Library Day

Library Day.  It's exciting for the kids to get new reading material.  It's encouraging for me on particularly crazy days because I know that once we arrive home the house will be quiet for at least one full hour.  Overall it is a winning combination.

The outing itself is becoming stressful enough that I have reconsidered our library habit.  How to tweak it and still get the benefit of a pile of new books every few weeks?  For now we're making do with the current system.  If the Crew grows in numbers (and no, that is not an announcement neither is it a reference to any future announcements) our library days will need to change...we hardly fit through the rows of books as it is.

While at the library, the kids are instructed to follow our "Library Rules".  These rules strongly resemble our "Store Rules" and other general outing rules.  Some trips are more successful than others, as one can expect with a handful of littles in tow.

The "Library Rules" are as follows:

1. Obey Mommy.
2. Stay with the stroller.
3. Books go in the bag.
4. Stop taking books when Mom says so.
5. No tantrums or arguing.

Rachel and Jeremiah are loaded into the double stroller.  Rachel stays in the front and Jeremiah sits in the back where I can open the sunshade, pull it forward a bit, and keep his little hands from grabbing fifty books off of the shelves while we cruise the narrow aisles.  Lately the older kids have picked out a board book or two for him to read while we make our selections.

We usually start out in the picture book section where the kids make a beeline for the Berenstain Bears and Franklin books.  They are each allowed to pick two. Then I look through the a row of picture books and choose some for Abby and Jeremiah.

Now that Joshua and Hannah are reading so well, they are getting into chapter books.  So, we've been stopping by the chapter book section to start getting an idea of what's out there.  I'm here to tell you that finding age-appropriate chapter books for a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old is challenging to say the least.  For now they read the Little House books - which we discovered yesterday have some extras written about Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother and great-grandmother.  Maybe there are more...we'll see.

The favorite section is the non-fiction section.  This time we skipped the animal books and headed straight for the history section.  Joshua found a cool book about wagon trains and early settlers.  It inspired him to wake up this morning and declare this a "beautiful morning...so beautiful that it's a great day to wake up, pack the wagon, and move to Wisconsin!"  :)

After braving the self check-out, we arrive home, divvy up the books, and everyone heads to rest time for some reading.  The quiet is like a breath of fresh air!  :)

We have a special shelf in the school room for our library books.  It doesn't always look this nice...

On the shelf I put a piece of painters' tape with the number of books we have and their due date.  This time we have 27 books which is on the high end of normal for us.  This piece of tape enables the kids to count up our books before the next visit to make sure we don't leave any behind.  It also helps me remember what date we must head back to the library.  The three weeks fly by in a hurry and I am almost always surprised that another Library Day is upon us.

If you stop by our house within the first few days of a library trip you are likely to find a lot of little noses in books.  Even during outside play time!

And even little non-reading noses!  :)