What do you do without a library?

[Wheres Toto]

Does anyone have to try and homeschool without access to a good library? I live in a town without its own branch so I can only take out books at our County library and County College library. I usually order a variety of books from within the system and have them sent to the County library and pick them up. (This is different from ILL which will get books from all over the state, not just the county. Libraries within the county are considered part of the same system).

 

With the serious budget problems my state is facing they are talking about doing away with transporting books between libraries within the system. I'm not sure how it will work since currently it is allowed to return books to any library, not just the one you checked them out of so books need to make it back to their "home" library but.....

If this does go through, I'm going to be much more limited in the books I can get. I'm wondering how those of you without access to a good library manage? Are there certain books you've purchased that are used frequently? Do you buy most of your books?

[KS_]

We do have a pretty good library, but when we moved back to this area, the city library was not letting county residents get library cards w/o paying $80+ a year. So I decided I could buy a lot of my own books for that, and started building a home library. Within a couple of years, they changed to once again allow county residents to have a free library card, but we really enjoyed having a lot of good books at home, and so I've just continued to work on my own library :) We might go to the library a few times a year (not every month even). I buy most of the books I need for school, and use the internet - when we do go to the library, it's just to amuse my kids, and not for school.

[KJsMom]

When the roof collapsed on our library last year we had to figure out how to homeschool without one. We use paperbackswap a lot http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php. We pick up books at yard sales and used book sales and I spend a lot more time on the internet looking for the books we need. I am using swagbucks as my search engine http://swagbucks.com/ and I trade the bucks in on Amazon gift cards. You have to work a little harder but it can be done. As the PP said, we have really enjoyed having the books in our own home library.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I find it easier to buy all my books even with my library, I think the year before we paid almost $80 in late fees to the library.

I find most of mine at Goodwill or other Thrift Stores, especially classical books. My latest great finds were Wordly Wise 5 and Simply Grammar, both not even written in.

[Dawn E]

We just moved this past year, and we love our library. The people here question our sanity...but if they only knew the library we had moved from they would appreciate their own much more.

 

I bought most of our books. I spent lots of time diligently searching ebay, homeschoolclassifieds, vegsource and here looking for deals. I also used paperbackswap.com. We didn't have much extra money for school and still I managed to build a good home library for her.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I drive 40 minutes to the nearest "good" library. We live in the country and go into town for church, grocreries, doctor, etc. The library stop is just another errand on town day.

[mo2]

I can pretty much sum it up in one word: Amazon. ;)

[PeterPan]

My husband is on the library board, and I don't use the library. :) I buy my books, haunting used sales, paperbackswap, the sale board here, anywhere I can find them. Remember, the amount you pay in fines sometimes equals the books. There's nothing like the pleasure of buying your books and seeing your kids read them over and over and over!

[Cleopatra]

I live on the outskirts of a large city but I find our libraries are one of the last places I want to go for books. They are becoming more like entertainment centres; I can find almost every DVD on the planet (well, not quite :001_smile:) but, for instance, they only have about 5 books in the whole Sonlight catalogue and sometimes don't even carry Newberry award books!

 

I've spent time buying books at garage sales, used book stores, etc. to build our library. It seems daunting at first, but just by buying little by little, you'll soon find you have a pretty good library of your own.

[HollyDay]

Buy a lot of books. OUr library is pitiful to begin with. But, now they have a 3 week limit on checking out books. So, I've bought a lot of books over the years. Storage is my major problem now. We have bookshelves in every room (including the kitchen!). I need more space for books, so I am seriously looking at a rolling storage unit for under our bed!

[Dinsfamily]

We have a pretty good library system here, but I don't like to rely on it for school. I'd rack up a lot of fines (I rack up enough for recreational reading) and would have to compromise too much on timing/book selection for my taste. I just buy our books. If I couldn't afford SL and our other book-heavy curricula, I'd do what others are suggesting and utilize used bookstores, paperbackswap, used hs materials, etc.

[Wheres Toto]

Thank you for all the replies. Looks like I'm going to have to start doing some shopping - for books and storage solutions. We do have quite a few books but we have serious storage issues so the kids books are inside but most of my books are out in our garage in bins. I HATE not having my books available but unfortunately this is the way it has to be for now.

 

If any of you have younger kids (mine are turning 5 and 3 over the summer) what do you consider your best book purchases? What are the ones that are looked at over and over again, used for school the most, etc.?

 

Thank you

[usetoschool]

Our library is absolutely worthless and we haven't used it in the nearly 20 years we have been homeschooling.

 

I really like having what I need on my own bookshelves and, because my kids are spread out in age, we have gotten our money's worth in using the books over and over.

