One of many extraordinary aspects of our extraordinary year was the time we had to read, and reflect on our reading; together and separately.
All of us delved into books about the places we were visiting. Stella, Jonah and I (Pam) had the opportunity to read and discuss serious Great Books as part of their on-the-road schooling. We all also indulged in lighter — often, quite a lot lighter — fare.
I decided in the beginning to keep a running list of what we’d read. Initially, I just wanted a record of what the kids had done as part of the accountability (on me!) of their schooling. As the year progressed, we realized that we enjoyed being able to look back and jog our memories of what we’d read, in the same way that looking at pictures can do. Towards the end of the year, I realized that for me at least, there was a sort of observer effect on my reading selection process — I’d catch myself thinking, “oh, it’s been a while since I read any non-fiction…” as I browsed the Kindle store, and adjust my plans accordingly.
We closed these reading lists upon our return to Real Life. They are snapshots of what we did between September and June of a single, very intense, period of our lives (during which we had more time than we usually do in which to read). But keeping a reading list is a habit that I intend to carry with me.
Books Completed During our Family Gap Year by:
Mom (during the trip)
Mom (the post trip-summer)
Reading Lists Organized by:
Continent (this was an imperfect/incomplete effort, prior to the trip, to organize our library by the geography we were planning to visit… we actually read some, but not all, of the books on the list)
Era (equally flawed effort to organize by historical chronology)
Family Gap Year 