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Angel
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Books, here is Dawn's post:
What's the Big Book Idea?
The picture of her bookcase with the baskets/boxes is about half way through the post.
I can try and take a picture of my books later today. I was actually going to work on them a bit, and it appears as if I also have to referee a light saber battle.
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Angela
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Three Plus Two
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Servant2theKing
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Books, Could you organize your history books by period, then simply further organize them by age level by adding colored tape to designate which age the book is appropriate for?
I don't know if this would work for your book divider needs, but we use magazine holders, with supplemental booklets or articles, to divide some sections of our library...they keep things standing up nicely when books are removed and also keep misc. items in neat order.
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stacykay
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Bookswithtea wrote:
...
The problem is, I need new categories for the shelves (please don't suggest the dewey decimal system???  ).... |
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One of the moms in my local hs group has hers arranged by dewey decimal! Our first meeting of this year was in her basement, and when I walked in, I think my mouth was hanging open and I was somewhat green with envy! Her dd did the whole thing, but it took her all summer long. They are divided, even, by adult and and juvenile. I can tell you, every mom, as each entered the room, was mesmerized, standing there in a dream-like state, just taking in the aura of her organization! 
She has it all on her computer. What pushed her to do it was too many doubles when she couldn't recall having bought a title. Gee, how can one buy two of the same book?   
I am so glad you brought this topic up, as I feel we are drowning  in our books. I need, desperately to get them organized  , and I need to cull out what we no longer/have never used !
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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Bookswithtea
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stacykay wrote:
| One of the moms in my local hs group has hers arranged by dewey decimal! |
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Unbelieveable. 
I think I would have fainted dead away if I had seen it myself. 
So! I've been working on a first culling this morning. And I just realized why I haven't done this until now.
I absolutely *hate* selling books online. But a lot of these books are not the type of books I would normally give to Goodwill. I think I have been keeping them because I don't like the process of selling!
Someone tell me I can do this???
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Mackfam
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YOU CAN DO IT!
If it makes you feel any better...I don't sell either...I give them away. Sometimes, I offer them to specific homes I know might need them...other times it's straight to St. Vincent de Paul, where I know other Catholic homeschooling families shop.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mackfam
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Angela,
Thank you for sharing how you do this as well as Dawn's post! This is a very intriguing idea to me! I'm going to give it some thought time! You pointed it out, and it seems like a great way to increase the amount of books one can contain in existing spaces, while offering a unique way of organizing!  Thank you! 
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Jen Mackintosh
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JodieLyn
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As far as giving away books.. Does your Catholic Church have any sort of library? that's another good place to simply donate books.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Mackfam
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Mackfam wrote:
YOU CAN DO IT!
If it makes you feel any better...I don't sell either...I give them away. Sometimes, I offer them to specific homes I know might need them...other times it's straight to St. Vincent de Paul, where I know other Catholic homeschooling families shop. |
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I was thinking about this while tidying here...I have sold materials before. There is an annual book swap/exchange/sale with our local homeschool group. I have saved some items from my shelves to offer at this sale. It's nice to offer to other Catholic homeschooling families. I try to sell for very little...then about 30 minutes before the end of the sale...I just announce that everything on my table is FREE! Anything left over is given away to St. Vincent de Paul.
Jodie's idea of donating to a church library is a very good one as well. A small parish with a lot of young families would probable welcome a donation like this!
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Jen Mackintosh
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amyable
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There's always Paperbackswap.com, which is not just for papberbacks. I've given and gotten lots of great curriculum through there.
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
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Erin
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Angel wrote:
Books, here is Dawn's post:
What's the Big Book Idea?
The picture of her bookcase with the baskets/boxes is about half way through the post.
I can try and take a picture of my books later today. I was actually going to work on them a bit, and it appears as if I also have to referee a light saber battle. |
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An idea occurred to me whilst looking at Dawn's pictures, if you are really keen and money is an issue there is a way to make those fabric baskets yourself. I made some circular baskets a while back. (Make sure you follow the links on my posts to the original ideas) I think you could make rectangular baskets easily enough just using wax covered cardboard between the fabrics for side stiffness.
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Erin
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Mackfam
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I love those fabric baskets, Erin.
On another thread, MicheleQ links to these fabric boxes and this charging basket, both of which could be modified to work for holding books.
Another frugal thought I had was to use those boxes from Costco. They always have those huge wire cages full of them for discarding. You'd have to be discriminating as to size and consistency so they would be the same, but I think it could be done. You could use fabric glue and glue pretty fabric over the boxes, or paint them with acrylic paints. And, wouldn't little wooden fruit crates make pretty containers for collections of books? I wonder if there is some inexpensive/free source of those?
Of course...practically everyone has their organizing stuff on sale right now, too.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angel
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I would rather have used boxes or crates, but at the time it was easier for me to buy. On the other hand, my canvas bins have nice handles, and since I don't sew.... I was doomed to Wal-mart.
I've taken some pictures of my bookcase; now if only I could put the sleeping toddler down for a bit...
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Angela
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Bookswithtea
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I took a look at Dawn's pictures. I really do see the benefit and her shelves look great! I think it would drive me crazy to not see the titles unless I pulled out the box, though. Plus, I do a lot of hunting for a book while holding a baby or jostling a toddler on my hip, and the books are in a room where I cannot put a child down safely (not babyproofed). I need a one handed method (hoping my days of children in arms are not over yet... ). I think my best bet is going to be lots and lots of those L shaped book holders, and my handy dandy label maker.
