In honor of Ebooks 40th Birthday, here’s another post on ebooks. If you want a chance to win the Birthday Present from this celebration, click on over to yesterday’s post and comment, answering the question I ask there.

Are print books relics of the past, doomed to disappear? Will ebooks completely take over? As a publisher that has gone entirely to producing ebooks AND as an avid reader and collector, with a REALLY good sized home library of real print books, (and ebooks,) AND as an owner of an eReader (and several ebook apps) {understatement} – here’s my entirely unscientific, but not unbiased, opinion.

I believe, more than anything else, it depends on the type of book it is – at least at this point. I think we will see 2 different markets emerge, and hopefully a third in the middle. There will continue to be the nostalgics (like me) who long to hang on to the printed word, and continue to buy print books. These love the experience and convenience of picking up a single book and flipping through it at leisure, or settling in and handling and reading from paper – easier on the eyes, easier to go through. I think this is especially true of “story” type books, biographies, histories, novels, etc. – in particular, longer reading books. Hopefully, as long as these people keep buying print books, publishers will keep printing them. I believe there will remain some people who are dead set against digital books, and will never read anything but a print book. So, I don’t believe paper books are going to go away, as long as this market is there.

Another market we will see, as an extreme, pressing earnestly forward into the completely digital world, is those who don’t treasure books as (printed) books to be collected and passed down, but rather thrive on the digital technology and just use books for the present needed information. They see no purpose for continuing to print books, when everything can be read on a device. These will greatly increase the digital market, but I’m not sure they will do much to diminish the print market, as they probably weren’t huge buyers of print books to begin with. I believe the type of reading these 2 markets do, will determine which books survive in print, and which will be solely available digitally.

I believe reference type books, activity and work- books (if they can be interacted with onscreen), quick-read, and probably even ‘how-to’ books, as well as “short and shallow” books, will eventually go to almost entirely digital form. As our society continues to become more mobile – running to and fro – the ebooks are definitely going to gain. In fact, there is no doubt that ebooks are the wave of the future – not just a passing fad, but also hopefully not an underminer of the past. Hopefully, those of us on the middle ground, will keep good books available in both formats.

As for the homeschool market, although I hope all home educators will nurture in their children a love for printed books and at least keep a few dearly cherished ones, I know for homeschoolers who travel extensively or have large families and small homes, – and even small budgets (that covers most) – ebooks can be a lifesaver. I also hope that, especially with the growing availability and popularity of eReaders, that those who home educate digitally will realize that small, compact, lightweight, and digital does not have to be (and shouldn’t be) reduced to soundbite information seeking, bells-and-whistles inter-activities, and flashcard/workbook binary questions/answers. I am pleased to see more and more publishers making great books available in electronic form. I dream of a world where substantial, real books of mind-developing quality walk hand in hand with convenient digital delivery, without overthrowing the paper and ink business.

In the homeschool market, I also hope that the popularity of ebooks doesn’t do away with live homeschool conventions. Much as I love online conventions, they don’t take the place of physically meeting people and physically seeing and thumbing through books. So while I’m dreaming, I see the vendor’s booths at live homeschool conventions with computers or iPads for taking customers’ orders for ebooks, and the customers getting instant delivery to their devices.

As you can see, I’m on both sides of this fence. I love books of all kinds! I’ll take a “real” book in my hand, whether it’s hardbound, spiral bound, paperback, or e-ink – even audio. At this point I am happy for both print and digital books. I hope it stays that way.

And — Maybe I’ll go back to selling at conventions again.

For Me & My House,
Lisa

Keep in touch by “Liking” us on Facebook @ MeAndMyHouse and @ Lifestyle Education through Discipleship AND by subscribing to our free monthly email newsletter, Me & My House musings, as well as subscribing to our feed here.

Unless you’ve heard of this great celebration, you probably don’t know that the first ebook was created 40 YEARS AGO!  Happy 40th Birthday Ebooks! What can you do to celebrate? Read An Ebook, of course!

I almost missed it. I never knew. But now I do. And so do you. And I’m sure no one will mind that the celebration continues on past tomorrow.

40 years ago Michael Hart “decided that the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but would be the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries. The first “e-book” was born—a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Those humble beginnings would become Project Gutenberg. Today Project Gutenberg houses 20,000 free texts and over 100,000 books are available through their partners. Today over 3,000,000 books are downloaded each month.” 1

When Personal Home Computers came out and gained popularity, ebooks began to emerge out of specialty areas, and both public domain old books, and new ebooks became more common. With the advent of ebook readers, in the last few years, ebook popularity has grown exponentially. In addition to the written ebooks to be read, digital audiobooks are a popular form of electronic books also. So, whether you read your ebooks on your computer, your cell phone, your ipad, or your Kindle/Nook/Sony Reader, or if you listen to them on your ipod/mp3 player, welcome to 21st century books.

