I know many of you sell used curriculum here on the forums but I am at a loss of what do with used books that aren't high value, paperbacks and such. I am cleaning off the bookshelves because next years orders are starting to arrive and I don't know what to do with all the books I need to get rid of. I have many duplicate copies I need to part with too. Things like Boxcar Children, Little House books, paperback history books, board books, story books and picture books. I can't imagine asking someone to pay 3 or 4 dollars for shipping but I don't have the heart to just pitch them and the library doesn't want them. I would love to get them into the hands of another homeschooler that would appreciate them.

Ooooh I need this, DD1 does so much better with visuals. Side Note: how hard was it to sign up with Scholastic as a homeschooler. I tried it once before but they never got back to me.

How can I get my 7 year old to slow down? She has very nice handwriting WHEN she takes her time but most of the time she rushes. I was perhaps thinking of offering rewards because she is getting a reward, inadvertantly, for rushing in that she is done sooner.

Evan Moor Beginning Geography (for Map Skills) Funtastic Frogs (for Math Supplement) Dr Seuss on the Loose (Literature Study) those are my lesser know choices

Jim Trelease Read Aloud Handbook What Your ____________ Needs to Know (Preschooler, Kindergartener, 1st Grader etc) Homeschooling The Right Choice by Chris Klicka Cathy Duffy's Books and of course WTM

I either get mine from Walmart or HP's online site which has cartridges that actually contain more black ink so therefore a better deal but I'm ready to break down and buy a color laser printer, for the amount of printing I do and what it would save me in ink I think it would pay for itself in a year or so.

I need more ideas. DD7 is suddenly struggling with math, word problems. She has no problem adding and subtracting on paper but can't translate those concepts to doing a word problem or doing the math in her head. She knows simple addition and subtraction in her head but it's (I believe) because she has them memorized. If we move beyond the simpler problems she can't do the math in her head. Regardless we can't go on to regrouping until we conquer this. I hate to drill, drill, drill at her age but I'm about ready to take a break from math (not that it would help the problem) because we're both getting frustrated. I don't want to introduce higher concepts because she hasn't mastered this so our math curriculums are at a stand still. What have you done when you can't move ahead in a math curriculum? I don't want to just keep giving her the same problems over and over again. I need something else.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

Thank you all so much I was not familiar with WWE I will definitely look into it. I will also check out BraveWriter another one I am not familiar with. I really appreciate all I learning on these forums.:)

DD age 7 will be 2nd grade this fall and I want to start using a writing program. Any recommendations or cautions?

Google coupon codes for the site too. I saved an extra 10% using code FATWAL10 :001_smile: Great deal! Thanks for posting. It was perfect timing for us our trial subscription expires in 3 days.

:iagree: I ABSOLUTELY believe that you can provide a wonderful education for a child with a very limited budget. I know this because I have friends who do it, but you will make the sacrifice in time. It takes time to search online for the freebies or great deals. It takes time to make all those library trips, but mostly it takes time to have a plan. Trust me you can save a bundle if you have a plan and stick to it. Curriculum and homeschool supply shopping without a plan can be a lot like going to the grocery store without a list and a meal plan for the week. You buy items not realizing you already have them at home. You impulse buy and often because it is last minute you pay full price. One of the things that has saved me a lot of money was keeping lists of books, especially literature, history and science books in my purse not only for this year but for future years. You won't believe how many times I've found books I need for next year or older grades for a quarter or a dime at library book sales and yard sales. If I had to pay $5-$7 for every paperback or childrens book on our shelves it would break our homeschool budget, but I never miss a handleful of change every week or two. I also take the time to download free ebooks and unit studies from sites like TOS whether a study of bees or flight is on the lineup for this year or not because it may come up next year or the year after and I already have a (free) head start.

lol Terri I used to feel that way too

:iagree: I think in our family we practice a lot of unschooling BUT I never really use that term because it tends to be used to describe families that do no formal schooling whatsoever. I like relaxed homeschooling better because we certainly use some workbooks and textbooks too but mostly in an interest led capacity (except for math right now). My kids wouldn't have learned to read well without a phonics program but neither one of them would have learned well until they experience the desire to read on their own so it's a mix. I suppose a great many families unschool all summer long but don't call it that.

