00:12:06.760 | has been the hardest thing for us.
00:12:10.000 | - They get unorganized very easily, don't they?
00:12:12.040 | - Oh, yeah.
00:12:13.800 | Yes.
00:12:14.640 | And you know what else I discovered
00:12:16.880 | is that my husband and I have different ideas
00:12:21.080 | of the categories of some books
00:12:23.840 | or even of the categories that we should have.
00:12:27.600 | 'Cause I love your idea
00:12:29.120 | of not using the Dewey Decimal System.
00:12:31.320 | So because, well, partly because that's a pain
00:12:34.280 | and partly because most of us don't know
00:12:37.000 | that system very well anymore.
00:12:39.880 | I love the category system.
00:12:42.880 | - So were you the one who decided the categories?
00:12:46.280 | 'Cause that's what my husband and I argue about.
00:12:48.320 | - Yes, I did.
00:12:49.480 | And there are some that overlap
00:12:51.680 | and I just did the best I could to keep it consistent.
00:12:54.840 | And right now, because of the size of my library,
00:12:57.240 | when people come over,
00:12:58.280 | I know where things are that they might want.
00:13:01.600 | So I think you and I have talked about this.
00:13:03.760 | One of the things I acquired
00:13:05.240 | was the landmark history books from the 1950s.
00:13:10.040 | And so I've had a lot of kids come over
00:13:11.920 | and get those for their essential spaces of history
00:13:14.520 | or because I read them in conjunction
00:13:17.120 | with whatever foundation cycle we're on.
00:13:19.680 | So it was pretty easy just to put all those
00:13:21.600 | in the history section.
00:13:22.960 | Some of them probably could be in a different category
00:13:27.720 | but it was just easier to keep them all together
00:13:29.880 | so that children know where to go when they come over.
00:13:33.440 | - That makes really good sense.
00:13:35.600 | That way it's easy to find stuff.
00:13:38.800 | So you collected your books.
00:13:41.200 | Some of them were gifted to you from childhood, I'm sure.
00:13:46.480 | And still as an adult, people are giving you books.
00:13:49.200 | I just gave you a book.
00:13:50.360 | And then how else do you collect your books?
00:13:54.920 | Where do you look?
00:13:55.920 | - So now that I'm almost an empty nester,
00:13:59.160 | I make a lot of trips with my husband on his business trips
00:14:02.760 | and I have used bookstores in every town I would go to.
00:14:06.640 | And so I have some really good places that I go
00:14:09.480 | that I tend to know after a couple of trips
00:14:12.280 | if they're gonna have the kinds of children's literature
00:14:14.520 | I want.
00:14:15.360 | I do occasionally look at places like eBay or archive books
00:14:20.200 | but I do try to go to the used bookstores and support them
00:14:24.560 | because I would like them to remain open
00:14:26.440 | and because I think they're doing good work
00:14:28.040 | as keepers of the books also.
00:14:29.880 | - That's good.
00:14:32.120 | - Yeah, so I have some favorites.
00:14:33.480 | In fact, this weekend, I went to one of my favorites
00:14:36.800 | and then found out that just hours later
00:14:39.040 | your eldest daughter was there.
00:14:41.280 | - Oh my goodness.
00:14:42.840 | - With each other, but I did find some good finds there.
00:14:45.120 | I got some new hardback copies of Andrew Lang's fairy books
00:14:48.480 | which I find very charming.
00:14:50.520 | Yeah, so one thing I forgot to mention to you too
00:14:55.280 | about the organization is that I do have a lot
00:14:57.960 | of picture books for really young readers,
00:15:01.960 | toddler, preschool age, and those I don't organize at all
00:15:05.520 | because, and they're on a very low shelf
00:15:08.080 | just outside the library out in the landing
00:15:10.400 | where they can plop themselves down
00:15:12.040 | and pull off whatever they want.
00:15:14.000 | - That's so good because that's the way little people read.
00:15:18.320 | They go by the pictures
00:15:19.600 | and they go by what looks interesting.
00:15:21.640 | Yeah, that's so good.
00:15:22.720 | - There's absolutely no organization to that shelf
00:15:24.920 | because I don't want the moms to feel stressed
00:15:26.760 | that their children are pulling off 10 and 20 things
00:15:28.960 | to look at.
00:15:30.960 | - You know what, that's really important that we be,
00:15:34.440 | I can imagine that once I got my shelves
00:15:39.040 | just like I wanted them to be,
00:15:40.920 | I think I would hold my breath or maybe even cringe
00:15:43.760 | every time somebody put a book back in the wrong place.
00:15:47.240 | Do you just have to get over yourself?
00:15:49.320 | - Yeah, you just have to keep holding.
00:15:51.360 | I mean, you know, usually, I mean,
00:15:53.800 | I'm not as big as a public library would be.
00:15:57.120 | I'm still very much at private library status.