Does this mean print books are a relic of the past? I don’t think so. Stay tuned for my thoughts on ebooks vs. printed books in a future post.

In the meantime, let me know, in the comments, what ebook(s) you (and your family) are reading – and what kind of device you’re reading them on.

Let’s see. I think I need to have some sort of Birthday Present Giveaway for this celebration. If you post a comment with the ebook you’re reading and what kind of device you’re reading it on, I’ll enter your name in a drawing for an Ebook Birthday Present, one of our Me & My House Exclusives ebooks.

Want more chances to win? Sign up for our Newsletter, and post a second comment letting me know you did so, and I’ll enter your name a second time. “Like” our Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ page on Facebook for a third chance. (Be sure to post a third comment here, letting me know you did.)

Stay tuned for more on ebooks.

For Me & My House,
Lisa

Keep in touch by “Liking” us on Facebook @ MeAndMyHouse and @ Lifestyle Education through Discipleship AND by subscribing to our free monthly email newsletter, Me & My House musings, as well as subscribing to our feed here.

Happy New Year from Me & My House!

2010 closed with many “life lessons” rather than book lessons here, yet learning just the same. I am excited though to get back to the adventures of worlds beyond ours that we left between the pages. Though books hold no sway over life’s lessons, they expand our world and our lessons in ways only they can. I am eager to return to them, and let life’s lessons be more peaceful and quiet in days to come. (Death has a way of not endearing you to continuing, intense life lessons.)

With life’s lessons as the underpinnings of all our days, that hold them together in meaning and application, may book lessons form the outer skirts, ever enlarging and expanding our coverage, while held securely by those underpinnings.

Not that our enlarging and expanding won’t be through many life lessons we already know are coming our way in 2011. And not that those lessons will be peaceful and quiet. But a mom can dream of such. Our world will expand by at least 3 this coming year, and their events will all hold their own lessons for us. Books will take their proper place, to be opened and enjoyed, but not to supplant those lessons life brings on its way. (Here on the first day of the New Year, we look forward to 2 babies and a wedding in 2011. How’s that for a fresh start?!)

I look forward to sharing our Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ lessons – from both books and life – with you again this year.

May your life be filled with lessons too, as you walk this journey toward God’s Wisdom – learned from life and books – in 2011.

For Me & My House,
Lisa

Keep in touch by “Liking” us on Facebook @ MeAndMyHouse and @ Lifestyle Education through Discipleship AND by subscribing to our free monthly email newsletter, Me & My House musings, as well as subscribing to our feed here.

Spring is in the air and it’s home education conference time! I’m excited to be heading to the NCHEA Conference this weekend, where dd#5 will be recognized with the other graduates this year, and also plan to attend the CHEC Conference in Denver in June.

Home ed conferences are our “teacher training” and encouragement to keep on keeping on. I believe we all need this kind of boost each year. There are two types of home ed conferences. The first type is a general conference, such as the state conferences are. They cover many types of home education and reach out to all. The second type is a specialized conference geared toward a particular approach to home education. They are generally more helpful in the practical application of home educating in the style you choose. Both are important, as each provides for different needs.

Although I highly recommend “getting out” to a conference where you can see and handle the resources and visit face to face with the vendors and workshop presenters and meet other home educating parents face to face, I know that isn’t always possible for everyone every year.  If this is a year you “can’t go”, there are still options for you. In my next couple of post, we’ll explore a couple of those options, both a general and a specialized conference. Stay tuned.

For today, Are you planning on attending a Home Education Conference this year? Which one/where? What do you like best about home ed conferences? Post your replies in the comments.

Currently there is a poll on MSNBC regarding homeschool science textbooks. I encourage you to read the AP article and discuss it with your children!Then read the question carefully and vote for freedom.

BACKGROUND ARTICLE by Associated Press.

QUESTION: Is it OK for home-school textbooks to dismiss the theory of evolution? VOTE HERE.

Because homeschoolers are a grassroots-type people, we can help this poll turn around. I encourage you to vote and leave a comment in truth and love.

When I voted Sunday morning, the results were 36.6 YES (3115 votes) 62.5 NO (5316 votes) .8 NOT SURE (72 votes) Monday morning the YES vote is down to 34.8%.

Be sure to see Rob Shearer’s thoughts about the article and the poll.

Please vote and share this information with others! Let’s turn this poll around!
(from Tina Farewell)

When working with your older children on lessons, what do your little ones do?

1. Run the house on a seek and destroy mission?
2. Sit with you bored and fidgety?
3. Sit in front of the one-eyed monster being mesmerized?
4. None of the above?

.

If you chose #4, you are correct! What do you win? A little peace in your home. We’ve posted ideas for toddlers before, but you can also click over to Raising Olives today for a great idea!

Saturday morning found me and our daughter sitting in a General Session at the CHEC (Colorado) homeschool convention, listening to one of our long time favorite speakers, Little Bear (Richard Wheeler). He is a history reenactor, dressing in authentic costumes and telling the stories of God’s Providence in the lives and events of those who have gone before us.

