(Coming to you from our town's public library since our internet is still crazy unreliable at the chalet. Oh, fast internet, how I love you.)

Last month I shared our craft storage solutions for small space living (say that fast five times). Today I want to share with you how we're building a small space homeschool library.

When I mentioned writing about this in my Spring Book series, there was a strong interest. As in, "please do write about this Renee".

I am happy to oblige since this topic marries homeschooling, books, and organizing - three of my loves.

Several of you were interested in both how we set up a homeschool library in a small space and the books we choose to own. This first post is about our physical library space - how and where we keep the books. I will write another post on the books that are actually in this library.

Thinking small

For the last six months our family has lived in a 750 sq. foot chalet. But even before living in this small space we endeavored to keep our homeschool library to a minimum.

A small homeschool library? Don't homeschoolers want their kids to read books? Hundreds and hundreds of them?

I can't speak for all homeschoolers but I can say unequivocably, yes, we want our kids to read hundreds of books. In fact, we're literature based homeschoolers, learning from living books, not texts. We just don't think we need to own them all, in hard copy.

And at the risk of being called a homeschooling heretic I believe you can homeschool well with a limited at-home library, as long as you can access other resources in your community and on the Internet.

If you have a good library in your community, or access to inter-library loan you are in a sweet spot and truly don't need to build an extensive at-home library if you don't want to.

Let's say you don't have access to a good library but still want to keep your hard copy (books that take up space) book collection to a minimum. Hello e-books and e-readers.

Why a small homeschool library?

In case you're wondering what kind of homeschooling freaks we are ("they want to keep their books to a minimum?") let me re-iterate something here. This is not about limiting our children's access to resources, rather it's about keeping our living space requirements to a minimum.

Why would we do this? Keep our living space small while raising three kids.

Because we want to have freedom from a big house. The freedom of no mortgage (that's the big dream we're working on). The freedom of less maintenance. The freedom to travel and in short, spend our time and resources on other things besides a house. Like hiking for six months (we'll be announcing those plans soon), traveling to Europe for an extended stay when the kids are teens, and going to Montréal for a month.

That's the philosophical foundation to why we'd even consider limiting a homeschool library. (Just like we limit the collection of everything else in our life.)

We want to live in a small space, because small spaces free up resources of time and money.

But then of course, there's only so much stuff you can fit in a small space. It goes without saying that we don't have a "school" room either. My post at Simple Homeschool in June will talk about small space homeschooling in general. Let's get on with the library part.

Creative book storage

Like I've said already, for the past six months we've lived in a small cabin. Thankfully the chalet has lots of big windows. I think this is key to enjoying small space living - lots of natural light, this isn't a pioneer prairie soddie we're living in.

Part of the reality of lots of windows and a small house is very little wall space. In fact, virtually no available wall space for traditional bookshelves. If we were here long term we would build something to suit our purposes but we're not so we've made due and this is what we've used.

Apple crates.

We bought these handmade crates when we used to live in Maine. They were built by our farmer's husband, who was a professional woodworker. They are unfinished pine and cost us $10 each. They are solid, made to last. They were an incredibly good deal. 

We left them unfinished (we're lazy like that) and if we're not careful we can give ourselves slivers if we reach into a crate absentmindedly. I've learned not to do that.

We also own a couple less sturdy boxes, antiques actually that we picked up over the years at yard sales and such.

We're not the only people onto this I idea. I found a few cool links, how to make shelves out of apple crates.

• How To Make Shelves Out of Fruit Crates
• Creative Uses for Apple Crates in your Home Decor
• Bookshelf Made out of Apple Crates

Some of these links show how to make an honest to goodness shelf, stacking them up permanently. We have preferred to keep them unattached so we can move them around the house where needed. This has been very handy in our current home where we have to get creative about the space.

The double great thing about these crates is that if they are sturdy enough (and our farmer/woodworker ones certainly are) that you can move books in them also. With all the moving we've done this year this has come in handy.

I seriously love these crates so much. Unlike the plastic bins we use for craft supplies they are both functional and beautiful.

If you don't have a farmer/woodworker in your life (we don't right now) you can check the larger chain craft stores, this is what one family did in the links I shared.

Maybe you could even pay a high school shop class (do they teach that class anymore?) or a technical school student to build them for you if you aren't handy with wood and tools yourself.

