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Cheryl
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| Posted: May 13 2007 at 11:52am | IP Logged
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Yesterday i packed up a box of curriculum that I don't think I'll be using next year. I'm going to store it in my basement. I grabbed a clipboard with pen and paper and began listing the contents of "box A", so I will know what's in it. I thought about making a curriculum spreadsheet, with titles, subjects, grade level, storage location etc. Then I started thinking that it would be cool to have a spreadsheet or maybe a database of our entire home library. I thought it would be great to be able to type in a theme and come up with a list of books. Have any of you done this?
Would you make a spreadsheet or a database? Would you (did you) use certain software? Is this too much work? Would it be easier to just thumb through the books? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
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Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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aussieannie
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| Posted: May 13 2007 at 3:51pm | IP Logged
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Cheryl, I have done something in the last 6 weeks. It is not a complete book inventory of all the books in the house, it is just the children's catholic books and liturgical living including other adult catholic books I like to read to my children.
It is so we can comprehensively read the lives of the saints following the liturgical year. It was an enormous job, but that did not faze me, because once it is done, I knew that we would be utilizing books like never before. (and this has proven true and effective)
If new books came in, they would be easy to add to the list. What made it an even bigger job was the individual adding of all the saints stories in a particular saints book that was a compilation of many saints stories or some of my adult books, for example: 400 Saints Who Raised the Dead - there are basically 400 saints stories! I went through and wrote down each saint's name and what page his story started on....starting to get the picture of the little bit of madness that lives in me?  
I also got my liturgical living books and did the same, for example, "Cooking with the Saints" each saint was added to the database, "Saints and Feastdays", I am presently adding things from "A Year With God" from CHC, I am still working on these liturgical books.. I am probably 3/4 or more through completing this list. I also added my colouring books, "Mother of God" Colouring book, (yesterday on my sheet said, Our Lady of the Smile and Our Lady of Fatima came up..we couldn't do it because we were out all day.) But these colouring sheets work well to be on the data base, because when the feast comes along and you are reading outloud to the children, they can be colouring in, we did this for the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel in late April, we really had a lovely time together, I had read the story from one of Joan deCruz's books, so lengthy, so a colouring picture was just what they needed.
So as you can probably see, it was not the adding of individual books on saints for example: Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, that made it a big job, it was the breaking down and catagorizing of books that contained many saints that did. BUT IT HAS BEEN WORTH IT!! We find it motivating and easy to read liturgically each day to our children. Yesterday we were travelling to Marian Valley, our state's Marian Shrine and I had brought with me the books for the day and read them in the car, we all enjoyed them and learnt (Phil and myself as well) about the saints, two of the saints were totally new to us all. It is a great way to learn more about the lesser known saints.
I also have after the December list, a 'Seasons list and moveable feast day' list where I add advent books, Eastertime and lenten books etc.
To use it each day, I bring the file up onto the screen and I make a copy of that day's saints and stick it in a little folder on top of desktop but this is where I can do with some help too - I probably need a program that will automatically put the day's saints on the desktop for me like Steve Wood's purity scripture verses that pop up for us each morning (a different verse each day) for our 12year old son we are training - I need something like that, so the day's list comes up in a little box on the desktop that I see immediately each morning when I hop on the computer.
If anyone looks through my list for May and sees quite a few books that they have from my list and would like my whole list for the year (so they can delete the books that are not relavent to them but saving alot of work with the ones they do have, I am very happy to email this document to you. just pm me.)
Here is my list for May, the one in red are the ones I'm about to read to the children this morning:
St Joseph March 19 & May 1 (Cooking with the Saints)
St Peregrine page 151 May 1 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
Saint Joseph March 19 and May 1 (Lives and Legends of the Saints)
St Joseph March 19 & May 1 (Picture Book of Saints)
Joseph (Joseph of Eygpt) (St Joseph) March 31 & March 19/May1 (Catholic Stories for Boys and Girls Volume III)
St Joseph the Worker May 1 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Joseph March 19 & May 1 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Athanasius May 2 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Athanasius May 2 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Peregrine May 2 (Picture Book of Saints)
Sts Philip and James May 3 (Picture Book of Saints)
Our Lady of Antipolo 1st Tuesday in May (Mother of God Coloring Book)
Sts Philip & James May 3 (Saints and Feast Days)
Servant of God Elizabeth Leseur May 3 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St James the Less May 3 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Hilary of Arles May 5 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Pachomius May 9 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St John of Avila May 10 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Page 257 - Bl Damien from Molakai May 10 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
Damien the Leper May 10 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Bl Damien May 10 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Francis Jerome page 186 May 11 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Francis Di Geronimo May 11 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Germanus of Constantinople May 12 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Sts Nereus & Achilleus May 12 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Pancras May 12 (Saints and Feast Days)
Bl Nicolas Postgate May 12 (More Once Upon A Time Saints)
The Children of Fatima -and Our Ladys Message to the World (MFW Book) May 13 (or October 13)
Patron Saint of First Communicants The story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini (MFW Book) May 13
Our Lady of the Smile May 13 (Mother of God Coloring Book)
St John the Silent May 13 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Julian of Norwich May 13 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Michael Garicoits May 14 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Matthias May 14 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Mary Mazzarello May 14 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Isidore the Farmer May 15 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Dymphna May 15 (Picture Book of Saints)
St Isidore the Farmer May 15 (Picture Book of Saints)
St Isidore May 15 (Cartoon page from A Year with God)
St John Nepomucene May 16 (Picture Book of Saints)
