Sometimes the biggest challenge to homeschooling is not the teaching – it’s finding the money to buy all the books we want! I have been saving my money for a Kindle eReader. Slow going so far. In the mean time, I discovered that Amazon.com has Kindle apps – programs you can download for free that enable you to read Kindle eBooks on devices other than a Kindle. I downloaded Kindle for PC – it lets me read Kindle eBooks on my computer or laptop as if I had a Kindle.
Then I discovered most of the classic history and literature – the old books we prefer using with our children as homeschoolers – are available for free in Kindle editions. I downloaded the free Kindle app for my PC while I am saving for a Kindle; then downloaded the classic history and literature I have been working so hard to collect for my library – for free – to read on my Kindle app. One day I will have my whole classic history and literature library on a 5×7 Kindle I can slip in my purse, instead of in 36 apple boxes as is now the case.
Of course I love reading real books rather than text on a screen – and the advantages to having the real books are clear. But for those on a budget without the resources to spend on the real books; for those with space constraints (always an issue for us) without the bookshelves to house all the books we wish we had; having your entire library on a Kindle – immediately portable and accessible even if a flood or tornado was coming – is such a wonderful option! There are days when I absolutely love technology!
I have even found quite a few books I am excited to read, that are new discoveries (for me) that were hard to find in my usual haunts of library used book sales and flea markets. Titles like Athens: Its Rise and Fall by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton; Roman Life in the Days of Cicero by A. J. Church; The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John by George Adams; The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle.
For homeschoolers trying to save money, this is a huge advantage. And while the free versions of the classics may not come with all the bells and whistles the paid versions come with, you have the text of the book – the most important thing – without an outlay of cash.
As I find more free Kindle treasures in the coming months, I will post about them here. 🙂