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Chari
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| Posted: July 28 2005 at 11:53pm | IP Logged
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Hello........ a friend has asked these questions below.......and I thought we could all help her:
Hi Everyone,
It is Late O'Clock, and I am still up, doing a little lesson planning
(yes,
I'm STILL at it!). I have been looking through the library's website
for
books I might want to borrow for next year. I was telling my sister today
how I
have become a bit disillusioned by the whole "build-your-home-library"
idea.
Our library is definitely growing, and I really do like having books
readily
available, but I have found that VERY FEW books are read more than
twice,
and some are only read ONCE!! When you add up the cost of a children's
book
compared to the time it takes to read it once or twice, that's pretty
expensive entertainment!! Of course, some of the books are read
mulitiple
times, but the kids are ALWAYS tired of the book within a month or two.
Our
bookshelves are filling up (I DREAD the day when I will have to move all
this junk to another house), and I feel like I have wasted some money. I
have been trying to be careful to buy only quality books, but still, how
many times will my children listen to me read the SAME BOOK?? I am
leaning
towards borrowing books that we need for Five in a Row, Sonlight, unit
studies, etc., from the library. Then, if I check out something that I
REALLY like, we can always buy it later. The only problem is, I need to
be
more organized about knowing what I will borrow and when I will need
it. I
would also like to keep a list of books we liked and what they were
about,
for future use. All of this sounds good to me, but I am not sure how
to get
organized and get the most out of "my tax dollars at work." If any of
you
are super-public-library-users, I could definitely use some advice.
On that note, I just received a book I ordered from Rainbow Resources.
It is
called "Art by the Book," by Joan Sterling and Nancy J. Turner. It is
very
much in the spirit of Five in a Row, but it deals only with art and
language
arts. Each lesson centers around a children's story or poem, and there
are
35 different literature selections. There is a very detailed art
project
and language arts project for each literature selection. I am going to
try
VERY hard to resist the urge to buy the books, since I can probably
check
out most of them from our library.
I would love to hear all of your imput on the "home library" and all of
your
suggestions on using the public library. I think I will drag myself off
to
bed now.
Thanks, all........
__________________
Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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momwise
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| Posted: July 29 2005 at 8:34am | IP Logged
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Chari,
I am very dedicated to using the library for almost everything. There is no way I can fit anymore books in here. I'm sorry to say that I don't keep a record of what I check out, either for school or personal use, except for my book club list. But I would imagine that just opening a spread sheet and beginning by entering the title and topic, which you could cut and paste while ordering on the library's site, might be a place to start. You could go back after reading the book and delete or save the record depending on how bad you know you want to use it again someday.
I buy out of print books and that's it. If I pick up a book at a sale and it has anything Catholic in it, I buy it. These are books I want my children and grandchildren to have regardless of whether they read them frequently.
Rarely I'll buy a book that we can't keep checked out long enough if I need it through most of the year (poetry, art, prayer, etc.). We do the same with movies and CD's. If the library doesn't have the book I want I ask them to order it and if they won't I use inter-library loan.
I live within minutes of 3 major city or county systems  ; I'm sure that makes a difference.
__________________
Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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mrsgranola
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: July 29 2005 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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 I'm a big time book-buyer.. ask anyone on Cathswap! Here there are so few Catholics in the area that things that many people find in their library system are NOT in our library system. So I buy liberally.
I'm cataloging everything we have with Readerware software and I rationalize my purchases because I really do loan out lots to other Catholic friends.
Gotta run--- crying babe..
JoAnna
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Mom to Jacob, Grace, Mary, Lucas, Emma, Carrie and Gianna
Parente Adventures
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stefoodie
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| Posted: July 29 2005 at 12:07pm | IP Logged
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with Catholic books there really isn't a choice but to buy them for our shelves. most libraries don't carry them.
as for other books, i don't fret about the amount of money i spend on our library; we've got 4 kids -- if a book is $20, that's $5 per child, spread out over several years!!! and you never know when a child will grow to love a book. when she was in 3rd grade, i bought my now-14-yo all the laura books. she read them all quickly and to this day she still picks them up and re-reads them. our 9-yo didn't learn to love them until last year. there are books we bought when 14-yo dd was a BABY!! that for years just stood on the shelves gathering dust -- those are the books now that the 3-yo, the 6-yo and 9-yo look at on a regular basis/read. my 14-yo just never grew fond of them. you never know what will strike a child's fancy. especially if you're investing in living books, chances are someone in your family will love those books and you wouldn't think they're a waste at all.
as for library books, we still borrow them, but more for fun. if it's something that's tied to a curriculum i'm using (and i haven't done that in a while) -- it's more efficient (for me at least) to just purchase the book, just because we've had enough of overdues and extensions, etc. it is just a hassle to try and finish a book -- instead of taking the time to enjoy it and digest it -- just so we could return it on the date due and avoid fines.
the thing with books is you can buy one "for Five in a Row" or "for art and language", but really, a child will find sooo many ways to explore and enjoy and learn from that book (in this home they are even used for building blocks or stepping stones, at least until mom finds them and they get in trouble  ) that over the years, you'll find most of the things you buy are actually worth 10-20 times their original cost.
and of course you can always resell books that never work on half.com or amazon or on cathswap. or donate them. but i find this "last resort" is mostly needed with my curriculum/textbooks rather than the living books.