00:15:59.720 | So people bring back four or five books at a time
00:16:02.120 | and then my youngest helps me reshelf.
00:16:05.880 | And a lot of times if I'm,
00:16:08.400 | a lot of times when people come,
00:16:09.920 | I'm in work meetings with you and other people.
00:16:12.560 | - Yeah, yeah.
00:16:13.720 | - So she's kind of my junior library
00:16:15.320 | and she helps people find what they need
00:16:17.560 | and takes back the ones they're returning.
00:16:19.840 | So I've had a limited clientele this past spring
00:16:23.720 | while I was getting everything organized.
00:16:25.680 | And now this fall, I'm gonna open it up wider.
00:16:29.960 | - That's so fun.
00:16:30.840 | Do you just tell all your friends
00:16:32.800 | or do you tell people in your CC community
00:16:35.720 | or in your neighborhood or in your church?
00:16:37.960 | How are people finding out about the Courtney Library?
00:16:41.000 | - I'm trying to go a little bit slowly
00:16:43.240 | until I get my feet under me.
00:16:44.800 | So I started with my CC community and my neighborhood
00:16:48.600 | so that I had a good sense of the families that are coming
00:16:52.720 | and then I'll open it up to other CC communities
00:16:55.160 | in the area 'cause I live in a city
00:16:56.640 | where there are lots and lots of CC communities.
00:16:58.720 | So I can get a lot of traffic just from that.
00:17:01.120 | And then I'll see about expanding it beyond that.
00:17:04.200 | And there are a few people at church that know.
00:17:08.320 | - Yeah.
00:17:09.160 | - So yeah, I'm just kind of spreading the word slowly
00:17:11.400 | until we as a family get the hang of this lending gig.
00:17:15.800 | - Yeah, well, I think that's awesome.
00:17:18.040 | I wanna ask you this question, why?
00:17:20.600 | 'Cause some people who love books
00:17:23.280 | and there are lots of us who love books,
00:17:25.840 | but some people really like to keep their books
00:17:30.840 | to themselves, why are your books not just for you?
00:17:36.120 | - Yeah, one of the things that was breaking my heart
00:17:40.000 | that I kept hearing from this new generation
00:17:43.440 | of homeschool families that's different
00:17:46.040 | from probably when you and I were homeschooling
00:17:48.280 | is that there are fewer and fewer books
00:17:50.400 | on the public library shelves
00:17:52.000 | and there are fewer and fewer things that they approve of.
00:17:56.560 | And that broke my heart a little
00:17:58.240 | because we can't all afford to own all the books
00:18:01.160 | that we want to read.
00:18:02.200 | And when children, especially when children are small,
00:18:04.960 | they can be voracious readers.
00:18:06.960 | And so they can go through 30 picture books in a week.
00:18:11.160 | So we can't afford to have all of those.
00:18:13.240 | And it really broke my heart hearing their stories
00:18:15.400 | of things that they wanted to read.
00:18:19.400 | And then on the other end of the spectrum,
00:18:20.920 | I had students in my challenge two, three, and four classes
00:18:23.800 | that would get interested in an author and say,
00:18:25.600 | oh, Mrs. Courtney, do you have George McDonald's Lilith?
00:18:28.320 | And I could say, yes, I do.
00:18:29.520 | And you're welcome.
00:18:30.360 | - Oh.
00:18:31.560 | - So I just really had that heart
00:18:33.760 | to minister to these families.
00:18:35.200 | And I have carefully selected the children's books
00:18:39.000 | so that the parents don't need to worry
00:18:41.280 | about what they're pulling off the shelves.
00:18:44.240 | So they can be comfortable
00:18:45.640 | that knowing that there will be books here
00:18:47.480 | and that the books will be ones they would feel comfortable
00:18:50.240 | with their kids reading.
00:18:51.800 | - I love that.
00:18:52.760 | That's really, that's really good.
00:18:54.760 | That's a good heart to have.
00:18:57.000 | Let me ask you this.
00:18:58.080 | Have you had much trouble with books not coming back?
00:19:02.360 | - So far, no,
00:19:04.640 | but it's been a pretty tight circle of people I know.
00:19:07.840 | So they've been worried about getting the books back to me
00:19:11.280 | and the inventory will help, you know, that I can,
00:19:14.040 | I do know who has them and when.
00:19:15.720 | Whereas in the past, I did lose a lot of books loaning them,
00:19:18.480 | but that's because I never made an attempt to know
00:19:21.320 | who took it and when they took it, I just loaned them out.
00:19:23.520 | So, so far the systems are working.
00:19:27.120 | I am quite sure that will happen at some point
00:19:29.160 | as the circle gets wider and then I'll just, you know,
00:19:32.280 | I'll just replace them.
00:19:33.640 | - You'll just buy another one.
00:19:34.840 | - Yeah.
00:19:35.760 | - Yes, I know some of mine,
00:19:37.680 | I've gotten bitten by that before
00:19:39.280 | 'cause I am a lover of books
00:19:40.720 | and I love to give people books I think they will love.
