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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Jan 18 2010 at 7:13am | IP Logged
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I've been on a purging binge since starting "Simplicity Parenting." Well, not really. I'm always purging and organizing.  I have boxes and boxes of books that I know we aren't going to use anymore, or I can get the same one at the library.
I know I can take the books to Half-Price bookstore and sell them, or donate them to a thrift shop, but I started thinking about the other 40+ families in my local co-op possibly in the same boat.
I don't need or want to replace all these books, but I'm thinking a swap would be nice, as a way to recycle the books I have and possibly find some treasures.
So, I'm wondering if any of you have done this before, and if you can give me advice on hosting. Specifically, should we "price" the books in some way to keep it fair? Or is it just a "free-for-all"?
Any ideas are welcome...
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 Paula
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SeaStar
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I saw a month or two ago an article in Family Circus or Woman's Day about this. I know that is not much help, but I think you have a great idea. I believe the people were given a certain number of "tickets" to spend based on what they brought.
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SusanJ
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I would do it similarly to a clothing swap--one ticket for each book you contributed. Then maybe choose in turn by lot--so pick numbers out of a hat for your order but then it isn't a big free-for-all. If there were a book so valuable you wouldn't want it in with the swap then you might consider selling it somehow instead.
This is a great idea because someone can volunteer to truck all the leftovers to Goodwill or something afterwards and it saves the moms that trip, too.
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SusanJ
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I think it's also helpful if the coordinator gets all the books at her house a day or two before so that they are all set out for browsing. Then the moms can hunt through and make a list of priorities once they arrive on swap day.
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Erin
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Paula
A few years back when my mum finished homeschooling she donated ALL her collection to me, we are talking ten 6ft bookcases +. When I went through them I ended up with many boxes I decided not to keep ie there were better books, multiples etc
I loaded them all in the trailer and pulled up to the local homeschool picnic, (they knew I was coming) I told the ladies so much for most of the books (very cheap price), extra for the ones in certain boxes. At the end of the day there were still boxes left, I announced what was left was FREE and they swarmed on them like flies 
To answer your question, definitely price. They would happily buy at second hand places themselves, your saving them postage. Lots of fun.
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JodieLyn
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or you could do the tickets but like smaller, paperback books might be 1 ticket and hard back books 2 tickets.. or soemthing like that.. so it doesn't have to be true "pricing"
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chrisv664
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We did a bookswap last summer. It was a free-for-all. Since in the nice weather we have a fairly large turnout of homeschoolers meeting at a picnic area in a botanical garden setting, I just asked anyone who wanted to participate to pack up books they wanted to get rid of and bring them along on a certain day. I arranged a few picnic tables together and boy did the boxes of books come in! It was lot of fun. Since I am a "keep it simple"' kind of person, we didn't get into keeping track of how much people contributed, or took away. The guidelines were... only contribute what you don't want back; bring everything in a sturdy box or milk crate and take back what remains of your books. If they were left behind, I volunteered to drop them off on the 'free book cart' in the lobby of our local public library.
There were lots of great curriculum discussions; those new to homeschooling were able to see samples of curriculum they may have been considering; and the oldtimers got to share their experience with the newbies.
I'd say it was successful on many levels and everyone agreed it should become an annual event.
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Bookswithtea
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I went to one, once. There were no tickets. It was a simple, "bring your boxes and feel free to take from other's boxes" method. Most of us ended up still having books to take home. It was fun.
Sometimes I am less than crazy about taking some of this stuff to the thrift store. I guess since it was a homeschool investment, I'd like to see a homeschool family using it? I took 2 boxes recently to a mom I know who never buys curriculum new. She uses what she can find, which means she almost never has Catholic curriculum in the house. I just asked that she pass anything she didn't want to another homeschool family. I've also asked leaders of homeschool groups we belong to if they know of families who are new to homeschooling, etc. Other moms shared their boxes with me when I was starting out. Its nice to pay it forward, kwim?
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Topic: Ever hosted or attended a book swap?
