Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds and so many times my head is swimming with all that is available to us. I was homeschooled growing up and the resources my mom had to work with were slim. Still she managed to find us some neat curriculum and learning tools. Today I am a homeschooling mom and while I enjoy simplicity I also enjoy technology and technology is not always simple and there are so many options what is a modern mom to do?

The Book

Let’s start with the “old-fashioned” book. I’m a traditionalist, especially when it comes to books. I love to hold them, smell them, read them, curl up with them and dog ear the pages {shhh, don’t tell!}. I’m in love with classic books new or used. I’m a Barnes and Noble chick all the way. While other moms go to the movies or to the mall for their time out, I am sitting in a corner of a Barnes and Noble or a Borders reading and browsing books or writing an article in my notebooks. I feel inspired just being around books.

The other thrilling aspect of books is collecting them and having a library in my own home. While I enjoy brand new books I also adore perusing through used books stores. I will travel 45 minutes away just to go to a favorite used book store. You know the kind, the ones that are jam-packed full of books, old fashioned cookbooks, antique books and many of these used books stores are usually dusty or dingy. That’s okay, because book collectors know where to go to get the “good” books.

To Swim

To swim or not to swim, that is the question. Just like Netflix has DVD’s you can rent through the mail and keep as long as you’d like without late fees, BookSwim does the same thing- only with books!

BookSwim says,

“BookSwim is the first online book rental library service lending you paperbacks, hardcovers and now college textbooks Netflix®-style directly to your house, without the need to purchase! We stock all the latest bestsellers, new releases, and classics! Read your books as long as you want – no late fees! Even choose to purchase and keep the books you love!”

Sounds like a better option than the library as far as convenience. Still there’s nothing like being “around” books sitting in a library. {sigh}

The Nook

Barnes and Noble has come out with the Nook- an electronic book! Amazon has it’s Kindle, but I’m looking at the Nook because of pricing and the size of that beautiful piece of electronic glory. I’ll admit, though when I first heard of books on an electronic piece of equipment I wasn’t thrilled. I wondered how you could curl up with it; you don’t get the sensation of turning the page or looking in the back of a book store for a treasured book. You DO get free classic ebooks and the “pages” are lit up so if you want to read in bed you don’t even need a lamp. You DO get to loan an ebook to a friend who also has a Nook for two weeks.

What Barnes and Noble says about the Nook,

“Choose an eBook using the beautiful color touch screen, then watch it appear instantly on the E Ink® display, where text appears as crisp as a printed page. The 16-level gray scale display offers great contrast with no glare or backlight. Choose from five font sizes so you can read with ease.

Store as many as 1,500 eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines on your nook’s 2 GB of internal storage, so you’ll never be without your favorites. Need more space? Just add a Micro SD card.”

Audible

But will the Nook replace my love for books on audio? Doubtfully. I have a subscription to Audible.com where I can buy one audio book for $14.95 a month. They have a children’s section and {thrill} a classics section among all the newer books as well. I LOVE that I can listen to audio books while I’m at the computer. I love that I can put them on the Ipod’s for the kids to listen to either on the stereo, in the car, or whenever they want to. It is great putting an audio book on while they’re doing dishes. They’re pulling double duty and don’t even realize it- learning and working! Audible has many sales on their audio books and even offers free audios as well!

So tell me, with all these options can a book lover like myself really have the cake and eat it too? I’m loving the options! What about you?