00:19:44.080 | They say, I like this, I like this kind of thing,
00:19:46.840 | I don't like this kind of thing,
00:19:47.800 | I'm like, I have just the book for you.
00:19:50.120 | But I have been bitten by people
00:19:52.640 | by lending out some of my favorite books and I've lost them.
00:19:57.480 | And sometimes they were books that were out of print
00:20:00.520 | or hard to get and so I haven't been able to replace them.
00:20:03.440 | So I really, really like your system of library cards
00:20:08.200 | with due dates and all that stuff.
00:20:12.080 | Let me ask you this,
00:20:13.720 | how does sharing your books change your world?
00:20:18.720 | - Well, it's really been a joy
00:20:23.440 | to make connections with people.
00:20:24.800 | So the family of this young one
00:20:28.560 | who checks out all my "Happy Hollister" mysteries,
00:20:30.800 | and by the way, those are very charming,
00:20:32.320 | they're about a family of five kids and a dog
00:20:34.680 | who go around solving mysteries,
00:20:36.160 | it's a perfect homeschooling series.
00:20:39.080 | It's a really strong family element, they're just precious.
00:20:43.320 | And so it's been fun to see how excited she gets
00:20:47.080 | when she realizes how very many there are in the series
00:20:50.240 | and how she can continue to work with her friends.
00:20:53.200 | And then on the other end,
00:20:56.960 | the landmark history books that I have
00:20:59.280 | were books that my dad devoured as a child
00:21:02.320 | and he is rereading them
00:21:04.520 | and that's been a precious connection for us
00:21:07.960 | to go and talk about these books together.
00:21:10.600 | So he just finished "The Story of Oklahoma,"
00:21:13.000 | which is where we live,
00:21:14.400 | and really enjoyed rereading that childhood classic
00:21:18.600 | and then we got to talk about it over dinner
00:21:20.520 | and that's been just precious
00:21:21.840 | to connect with people about what they're reading.
00:21:25.200 | - I think that's really great.
00:21:26.440 | And you know, if you wanna have people
00:21:28.240 | to talk to about your books,
00:21:31.480 | then share your books
00:21:33.280 | and then they can have the experience too
00:21:36.560 | and then you do have something to talk about.
00:21:39.360 | I really like that.
00:21:40.840 | Okay, I want us to turn, I've loved,
00:21:44.760 | tell me, this is a question I really wanted to know.
00:21:48.160 | Do you have, and I know your propensity to cheat
00:21:50.840 | at these kinds of games and questions, so I'm prepared.
00:21:54.200 | What is your current favorite or what's,
00:21:58.360 | I wanted to ask you what's your favorite book
00:22:00.000 | in your library, but I know that that would not go well.
00:22:03.760 | What are you most excited to have in your library?
00:22:08.760 | - I think I was most excited to get a hold
00:22:13.120 | of those landmark history books
00:22:14.760 | because they have lovely illustrations
00:22:18.720 | and they are keeping American history alive
00:22:23.440 | for our families today.
00:22:25.200 | You know, they were written in an era
00:22:28.680 | when patriotism was still the norm.
00:22:31.480 | And I think it's important for us to preserve
00:22:34.320 | the stories of our country's heritage.
00:22:36.560 | In fact, I was on a words aptly spoken book club yesterday
00:22:40.880 | and we were talking about Johnny Tremaine
00:22:42.840 | and how as we get further and further away
00:22:45.080 | from the American revolution,
00:22:46.440 | the stories of their sacrifices,
00:22:49.960 | the miraculous ways that they were saved are being lost.
00:22:52.880 | And so I really appreciate having a lot of books
00:22:56.760 | for, you know, 10 to 12 year olds in my library
00:22:58.800 | that are about the people who formed our country
00:23:02.560 | and who explored it as it expanded.
00:23:05.960 | I just think there's nothing more exciting
00:23:07.920 | for young people to read than that.
00:23:10.880 | - Yes, I love it.
00:23:11.960 | And I remember reading all of those kinds of books
00:23:16.760 | in the public library and in our church library
00:23:19.600 | when I was little and biographies of presidents
00:23:23.240 | from the time they were little until they were world leaders.
00:23:27.080 | And I remember reading a biography of Clara Barton
00:23:31.160 | and just, it really does form your ideas
00:23:36.160 | of what a noble sacrificial leader is or can be
00:23:41.800 | and how to grow those virtues from childhood on up.
00:23:45.760 | And I love it that you are really on a mission
00:23:49.120 | to preserve that.
00:23:51.360 | That's cool.
00:23:53.040 | - Yeah, I also was fascinated by Clara Barton
00:23:55.240 | and Florence Nightingale.
00:23:56.800 | - Yes.
00:23:57.640 | - And their adventures in nursing.
00:23:59.040 | So I love sharing those stories with families.
