Confessions:  I took a few years off from going on regular library visits with my kids. What kind of homeschool mom am I, anyway?

A busy one.  One who works from home and finds that when she’s not home, it’s very easy to get behind on work. (Imagine that.)  Something had to give, and committing to go to the library regularly was one of them.

Sad, I know. But we have full bookshelves in five different rooms in our house. Trust me – we are not without books. Purchasing books to have for easy school access became much easier than going to the library once a week to get what we needed for assignments. Books are a great investment, after all. I don’t mind spending money on good books that we’ll use over and over again.

So here we are, with our full bookshelves, saving a fair amount of time each week on the chore of finding our resources at the library. I’m grateful to check that off my list of jobs I need to do. But what about activities we want to do? Well now, that’s become a different story.

The past few months, the younger boys and I have started going to the library more frequently again. We go because we want to. We go because the boys are older now and have new and varied interests. We search the shelves, finding books that seem intriguing, and we go home with a big pile. I love that these books are used in addition to our school books. These books are “just for fun.” (You know, because for some reason, we can’t call school “fun.” Oh please.)

We’ve learned new recipes, become experts on volcanos, tried our hand at drawing comics, learned new card tricks – and by “we” I really mean “they.” I love watching the boys take off with a book and come back full of new ideas and knowledge.

Today was a library day for us. Looking at all the amazing books available to us made me pretty excited. Yep, today I’m thankful for the library – one of the most basic perks of life there is.

And how about you? What are you thankful for this Gratituesday?