Elizabeth Roberts

Earlier today my husband asked me to PLEASE take care of the books in the "homeschool corner" of the dining room. We have only a small bookshelf, so there were many other books and "school stuff" piled on top, and I'll admit it was a rather precarious mess.

As I was sorting through trying to decide what to keep, what to toss, what to take to the Treasure Chest (at the local dump, a place to put things in decent condition rather than just trash them, all things are free-first come, first served) it hit me...why am I holding on to half the books we have? Some of them were purchased as part of the Sonlight curriculum, and they are good books. Some were purchased because they are classic children's stories, but most were second-hand. And they pretty much just sit on the shelf. There are a few favorites the Littles like to hear over and over and some that Sarah can read on her own. Most of what she can read on her own are kept in her room.

My husband wants me to limit the amount of books we keep because of moving every so often and being restricted in weight to what the military will pay to move. One of his sort spots are these books. He's not a reader, by the way. He'd love the books to be more neatly confined, but keeps saying we don't have space for another bookcase whenever I bring up purchasing one..even another small one that this one could rest on top of or something. Oh, and there are other books crammed onto the shelf of Sarah's room as well. Mostly books for when the kids are older...classic literature mostly like Tom Sawyer, Jane Eyre.

Most of these books I'm sure can be found at the library. A couple do have very sentimental value as they were mine when I was a child, but other than the cost of the books from Sonlight...do I really need to hold on to them? Especially when we often go to the library?

I have these books because I think maybe the children will want to read them sometime...but there is the possibility they may never have much interest in them. Sarah struggles with reading right now and has never really been all that interested in being read to. Logan has a few books that he likes, but like Sarah has other things to do. Megan however does really love to be read to, and often brings me books to read to her.

Would you keep so many of these books or would you pass them on in favor of letting the children just keep using the library for their OWN tastes? I suppose I hope that by having the books available they will be read...

Paul constantly says there will be plenty of time for a family library when he retires from the Coast Guard (another 10 years) and we have our own house and won't be moving so much. I can truly see and understand his point. Should I just hold on to the most special books?




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kayb85

> Most of these books I'm sure can be found at the library. A couple
do have very sentimental value as they were mine when I was a child,
but other than the cost of the books from Sonlight...do I really need
to hold on to them? Especially when we often go to the library?

I like to buy books from half.com. A few months after you buy a book
from them, they send you an email. "Want 5.00? Re-sell this book"
and they give you the title of a book you bought from them. So if
you wanted to have a book to read for longer than you could keep it
out at the library (or if you can't find a book at the library which
is sometimes the case), you could just buy used and then re-sell
used.

If it's a book you have because someonen LOVES it, then I'd keep it.
But if it's a book you have that is there just because you have guilt
somewhere that it's something that you "should" have, then I'd get
rid of it.

Sheila

Mary

Normally I wouldn't suggest for people to get rid of books just because
there isn't any interest in them now. Later on there could be interest and
then again maybe not. But they are there just in case. In your case, it
sounds like there are other circumstances involved. I can understand the
whole idea of moving and weight and all. Plus if a lot of the books are from
past "home schooling" it doesn't sound like there were picked with the kids
interest in mind. So I wouldn't feel bad about keeping them. If guilt gets
you, myabe put them on E bay and make some extra money. If it's no big deal,
donate them.

Maybe when you go through all those books you will find you have more to
give away then you thought. In that case, maybe you could add some new ones
that still wouldn't take up as much room. Ones the kids can go and pick out
themselves.

Someone else mentioned half.com and about reselling books. Sounds like a
great deal for someone in your situation. And there's always the library no
matter where you are. Tons of interesting and new stuff always there!!

Don't sweat it, dump the schooly stuff and let the kids enjoy the ones they
like, no matter what books they are. My kids still really enjoy the small
little kid books as well as older books. I haven't gotten rid of any baby
books no matter how silly them seem. My kids love them all.


Mary B.
http://www.homeschoolingtshirts.com

mamabethuscg

Thanks! I think I will go through the Sonlight books and look into
reselling them. We haven't touched many of them, and I doubt we will.
Even I'M not interested in reading them to the kids...not that they
aren't probably WONDERFUL books...I'm sure they are. It's just that
well, we're busy with other things really.

That would certainly open up room for other books that I know we
really DO want (like a collection of Magic Schoolbus that Sarah has
started, and Curious George for Megan).

I appreciate the thoughts on this!

Elizabeth

Robyn Coburn

For $20 I a disc called "Bookstop Classics" on a CD. This is one way to own
classics without the weight. We also bought the compete works of Frank L.
Baum (Oz) which are printable from CD if desired.