 

I may sell them all someday and retire rich, but eldest is about to get married and there will be grandchildren so maybe not. :001_smile:

[AK_Homesteaders]

We live very remote in the Alaskan bush ---- no roads, postal service or anything at all. The only way to town to get to a library is to charter a plane, which costs over $1000 round trip. We can only do that a time or two each year, so no library for us. Since we're in the bush, we live about as close to a subsistence lifestyle as anybody can/does these days, so money is extremely tight. I have to find creative ways to get books for our boys. I often use Paperback Swap (if you use the link in my signature to join, once you list 10 books you get 2 free credits you can use to get 2 books, and for using my link I get a book credit, too). I also pay attention to online forums where people post used books. When I can I barter ---- I used to make and sell birch bark baskets and shed caribou antler jewelry to museums, art galleries and high-end gift shops, but since we adopted our children, I only do those things now to sell and barter for homeschool books and supplies. I also make and sell homemade soaps, herbal salves and wool felted mittens. That helps raise money for homeschooling. I also try to borrow books whenever I can. When all else fails, I will buy from Amazon if there's a book I feel that we can't do without. Since we use more of a Charlotte Mason approach, we use LOTS of books, so this can be a challenge. I start looking for books a year in advance.

 

This year I have connected with a few other homeschool families and we are loaning some of our books to each other. Mostly these are books than we don't want to permanently part with because we want to use the books with younger siblings in a year or so, or are books we've acquired but won't need for a year or so. That is working out nicely for all of us. I'd like to try to figure out a way to make it a larger type of "book co-op" sort of thing where families can simply loan out books to each other.

[LibraryLover]

I have found amazing and inexpensive books at yard sales, chruch tag sales, second- hand stores, used book stores, hsing swaps, library sales etc. When our teen schooler need more references for a paper --yk, it's Sat night and the paper is due Mon;)-- we were all recently amazed and tickled at the quality of what we were able to pull from our own shelves. Owning good books, reference books etc is really important to us. I don't see books as clutter, of course. ;)

 

One of our family's favorite things to do is explore used book shops. When we were day- tripping last summer, my kids were delighted to find a used book shop. The kids were ahead of us, and the youngest came running back to us, "Hurry! You won't believe this! We just found a used book store that looks like it's right out of Harry Potter!" To see a young child so excited about hunting for books...well...it almost makes libraries superfluous. Almost. It would be very upsetting if we didn't have access to an ILL system.

 

If we had no library whatsoever here, and no ILL, I would plan a once a month, maybe twice a month trip to whatever far-off library we could use. Hauling home baskets of books from the library is too thrilling to give up even if we couldn't do it on a weekly basis.

Edited April 20, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Shelly in the Country]

We buy all our books. We actually live one block fom our town's library, but it is teeny-tiny. When we began homeschooling, we lived in a different town, but with an equally tiny library. Before my eldest began formal school lessons, I tried out their ILL system. I tried looking for various books I knew I'd want to use in the coming years. It was a pain. 80% of what I wanted wasn't available even through ILL. We lived (and live) in a fairly low population area. I consulted with dh to see if he thought I should try to get what little I could through ILL and buy the rest. He told me just to buy everything. He figured we'd be having more kids (which we have) and that homeschooling was enough work without trying to fight with a small town library. He thought ILL had a poor selection and the hassle of going to the library, late fees, waiting on books that weren't available yet, etc. wasn't worth the effort. Now if the library that is one block from me were more substantial, I may have changed course when we moved to our new home, but as it is I figure even though our book budget is large, the books get a lot of use across 4 kids. It's still cheaper than private school.

[MissKNG]

I would be able to survive without a library. There are definitely other places to obtain books at a low cost as mentioned in other posts.

[AngelBee]

My husband is on the library board, and I don't use the library. :) I buy my books, haunting used sales, paperbackswap, the sale board here, anywhere I can find them. Remember, the amount you pay in fines sometimes equals the books. There's nothing like the pleasure of buying your books and seeing your kids read them over and over and over!

 

The fines KILL me at the library. :( As a mama with severe ADHD, owning books relives me of a ton of stress.

[Hannah]

We buy at 2nd hand shops, markets, ebay, homeschool groups and Bookmooch has been fantastic. Over the last 10 years or so I've collected more than 2000 homeschool books and I hardly ever buy anything new. We could probably homeschool through high school with what I've got already.

[Grammar Stage Parent]

I would try abebooks.com before Amazon. Many childrens' books are now available for a dollar or even less, and the vendors that sell that low often have a huge inventory. Secondhand books is definitely a buyer's market, although this fact is causing a lot of stores to close.

 

__________________________________________________ __________

Daughter: 9; Singapore Primary Mathematics 3A; Story of the World Level 2; First Language Lessons Level 3; Writing with Ease 3; Science experiment books recommended in WTM

 

Son: 5: First Language Lessons Level 1; Singapore Primary Mathematics 1B; general handwriting practice and reading practice

[elegantlion]

I can pretty much sum it up in one word: Amazon. ;)

 

:D:iagree:

 

I rarely use our library. They have a poor selection for ds' age group and a two week checkout period. You can renew, but ds is a slow reader and we use most books for more than 4 weeks.