00:24:02.000 | I also, you know I'm gonna cheat.
00:24:04.040 | So I'm gonna say one more thing.
00:24:05.400 | I did just four weeks ago acquire a hardback copy
00:24:10.400 | of "Invincible Louisa" is the award-winning biography
00:24:16.080 | from the 1920s about Louisa May Alcott,
00:24:19.400 | who is one of my all-time favorite authors.
00:24:21.240 | And I now have a beautiful illustrated hardcover
00:24:24.920 | of her biography.
00:24:26.040 | And my mom said,
00:24:26.880 | "Surely you're not going to lend that one out."
00:24:29.920 | Surely I am.
00:24:31.080 | I'm going to put a plastic cover on it
00:24:32.800 | and I'm going to show that some young lady
00:24:36.640 | who is a lover of Louisa May Alcott
00:24:38.960 | will enjoy that book as much as I did as a child.
00:24:41.960 | - Oh, how wonderful to pass on the thrill
00:24:45.360 | that you felt to another young lady.
00:24:48.000 | That's really special.
00:24:49.840 | Well, if I get to Oklahoma, I may just check it out myself.
00:24:54.680 | As homeschoolers, so I know that some of us
00:24:59.680 | on the call are just starting out as homeschoolers.
00:25:04.720 | And so I said at the top of the hour together,
00:25:08.840 | starting your library could really be the superpower
00:25:13.240 | for homeschoolers.
00:25:14.880 | As we're starting out or while our families are young,
00:25:18.640 | why is a library such a great place
00:25:22.200 | to begin our homeschooling journey?
00:25:25.040 | - Yeah, so I acquired a set of things
00:25:31.760 | when I was very first setting up
00:25:34.280 | for our family to homeschool
00:25:35.880 | that I felt were very important.
00:25:38.400 | I got a children's dictionary.
00:25:40.720 | I got a science encyclopedia,
00:25:42.840 | a history encyclopedia, an atlas.
00:25:46.040 | And then I had a couple of what I call books of books.
00:25:51.240 | One of those is now carried in the CC bookstore
00:25:54.200 | and that's "Honey for a Child's Heart"
00:25:56.120 | because I knew I needed good recommendations of books.
00:25:59.240 | So some of those I got from other homeschool parents
00:26:02.480 | and people in my church,
00:26:03.400 | but some of them I got from books of books
00:26:05.320 | like "Honey for a Child's Heart."
00:26:06.760 | But I felt it was important to have that seed
00:26:09.320 | of a reference library
00:26:10.880 | so that whenever we were curious about something,
00:26:13.520 | we could look it up on a map
00:26:15.040 | or we could look it up in the encyclopedia.
00:26:17.360 | And my children did spend hours pouring over,
00:26:20.320 | particularly the science encyclopedia
00:26:23.040 | because they loved learning about different creatures
00:26:25.440 | that God has made.
00:26:26.480 | So that's where my library,
00:26:30.000 | my homeschool library really started
00:26:31.520 | was with those key reference materials
00:26:34.120 | that I knew the children would use.
00:26:36.560 | - Me too, Jennifer.
00:26:37.520 | And you know what I did?
00:26:38.800 | This is funny.
00:26:39.680 | I would go in those early years
00:26:42.200 | when my kids were curious about everything,
00:26:46.600 | I would go to used book sales at libraries
00:26:51.160 | and buy even old textbooks,
00:26:55.200 | especially when my children weren't reading it.
00:26:57.800 | So they could be really old textbooks
00:27:00.480 | that had great pictures that were our jumping off place
00:27:04.520 | or just really basic information that I could read
00:27:09.320 | and then water down for them to whatever level they were.
00:27:13.960 | And so those used book sales at libraries
00:27:17.800 | are a treasure trove for homeschoolers.
00:27:20.840 | - Yes.
00:27:21.680 | And one thing I find often at used book sales
00:27:24.480 | are old collections.
00:27:28.280 | I mean, I'm partial to the collections
00:27:31.360 | that I've helped to make,
00:27:32.280 | which are the Echoes books.
00:27:34.160 | - Right.
00:27:35.000 | - But I also have lots of other collections.
00:27:37.640 | And so Harvard used to publish a series
00:27:40.040 | called the Junior Grade Books.
00:27:43.040 | Then there was a series published in Chicago
00:27:45.520 | called My Book House
00:27:46.720 | that just are volumes and volumes of stories,
00:27:50.440 | some fictional and some nonfiction
00:27:52.680 | that young people find fascinating.
00:27:54.360 | And I collect those almost every time I stumble across one
00:27:57.800 | because they have such a great repository
00:28:02.560 | and they have aged very well for young children,
00:28:05.280 | but that gives you lots of stories to choose from.
00:28:07.120 | And in fact, I have a friend whose son is moving
00:28:11.800 | with her only grandbaby.