__________________
stef
mom to five
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momwise
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| Posted: July 29 2005 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
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Oops. Chari, I should have mentioned that I built up a pretty good collection of classics (mostly used)before I was able to switch to library and OOP purchases. Those books you want to be able to get off the shelves anytime like Stef said are the ones I would want to buy. We have LOTR, Narnia, Little House, lots of author collections for Andersen, Shakespeare, Chesterson, etc. and reference books for science and history. This is why I don't have room for anymore books  . But there's always one more Catholic Digest or Credo book to hunt for!
__________________
Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Erin
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| Posted: Aug 01 2005 at 1:02am | IP Logged
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Well Chari.
If you have a great library system use it. Unfortunatly our library system is very weak. They only have modern 'junk'. All their good books I have picked up myself from their library sales. I read many of the suggestions on lists here, from catalogues and other homeschooling areas. Very rarely would our library have anything suggested.
I have been pretty strict in weeding out twaddle, the children have only a little. I don't worry about buying as my children re-read many of their books. My dd has read her Little House books at least 10 times. Many of our books were mine, many are op shop/ library book sale finds. Although I would have to agree that Catholic books have to be generally purchased brand new. The day I found the entire set of Treasure Box books at a library sale was exciting! Another thought is how much would it cost for school fees, uniforms etc
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Marybeth
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| Posted: Aug 30 2005 at 5:21pm | IP Logged
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I purchase on Cathswap and have gotten wonderful bargains. I always am on the lookout for good solid Catholic books to buy. It makes me glad to be able to support Catholic booksellers. We are blessed with a great library system, but still manage to purchase awy too much at used booksales!
I keep a list of books I would love to purchase. This makes it easy when relatives ask about birthday and Christmas presents.
Lately, I have been strewing books and putting others away in the toy closet. This way when I take them out again my ds becomes interested, and we can rediscover old favorites.
Hope some of this helps!
Marybeth
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Sarah
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| Posted: Aug 31 2005 at 10:18am | IP Logged
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Ladies-
I hate to admit it but I'm not very organized. [:)] Therefore, by the time I pay my library fines, I could have bought all the books used! Also, our library is very much filled with modern junk. Not to mention trying to pick out books with a baby in the sling, while my toddler either screams to get out of the stroller or runs aways and gets lost behind the shelves causing me to run panicked to the librian to put out a "Code Adam" and to guard the automatic doors to the parking lot and watch for a little girl in a pink dress trying to run away (this can literally happen in seconds and it really did! (We found her in the back corner). Anyway, I might sound like a whiner, but building our home library is much more enjoyable.
The trick is to only purchase the "tried and true." I have five kids and they all will enjoy most of these books. I do have the occasional bad purchase, but I try to stick to what others recommend. I purchase from Amazon-used. We also have local lady eho sells used books. Also, our Barnes and Noble (if you can stomach going in there), gives a 20% discount for educators (except CD's). Sarah
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Marybeth
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| Posted: Aug 31 2005 at 10:24am | IP Logged
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Sarah,
I am only organized about our library books b/c the library is on our main road which we pass about fifty times per week.
I think building a home library of the "tried and true" is simply wonderful. I get so excited every time a package of books arrives! 
We just received a Barnes and Noble gift card this morning. I am hoping to use it on-line. This way I am not tempted by more than I should spend in the store.
God bless,
Marybeth
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Kelly
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| Posted: Sept 01 2005 at 1:17am | IP Logged
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Sarah,
I'm with you completely on the build-your-own-library concept rather than paying fines and chasing small children. Added to all that, at our library, the computers are right next to the children's section, and there are invariably a bunch of unsavory characters pulling up unsavory things on the computer...even though people have complained to the library, they say it's all part of "freedom of speech", information, the press and so on. Ugh. Another time, we had a very suspicious character loitering around the children's section. When one of my friends went to the library policeman to tell him about this, the suspicious person saw them talking and made an immediate bee-line for the front door. All these incidents and more, alas, make building a home library preferable for me, too!
My only complaint is I'm running out of bookshelves...
Kelly in FL
PS When we get duplicates of books or books that are only getting read once and neglected, or books we've outgrown that aren't ones to pass on to grandchildren (!)we put together a box and send them to a school in Africa or one of the schools on the Indian reservations out West. If you check out Kemie Nix on the web and her Reader-to-Reader program, there is more info on how to do this. We've been doing this for years. Over the years, this has been a gratifying project for my children and has helped me tame the Expanding-Library-Monster.
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Building a home library...questions?
