I would not have survived my first year homeschooling without the blessed tranquility of our local library. Each Friday, I loaded up my kids and spent a couple of hours perusing new adventures found on the shelves in the pages of books. During each school week, I placed gads of books on hold, so I could waltz in and lazily grab my stacks of knowledge. The snowman books were a June selection. Clearly my kids share my affinity for winter, snow, and all things Christmas-y.

The library helped round out our studies in history, math, science and social studies. It turned my 5-year-old into a voracious book-worm and helped my sweet daughter discover the joys of frontier life, a magic treehouse, boxcars and fairies. Fiction, non-fiction, adventure, mystery, classics, fairy tales, art history, cookbooks, musician biographies and more – we filled up our bags each week and devoured every morsel. I would be absolutely broke keeping up with the reading appetites of my kids if not for our local library. Besides, who has room for books of this size on a permanent basis?

A heads up for anyone in the Sno-Isle library system in Washington, they have a great summer program starting for the munchkins. It’s called Explore Summer. We left the library today with free tickets to a baseball game (for the whole family), entries to win a bike and the promise of a free book (to keep!), once we’ve completed the first part of the program. My kids are totally stoked!

If you don’t happen to live in the greater Seattle area, check out what your local library system is up to. I’d wager they have tons of interesting things going on to keep your rugrats reading thru the summer. Feel free to share your local library’s programs in the comments so other readers in your area can join in! Happy Reading!