00:28:13.360 | They are moving to Asia as missionaries
00:28:17.280 | and we're trying to figure out
00:28:19.440 | how to help them build a library.
00:28:20.800 | And those kinds of collection books are very good for that
00:28:23.320 | 'cause they can't take anything and everything
00:28:25.000 | with them as they go.
00:28:26.760 | - Yes.
00:28:27.600 | - We found a couple of great fairy tale anthologies
00:28:31.240 | and picture book anthologies 'cause he's little.
00:28:33.880 | He's only one.
00:28:34.920 | - Oh gosh.
00:28:36.680 | - Trying to think of some collections of things
00:28:38.160 | that he could take.
00:28:39.280 | So I think those collection type books
00:28:41.440 | are a good place to start when you're building your library
00:28:43.800 | because then you can get a lot of stories in one volume.
00:28:46.960 | - Yes, that's really good.
00:28:48.680 | And to realize that your library can grow
00:28:52.800 | as your children grow.
00:28:55.000 | You don't have to have all the things at the beginning
00:28:59.120 | in order to think that you have a library.
00:29:01.560 | Your library can grow as your children grow
00:29:04.760 | and as their interests grow
00:29:06.840 | and as your interests grow
00:29:09.320 | and as their abilities to read expand.
00:29:14.320 | - Yeah.
00:29:15.160 | - So that's a good thing.
00:29:16.400 | - That's a good point that you made.
00:29:17.560 | I add to my library all the time.
00:29:19.600 | So last spring, Tim and I went
00:29:22.320 | to the Laura Ingalls Wilder farm in Missouri.
00:29:25.960 | - Oh yeah.
00:29:27.240 | - And I bought a hardback set of her books
00:29:29.400 | 'cause my paperback books that I bought
00:29:31.160 | at the Scholastic Book Fair in 19--
00:29:33.040 | - Oh yes.
00:29:34.440 | - Yeah.
00:29:35.280 | - And I knew I couldn't loan those.
00:29:36.520 | So I bought hardback copies of all her books
00:29:38.600 | that I could loan.
00:29:39.520 | - That's good.
00:29:41.960 | I was gonna ask you that.
00:29:43.280 | That was one of the questions on my list.
00:29:45.360 | Do you mostly have hardbacks
00:29:48.760 | or do you have, I know you must have,
00:29:53.320 | do you lend out paperback books too?
00:29:56.080 | - I do.
00:29:56.960 | I lend both, but I really am trying,
00:29:59.360 | especially for the under 12 set
00:30:01.520 | to acquire hardbacks whenever I can.
00:30:04.000 | So that again, I don't want parents worrying.
00:30:07.000 | I'm trying to get sturdy things
00:30:08.440 | that they feel comfortable letting their kids read,
00:30:11.080 | lying outside on a picnic blanket
00:30:13.400 | or wherever they want to read them.
00:30:15.720 | So I'm trying wherever I can
00:30:17.080 | to slowly replace all my paperbacks with hardbacks.
00:30:21.920 | - That's good.
00:30:22.760 | The durability is key.
00:30:26.000 | - And you can find a lot of library discards in--
00:30:29.520 | - You really can.
00:30:30.960 | Yes, you really can.
00:30:33.800 | I have been blessed to do that.
00:30:35.600 | A lot of my junior classics and junior fiction
00:30:39.480 | used to be library books.
00:30:41.040 | - Yeah, me too.
00:30:42.120 | - So we don't have to go all in
00:30:46.120 | at the very beginning, our collection.
00:30:48.840 | So if your children are preschoolers,
00:30:50.880 | your library might be two or three low bookcases
00:30:55.520 | and maybe a bin of picture books.
00:30:58.720 | And that would be a great way to start.
00:31:01.320 | And like Jennifer said, a beginning reference section
00:31:05.840 | of a dictionary and history and science encyclopedias,
00:31:10.280 | an atlas, and maybe an anthology or a book of books
00:31:15.080 | that gives you suggestions of other things to do.
00:31:20.080 | So here's another thing.
00:31:25.760 | Who gets to contribute to your library?
00:31:29.280 | Do you have books that your children wanted
00:31:33.520 | when they were little?
00:31:34.440 | Have you folded your kids' books into your library
00:31:39.320 | or is this mostly books that you choose
00:31:42.560 | for certain reasons?
00:31:44.000 | - So there were a few of my children's favorites
00:31:47.000 | that I have decided not to lend out
00:31:49.480 | because I want to be able to give them the seed
00:31:52.240 | for their library when they form their own families.
00:31:56.480 | So I have kept back a few, you know, a couple of favorites
00:32:00.200 | of theirs, but I've also over the years
00:32:03.040 | helped them build their library.
00:32:04.320 | So my daughters who are at college,
00:32:05.960 | I've been helping them buy some things
00:32:08.680 | that they want to read.
00:32:09.880 | And so they have the seed of their own libraries
00:32:12.320 | going already.
