Luanne Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Do you find that owning books that you use for school is a lot better than checking them out from the library? I'm thinking I may have to try to find room in my budget to buy books more (even ones I can get from the library) because trying to get them read "on time" and back is getting to be a big pain. How do you approach this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheBrink Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Sometimes I'll check out books and if they're ones I really enjoy (or dd enjoys) I'll buy a copy to keep. Or, if I know it's going to take me a while to get through a book, I'll buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I love the library. I have some classic books and good reference books but most fiction, light reading, etc. we get from the library. Even with the occ. late fees and 1-2 lost books a year, we still come out way ahead. I am not a typical homeschooler in that I don't want a lot of books around that we bought and now aren't reading but keep anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I cannot see myself purchasing too many books. They are very expensive, and I also do not have the room to store them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Three rules for us: #1 We only buy books at garage sales or library sales. #2 It has to be a recognized classic that I know we'll enjoy. Like, I hate Moby Dick. It's a classic, but I don't enjoy it. So we don't buy it. But if it's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...I'll buy that. #3 I buy a few current books from a few current authors, but I keep it under control. For instance, we happen to like Harry Potter around here. I've personally already read the series 2 or 3 times myself. I'm currently reading it aloud to the kids (#4 for me), I plan on re-reading it to myself again later, and the kids will read it themselves (when they're at that reading level.) We had to buy those new because we couldn't find them at yard/library sales. If it's a book just for fun to read once, we get it from the library. If it's not a classic, we get it from the library. If it's a book we feel we have to read, but don't really enjoy (like if we really felt we should read Moby Dick), we get it from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 (edited) We check out books for fun reading or special subjects we might be interested in but I have been buying all my TOG books in order to make life simpler. Also, we will be going through TOG atleast 2 more times so buying the books makes sense. Edited September 22, 2009 by Quiver0f10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I only buy used a book that is used repeatedly in our studies...like more than 5 weeks over a school year, or one that will be used by every child, like Little House in the Big Woods, that each child will use as elementary literature studies. Otherwise, I use the library. IF I had a ton of $$, yeah, I'd probably buy them all, but since I don't, let's just say that Barbara, the inter library loan officer at my library, knows me by name :) as do all the librarians in the children's department and teen area....I go once a week and have gotten a system down so I no longer suffer late fees! Finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I cannot see myself purchasing too many books. They are very expensive, and I also do not have the room to store them all. :iagree: Late fees are cheaper than buying, nor do they take up valuable space I don't have. I keep all of our books on a shelf set aside just for library books. I monitor my account fairly closely but still end up paying fees occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Three rules for us: #1 We only buy books at garage sales or library sales. #2 It has to be a recognized classic that I know we'll enjoy. Like, I hate Moby Dick. It's a classic, but I don't enjoy it. So we don't buy it. But if it's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...I'll buy that. #3 I buy a few current books from a few current authors, but I keep it under control. For instance, we happen to like Harry Potter around here. I've personally already read the series 2 or 3 times myself. I'm currently reading it aloud to the kids (#4 for me), I plan on re-reading it to myself again later, and the kids will read it themselves (when they're at that reading level.) We had to buy those new because we couldn't find them at yard/library sales. If it's a book just for fun to read once, we get it from the library. If it's not a classic, we get it from the library. If it's a book we feel we have to read, but don't really enjoy (like if we really felt we should read Moby Dick), we get it from the library. Those are my book-buying criteria as well. Gotta be worth the $$$! I will, however, splurge on nonfiction science-related books for my son as he reads and re-reads them to the point of memorization. I don't know how many he has, but it's a LOT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I prefer to buy. Our library has a short check out period, poor overall selection, and I prefer to write in most of my books. I scour thrift stores, paperbackswap.com, and the clearance table for books. A large portion of my discretionary money goes towards books, which is not a lot of money overall. I signed up for amazon prime and that allows me to purchase a little at a time with free shipping. I used to buy clothing or home furnishings, now I just buy books. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I'm a book addict. I have been since I was a little kid. I love having lots and lots of books around. My son loves to be able to pick a book up weeks later and look at it or read it again. I buy most of my books used or trade on paperbackswap. We also have tons of library books lying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I prefer to buy. Our library is notorious for throwing out books and DVDs, and there's no guarantee that something will be available the next time you need it. I'm very, very glad I purchased some of the books and DVDs that I have, because things do go out of print! Just today I was going to recommend "World War I in Color" (a very informative DVD) to someone on the High School Board. When I went over to check Amazon to make sure they had plenty of them, I discovered that not only is it no longer being produced, but copies are being sold for hundreds of dollars! I'm glad I bought my copy when it sold for $15! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I prefer to buy. Our library has a short check out period, poor overall selection, and I prefer to write in most of my books. I scour thrift stores, paperbackswap.com, and the clearance table for books. A large portion of my discretionary money goes towards books, which is not a lot of money overall. I signed up for amazon prime and that allows me to purchase a little at a time with free shipping. I used to buy clothing or home furnishings, now I just buy books. :D :iagree: It also depends on where you are in your homeschool journey and how many kids you have. I started buying books with my oldest over 20 years ago and we have used them repeatedly over the years. I am just now starting to weed out the ones we won't use again. Plus our library is dismal and frustrating and worthless.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luanne Posted September 22, 2009 Author Share Posted September 22, 2009 I also have access to the Denver Public Libraries through prospector and they have REALLY good libraries. I guess I will just follow the advice of ... if it is something we will probably read more than once or is so long it will take a while to read it, buy it ... otherwise just check it out from the library. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I hate libraries. You have so much junk to dig through as you search or browse in curiosity. I also get tired of telling my kids no b/c of the JUNK they put out front to appeal to the mainstream "slack readering" culture. Plus, I hate teh time line issue. So, we shop on Amazon & at thrift stores for books. We have had great success & get many books very cheap. Now, I can take a week or a year to read a book &.... if it is really good.... I can read it again! With multiple homeschoolers, ti makes more sense to own the books and some books will be read again as they get older. Seems more economical & convenient to buy the book. Avoid full retail though. It is too expensive and a budget killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Those are my book-buying criteria as well. Gotta be worth the $$$! I will, however, splurge on nonfiction science-related books for my son as he reads and re-reads them to the point of memorization. I don't know how many he has, but it's a LOT. This describes how I am pretty much, too. The library is inconvenient and my kids read way too fast - I'd be at the library every other day trying to find new books (and although they do have some good books, it's difficult to find new book that are age appropriate but challenging and fun to read). I like to buy most of the books we use for Ambleside Online, and will buy other books (I find a lot of the titles from the 1000 Good Books List), and so we do have a nice sized library of our own. My kids will re-read books they enjoy, so it's worth it to invest in the books for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Late fees are cheaper than buying, nor do they take up valuable space I don't have. I keep all of our books on a shelf set aside just for library books. I monitor my account fairly closely but still end up paying fees occasionally. I do the same w/ our library books, but buying is still *much* cheaper for us. Oy. I get most of mine for $1 at 1/2 Price Books. Some from paperback swap, Usborne (free books are pretty cheap, lol), & Amazon if I need something specific. I grew up in a house that was almost completely w/out books, & sometimes we couldn't afford the gas to get to the library. Later, we lived too far from the library. I think I'm making up for my childhood, but I have realized recently that I feel a little like Scarlett in Gone W the Wind: "By God, I'll never be w/out a good book to read again!" :lol: My kids have no idea how spoiled they are to be able to look at the shelves & say of a book they haven't read, "I'm not in the mood for *that* one." Fwiw, we also have a terrible library system. Not that I think it would make a *ton* of difference if we had a good one, because I don't see my addictions changing w/out serious therapy, lol, but there ya go. My only excuse. And I have become the local hs library, too, so there's that. Community service, anyone? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I hate libraries. You have so much junk to dig through as you search or browse in curiosity. I also get tired of telling my kids no b/c of the JUNK they put out front to appeal to the mainstream "slack readering" culture. Plus, I hate teh time line issue. So, we shop on Amazon & at thrift stores for books. We have had great success & get many books very cheap. Now, I can take a week or a year to read a book &.... if it is really good.... I can read it again! With multiple homeschoolers, ti makes more sense to own the books and some books will be read again as they get older. Seems more economical & convenient to buy the book. Avoid full retail though. It is too expensive and a budget killer. You hate BAD libraries. You simply want to build a good one, w/ more convenient locations & hours. It's a noble ambition, the likes of which have only been replicated by powerful leaders of the past. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nata Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I love being surrounded by my favorite books, and there was a time when I'd spend every weekend at local book sales. Now I seem to have gotten my "fill" though and seem to be using the library more and more. We are lucky to have a great one and rather than go browse, I usually search online and put what I want on hold and then just pick them up in passing. We are extremely fortunate to have a book swap at our local dump. M-F-S mornings you can drop off unwanted books and browse the shelves and boxes there, and can walk away with a limit of 10 new books for FREE...gotta love it! I have found many a great book there and just recently picked up 6 like new audiobooks which we will/are definitely going to listen to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I buy a lot of books for reference. I like to buy non-fiction science books for the kids to peruse on a rainy day. I like to have a bit of fictions that is age appropriate for the kids to stumble across, and fall into. I like to have a lot of classic books for babies (cloth books), toddlers (board books), and early elementary. I have invested in about 30 books that are unabridged complications of notable authors, like Austen, Melville, Dumas etc. These are books that we will use in high school and I am sure that some will get used in college too. I always hated it when you get assigned a book to read in school and then can't get it anywhere because everyone needs it at the same time. :( We subscribe to a magazine of interest to each kid. What I don't buy, and thus get at the library is a lot of twaddle unless the child has picked it out themselves and want to read it. I don't peruse and choose. I don't buy fiction for adults, it all comes from the library. I don't buy fluff magazines like National Geographic for Kids that are more ads than reading, we borrow. I don't buy books on CD, educational DVDs (the library has great choices or United Streaming), PBS series or much media....we get it all from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I prefer to buy. We're also using TOG, and intend to for all the kids, so it makes more sense to buy them, than risk a library not having them years later when the Littles are going through TOG levels. I need waaaaaaaaay more bookshelves. Plus, all my kids adore being read to, and love picking out from a huge selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 We own thousands of books, but I don't buy books just for the sake of having certain ones on the shelf when we get to chapter 29 in SOTW. We have quite a lot of variety in our home library, so yeah, I am reluctant to spend five or ten dollars on a book that may be read once, as a supplement to history chapter or such. Dollar books cost five dollars with shipping, y'know? But I'm not frantic about matching up books to studies perzactly. If we read the book on Aborigine dream stories next week instead of this week as we study Australia, I think we'll survive, ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luanne Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 I grew up in a house that was almost completely w/out books, & sometimes we couldn't afford the gas to get to the library. Later, we lived too far from the library. I think I'm making up for my childhood, but I have realized recently that I feel a little like Scarlett in Gone W the Wind: "By God, I'll never be w/out a good book to read again!" :lol: My kids have no idea how spoiled they are to be able to look at the shelves & say of a book they haven't read, "I'm not in the mood for *that* one." As a child I owned three books. They were How God Makes Peanut Butter, How Can We Get to the Zoo, and Pepper Plays Nurse. I know because I still own all three books and will not get rid of them for any reason. I read them over and over and over again and wished I could read different books, but they just weren't available to me. My daughter has been surrounded by books since she was born. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I think of the library as the big warehouse where I store all my books. I have no interest in collecting them here at home, for any number of reasons. The only exception is a book that I need to reference regularly for more than 9 weeks. (I can renew library books for 9 weeks.) Obviously you need to own school books that you'll use regularly all year. But I much prefer borrowing to owning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texascamps Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I love the library. I have some classic books and good reference books but most fiction, light reading, etc. we get from the library. Even with the occ. late fees and 1-2 lost books a year, we still come out way ahead. I am not a typical homeschooler in that I don't want a lot of books around that we bought and now aren't reading but keep anyway. Recently, we've discovered the library again! I love it! TO save time, I put holds on books so I don't have to go find them, they are waiting for me on a shelf with my name on it. Everything at our library is self serve so its very quick, I don't even have to interact with a human unless I need to. I get online and renew my books, I've actually utilized their tech services that they provide! My current overdue book fee for the last six months is .40. I was going to buy a new hardback of the last Pendragon book for my ds's birthday. Instead, I got