I finished the dejunk. I have 3 banker's boxes full. I reorganized one cabinet so that it entirely houses extra crafting materials (my school room is also the crafting room). My bookshelves are a mess because I cannot reorganize them properly until I get another bookshelf (next week, hopefully...Its been a plan in the works for 6 months now). For now, the floor and table are clear. Yesterday it was the craft shelves that were dejunked and cleaned up.
Now I have to go through the boxes and figure out what I'm going to donate and what I'm going to attempt to sell. Then I'm done for today. All in all, an exhausting but fruitful day, I think. Thank you all for the encouragement. Its been fun cleaning out and peeking in here for encouragement to be brutal in the dejunking process before going back in. 
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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MicheleQ
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Mackfam wrote:
| Another frugal thought I had was to use those boxes from Costco. They always have those huge wire cages full of them for discarding. |
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I've seen this done --in fact I have this picture
in my idea folder on my computer (I cannot for the life of me remember where it came from or I would give proper credit).
This box cover has seams but you could do the same thing with fabric and glue --totally no sew for those of you who don't sew. It would be a nice way to display books so they can be easily flipped through.
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JennGM
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Mackfam wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
YOU CAN DO IT!
If it makes you feel any better...I don't sell either...I give them away. Sometimes, I offer them to specific homes I know might need them...other times it's straight to St. Vincent de Paul, where I know other Catholic homeschooling families shop. |
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I was thinking about this while tidying here...I have sold materials before. There is an annual book swap/exchange/sale with our local homeschool group. I have saved some items from my shelves to offer at this sale. It's nice to offer to other Catholic homeschooling families. I try to sell for very little...then about 30 minutes before the end of the sale...I just announce that everything on my table is FREE! Anything left over is given away to St. Vincent de Paul.
Jodie's idea of donating to a church library is a very good one as well. A small parish with a lot of young families would probable welcome a donation like this! |
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I was going to suggest this, also. It's so helpful. Also our church's annual festival/bazaar has a book sale, so the books I don't sell at the homeschool swap I donate to that after the church library picks over my donations.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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I don't think I can quote all the posts I want to, but Jen's idea of dividers with her Catholic Mosaic books -- I do organize mine by groups. All my books to read throughout the liturgical year are on 3 shelves, and grouped according to the months or saints or feasts.
I thought Erin had tried the dividers for a while, but her kids pulled out the dividers, so it wasn't helpful.
I'm a bookcase, read the spines kind of gal. I don't like the baskets or bins, and neither does dh, although I have a few. It feels a bit like clutter because they go on the floor. I don't have available space on my shelves for bins or baskets of books, and they would be too heavy and cumbersome for the boys to pull them out.
I do think my boys can find things easier in the basket, because they are seeing the whole title, so we're obviously playing tug-of-war here. So what works for us is shelves for the organization and I strew or put in baskets the books for the month or subjects we're doing. But I would love that bookcart that Jen posted on her blog a little while back.
I would love to do the Dewey Decimal system on my books. Sounds so wonderful, but then I feel like I would need a library: all my books in the same room and on the same kind of shelves to see it all. That's not happening right now. That's the hard part of book organization for me; I have different books in different parts of the house. I find I'm spending a lot of time marrying books to other ones or sending various books to their rightful homes.
I so want a label maker. I know I would go label crazy, but it works when I do for the whole family.
But do the labels stick to everything, or do they come off easily? I'll need to search for discussions on label makers. There are tools I want for my home, but I keep putting blindfolds on because I'm not willing to spend the money, and laminators and label makers are two of them.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Maddie
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I absolutely *hate* selling books online. But a lot of these books are not the type of books I would normally give to Goodwill. I think I have been keeping them because I don't like the process of selling!
Someone tell me I can do this??? |
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A few days ago I posted a "free to a good home" ad in the trading post here. I have 1 maybe 2 boxes of books heading out to a 4 Real member. I just couldn't drop them off at Goodwill. Media mail postage is pretty reasonable. Just an idea.
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JennGM
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Maddie wrote:
Bookswithtea wrote:
I absolutely *hate* selling books online. But a lot of these books are not the type of books I would normally give to Goodwill. I think I have been keeping them because I don't like the process of selling!
Someone tell me I can do this??? |
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A few days ago I posted a "free to a good home" ad in the trading post here. I have 1 maybe 2 boxes of books heading out to a 4 Real member. I just couldn't drop them off at Goodwill. Media mail postage is pretty reasonable. Just an idea. |
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Other ways that you could sell, but in easy ways:
1) Sell in groups or sets -- not listing all books individually to sell to multiple people, but just one list and one buyer gets all.
2) Sell group of books just for the cost of postage.
3) Post a list or ask local homeschoolers if interested, like Freecycle method.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Paula in MN
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JennGM wrote:
| I'm a bookcase, read the spines kind of gal. I don't like the baskets or bins, and neither does dh, although I have a few. It feels a bit like clutter because they go on the floor. |
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I'm the same way! I'll see some darling baskets on a blog post, and try to re-create the effect in my home. After two days I can't stand the "junk on the floor" and away they go.
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Paula
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CrunchyMom
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Paula in MN wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| I'm a bookcase, read the spines kind of gal. I don't like the baskets or bins, and neither does dh, although I have a few. It feels a bit like clutter because they go on the floor. |
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I'm the same way! I'll see some darling baskets on a blog post, and try to re-create the effect in my home. After two days I can't stand the "junk on the floor" and away they go. |
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This is why I want shelves and cabinets for my baskets and bins!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Book organization
