Just Because We Can Books

Last weekend at Wild + Free Long Beach, Sarah Mackenzie talked about taking Just Because We Can Days in our homeschools.  Visiting the park or the nature center or the donut shop in the middle of the week….just because we can.

These sorts of excursions will fuel everyone’s excitement and enthusiasm.  And some of the good will that we build will spill over into the rest of our days.  It’s the perfect practice for Pentecost–inviting the Spirit into our dusty homeschool routines.

What if we applied this same idea to our reading lists?  What if we chose books to read…just because we can?  What if we made our library lists based on serendipity instead of the history cycle?  That’s how I found the poet Tess Gallagher–her book Moon Crossing Bridge was next to the book I was looking up.  And with a title like that, how could I resist?  What if we read stacks of picture books?  What if we read Bread and Jam for Frances again and again because it’s the preschooler’s favorite?  What if we returned to our favorite novels instead of pressing on to get through as many books as we can?  What if we lingered?

Reading like this requires a different kind of attention.  And a good deal of faith.   It’s not a very efficient use of our time.  And maybe that’s the best part.  It’s a way to order our days aright.  A way to spend our days and our lives extravagantly.