If you live in North Carolina near Huntersville and you homeschool or just have a love for books of all kinds, you should visit the Homeschool Room. It is a consignment shop for all things homeschool and even has children’s clothes and shoes.

I went with a friend on Friday morning. The store opens at 11:00 am. It was her first time and she was very impressed.

I got two rhyming books with my five-year-old grandson in mind. They are MathStart scholastic books. Rabbit’s Pajama Party teaches sequencing and Missing Mittens teaches odd and even numbers. Rabbit’s Pajama Party, by Stuart J. Murphy starts with: “My pajama party is about to begin! I run to the door and let my friends in.” (pp. 5-7)

It continues with the steps of having a party. A fun way to learn math:)

The next book I got was Lessons From the Farmyard by Emilie Poulsson. It is a Christian Liberty Press book which is the curriculum that I used when I homeschooled my own children many years ago. It is a book for teaching how to make right choices in life. It begins:

There was once a mother-rabbit who had two little rabbit children. The older one was called Lapino and the other Trottino. Lapino was a most lovable little rabbit. He was not only pretty, but good, also. Kind, obedient, good-humored, willing to give up to his little brother, and always ready to help his mother. Lapino was a model for all little rabbits. His mamma would have been the happiest of rabbit mothers if Trottino had been like his brother. But Trottino, though he was a very good little rabbit in many ways, had great faults. He was disobedient, Trottino was; not from naughtiness, but because he did not try to think. When he wanted to do something which he thought would be “good fun,” he forgot all about his mother’s wishes. If he had been more thoughtful he would have heard a voice, the voice of his little rabbit-conscience, saying to him, “Don’t do that, Trottino! It is naughty!”But alas! he did not think of these things. (pp. 1-2)

One chapter is entitled “Trottino Eats The Poisonous Hemlock”. He doesn’t confess right away and they use the scripture, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13.

It is such a sweet book for instilling lessons on how to obey scripture.

Then I saw the Vintage Box. They have added that recently.

Lately, I have been obsessed with all things vintage. My daughter is very interested in vintage books and has talked about them a lot. That might have pushed me more toward my obsession, or maybe it was watching countless vintage thrift-shopping episodes on YouTube while having to rest my broken foot.

The two books below came from the Vintage Box.

In Mooch The Messy by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, copyright 1976. It begins, “Mooch the rat lived in a hole under a hill in Boston, Massachusetts.

It is the story of Mooch who loves all things sloppy and messy. His father comes for a visit and is horrified by the way Mooch lives. Mooch cleans up his hole to make his father happy. The trick to the book is the ending. Do you think Mooch keeps his place neat after his father leaves? If you would like to know the ending, comment below.

And the last vintage book I purchased was Learning Why, Copyright, 1951. It seems to be a textbook with chapters about Science and how things work. It has experiments to try. It has a chapter entitled “Machines in a Classroom” which covers how the old fashioned hand crank pencil sharpener works by use of a wheel.

It has a chapter about “Animals in a Garden” and covers snails, tomato worms, caterpillars, moths, and many others. It touches on toads, rabbits, and birds and how sometimes they can be helpful or hurtful to your plants.

When I picked up the book, it flipped open to the page below. And this is why I bought the book. I had to laugh at the title and the question that it poses at the end, but my favorite was the old fashioned picture of the little boy making a face at the clock.

When you use vintage books for teaching children, it seems to have a calming effect. For adults they take you back to a more peaceful time. The life lessons and learning that take place through them are more moral, value based, and Biblically based than some of the books we have now.

Even as I wrote this blog, I began with a feeling of so much stress from things going on around me. As I examined the books, so I could share them with you, I felt like I let out a slow deep breath that I had been holding for a long time. I end this blog feeling that maybe the world could still be good. It definitely seems that way through the pages of a vintage book.

How do you feel about vintage books? Do they feel too outdated for our times, or is it fun for you to go back in time to more peaceful days?