them to put it on hold for me. He said he was totally okay with giving it back.....he'll have it read in two days anyway. $14 saved! Its like I've discovered a whole new free world!!!!!! I think we will only purchase texts in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I love the library in theory. In practice, however, I don't. Our county system is long on popular titles and subjects, but short on specific titles and the type of books I prefer to read. Our county system also has so many branches that the chance of the book I want being at a branch near me is slim. Our county is big! Yes, I can request books and they'll transport them to my local branch, but it adds yet another level to the process. Between those things, and the late fees we acquired because I found the book depository difficult to use and our branch difficult to turn into and out of, I found trying to use the library was simply frustrating me. I started being more serious about my visits to the used bookstore. I started using paperbackswap. I added books to the kids' wishlists for birthdays and holidays. I did even more comparison shopping of amazon versus B&N or Borders w/ educator discounts. Yes, it's a fair amount of money, but I have three kids that will use these books. My kids can read a book about Egypt or chemistry at any given time. I want to use the library judiciously, but not as a source for our main books. More like how I used it as a child - as a supplement to the books I used in school, and the books I already owned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I love BOOKS at the library or at home. If I lived near my mil, I would use the library a lot more. She is a supervisor at a huge, wonderful, awesome one, with a great selection. By the way, last time we visited, she pulled some strings and got me into the back warehouse FULL of soon to be for sale books. I was allowed to take what I wanted from shelves and shelves of children's books. I walked away with 20 books for $5.00! I love my mil. Back on topic-sadly, I do not live near her and her library, so I buy used a lot. I love the smell and look of books. I choose to think of it as useful decoration that gives me a cozy homy feeling :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 This is one question I am seriously pondering right now. I am a bona fide addict of books. I am not a pack rat or aquirer on the whole, but books are my exception. However, the books runneth over...in every room of the house. In the past, books for homeschooling were always bought, because of the PITA factor of tryng to get the necessary book from the library at the correct time. But the extent of our homeschooling library (not to mention all the other books) is staggering at this point. I have gotten excessively shy to buy any program like SL or WP that uses gobs of books for it's study plan. I really, really want to alleviate some of it from my life, but parting with a book strikes hard at some deep, psychological need of mine! :D Now that I am able to use my library's on-line reservation system, I am getting better about borrowing, not buying a book. But, unfortunately, what tends to happen is once I have borrowed the book, I feel the need to have that information always present just in case I wish to extract it again and the book is soon hanging out on my Amazon queue! My Amazon cart looks like some sort of triage center, as books are constantly moved from the cart to the "save for later" or vice-versa or moved in and out of queue at odd whim. I only actually buy from my cart about once in every ten times I'm there throwing books in and out of my queue. It's a sickness. I admit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 We check out most of our books from the library. I only buys books if I can get them second hand from our hs bookstore or a library sale. This summer on vacation we stopped at three libraries and I found so many great book for $0.25 - $3.00. I came back with a whole box full for about $15. Love a good book sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2a&z Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I love to buy books. When I was a preschool teacher, I probably spent most of my paycheck on books for my classroom. Now that I homeschool, my dh has requested that if I need a book to please check the library first before I buy. Our library is not that great, so I find myself purchasing more books than I would like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melora in NC Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I only very rarely buy a book that I can get from the library. It would have to be a reference type book or a specially loved book that I knew we would want to re-read in years to come. That said, I have to buy most of the books we need for school because our library system is very small and I can't count on getting what I need in a timely manner through interlibrary loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW in IL Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 If it's fiction, we most likely get it from the library. Especially with popular fiction and classics, our library most likely has enough copies that we'd be able to get it when we wanted/needed it and keep it (renewing if we had to) until we were done with it. Same thing for non-fiction that we only need for a short period of time such as when DS took an interest in llamas after we read Secret of the Andes. He read several books and learned alot about llamas, the Andes, all that... I encouraged him and we found a great book at a library sale for 50 cents, but otherwise, he used the library for that reading. We also have an advantage... There's a library about an hour away from us