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JodieLyn
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Why would it be weird? If that's how you can find your books, then they would be the perfect categories for you.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Tami
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I agree with Jodie, Books, do what flows naturally for *you*.  It will work more smoothly for you that way.
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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JodieLyn
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oh and since you're going to group by age/level for subcategory I would do historical periods.. and maybe a category for general texts that would cover more than one period of history.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Mackfam
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Agreeing with the ladies, Books...group according to how you naturally think of, or search for your books. See how it works. Live with it for a bit. Over the summer, if you see ways to improve it, make a few changes. It won't be NEARLY the project you're facing right now with your shelves.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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hylabrook1
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My college-aged son has asked if we could work together over his semester break to organize/categorize our books! Really, one of the reasons I never actually get this done is because it is so dead boring to work on it all alone (ummm... maybe I"m an extrovert?). Ds claims he wants to do it with me so that he can also be familiar with what we have, as he may want to use some of the family's resources. Sounds good to me... Also, some of what we have is from college courses taken by an older child who majored in history and philosophy, which are his majors as well.
My broad categories seem to be shaping themselves into sub-categories. For example, Language Arts is breaking down into Grammar and Usage, Spelling, Vocabulary, Style Manuals (I think we have at least 4 million different ones), books about the English language itself (think Eats Shoots and Leaves, Mother Tongue, that sort of thing), literature, composition...
Maybe what I really need is a can of gasoline and a match... 
Seriously, though, I think that once I try to place things on shelves it will become obvious what I need to cull. Right now having all sorts of randomly boxed books actually causes me to buy more because I don't realize what I already have.
Peace,
Nancy
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CrunchyMom
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I don't have a large collection of books, and we do a lot of libary (we are within toddler walking distance of our library, though, I still have my husband stop off most of the time, lol) loans.
I think I would do like Jodie (big surprise  ) if organizing so many.
Though, I must say that in the past when I've don't my parents shelves growing up or my own personal shelves growing up, I organized mostly to "fit" things. Big coffee table books and heft hardbacks on a taller shelf than paperbacks--and sometimes paperbacks would be two thick depending on how often they were read.
I'm sure that is extremely unhelpful given the amount we are speaking of, but, for instance, in order to fit more shelves, some of my shelves are only high enough for paperbacks which means a good sized picture book would not fit--so, organizing by genre only would be tricky.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Bookswithtea
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Mackfam wrote:
| Agreeing with the ladies, Books...group according to how you naturally think of, or search for your books. See how it works. Live with it for a bit. Over the summer, if you see ways to improve it, make a few changes. It won't be NEARLY the project you're facing right now with your shelves. |
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Ok. I feel better now. I have this compulsion with history to think in terms of younger elem, older elem, middle school etc. These are all flexible depending on the interest level of the child and the spines I use can cover several age levels.
That takes care of history. Now I need to figure out what other categories I need. 
Thank you all for sharing your ideas. Its helping. 
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| but, for instance, in order to fit more shelves, some of my shelves are only high enough for paperbacks which means a good sized picture book would not fit--so, organizing by genre only would be tricky. |
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Yeah, I think this is a problem no matter what method one uses. I get around it by using IKEA bookshelves that have easily moveable shelves. Elem. level books are more likely to be tall/picture intensive. Most of the middle/high school books are slightly larger than a paperback. Sometimes I just give up the use of one last shelf in order to have the shelves all be tall enough to accomodate whatever needs to be on that shelf for my sanity.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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JennGM
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My oldest is only first grade, so we're not using as many subjects as you need.
But in our library right now, I organize in different ways.
Picture books are organized separately from the chapter books. I do put together same themes or subjects, even if they are different reading levels.
But I have exceptions to this. If I have multiple books by the same author and/or illustrator, I like to group them together.
And I group series together, like Landmark, Vision, Encounter.
Maybe that will change as I do more subjects with living books?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Mackfam
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JennGM wrote:
But I have exceptions to this. If I have multiple books by the same author and/or illustrator, I like to group them together.
And I group series together, like Landmark, Vision, Encounter.
