I’m sorry Mrs. Wittmann, as of the new year, you can have no more than fifty books checked out at one time,” the librarian told me apologetically.

“Oh no! I’ve got forty Cinderella books on hold for a unit study the kids and I are working on. And I’ve probably got twenty books out on the Civil War, and then there are the books we check out just for fun. This is terrible!” I exclaimed, breaking out in a cold sweat, totally forgetting about the ten or so “real” maths books sitting at home. The librarian kindly suggested, “You could check them out under your children’s names.” That is how my 3 and 5-year-old children came to have their very own library cards.

At any given moment, I have somewhere between fifty and ninety books checked out from the public library. Because “real” books provide the foundation of my homeschool, the library has become a very necessary resource.

Always check with your library before making purchases. — catholicmom.com