that has a "Homeschool Resource Center." Anyone with an Illinois library card in good standing can check out their materials and keep them for 6 weeks (and can renew them!). I buy a few books to help me plan/more effectively school DS, but usually only after I've borrowed said books from a library and decided that I would use them enough to justify their purchase. Same thing with reference books -- if we keep checking a book out from the library, I'm liable to buy it, especially if I can find it used. Textbooks, workbooks, stuff like that I pretty much always buy... Most of the time, used if I can. I do end up with quite a bit of stuff that we don't use (either buying something and then later finding something that we like better or, more often, hearing about how great something is only to find out that we hate it) which is something I'm working on. But between eBay, homeschool sale/swap boards, amazon, used bookstores, thrift shops, rummage sales, library sales, garage sales, people selling (or giving away) stuff at our homeschool group meetings, and the like, I rarely spend a whole lot for the materials I buy. And usually I can cover those costs by selling that which we over-bought, shouldn't have bought, didn't use, or finished with I can usually afford to buy what we need. This year was the exception as we made the jump to high school and want to go with a mixture of textbooks, video courses and workbooks. Basically, follow your gut and buy used when you can. At least, that's what seems to work the best for us. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Large reference style books I tend to buy. All else comes from the library. I have a great library system that sends reminders when items are due and allows 2 renewals for up to 9 weeks total. I check out 2 weeks worth of books at a time and find that most are looked through if not read. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinMominTX Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Late fees are cheaper than buying You obviously don't belong to my library system. I could fund a small third world country on my late fees. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I buy as much as I can each year because I think of it as an investment. I have 5 small ones still going up yet, so a book I buy now is one I won't have to later. And then I hope that when GRANDCHILDREN are homeschooled, they will know that Grandma has that book they need! It's an investment in my family. Other than that, I'm a book addict and I will use any source to get them. Amazon, paperbackswap, UBS, library sales. I also have 6 heavy readers so it's fun for them to go to the shelves and take what they want. Pure unadulterated bliss would look like Neil Gaiman's house http://blog.shelfari.com/my_weblog/2009/09/neil.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beezus Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 We are lucky enough to have a fairly good library for our town. They don't necessarily have everything I want, but fortunately they do have a lot more than simply the mainstream popular titles. I do own a lot of books, but due to space limitations I have started culling my personal holdings and have not been buying so many. I have become less obsessed with reading a particular book at a specific time. Also, I found that I overscheduled way too many books into our early homeschooling activities. Now we are more satisfied to go to the library and find a book about what we are studying, instead of feeling like we need to purchase several specific ones. We do find that it helps to have a designated place to store the library books, so we aren't misplacing them or having overdue charges. The checkout slips go under a magnet on the fridge. Our library even offers an automated email service to let you know three days before your materials are due. If I feel like I simply have to purchase something, I always check betterworldbooks.com - I have had good luck with them and they have no shipping charges within the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyWImom Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I am a "bookaholic", so we do buy a lot of ours, however, I am trying to scale back-some.:D For the readers, and simpler books, we get those from the library. Certain authors and favorites, we buy. But... I don't know if you know or are able to do this, but I got a "teacher card" from the library, so I can keep items for an extra month-and that includes dvd's!!! And when we are going to do a specific themed study, I am always going on the library website to reserve dozens of books and dvd's ahead of time. It makes everything so much easier. The teacher card has been a life saver for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncmomo3 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I do buy all of mine. I find the library entirely frustrating. Amazon is my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radish4ever Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I love the library because I can look up books that we'll need for the next week or two, reserve them online, and pick them up within a day or two when they've got them ready for me... then I have an "outgoing" stack and a stack of "in use" books.... we try and make it to the library about 3x a week as a habit so we don't have all the late fees we had prior to our "system".... We have a billion (exaggerating obviously!) books here at home and the kids DO love them.... but I am not organized enough on my own to be able to say, "Oh, we're doing fish this week...let me go get 20 books about fish off of the shelves!" I would have no idea where to start. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.