Creating a Home Library
Home libraries are important resources for both you and your children. The reference material can provide quick and easy look-up for questions that come up at the dinner table. Handy references also help during homework periods both because your children learn how to use the material and discover the answers they need for their homework project.
Many people think having a computer with Internet access is the only thing needed to support home resource needs, but actually there are reasons why other resource material can provide an enhanced understanding of the subject matter of interest.
One reason why physical reference material is helpful is that it works whether the electrical power is on or off and can be used even if your computer has crashed yet again. Another reason readily available books and other resource materials can be useful is the physical representation. For example, a globe gives a much better representation of the earth and the location of the continents and oceans than a flat screen. And finally, no matter how good search engines are, sometimes you just do not know the right words to use in the question to get good results. In those cases, it can be easier to locate the information you are looking for by thumbing through a book.
Create a home library which provides an excellent resource for you and your family by including the following items.
A world view. Provide several resources which help one visualize the world. Include a globe, large world map, and an atlas. The globe allows one to see the relationship of one country to another and gives a more accurate picture of the shape of the world in which we live. A world map will have more detail than a globe is able to provide. The atlas will have the most detail and may include information on countries like their population size and make-up and exports. Also a good atlas will include information about topography, vegetation coverage, ocean floors and major currents.
Words, words, and more words. An unabridged dictionary is a critical resource. Aside from looking up the definitions of new words, dictionaries often include special sections with labeled pictures of topics like anatomy, atmospheric and soil layers, boats and ships, insects, mammals, state flowers, solar system, birds, fish, and plants. Large dictionaries also typically include alphabetically listed famous persons with short biographical summaries, geographical listings with areas and population figures, listings of fictional names from stories, mythology, and legends, foreign phrases, scriptural names, abbreviations, practical mathematics, tables of weights and measures, special signs and symbols, listings of prominent members of government; the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and much more. If you knew only what was in the dictionary, you would be quite a knowledgeable person!
In addition to a dictionary, other references for writing that are very handy include a thesaurus and a style manual.
How do I fix that? Having a home repair guide or a guide to doing anything can help you deal with the inevitable need to repair, maintain, or otherwise fix problems. There are a number of books like this. Look through several and choose the one with instructions you understand.
Subject matter expert. Include books which provide information on your favorite areas of interest. We have over 300 books on gardening in our home library because we enjoy gardening. We use many of these books often as we look up new plant possibilities, identify a pest, research the growth habits of a tree, and so on. Whatever your interests are, you will want to have ready references.
Sit down by the fire with a good book. Include classic stories or favorite books which you will read over and over in your home library. Reading books for enjoyment is the most successful way of maintaining and improving reading skills.
Book Buyer. Have authors and illustrators autograph their books whenever possible. Many bookstores hold book signing events and schools sometimes sponsor author visits which include a book signing. You may wish to maintain a separate collection of signed books as these books can appreciate in value. Your book buying appetite may be larger than your budget. In addition to buying at full price from bookstores and other venders, consider the following optional ways of procuring your tomes. Buy at library sales, second-hand bookstores, and yard sales. Purchase discounted books at book stores and from internet venders. Some recycling collection centers include book trading stations. Trade books with friends and family.
Library Maintenance. Keep only those books which you find yourself turning to again and again. Culling your books every year or so will maintain the freshness of your library and ensure the library fits within the space you have allotted. Dust your books and shelves weekly. Store books flat on the shelf or completely upright. Storing at angles degrades the book’s spine. Vacuum the room thoroughly at least once a week. The glue in book bindings is food for certain types of insects. Vacuuming the carpet and curtains will control these pests.
Books can relax you, invigorate your mind, transport you, and inform you. Creating a home library for you and your family provides a resource which you can use to bring greater understanding and enjoyment of the world around you.
Houseplant Care: The Essential Equipment You Need
The beginner houseplant lover who visits her garden supply store is certainly going to be overwhelmed at the huge number and variety of indoor garden equipment she is going to find on sale for takin care of her houseplants. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of tools, like rakes and sprayers, on the market. If almost all of them can be useful, only a small number of them are essential for houseplant care.
If you are not scared off by the huge number of different tools available, you will often tend to buy more tools than you really need, or at the very least more than you are convinced you need. It’s very common for a beginner who has let herself get carried away, to realize after a couple of months that the only uses she can find for the expensive decorative pots she bought was as the base of a home-made lamp. We certainly don’t want this to happen to you.
In fact, other than the pots you need, you can cultivate an indoor garden with no particular equipment. However, if you start off with the basic tools described below, you can be confident that you will be equipped for every houseplant care eventuality. All the equipment mentioned here are easily available in any garden supply store. The beginner houseplant lover can get everything she needs for less than a total of twenty dollars.
Basic Houseplant Care Tools
There is no reason that you can’t start home gardening and do a good job at it without buying some of the expensive tools you can found in the market. For example, did you know that a simple kitchen fork can be used instead of a cultivator, and that you can use an old teapot to water your houseplants?
It is true that the professional tools designed to fulfill the specific functions for which they were made are a great deal more efficient than their homemade substitutes. In addition, we firmly believe that in the long run you will be happier with professionally-made tools because they last longer, make your work easier, and wear better.
The most convenient trowel you can get is one that is less than 3″ at the top of the blade since most common houseplants grow in relatively small pots. Furthermore, they are inexpensive and easily available.
The next piece of equipment you will need are bulb sprayers. They are are used to wet the foliage of most houseplants and come in different sizes. For taking care of houseplant, you should buy the smallest kind available. You can replace a bulb sprayer with an atomizer such as the ones sold to spray medicine or perfume although it won’t be as efficient as a bulb sprayer.
Another home gardening tool you will need are watering cans. Again, these come in every size and shape you can image. Howeverr, we can say without doubt the best kind available on the market today is the type with the long thin spout. Why? Because it is especially useful in watering around the base of plants whose foliage should not be wetted, such as in the case of the Saintpaulia or African Violet.
Finally, either you are a beginner or seasoned home gardener, you should have at hand a ball of light twine to use for example in tying up climbing houseplants and in tying back the unruly plant.