My Home Education Library’s Organization:
Where a Daily Picture Book really comes to life!
Part 3 of a Well Organized Library
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The day has come! The unveiling of my home education bookshelves!
The School Room
Our school room is literally at the heart of our home, between kitchen and living room. It has one bright sunny window and a massive desk, that used to sit 4 kiddos but now is a roomy space for 2. My youngest student has her own, proper sized, desk and we also have a computer desk/station. And the rest of the room is just bookshelves, from floor to ceiling or at least from above desks to ceiling, lol! This room is as much a craft room as a school room. All things learning happen in here.
The first bookshelf
So let me give you the grand tour, let’s start with the first shelf on the left of the main door.
That shelf hosts most of our history picture books. Our chapter books live in the living room. That’s three full shelves of history picture books, that’s a good 20 feet of history picture books, lol!
The history picture books are sorted by period, if possible by dates, but that is asking a bit much of my children.
General history
The general history shelf contains all of our spines* and more textbook-ish books as well as any book that covers wide historical spans, as well as reference books such as DK Eyewitness books. I really love any of the Genevieve Foster books for spines, they are wonderful! I have designed full curriculums using each one (please send me an email if you need one of them for this year). They will be coming to the shop soon.
The organization on my history shelves closely resemble a Book of Century in a different format.
*Spines: main text read for any topic, and accentuated with picture books. Basically your meat and potatoes while the picture books are the side dishes and (definitely) dessert.
Ancient History
From prehistoric men to the end of the Roman Empire, there are quite a few good picture books for these periods but not enough. Each main era has its own section: prehistory, Egypt, Greece and Rome. The children have been taught to put a book back where you found it once you are done reading and it has helped a ton for the school room to stay organized. Even if sometimes you find George Washington in the midst of World War II…
Native Americans
I believe that our Native American heritage is very important and that collecting great picture books about it is crucial to a great American education. Paul Goble’s books are a particular treasure that I hunt for at the thrift store. The illustrations are beautiful and accurate, the texts are true to oral tradition, they are just great! Definite Living Books.
Middle shelf
This shelf is home to a serious chunk of history from the Middle Ages to the Conquest of the West. A very large space is dedicated to the American Revolution and many explorers are scattered throughout the whole. The Middle Ages and Renaissance sections look a little sad compared to what I grew up with in France and sometimes that makes me chuckle. But things definitely pick up with the great explorers and colonial times. Betsy and Giulio Maestro’s “American Story” series has really been a wonderful spine to follow through the early years of our country.
Bottom shelf
From the Civil War to today, this shelf is a treasure of old and new friends. As we get closer to today it has become harder and harder to split the books into sections. We have the Civil War, post Civil War era to the First World War, including a large section on the history of flight. Then the Great Depression before jumping into World War Two. Post World War Two, the books are organized somewhat chronologically but not always. A good size section is dedicated to the brave people who fought segregation from Rosa Parks to Nelson Mandela.
And finally, the funniest section, if you know me in real life, is one dedicated to athletes! Who would have thought that there were so many picture books on athletes that they would win their own shelf section!
Around the corner
From history into geography is just a quick leap around the corner. Starting with US geography, with all 50 States through Discover America State by State by Sleeping Bear Press. Another wonderful way to travel and discover our country! This collection is worth investing into as we have revisited it over and over again! Another curriculum to hit the shop at some point in the future.
Geography
We will continue across the doorway into Asia, Europe and Africa while Australia, South America and North America wrap around the corner to the window.
Finding picture books for each country on each continent can be challenging. For some reason the thrift store has been my best resource! I think people gift children and grandchildren picture books about their heritage and they (very sadly) end up at the thrift store once outgrown. The Draw the World series has been a fantastic resource to map out the world and each continent as we learn about them.
Oh my stars!!!
I just discovered that the Draw the World series now has three books on drawing the natural wonders of the USA, Africa, Europe, Canada and Greenland!!! Oh I am so excited!! I just ordered the USA one and we will start it right away. It even shows how to draw the animals!! I love it! Home education at its best!! I will be doing it along with the girls and give you snippets of the progress 😉
Geography manipulatives
Over the years we have collected all the Montessori maps and created beautiful continent boxes. It has been a long and sometimes tedious process, but totally worth it! Many family and friends have helped by sending us a little something here and there from the different countries they have traveled to. But they deserve a post of their own.
Poetry
A whole shelf with poetry, the perfect remedy to a dreary afternoon by the woodstove! I love our poetry collection! From Robert Frost to Christina Rosetti we have enjoyed so many lovely picture books. The Poetry for Young People Series has been a great jump off place for us to explore many different poets. Authors also live on that shelf, except for Will. William Shakespeare gets his own personal shelf, because he is that special. Finding his plays in picture books format has given me quite a run for my money but has been worth it! Picture books, as I have said before, just bring everything into such a different light and perspective. So lovely, so reachable and still such a wonderful trigger for imagination.
Inventors and scientists
We have one shelf for inventors and scientists. Their biographies always amaze me! The work, the passion they pour in their research and creations is truly astounding. We love our biography picture books, they show such amazing examples of persistence, imagination and faithfulness to the task at hand. Worth reading!
Nature
We have a good supply of picture books on anything nature that we have had an interest in. We have a wonderful collection regarding mammals, anything ocean, plants, and reptiles! There always seems to be a nature book open somewhere in the house. Usually accompanied by a nature notebook, pencils and pens, which thrills this mama’s heart! Our nature picture books are sorted by theme: mammals, seasons, general, nature journaling, ocean, plants, birds, etc…
Our science picture books are sorted in a similar fashion: biology, physics and chemistry.
I should really add that many “nature” books are spread throughout the house, regarding farm life, farm animals and gardening. But I say they still count for home education, even if they don’t live in the school room!
Art
Artists and their art are another family favorite shelf. Our personal ultimate favorite artist biography is Tomie dePaola “26 Fairmount Avenue” series. Their are delightful! With a house full of artistic girls, the art shelf is often visited. It contains not only artists’ biography but also technical art books, topical art books and art supplies. Having art supplies on the same shelf has been very practical, once the the genius strikes they can put it right into practice.
Another favorite series of art books and techniques is Laurence Anholt Artists series. The Anholt Artists Activity Book has been a great hit all around! And has been at the origin of quite a few fantastic projects.
Music!
I almost forgot our composers, musicians and singers!! They are all grouped together on one shelf, but they live in the living room as the school room did not have any more shelf space, lol! Many biographical picture books, some chapter books as well as some song books and hymnals. And then Spotify supplies the rest. Opal Wheeler’s biographies, while not being picture books, are the best musical biographies that we have enjoyed in chapter book format. We are not a hugely musical family, which makes me sad as my grandmother always had a song for every occasion and that is one of my most cherished memories of her! Either a song or a poem! What a wonderful education she had received! I am trying to duplicate that for my children but it is hard work to persist through the whining at the idea of learning anything by heart…
The rest
Nursery rhymes, alphabet books, writing and math picture books all live next to my youngest’s desk where they are easily accessible and enjoyable. Math picture books are a thing in and of themselves and one day I’ll spend time writing a math curriculum solely based on picture books! And it will be so much fun! Saxon won’t be able to hold a candle to it, lol! There are a few great picture books about writing, especially the ones written by Ruth Heller. Her pictures are so very vibrant, her text so well chosen and to the point that it makes learning about verbs and adverbs a breeze. These books are also short, making them easy to learn them by heart.
Thank you!
Thank you for joining me on this tour of my home education library! This was so fun! I can’t wait to dive into each section and category with you in the future! This is just the beginning 🙂
Love,
Mattie