Our family has followed Little Bear since nearly the beginning of our home ed journey. We’ve seen him in person, at many homeschool conferences and attended his Family Camp. We have audio Historical Devotionals, video reenactments, and books both by and published by Little Bear. One of our fondest memories, of course, is spending time personally with Little Bear, back in the early 90′s at the Wyoming homeschool conference, where he was the keynote speaker and we were vendors and there weren’t many people there. We went to dinner with him.

Saturday morning, before Little Bear mounted the platform, the conference hosts went through the normal announcements and preliminaries. As they introduced Little Bear, a bombshell was dropped. This would be Little Bear’s last performance. We weren’t prepared for that, and were so glad we’d gotten up early to make it to this sesson. No more Little Bear?

This got me thinking about us “first generation” homeschoolers. Are we fading away? What will the future in homeschooling look like? Has a stable, foundational legacy been passed on? Or will the next generation, like our President, prefer change? A “new” face? I still have many little ones, and will still be home educating right alongside the second gen-ers. What will that surrounding look like?

There’s been much change in home ed since we began in the early days of “legalized” home eductaion. Much of that change has been healthy growth. But some of the change is troubling. To quote Little Bear’s most quoted Scripture, Psalm 78, “I will open my mouth [saying that] which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of THE LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. … That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.”

Future generations must know the history of what God has done in times past. Learn from it. Build on it. Not reject it. Little Bear helped us to do that. Who will be the “Little Bear” to our children’s generation in home education?

Mr. Wheeler will continue to pastor his flock, but he will be greatly missed in the home education circles. “See you there or in the air”, Little Bear. We will miss, but never forget you.

Living Coram Deo – before the Face of God,

Lisa @ Me and My House

I just returned from the CHEC (Colorado) homeschool convention this weekend. I’ve got so much to share – and so little time. I hope to at least post on the end of an era real soon.

But for today I’m just letting you know that between the books I brought home from convention and the big box of books I got a couple weeks ago from some backbreaking labor (while dozens more boxes went into the trash – how sad) my library is bursting at the seams again. Which means a lot of books have got to go.

I’ve got several boxes I’ve been posting – CHEAP! – at TUAC-swap, a yahoogroup. You can join and see them there or take a chance that I’ll get them listed on my website Used Books page before they’re gone. (This list has been updated, but not everything is listed there yet. Check back regularly to see what treasures we’re parting with.)

So many books – so little time.

Living Coram Deo – before the Face of God,

Lisa @ Me and My House

Today Jeff Myers had some great things to say about Passing the Baton - how small things can be more effective than large things, and mainly how we freeze when we see the impossibility of large things. Among the tips he gave was this:

Yet you can pass the small baton through everyday experiences by remembering a variet of the old speech-class dictum: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.”

1. Tell them–explain your convictions
2. Take them–gain experience together
3. Talk to them–debrief the experience

Quote from Getting Ready to Lead Vol. 10 #18

In other words, (as I’d put it,) disciple through 4 Real Resources:

Real People

Real Ideas

Real Places

Real Experiences

Share your heart, as a Real Person in relationship with your child/student/other person.

Go somewhere, do something – act upon those things in your heart, with your child alongside you – at Real Places through Real Experiences.

Talk about the Real Ideas involved. What was gained from the Experience? How did it impact your child? What have they learned? How have they grown from it?

Yours for Discipleship for Life!

Lisa @ Me and My House

The question came up recently on an elist I’m on about Kindergarten. Below is my reply. (BTW, everything here doubly applies to “homeschool pre-school”.)

We don’t “do” Kindergarten,* but continue informal learning, with no “planning and scheduling” until they are about age 6-8. If they are interested in something, we work on learning it.

They are involved in our Family Worship, Bible Study and Recitation, and Character studies time. If they want to draw a picture or other notebooking page, they can. They usually ask for their own “Notebook” binder when they are about 3. They are also a part of Family read-aloud times, as well as individual times of reading with them.

They learn letter sounds along the way as we are reading, and start writing when they want to learn. I teach them proper letter formation (and pencil hold,) but they do most of their early writing “in the air” (finger writing) or in a salt tray. When they know many letter sounds, and are ready, they start blending and spelling.

They also pick up quantity solving just around the house, as we go about our day. We talk about “calendar” and “time” things, as well as money and measuring things.

They narrate informally on their own.

And I think that’s about it. It covers all the “subjects” but isn’t following any curriculum or structured formal study. (Our state requires “filing” when they are 7, but we can cover all the subjects they want us to do, informally through real life, even if we don’t start structured studies then.) Lots of games and play, exploring and family time. Lots of helping and beginning household responsibilities.

*Note: Kindergarten – For a highly enlightening research project, look up the source, origin, and intent/purpose for this modern, progressive idea.