Another shelf or two

Moving down the bookcase we have the poetry books--Favorite Poems Old and New compiled by Helen Farris is probably the most used but you will also find a beautiful copy of A Child's Garden of Verses illustrated by Jesse Wilcox Smith, 101 Best Loved Poems, A Child's Book of Beasts (alas illustrated by B.T.B. not G.K.C.), a few of those Poetry for Young People series of books, The World of Christopher Robin, Leaves of Grass and a collection by Robert Browning. The hobbits are fans of poetry and a few books are missing--The Harp and the Laurel Wreath, A Child's Anthology of Poetry and A Treasury of Playtime Poems are about the house somewhere. Also on this shelf are stray CD's for the computer--100 years of back issues of National Geographic, two editions of the World Book encyclopedia, various educational programs like Typing Tutor and Spell It and A Quarter Mile (never used, any of them!) A CD version of Butler's Lives of the Saints is here too and occasionally gets dusted off and placed in the computer, usually in November. The next shelf has my collection of What Your 1st through 6th Grader Needs to Know. These books were published roughly at the same time my oldest was in the corresponding grades and I have them all (I have the updated ones for some too). I never used these much passed the 3rd grade however except for science. The history just gets too confusing. I see Plutarch's Lives is on this shelf as well as Grimm's Fairy Tales, Bulfinch's Mythology, American Indian Myths and Legends and a couple of Shakespeare stories for kids (Nesbit and Garfield, we have Lamb too but it is obviously mishelved). Also on this shelf is six well thumbed volumes of Charlotte Mason, and four volumes of Our Quest for Happiness-a pre Vatican II high school religious course which I haven't read but my oldest hobbit liked alot.

Next Shelf

Next to the computer desk is a wall/bookcase my husband made when the books threatened to over-run the house. It has four shelves and the top one holds my homeschooling books. They show my evolution as a homeschooling mom. The oldest are the John Holt books-What Do I Do Monday? and (wow, I only have one actual John Holt book! I expected three at least!) books by his disciple Nancy Wallace--Better Than School (a classic!) and Child's Work.and a few others of the unschool type. John Taylor Gatto is here as are the Colfaxs. Next are the Charlotte Mason type books (not her actual books, for those you have to wait for shelf #3) For the Children's Sake, Charlotte Mason Companion, A Pocketful of Pinecones. There are books by and about Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf schools, Classical education, Catholic education, books about books like Cay Gibson's Literature Alive, Thomas Jefferson education, Real Learning, education by osmosis (okay, I made that up) but all in all a ridiculous amount of books about "school".

Bookshelves

Melissa at Here in the Bonny Glen and The Bookworm are going through their bookshelves one by one and I thought I'd join in. Bookshelves are one thing I have a lot of. Three here in the dining room alone. So, to start at the top...we have a shelf running across the top of the wall, above the computer, that hold the serious texts we aren't using at the moment and don't need to be handy for reference. The Algebra, Geometry, advanced sciences ( is Physics a math or a science? Science, says Sam) the foreign language tapes, CD's, videos, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azcaban in French (unread) and all the Voyages in English texts I bought and never used but can't get rid of. This is the dusty shelf.