We have worm bins. Outside doesn't work worms generally need to be between 50-75 degrees at all times. We keep ours in the mudroom. I know people who keep them in the kitchen so they can continually feed them kitchen scraps. It also depends on what type of worms you want to raise.

books a million has all 3 of the trilogy for less than $9 each. HTH

I'm so glad OP asked this question I was wondering the same thing. I hadn't worried about it much but the ebooks and pdfs are really starting to accumulate and I would hate to lose them all.

We would be labeled both eclectic and relaxed not totally unschoolers but we have many, many unschool days because we homeschool year round. I think you have to do what you are comfortable with. I guess my big question is how much do you spend homeschooling now? Is it really an entire incomes worth? I know we spend thousands every year but in that we include travel/field trips, music lessons, sports league, software, membership fees (local as well as HSLDA) fees etc etc. That is not on just books although I could easily guesstimate that we spend between 2 and 3 thousand annually on books alone. On the other hand I have friend that probably spend less than $100 annually to school multiple children, they are avid Internet and Library users. That's just not my style and like you I work so don't have the time for library runs multiple times per week or hours to spend on the Internet searching for free curriculum. Good for them though I think it's great if you can do it for cheap or free. As for owning a farm...GO FOR IT!...LOL I am totally biased. We homestead and a mini-farm/ranch is my dream too, just can't because we both travel for work and it's nearly impossible to travel as much as we do and care for that many animals without also paying full time help.

I guess my biggest problem is I have a subscription to audible.com so I can download but so far I have only figured out how to listen to those on my Kindle fire with headphones. I want to be able to play them audibly for the whole family to listen which is why I was thinking CDs in the car or stereo would be great. Audible doesn't do CDs as far as I can see just downloads. Does anyone use Blackstone Audio or Simplyaudio?

Thanks I will check them out

How did you obtain library cards from all over your state? Our local libraries insist on proof of residence within the county and our Inter library loan program charges shipping both ways and you have to know what you want to borrow because they don't have an ability to browse the other inventories they can only request by title and author. Also the lending period on interlibrary loan is only 7 days which is often too short for me.

I did not, do you have some site suggestions?

:iagree: For a child the transition to being in school all day to a homeschool environment is a big one! Allow your family time to transition. Deschool for a little while. Focus on your son's strengths and weaknesses and work from there. 3rd grade is still young. My first priorities curriculum wise would be math and language arts. Find out where he is at with math (there are online placement tests for curriculums) and choose the level accordingly. Forget about "3rd grade" put him in the grade level of math where he tests into. Then test his reading/writing abilities and do the same. Every other subject is a bonus in the early grades IMO, math and language arts are critical to all other learning. Worry about those first and don't put a lot of pressure on both of you by buying an entire box curriculum for 3rd grade level and feeling the need to "finish".

I don't have any great answers for you other than you sound a bit sleep deprived, like all us moms. Try doing read alouds in less comfy situations. Sit on the living room floor while the kids snuggle on the couch. Read aloud at lunchtime while they eat or outside while they play in the sandbox. The only time I notice me getting sleepy at read aloud time is if it's been a long day for me and it's the bedtime read aloud then I usually cut it short and head to bed myself figuring my body is trying to tell me something. Also just a thought you might want to head to the doc and have your vitamin D levels checked. Apparently vitamin D deficiency is really common, even if you drink milk and get out in the sun. Hubby went and got checked after I insisted because he was so tired all the time. Turns out he was super deficient ( I was mildly deficient) and I learned that wearing sunscreen actually can block the body's absorption of vitamin D from the sun. And here I'm vigilant about sunscreen because of the skin cancer risk. So needless to say a regular vitamin D supplement for me and a super strength one for hubby has made a dramatic improvement in our energy levels. I'm no longer an exhausted mom!!! YAY.

Our local library is SUPER limited on kids audio so I'm looking for another source. Especially CDs I could play in our minivan. Or does anyone know if there's a way to play audio books from my Kindle Fire on the stereo? Does anyone rent audiobooks?