Maybe that will change as I do more subjects with living books? |
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I make some of the same exceptions in organizing, Jenn. For example, I keep all the Tasha Tudor books together. I do keep some series' together, especially those that make for great read alouds, and those Catholic series' like Encounter the Saints and Vision books, but those that break out into history groups (like Landmark and Signature) generally go with history in the appropriate section.
I've thought about one day organizing all my religion books - the series', readers, Catholic Mosaic, all of them - by month of the saint's Feast. But, I'm not sure yet if I want to do that. We mostly read them that way, but I've only organized Catholic Mosaic books like that so far, using a tall piece of cardstock for a divider and using my label-maker to label the months on the cardstock so it's easily spotted which books go where.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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pipandpuddy
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I have a very large collection of books. All fiction picture books and fiction chapter books are arranged alphabetically. All non-fiction books are arranged by category. I found it too difficult to find a picture/chapter book when needed when they were not in alphabetical order, so this system works really well for me.
Karen
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Bookswithtea
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JennGM wrote:
My oldest is only first grade, so we're not using as many subjects as you need.
But in our library right now, I organize in different ways.
Picture books are organized separately from the chapter books. I do put together same themes or subjects, even if they are different reading levels.
But I have exceptions to this. If I have multiple books by the same author and/or illustrator, I like to group them together.
And I group series together, like Landmark, Vision, Encounter.
Maybe that will change as I do more subjects with living books? |
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This is how I used to do things. It was a lovely sight (wistful sigh). That said, I do have some small author or series sections, too...Elsa Beskow comes to mind, as well as series like Childhood of Famous Americans.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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Mackfam wrote:
| We mostly read them that way, but I've only organized Catholic Mosaic books like that so far, using a tall piece of cardstock for a divider and using my label-maker to label the months on the cardstock so it's easily spotted which books go where. |
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Trying to visualize...you have 12 pieces of cardstock with the months labeled on them, and then 4-5 books in each section based on Catholic Mosaic? Do you have these on a shelf, or in one of your pretty Peterboro baskets??? 
Oh Jen...we really are two peas in a pod when it comes to liking things organized. I think my favorite tool in the house is my labelmaker. I have all the slots for my large spoons, spatulas, peelers, etc, all labeled so that my kids put them away correctly! I don't know whether to or  when people come over and see all my artfully hidden labels!!
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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pipandpuddy wrote:
I have a very large collection of books. All fiction picture books and fiction chapter books are arranged alphabetically. All non-fiction books are arranged by category. I found it too difficult to find a picture/chapter book when needed when they were not in alphabetical order, so this system works really well for me.
Karen
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Do you know all the authors in your head so that you can find your fiction books easily, or are they alphabetized by title?
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Blessings,
~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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Bookswithtea wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
| We mostly read them that way, but I've only organized Catholic Mosaic books like that so far, using a tall piece of cardstock for a divider and using my label-maker to label the months on the cardstock so it's easily spotted which books go where. |
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Trying to visualize...you have 12 pieces of cardstock with the months labeled on them, and then 4-5 books in each section based on Catholic Mosaic? Do you have these on a shelf, or in one of your pretty Peterboro baskets??? |
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Yes...12 pieces of tall cardstock (so the tops stick out over the tallest books and months are easily visible) and then the picture books for that month...probably more like 10-12 (but I add all my St. Joseph picture books here as well) in between the cardstock dividers. They're on a shelf...not in a basket. BUT...when it's time to pull out picture books for the month...those go in a Peterboro Basket.
Bookswithtea wrote:
| Oh Jen...we really are two peas in a pod when it comes to liking things organized. I think my favorite tool in the house is my labelmaker. I have all the slots for my large spoons, spatulas, peelers, etc, all labeled so that my kids put them away correctly! I don't know whether to or when people come over and see all my artfully hidden labels!! |
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I've been going CRAZY because mine has been broken for about a month.  I've had it for several years, so it's had a good life, but I am practically without my right arm...and then Suzanne started chatting about all her labeling fun and I couldn't take it!! I finally made a decision and replaced mine (I found it for a much better price than at Amazon though)!!!! I'm dying to get it...because I have craft materials that AREN'T LABELED!!!!! Merciful heavens!!!! How can this be?????? Perish the thought!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Bookswithtea
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I didn't know there were fancy options in label makers. Uh oh...I'm in trouble now... 