St Brendan - Sailor Saint May 16 (The Book of Saints & Heroes)
Saint Brendan May 16 (Saints Lives & Illuminations)
Page 124 St Brendan the Voyager May 16 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
Page 128 St Simon Stock May 16 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
St Andrew Bobola page 184 May 16 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
Page 320 St John Nepomucene May 16 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
St Honore of Amiens May 16 (Cooking with the Saints)
St Brendan the Navigator May 16 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Ubald of Gubbio May 16 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Simon Stock May 16 (Cartoon page from A Year with God)
St Paschal Baylon May 17 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Pascual and the Kitchen Angels May 17
Paschal Baylon May 17 (Lives of the Saints for Boys and Girls)
St Felix of Cantalice page 156 May 18 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St John I May 18 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Dunstan - Friend of Kings May 19 (The Book of Saints & Heroes)
Saint Dunstan May 19 (Saints Lives & Illuminations)
Alcuin May 19 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Dunstan of Canterbury May 19 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Bernadino of Siena May 20 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Bernardine of Siena May 20 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Bernardine of Siena page 111 May 20 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Bernardine of Siena May 20 (Cartoon page from A Year with God)
Bl Colomba of Rieti page 136 May 21 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Rita May 22 (Picture Book of Saints)
Blessed John Forest May 22 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Rita of Cascia May 22 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St John Baptist De Rossi May 23 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Julia May 23 (Lives of the Saints for Boys and Girls)
St Vincent of Lerins May 24 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Saint Bede May 25 (Saints Lives & Illuminations)
St Madeleine Sophie Barat May 25 (Picture Book of Saints)
St Bede the Venerable May 25 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Gregory VII May 25 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi May 25 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Bede May 25 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi May 25 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Blessed Mary McKillop May 25 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Madeleine Sophie Barat May 25 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Gregory VII May 25 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Madeleine Sophie Barat May 25 (Cartoon page from A Year with God)
St Peter Sanz May 26 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Philip Neri May 26 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
St Philip Neri May 26 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Philip Neri May 26 (Picture Book of Saints)
Philip Neri May 26 (Lives of the Saints for Boys and Girls)
Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart (St Philip Neri) (Vision Book) May 26
Page 65 St Philip Neri May 26 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
St Marianne de Jesus of Quito page 144 May 26 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Augustine of Canterbury May 27 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Melangell May 27 (More Once Upon A Time Saints)
Joan of Arc May 30
Joan of Valois (Joan of Arc) May 30 (Lives of the Saints for Boys and Girls)
Saint Joan The Girl Soldier (St Joan of Arc) (Vision Book) May 30
Joan of Arc, The Lily Maid May 30
St Joan of Arc May 30 (Picture Book of Saints)
Page 62 St Joan of Arc May 30 (Treasury of Catholic Stories)
Saint Joan of Arc May 30 (Lives and Legends of the Saints)
St Joan of Arc May 30 (Saints and Feast Days)
St Joan of Arc May 30 (Cartoon page from A Year with God)
St Philip Neri page 123 May 26 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Augustine of Canterbury May 27 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Bl James Salomoni page 132 May 30 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
St Joan of Arc page 93 May 30 (Saints Who Raised The Dead)
The Story of Joan of Arc May 30 (Dover Coloring Book)
St Joan of Arc May 30 (Book of Saints Bert Ghezzi)
Visitation of Mary May 31 (Saints and Feast Days)
Immaculate Heart of Mary May 31 (Saints and Feast Days)
The Visitation May 31 (Our Ladys Feasts)
Our Lady, Mediatix of All Graces May 31 & November 8 (Our Ladys Feasts)
I should add lastly that I need to peruse my monthly list at the beginning of the month in case I want to read one of the Vision books or Mary Windeatt books in that month, if there are quite a few, I just choose the one I would like to read in that time and start before the feast day.
So whilst this is not curriculm per se, Cheryl it is an important part of their daily learning which comes under 'Religion' in my school diary, also I thought you might want to hear all this, because of the effort I have had to put in that I have felt is worth it, if you know it could make life much easier, or that you will use books more effectively, I would say, 'put the time in and do it' - I did most of my work in the school holiday time over Easter.
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Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
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Philothea
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| Posted: May 13 2007 at 8:17pm | IP Logged
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Annie, you are awesome. 
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Erin
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| Posted: May 14 2007 at 12:50am | IP Logged
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Cheryl wrote:
Then I started thinking that it would be cool to have a spreadsheet or maybe a database of our entire home library. I thought it would be great to be able to type in a theme and come up with a list of books. Have any of you done this?
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Cheryl
Have you looked at Readerware? I downloaded the sample after seeing it recommended here on the board. I absolutely LOVE it. I was able to trial it for thirty days, which I did. By then dh was really keen for me to get it.
Since then I have also seen Library Thing which is free but it is not really, to my mind, the same as Readerware.
Readerware has so many features. I can search by topics, I can look at authors, I can track what I have lent out to friends. I can enter in what bookcase the book is in and find it that way. It is this huge tracker laid out in a similar manner to an excel spreadsheet format. Dh has designed many databases using excel and he was sold!!
You could do it in excel yourself if you had some knowledge, I did suggest to dh that he could design something himself, but he thought the price was good and they had so many features, I'm sure there are some I haven't explored yet. You are now inspiring me to go and finish the job... I never did complete  in fact I was inspired when Anne mentioned her project of saints before.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Cheryl
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Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Massachusetts
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| Posted: May 15 2007 at 10:14am | IP Logged
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Thanks Annie and Erin for your experiences. I think this is going to go on my summer projects list.
__________________
Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: book inventories