00:32:14.080 | So yeah, both things are happening.
00:32:18.160 | - Yes, my girls have their bookcases in their bedrooms
00:32:24.560 | and they, from time to time, come back home
00:32:27.960 | 'cause they're grown and gone.
00:32:29.800 | They come back home and take an armful of their favorites.
00:32:33.680 | Many of the picture books that they used as children
00:32:38.000 | are still here at my house.
00:32:39.800 | And I hope to keep them at my house for grandchildren,
00:32:43.920 | but I'm open to share.
00:32:45.720 | And some of them, I will admit,
00:32:47.400 | I have multiple copies of some books.
00:32:52.000 | - Yeah, because some of them, I let them take my grandson.
00:32:55.400 | I've let have some of the books,
00:32:57.480 | but then I promptly replaced them at home
00:32:59.840 | because I want to have things here.
00:33:02.560 | So what are your, go ahead.
00:33:04.160 | - I was just gonna say, I'm in a little bit of a quandary
00:33:06.560 | because when I was recently in England
00:33:09.000 | for our 30th anniversary, I bought three picture books.
00:33:14.000 | They're utterly precious.
00:33:15.800 | One of them is by Randolph Caldecott,
00:33:19.320 | who Caldecott Picture Book Awards are named after.
00:33:22.960 | And I don't know,
00:33:26.400 | I haven't quite worked my way up to loaning that one yet,
00:33:30.120 | but I feel like it does need to be read.
00:33:32.080 | So I'm in a bit of a quandary about that one.
00:33:34.320 | It's still sitting in my room.
00:33:35.440 | And then I bought two books by a French children's author
00:33:39.880 | that was translated into English by a poet
00:33:43.040 | that I really like, a children's poet.
00:33:44.680 | And so those three books are sitting there
00:33:47.040 | in the, I don't know quite yet
00:33:48.880 | what I'm going to do with these.
00:33:50.880 | - Right.
00:33:51.720 | - They may not be loaned.
00:33:52.880 | They may be read here.
00:33:54.840 | - That's what I was gonna say.
00:33:55.880 | You could have a reading room.
00:33:57.240 | - Yes.
00:33:58.080 | - That's perfect.
00:34:01.760 | So do you have standards that you,
00:34:06.760 | I mean, I can remember, all right,
00:34:10.200 | I'll just be really honest.
00:34:11.520 | When my girls were little, I picked their library books
00:34:15.280 | because I knew what I wanted them to read.
00:34:18.000 | I knew I wanted them to read good stuff.
00:34:20.520 | And so I remember when my older daughter
00:34:23.200 | was in about the fifth grade and she said,
00:34:25.920 | "Why can't I pick my books?"
00:34:27.840 | And I said, "Well, I mean, what do you,
00:34:30.240 | "I want to be sure that you're reading good things.
00:34:32.840 | "And I want, you know, I want it.
00:34:35.360 | "I want you to be happy with your books.
00:34:37.640 | "And what is it that you want to read?"
00:34:39.800 | And she, so she showed me this paperback book.
00:34:44.240 | It was some Pony Club or something.
00:34:47.240 | And I said, "Do you think that you will like that?"
00:34:50.640 | And she said, "Oh, I want to check this one out."
00:34:53.000 | And so I went on and picked some other ones for her,
00:34:56.200 | but let her take that one home.
00:34:57.560 | And we got home and she disappeared immediately to her room
00:35:00.440 | with that book she had chosen.
00:35:02.120 | And she came down in about 20 minutes
00:35:04.720 | and she stuffed it back.
00:35:06.920 | We had a big basket in our living room
00:35:09.400 | that all the library books were supposed to stay in
00:35:11.920 | because it was way too easy to get them mingled
00:35:14.760 | with our personal books
00:35:16.000 | and not be able to tell the difference.
00:35:17.440 | So she came back and stuffed it
00:35:18.840 | in the back of the library basket.
00:35:20.720 | And I said, "Are you done already?"
00:35:22.800 | Which was not beyond the pale of possibility.
00:35:25.320 | And she said, "No."
00:35:27.640 | And I said, "What's the matter?"
00:35:29.120 | She said, "Well, you were right.
00:35:31.960 | "It was not very well-written."
00:35:33.760 | And I said, "What do you mean?"
00:35:35.000 | And she said, "Well, the characters are not very fleshed out
00:35:38.920 | "and the story is way too predictable."
00:35:41.360 | And so as a fifth grader,
00:35:45.120 | I was pretty glad that she was able to see that.
00:35:47.840 | But that brings me to this question that I have for you.
00:35:51.280 | What kind of standards?
00:35:52.840 | Do you have a little bit of everything in your library
00:35:56.480 | or do you really have what you consider to be the good stuff?
00:36:00.720 | - I mostly have the good stuff.
00:36:02.360 | My mom was pretty careful about what we read growing up.
