You mean that counts as SCHOOL!?!?!

I'm a homeschooler. My children consider me Mom and Teacher. It's all blurry though, the line between the two.

And I think that's a good thing most of the time.

Last week my sister in law called me to ask a question about some maternity clothes I had lent her. While we were on the phone she heard me talking to my boys about the book on CD they were listening to and asked me if I could suggest any good chapter books she could start reading with her six year old daughter and her four year old son.

She didn't have a clue what she was getting herself into.

I'm sure she expected me to mention a book, maybe two, that we had read and enjoyed together. What she got was a muddled conversation punctuated with "Ooh. And this book!" and "I forgot about that one. " and "OH, have you read THIS one?" and "you MUST try THIS book. They'd LOVE this one!" And after that conversation, she also received an email with a very long list of books that I remembered after hanging up the phone.

My list of chapter books that my boys have enjoyed is full of books I had never heard of as a child and had never read until I had children of my own. It's a list that I was shocked to look at as I sent the email along. My oldest is only six, after all. And that was just the quick list of books that we had really enjoyed from our Sonlight cores, one Winter Promise year and some random suggestions from friends or finds from the library (plus the Chronicles of Narnia, which I did enjoy as a child myself).

And as I wrote them down for her, I was so excited to share the wealth of joy and laughter and fun and tears we'd gotten from all those books. I realized that I had really taken all of that for granted.

We are in first grade at our upper end of school here in Benny's house. And I admit that with three children not even on the books for "school" that there are days we struggle to officially learn anything school-like. I mostly use Sonlight thanks to Mary Grace and her generosity and example. We do skip the books that do not draw us in, and we add in other read alouds that inspire us. We do our own math, language arts, science (when we do any of that at all) and even most of our own Bible. I don't think Punky even reads most of their readers at this point, since we just get our own books from the library for him. So I often wonder why we use Sonlight at all, when I have to work so hard to get all the basics of school in on top of what we read for our core.

But that day as I listed all the books that had brought so much excitement and adventure into our lives, I realized that most of the fun reading we've ever done has actually been school. We usually do not think of it as such. And there are definitely some Sonlight books that we've read for history that we've just done for the sake of checking off the box. But all those read alouds, all those books... I never would have known about most of them had it not been for using Sonlight.

And I felt bad for my sister in law, who does not homeschool (they go to a Waldorf school, which I happen to think is a pretty neat alternative to standard private schools) and does not have the same access to the options of really good books that are out there.

So, all this to say how blessed we are. And I didn't even know it! I just did it. We see the book listed, we read it, we enjoy it to pieces, then we move onto the next one. So today I am very grateful for the opportunities we've had to explore the world of reading with a handy list of some of the best literature written for children (and adults!). And my kids love it, and we think of it as our free time to read most of it.

And now I get to smile and feel good about myself. I guess we've done a lot more school over the years than I had realized. I guess that even if we stick to our low key, almost-but-not-quite-unschool approach, we'll be bringing Sonlight (or at least some of it) along for the ride.

And in case you were curious, I've listed some of our favorites here, in case you are looking for a good book that your six and unders might enjoy.

My Father’s Dragon - Ruth Stiles Gannett
Elmer and the Dragon - “ “ “

Dragons of Blueland - “ “ “
Gooseberry Park – Cynthia Rylant

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle – Betty MacDonald
Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Richard and Florence Atwater
Dr. Dolittle – Hugh Lofting
Capyboppy – Bill Peet

The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes

In Grandma’s Attic – Arleta Richardson

Boxcar Children – Gertrude Chandler Warner

Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum

Ereth’s Birthday – Avi (this one brought my Punky to tears at 4, it's a bit intense, but worth it)

Dolphin Adventure – Wayne Grover
Dolphin Treasure – “ “ “
Chronicles of Narnia – C. S. Lewis