Robyn L. Coburn



<<My husband wants me to limit the amount of books we keep because of moving
every so often and being restricted in weight to what the military will pay
to move. One of his sort spots are these books. He's not a reader, by the
way. He'd love the books to be more neatly confined, but keeps saying we
don't have space for another bookcase whenever I bring up purchasing
one..even another small one that this one could rest on top of or something.
Oh, and there are other books crammed onto the shelf of Sarah's room as
well. Mostly books for when the kids are older...classic literature mostly
like Tom Sawyer, Jane Eyre.>>






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Nora or Devereaux Cannon

Our oldest is in the Army - with wife and 2 kids. They have
stored at our house a number of treasures - like books from
childhood, family photos and some fragile stuff that they don't
want to use until the boys are a bit bigger. The frequent
moves aren't good for those, especially the risk of loss. For
some photos and books they have copies with them. Others they
get out when they are here to visit. An accommodating relative
might solve some of the move stress, especially since it is just
10 years until you are out.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Elizabeth Roberts" <mamabethuscg@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2003 9:29 PM
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] WWYD? Re: Home Library


| Earlier today my husband asked me to PLEASE take care of the
books in the "homeschool corner" of the dining room. We have
only a small bookshelf, so there were many other books and
"school stuff" piled on top, and I'll admit it was a rather
precarious mess.
|
| As I was sorting through trying to decide what to keep, what
to toss, what to take to the Treasure Chest (at the local dump,
a place to put things in decent condition rather than just trash
them, all things are free-first come, first served) it hit
me...why am I holding on to half the books we have? Some of them
were purchased as part of the Sonlight curriculum, and they are
good books. Some were purchased because they are classic
children's stories, but most were second-hand. And they pretty
much just sit on the shelf. There are a few favorites the
Littles like to hear over and over and some that Sarah can read
on her own. Most of what she can read on her own are kept in her
room.
|
| My husband wants me to limit the amount of books we keep
because of moving every so often and being restricted in weight
to what the military will pay to move. One of his sort spots are
these books. He's not a reader, by the way. He'd love the books
to be more neatly confined, but keeps saying we don't have space
for another bookcase whenever I bring up purchasing one..even
another small one that this one could rest on top of or
something. Oh, and there are other books crammed onto the shelf
of Sarah's room as well. Mostly books for when the kids are
older...classic literature mostly like Tom Sawyer, Jane Eyre.
|
| Most of these books I'm sure can be found at the library. A
couple do have very sentimental value as they were mine when I
was a child, but other than the cost of the books from
Sonlight...do I really need to hold on to them? Especially when
we often go to the library?
|
| I have these books because I think maybe the children will
want to read them sometime...but there is the possibility they
may never have much interest in them. Sarah struggles with
reading right now and has never really been all that interested
in being read to. Logan has a few books that he likes, but like
Sarah has other things to do. Megan however does really love to
be read to, and often brings me books to read to her.
|
| Would you keep so many of these books or would you pass them
on in favor of letting the children just keep using the library
for their OWN tastes? I suppose I hope that by having the books
available they will be read...
|
| Paul constantly says there will be plenty of time for a family
library when he retires from the Coast Guard (another 10 years)
and we have our own house and won't be moving so much. I can
truly see and understand his point. Should I just hold on to the
most special books?
|
|
|
|
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[email protected]

> Most of these books I'm sure can be found at the library. A couple
do have very sentimental value as they were mine when I was a child,
but other than the cost of the books from Sonlight...do I really need
to hold on to them? Especially when we often go to the library?




Is this from the same person whose husband is pushing for more
academics?

Then he's handed you an opportunity here. Don't tell him about
unschooling; show him what it means to "own" books. It's not what sits on the shelf.
Show him how those Sonlight schoolbooks never belonged to your children, and
how they keep finding real books they do love, for their own reasons, and "own"
them for life whether you "buy" them or not.

Show him in concrete terms how much precious space the schoolbooks
take up on your single bookshelf and in your lives -- what they cost to buy and
how much they cost to keep in terms of weight limit, without actually
benefiting anyone in your family (including him.)

Could you get him to see this bookshelf as a metaphor for his child's
mind and spirit? Being limited to only one bookshelf is like a forced-choice
standardized test where any answer you choose forces all the others out. The
lost-opportunity cost is easy to see -- you can pile on pseudo-academic texts
and workbooks from various stranger-experts until the child's shelf is groaning
under the burden, but doing this crowds out her own discoveries and
delights.

Which makes it LESS likely she'll ever become a true academic, btw.