I know some of you are curious about what books are actually in those crates. You can tell by the photos in this post. But my next homeschool library post will have a more detailed description of the type of books we own.

Are you new to FIMBY and don't want to miss that post? Simply subscribe with RSS or e-mail and you'll get it delivered to your reader or inbox automatically. And in the meantime you'll get a bunch of other good stuff too. Pretty photos and more posts on creative, adventurous and intentional (beautiful) family life. 

Eleven sleeps till we move out the chalet. Five sleeps till Céline and I leave for a three day, two night birthday celebration with my mom.

The chalet we live in is a vacation rental. Which means it comes fully furnished with kitchen stuff, linens, etc. I needed my own kitchen tools and wanted to fully organize my "work" space to suit my needs. So when we moved in last November I boxed up all the chalet stuff to store in our black trailer. This month I'm moving it all back in. As well as packing up all our stuff that we moved into this space to make the rental our home for the last six months.

You can imagine it's messy. You'll have to imagine since photographing it depresses me so you won't see many of those here.

Our internet is not working, the same internet access we rely on for our work. The work that pays the bills (vs. the kitchen work which depends on the work that pays the bills to buy the groceries but does not depend on the internet directly). We can cook and eat without the internet but not for long since we do need to buy those groceries.

Some days the internet is terrible. Like today, it will be a miracle if I get this published. We're getting creative, Damien sits in the car at the neighbors to use their wifi, or he goes to town to a cafe. Not exactly the work-at-home ideal, but you do what you gotta do.

And then this morning there's just a trickle of water pressure. What's up with that? Not even enough water in the shower for Céline to wash her long hair.

Did I mention we're moving in eleven sleeps? And I'll be out of town for three days next week and Damien has to somehow manage working, two kids and cooking without the car.

Oh. My.

So I find it ironic that my book Nurturing Creativity is featured today at Simple Homemade. I'm giving away five copies of the book, so go check it out. Nicole wrote a really nice review also. (I'm always shocked that these people are talking about my e-book and my writing.)

The irony of course is that there isn't a big creative vibe in my life right now, besides creative problem solving (but that's part of creative living isn't it? I think I even said so somewhere in that little book). I feel like what I'm nurturing right now is the those most basic things in family life - love, peace, and supper on the table hopefully before bedtime.

Video games are a big hit at my house right now. What was that I was saying about creativity? I've forgotten.

I'm teasing myself on purpose here. I'm learning to be ok with life falling apart at bit at the seams during transitions.

Like the ball of yarn unraveling while you knit the work of art.

(Wow, I can't believe I just made up that beautiful metaphor for my life.)

I know, from experience, it doesn't stay this way. This moment of craziness does not define my life.

This flux and change, and creative problem solving, is part of the package of creating the life we want for our family.

Which is some of what I shared in a recent interview with Melissa Corliss Delorenzo at Her Circle: A Magazine of Women's Creative Arts and Activism.

Melissa interviewed me for an article she wrote, The New Domestic: A Contemporary Redefining and Legitimizing of Homemaking. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. Homemaking. Not just being a homemaker, but speaking and writing about it as a "career".

Melissa and I chatted via Skype earlier this spring, or was it winter? (I don't even remember.) We talked homemaking, homeschooling, working towards our family dreams and other life stuff.

What struck me when I read her interview is that I use the word difficult three times to describe the path we're on. Sharing life together at home. Working, educating, playing, cooking, learning, etc.

And it is, especially in moments like these, where the course we've chosen gets complicated and messy (chalet rentals, travel, and spotty internet).

Yet, I wouldn't change it. Because we are living the life we want right now. And I have to remind myself of that sometimes, "this here Renee, is the beauty of it."

Sharing this with your kids. Sharing this with your husband. Overcoming challenges. Together. Not just creating together. Or traveling together. Or skiing together.

But video gaming together. Heading to town together, father and daughter, one to earn our living, the other to complete her online course work. Me staying home to pack and do dishes. Each of us sacrificing in small and big ways to support each other.

This is family life. Together. In all its crazy, unraveling, knitting-a-piece-of-art glory.

I see you
mother,
becoming.
Gaining strength
one struggle
at a time.
The Light
shining
through you.
Risking
in love
your gifts.
Beloved, chosen,
beautiful.

I see you
child,
becoming.
Outgrowing
your sister's
old clothes.
The Light
shining
through you.
Living
in love
your gifts.
Beloved, chosen,
beautiful.