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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pipandpuddy
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Books,
I have them arranged by author's last name. Because they have been read so much over the years, I have learned the names of the authors and titles. When I do occasionally forget an author, I just check on amazon for the title and get the author's name from there.
This really has proven to be the best system for me in finding fiction books quickly. I used to spend so much time combing the shelves for a book and then relying on St. Anthony to find it. Now I have the books available in a minute, and I have taught my children to stack the books that they are finished reading on a stool for me to file later.
The other nice thing about this system is that my younger children (before they could read) always knew where a certain picture book was because it was always in the same place.
Karen
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Angel
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I'm a bit late here, but I thought I would throw something in... I use canvas bins to hold books, organized by topic. I actually got this idea from a very old post of Dawn's, in which she posted pictures of her bookshelves and the baskets and Peet's coffee boxes she used to group books. I was very frustrated at the time because my kids didn't seem to be able to replace a book on the shelf the proper way and the bookshelves always looked like a mess. Also, I was losing/forgetting about many of the picture books we owned because I couldn't see the spines (and neither could the kids, who like to browse).
So I sorted through all the books in the bookcase, putting them into piles by subject and topic (for instance, American History: Revolutionary War; Science: Oceans) and then I went down to Wal-Mart and bought a bunch of canvas bins, attempting to color-code by subject. So, for instance, all my history bins are red and are labeled by topic. (I was forced to also buy white bins, which I don't recommend because 3 or 4 years later they are all looking a bit dingy.) I did separate chapter book historical fiction from picture book historical fiction, however, just because the books fit better in bins that way. Chapter-book historical fiction is divided by time period (Ancient/Medieval/Early Modern (1600-1800)/Civil Warish/Turn of the Century/Modern -- because that's what my books sorted into) and collected in baskets on the shelf. But I put any picture books (regardless of whether they are fiction or not) into the big canvas "topic" bin because this works better for the little ones. (I keep my seasonal picture books and straight fiction picture books in plastic drawer cabinets in one of my closets, sorted by season/series/classic or not, so that I can rotate them accordingly. Having them all out all the time was a disaster with the little boys pulling them out and leaving them all over the floor constantly.)
I do, however, put geography-related chapter book fiction into the canvas bins along with picture books, nonfiction, etc. I have a separate bin for each continent.
I've found this system is actually a better use of my space because I can get more books into the same space this way. And younger kids can maintain the system a lot more easily. Plus, my younger kids will often say, "Mommy, I want a dinosaur book" (or whatever), and then I can direct them to the proper bin. The bin can be taken anywhere in the room, all the books examined and returned, and the bin returned to its proper position on the shelf. The one problem we're having is that when the bins are full, especially if there are hardbacks involved, they get heavy. So the little ones actually can't get some of the bins down themselves. This is a problem I am still working on, but right now I am desperately in need of more shelving!!!
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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MNMommy
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amyable wrote:
a system is only as good as it's weakest link (i.e. the kids ) - it either needs to be simple enough that your kids can maintain it, or you have to be OK with being the one *constantly* keeping up with it.
Which brings us back to the whole simplicity thread. |
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If I were organizing a personal library, I put stickers on each book and group them by colors. That way the kids could get the books in the right area without any help from me.
I would also put the toddler books on the shelves on the floor and work upward by age (to the extent possible).
ETA: I love the colored bin idea too. I use colored storge bins for out outside storage, and it is sooo easy to find everything.
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Jennifer
Tired mom to - 10yo dd, 7yo ds, 6yo ds, 4yo dd, 2yo ds
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Bookswithtea
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Angel, do you have a link to Dawn's old blog so I could see what you are talking about? I find this idea intriguing because it would make it very easy to pull each grouping out and then return them.
Do you have them sitting with the canvas bin upright or on its side? I'm trying to imagine oversized picture books in this set up...
I have been thinking about my groupings and realized that I do want some separation within groupings. For instance, I'd like to have each volume of FIAR books in their own grouping. Using canvas storage on the shelf would be one way. I was originally thinking about book dividers. Does anyone know of a really good book divider option? I hate it when books are falling down all over the place, getting messy.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Book organization