00:36:06.880 | And so I have a lot of Louisa May Alcott
00:36:10.160 | and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I gravitated
00:36:12.000 | toward those more historical books anyway.
00:36:15.520 | But there are a few series, I will say,
00:36:19.920 | there are points when it's good for kids to read fast.
00:36:23.120 | So I have a few of those series
00:36:26.520 | that just help them get faster and faster at reading.
00:36:28.760 | But even those are ones that I read with my kids
00:36:31.800 | when they were younger and so comfortable having them.
00:36:35.800 | Because I have limited resources to collect a library,
00:36:38.960 | I don't see the point of collecting junk or fluff.
00:36:43.960 | People can get that anywhere.
00:36:45.360 | I'm trying to collect the really good things
00:36:47.440 | that might actually disappear if we don't all pay attention.
00:36:50.720 | - Yes, excellent.
00:36:52.280 | I love that philosophy.
00:36:53.840 | I love that.
00:36:55.160 | So as we homeschoolers who are dedicated
00:37:00.160 | to becoming keepers of the books
00:37:03.640 | and making sure that libraries continue,
00:37:07.600 | how do we share our books?
00:37:09.960 | What suggestions do you have for us?
00:37:12.560 | - Well, one thing, if people don't have a resource
00:37:16.800 | to build a library or the time, right?
00:37:18.320 | I realize I'm in a time of life now where I am.
00:37:21.200 | - Yes, but you can.
00:37:22.040 | - I can, I'm no longer homeschooling
00:37:24.200 | all four little ones in front of me.
00:37:27.000 | I could not have done this back then.
00:37:28.760 | So back then what we did is share books
00:37:31.000 | with our friends and our CC community.
00:37:32.800 | We did a lot of book swapping.
00:37:34.200 | So we would take things to community
00:37:35.800 | and get things at community
00:37:37.720 | and then return them the next week.
00:37:40.000 | And in the age where you can't depend
00:37:41.920 | on the main libraries anymore,
00:37:44.560 | I still think it's a good way to go
00:37:46.320 | because we all have some number of books in our home
00:37:49.680 | and we can share them through our CC communities
00:37:51.840 | and through our church groups and through our neighborhoods.
00:37:54.880 | So I think that's a fine way to start
00:37:58.080 | if you don't have the resources to build a gigantic library.
00:38:02.880 | - That's good and that's very encouraging
00:38:06.320 | because a lot of us, that's where we are.
00:38:09.240 | That's where we are.
00:38:10.880 | So that's a good way to start small
00:38:13.680 | and to grow as you're able.
00:38:16.800 | I love that.
00:38:18.000 | All right.
00:38:20.680 | You have told us why it's important to keep the books.
00:38:25.680 | How do you think we're doing now?
00:38:30.400 | You mentioned that it kind of brought you up short
00:38:35.400 | when you noticed that people were saying
00:38:38.280 | there aren't as many libraries,
00:38:39.800 | there aren't as many books at the library,
00:38:41.480 | there aren't as many good books at the library
00:38:43.320 | and it made you want to buy all the books.
00:38:45.400 | What's the status report?
00:38:46.800 | How are we doing now?
00:38:48.760 | - Well, it's interesting.
00:38:49.840 | I think we might be doing slightly better.
00:38:52.400 | Physical bookstores experienced a lot of growth
00:38:55.840 | in the years of COVID and after,
00:38:59.000 | which is an interesting phenomenon, I think.
00:39:02.680 | And usually when I go to my local bookstores,
00:39:04.800 | there are a lot of people in there browsing.
00:39:07.600 | We like to touch books and flip through them
00:39:11.520 | before we buy them.
00:39:12.560 | And I'm feeling better than I did two decades ago
00:39:16.720 | when the e-reader was pronouncing
00:39:19.320 | it was going to be the thing.
00:39:20.840 | I think we've come around.
00:39:23.400 | And in fact, I just read a charming essay
00:39:26.480 | called "On Browsing" and just the idea
00:39:31.080 | that we do like to touch things.
00:39:32.800 | It always made me laugh too around the years around COVID
00:39:35.880 | that the other stores that were growing
00:39:37.240 | seemed to be candle shops.
00:39:39.840 | - Yes, yes.
00:39:40.680 | - Make you want to go and smell the candles.
00:39:42.600 | You don't want to order candles online.
00:39:44.360 | So there is some tactile experience
00:39:47.760 | that I think is in this generation
00:39:50.080 | making a bit of a comeback.
00:39:51.600 | So I'm encouraged.
00:39:53.680 | - I am too.
00:39:55.080 | I think there are more bookstores
00:39:58.600 | and more people in the stores when we go in.
00:40:01.720 | Our family is like yours.
00:40:03.360 | A good rainy Saturday was we would all go
00:40:06.200 | to the bookstore and scatter.
00:40:09.000 | And I was not above letting my voracious fast reader
00:40:14.000 | sit and read a book and then buy another one.
