homeschooling - Outside the Box Learners

If you’re a homeschooler, you have most likely heard of the term “Living Books”. You may be thinking, “What are they?”

Living Books are to homeschooling as Apple Pie is to America.

I first heard this term about 5 years ago, when I was a new homeschool mom. To me, the term was simply synonymous with “good” books as opposed to “fluff” books(ahem…Babysitters club).

However, as I began to dig deeper, I went to good ol’ Google and found that they are described many different ways…….

“Living books breathe life into a subject.”

“They tell a story behind the history.”

“They promote noble and good thoughts.”

“… are written by a person who has a passion for that particular subject about which they write.”

I decided to do some research for myself.

This post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).

What Are They?

The term “Living Books” was created by Charlotte Mason, a classical English educator from the late 19^th century. At a time in England’s history when most children had no rights whatsoever, Mason had the revolutionary belief that children should be treated as whole persons.

From Karen Andreola’s book, A Charlotte Mason Companion:

“Living books, unlike the compressed compilations of textbooks, are laced with emotion, saturated with ideas, and they convey information as well.”

Also:

“If we want the mind of a child come alive, we feed him living ideas. Ideas reside in living books, which I think has something to do with the intermingling of story, fact and author’s opinion or viewpoint.”

As you can see, these books are many different things. In a nutshell living books engage and ignite the heart and mind of the reader.

Why Living Books?

The characters in these books come to life and cause us to think and feel more deeply, which helps cement the facts in our brains. This contrasts with textbooks which tend to be drier and contain just the facts and information. They also inspire us to think about what is good, noble, and lovely. In our home, living books have prompted many good discussions and we find this to be an extremely engaging and enriching way of learning history.