Then you might ask him to notice all the shelf space at public
libraries. With thousands of shelves, how much space do the professionals dedicate to
textbook-type material? (Next to none, if your library is anything like mine)


So whether you have just one shelf or a million, textbooks are
inferior product. Real academics read real books. Because they want to.

Unschoolers get well attuned to sniffing out that "teachable moment"
when it presents itself, and this could be one for you. I wonder if you might
not have a chance here to convert your husband into a zealous unschooler. <g>
JJ

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/28/03 8:37:02 AM, jrossedd@... writes:

<< Then you might ask him to notice all the shelf space at public
libraries. With thousands of shelves, how much space do the professionals
dedicate to
textbook-type material? (Next to none, if your library is anything like mine)
>>

GOOD POINT.

There is a big, very popular used book store here which has a sign right on
the door: "We do not accept textbooks."

That dad/husband should be asked, too, how many of his textbooks he has saved.
My husband has a boxful.
Then ask him (if he has any) how many he has used in the past year or two or
five.

I still have my Chaucer and Shakespeare books from college, and a few others.
They're "complete works of" books, though, so besides the intro material and
notations, they're not "textbooks."

Sandra

mamabethuscg

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I suppose I could send much of these
to be saved by his parents down in NC. We do have other things stored
there for later, including building supplies for our future house LOL
such as the tile I picked out for the kitchen, and faucets..bits and
pieces we're accumulating NOW to keep the costs down LATER when we go
to build.

Elizabeth

--- In [email protected], "Nora or Devereaux
Cannon" <dcannon@n...> wrote:
> Our oldest is in the Army - with wife and 2 kids. They have
> stored at our house a number of treasures - like books from
> childhood, family photos and some fragile stuff that they don't
> want to use until the boys are a bit bigger. The frequent
> moves aren't good for those, especially the risk of loss. For
> some photos and books they have copies with them. Others they
> get out when they are here to visit. An accommodating relative
> might solve some of the move stress, especially since it is just
> 10 years until you are out.
>
>

kayb85

I stopped using vegsource years ago, because I was never able to
post. I even emailed them and they said they'd take care of it, but
they never fixed it.
Sheila

> You could sell them on vegsource at:
> http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/

Wife2Vegman

--- kayb85 <sheran@...> wrote:
> I stopped using vegsource years ago, because I was
> never able to
> post. I even emailed them and they said they'd take
> care of it, but
> they never fixed it.
> Sheila
>
> > You could sell them on vegsource at:
> > http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/
>
>

Here is a webpage with links to many used curriculum
sites:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8259/used.html

wifetovegman2002


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Elizabeth Roberts

JJ,

Actually I did just have another talk with Paul (and yes, I'm the one whose husband was just pushing for more academics). Told him how much "academic" stuff was done today through play. He liked that idea. Told him also that I was going to get rid of the books, try to recover at least part of the cost of the Sonlight books because all things considered I'd rather keep just the books that are special and will actually be read, and he agreed.

We had another talk about unschooling, while I didn't call it that, and again he agrees with it. He just wants to be sure that she's learning what she needs to. So he wants me to keep him apprised of her "academic progress" because "she still needs to learn." I said "Well, learn exactly what?" "Whatever she needs to." I laughed and said, ok, then we're in agreement. She'll learn what she needs to learn. He definitely agrees that her learning things should not be what it's been, with fights and hurt feelings and bad attitudes; but rather what it's been lately, fun and exciting and easy for her.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

MamaBeth




Everything I need to know, I learned on my own!

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[email protected]

mamabethuscg@... writes:


> I said "Well, learn exactly what?" "Whatever she needs to." I laughed and
> said, ok, then we're in agreement. She'll learn what she needs to learn.


That's good to hear!

Btw, my DH uses this exact same phrasing. He will often start a
conversation with me about one of the children by saying, "He needs to ..." or "she
needs to ..." followed by whatever he thinks is ahead next in their
development.

Though it still jars me to hear, I've gradually realized he doesn't
mean it as criticism or an assignment, for either them or me. It's more like his
way of showing he's paying attention and checking to see if he's noticing the
right things.

It's almost as if he trusts me enough to listen to him talking out
loud to himself and to be the voice in his head that he can count on to answer
reassuringly. Something like that. JJ


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

mamabethuscg

By the way, I meant to say that what you wrote was a great analogy of
the situation, and I think it would work if I had needed to use it!

I think he'll relax again a little more once DSS is out of our lives.
It's so hard for both of us right now with that hanging over our
heads.

I'm so glad though that his parents, while they don't necessarily
agree with our decision to homeschool, let alone unschool; they are
at least supportive of our endeavour.

MamaBeth