00:40:18.240 | We always bought something,
00:40:20.080 | but I was not above letting her read something
00:40:23.000 | because we lived 30 minutes from the bookstore.
00:40:26.480 | I don't want you to be done with the book
00:40:28.320 | by the time we get home.
00:40:29.360 | - Yes.
00:40:30.200 | - That does not work for me on my fixed income.
00:40:34.760 | So we were go and browse a few hours
00:40:37.760 | and everybody come home with something.
00:40:39.760 | And some days we would say,
00:40:41.960 | everybody go and come home with something
00:40:44.000 | you never thought you would be interested in.
00:40:46.800 | And that expanded our library greatly.
00:40:49.320 | Sometimes we got duds,
00:40:51.320 | but sometimes we got things that became favorites.
00:40:54.320 | And so try it, you'll like it,
00:40:57.000 | is a good way to think about it.
00:40:58.360 | - Yes.
00:40:59.200 | And a lot of our books that started
00:41:02.520 | my sort of children's fiction section
00:41:04.520 | were ones that I did in book clubs.
00:41:06.920 | So all throughout homeschooling,
00:41:08.920 | I had book clubs for the children in our CC communities
00:41:13.920 | to do on a day outside of our CC day.
00:41:16.360 | So I have a lot of book club books.
00:41:17.840 | And then the other thing I forgot to share earlier
00:41:20.680 | is that you and I have a friend, Heather,
00:41:22.520 | who used to work for CC.
00:41:24.360 | And Heather was always really good
00:41:26.600 | once she had resources to do it.
00:41:28.560 | She would, if she found something,
00:41:30.760 | a Shakespeare play that she really liked,
00:41:32.320 | she would buy five or eight copies of it.
00:41:34.920 | And then whenever people came to her home
00:41:37.000 | and looked at her bookshelf,
00:41:38.440 | she would send them home with a book.
00:41:39.800 | And so that's another thing
00:41:41.480 | that I'm trying to do whenever I can.
00:41:43.640 | Some books stay in the library
00:41:44.840 | and some books I just let people take, so.
00:41:48.040 | - Oh, what a blessing.
00:41:49.800 | What a blessing.
00:41:50.680 | And you know what?
00:41:51.600 | Mom's, dad's just starting out homeschooling.
00:41:55.600 | If you hear that and think, wow, but I can't do that.
00:41:58.720 | I mean, I have little kids.
00:42:00.440 | We're living on one income.
00:42:01.880 | We don't have extra money.
00:42:03.400 | That's something that you can grow toward.
00:42:06.160 | It doesn't mean you're not a good friend
00:42:08.800 | or a good share if that's not where you are in life.
00:42:11.080 | We all start small and we grow.
00:42:13.920 | And that's what this whole podcast has been about,
00:42:16.960 | building a family library.
00:42:20.160 | And every library has to start somewhere.
00:42:23.640 | So start small, but with the idea
00:42:28.640 | that you are gonna build a family culture of learning
00:42:32.240 | as you collect your books and share your books
00:42:35.880 | and talk about your books with your family
00:42:39.000 | and in your community.
00:42:40.200 | That's a great thing.
00:42:41.520 | Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing about your library.
00:42:45.400 | I know that we all wish we could go and see it,
00:42:49.360 | but at least you have inspired us
00:42:51.600 | to collect those things for ourselves.
00:42:54.440 | Thank you.
00:42:55.280 | - Yes, it's been fun.
00:42:56.120 | I love talking about books.
00:42:57.440 | - Parents, if you are thinking, man, that sounds so good.
00:43:02.840 | I just want to learn more and more
00:43:05.080 | and I want to grow more and more
00:43:06.600 | and I want to be a better library collector,
00:43:10.360 | a better homeschooler, a better lead learner in my home.
00:43:14.440 | I'm not really sure how to do that.
00:43:16.360 | I've got a suggestion.
00:43:18.240 | What you might need is our classical learning cohort.
00:43:23.240 | These classical learning cohorts help CC directors
00:43:27.400 | and tutors and parent teachers grow in their confidence
00:43:32.400 | and in their competence
00:43:35.480 | with the classical tools of learning.
00:43:38.400 | It will teach you to be
00:43:40.480 | a more confident classical educator.
00:43:43.800 | If you're curious about that,
00:43:45.600 | about how it would work or how it would work for you,
00:43:49.440 | you can register for a seat.
00:43:53.120 | You can get information
00:43:55.600 | at classicalconversations.com/cohort, okay?
00:44:00.600 | Classicalconversations.com/cohort.
00:44:07.280 | It'll be awesome.
00:44:09.000 | Thanks, you guys.
00:44:10.040 | Go and build your libraries and read with your families
00:44:13.120 | and I'll see you next week.
00:44:14.680 | Bye-bye.
00:44:15.600 | (gentle music)
00:44:18.200 | you
00:44:20.260 | [BLANK_AUDIO]