Many years ago when my husband and I were first married we lived on a Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, CA. We married very young and while we were first married I was still in my freshman year in college. I finished my year at school and moved to California to be with Mike. While I had been gone he had been approached by a salesman. The salesman was selling encyclopedias. Mike, knowing that I was planning to finish my schooling out in California, was eager to help me in my studies. He happily bought a set of encyclopedias.
He didn’t tell me right away that he had bought them but when the set showed up in the mail at our house I was surprised. Not only was I surprised that he had been so thoughtful but I was surprised at the cost of the books! They were definitely a lot more expensive than I ever thought a set of books could be. Still, they were nice to flip through on my long and boring days alone in the desert when he deployed overseas and they did help me with some of my schooling. Still I wondered what we would ever do with all those books as we moved them with us from state to state.
When we settled in Georgia 14 years ago the encylopedias came with us as did our 2 little children. My two oldest were only 2 years old and 6 months old at the time. I didn’t think about those books in relation to my still tiny children. I had packed them for the move and honestly when we settled into our new house they stayed in the boxes.
When I decided to go back to school for my teaching degree when the kids were just 4 and 2 years old I thought about those books again. I unpacked them and put them on the shelf. They were helpful but not as much as when I was doing general studies. My classes for my teaching degree were more specialized and I found that I needed more specialized information for those particular topics. However, I kept the books out and still used them as I worked towards my teaching degree. I found I was pregnant that first year back and then took a year off from school after I had my third child. When she was a year I went back for my final year in school only to find out I was pregnant with my fourth child! At the end of my senior year we made our decision to homeschool our children. I was no longer going to teach in the schools but at our home instead!
When we first started homeschooling I wondered what I would use for books. I wasn’t set on a certain curriculum and because I had gone to school for teaching I knew how to make my own lesson plans and how to decide what would be beneficial for my children and where they should be in their studies. I happened to remember those wonderful encyclopedias sitting on the shelf and knew that I had a gold mine right in my own home! I was so excited.
While I know we can look up information online I also know that our encyclopedias have been a huge wealth of information for us. We can look up basic facts as well as more indepth information. I truly believe the art of sitting down and looking through books for specific facts is becoming a dying art. With just a few clicks of the mouse we can look up anything we need online, however, we need to be teaching our children how to look up information in books as well. There’s a certain satisfaction of opening an encyclopedia and leafing through the pages to find that information that you need. I do understand that sometimes facts found in books change over time as a result of further investigation or new evidence and that after a period of time the encyclopedias that we have will become outdated. However, while some information will have changed, other information, particularly history, won’t change and the books we have on our shelf will hold those facts forever. All we have to do is take down a book and “surf” through to find that information.
I encourage everyone to own a set of encyclopedias if it is within your budget to do so. Not only will you get the hardback set of books but each year you will receive updates to add to your books. These days you can also own cds that will have the books on disk, however nothing compares to holding the book in your hand while reading all about whatever it is that you are interested in. Books require no internet connection, no electricity, no online time, no computer. They only require a bit of effort from you to flip through the pages to find just what you are looking for.
Almost 18 years ago when my husband bought our set of encyclopedias I never thought about my children using them. I know he bought them for me and my schooling but he actually enriched all of our lives. What a wonderful investment!
When Michelle isn’t flipping through encyclopedias with her children she can be found writting about her family at Pass The Flu Bug Please.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
My parents owned a set of encyclopedias, and all of us kids learned a lot from them growing up – I agree it’s a great thing to have in any home!
I was thrilled beyond words when I went to the used book store one night and discovered that they’d just put an entire set of World Book encyclopedias in their free bin!
It seems that that set, dated early nineties (though I don’t remember the exact year off the top of my head), was )”too old” for them to sale.
They weren’t too old for me to load up in my car and take home!
I would love to have a set of encyclopedias! They are one of the best resources for kids!
I agree; I’m on the lookout to get a set for our family. I miss using the card catalog at the library too!
Kris, that is amazing that you got it for free! Hopefully everyone else will be as lucky as you. :)
One of my favorite things to look up when I was a kid was butterflies and birds. The pictures were so amazing and I loved finding them in my backyard. I’m glad my kids can experience that too! Thanks for your comments ladies!