 

We have a great thift store with cheap book prices .39 for paperbacks, .89 for hardbacks. I use paperbackswap and amazon. I broke down and bought an Amazon Prime Membership last year, lifesaver. I also use Coinstar machines to turn my change into amazon gift cards (no charge). Not all coinstar machine do this, but this has also been a lifesaver. I save all my spare change for books. :D

 

As far as what books to use, I've utlized books lists from WTM, LCC, Sonlight, Veritas Press, and more to find titles to buy ahead.

[beezus]

I've purchased a lot of books for school from

http://www.betterworldbooks.com

 

Better World Books has free shipping within the U.S.

 

Others have mentioned Paperback Swap. We started using this last year and have obtained lots of books for school - not just novels, but a variety of workbooks, and several daybooks from Great Source. Certain books will have a long list of people wanting them, but if you learn to use the Wishlist feature at Paperback Swap, some things you want do eventually show up.

 

We also shop garage sales, Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul stores. Where I live, St. Vincent's has their books really well organized. Some of those books are still in really good shape. While it will be hard to find a specific book when you shop that way, you can still gradually build your personal library of useful items.

[Dawn E]

If any of you have younger kids (mine are turning 5 and 3 over the summer) what do you consider your best book purchases? What are the ones that are looked at over and over again, used for school the most, etc.?

 

 

Here are some of our favorites and most used:

 

A good dictionary (we use the American Heritage versions, first the "Children's" then the "Student's")

 

Readers/read-alouds from Sonlight/Ambleside Online lists--I read through the Ambleside Online lists and make sure to get catalogs from Sonlight each year so I can have an idea of great books to be on the lookout for online or at 2nd hand stores, etc.

 

Christian Liberty Press' Nature Readers--great for independent science reading--when they are ready--and great in combination with nature study.

 

Handbook of Nature Study

 

Usborne/DK reference books--For instance, Usborne has a series of First Encyclopedias (Animals, Ocean, Space, Human Body, etc.) which have been used often around here.

 

Let's Read and Find Out science readers

 

FIAR picture book lots for that age

 

I'll post more later if I think of them...

[EKS]

We do. I buy everything and it is expensive. But I keep telling myself that it's not nearly expensive as private school.

[Dinsfamily]

If any of you have younger kids (mine are turning 5 and 3 over the summer) what do you consider your best book purchases? What are the ones that are looked at over and over again, used for school the most, etc.?

 

Thank you

 

For 3 and 5yo (what I had just a few weeks ago until birthday season :D), check out Sonlight's P cores. I used P4/5 for ds6's K year and it was great! I'm continually reading P3/4 to all three of my boys. Most of the books are children's classics and could easily be found at a used bookstore.

[ALB]

I'm so glad for this post! We live in a non-English speaking place and I've always felt a little sorry for ourselves since we don't have any English library. I'm glad to know we're not the only ones purchasing every title!:001_smile:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Our first three years were pretty much on our own. I had a nice personal collection of books. I bought chapter books that the kids would enjoy from Scholastic fliers. I had my MIL send me boxes of books from the clearance section of Half Price Books. And I bought tons of books from Amazon and homeschool vendors.

 

I did have a little library at dh's work (we were overseas) that had a children's section about the size of my kid's bedroom. In our last year, I was able to get access to the library at one of the English language schools in town. (My middle son once told me that he wished he went to school. After I cleared the knot in my stomach, I asked why. Turned out that he figured he could double our family's allowance of library books if he were a student. I told the librarian the story and she smiled and added my dh to the account so we could take out 16 instead of just 8. DS was so thrilled that the book rationing was over.)

 

Before we homeschooled, we went to a church that had a church library and an affiliated school. I think that the homeschoolers at the church were able to check books out from the school library (at least at the elementary level). Maybe this would be an option for you. You might pay a fee at a private school but it might still be less than what you'd pay if you bought the books.

[Laura Corin]

We lived overseas with no library. We travelled to English-speaking cities at least once a year with an empty suitcase and filled it up at second hand shops. Buying second hand on the internet is also an option.

 

Laura

[DawnUK]

Yep. We live in the Middle East so it's pretty much Amazon. I've heard there's a Barnes & Noble on the island, but I haven't found it yet!

 

--Dawn

[Wheres Toto]

These are some great suggestions. Looks like I'm just going to have to tell DH that I need to go book shopping. :lol: (One of my absolute favorite activities)

 

I forgot all about Scholastic book fliers. I signed up for them and keep forgeting about ordering. Their prices are usually really good.

 

There is an amazing used book store in Connecticut - at one of the towns along the southern shore area. We used to have friends that lived close to it and I would haunt this place whenever we went to vist but they since moved to Mississippi.:sad: It was amazing with 5-6 separate buildings of books and a huge selection. I was in Heaven but so far I haven't been able to convince DH to make the 4 hour drive (one way) so I can buy books. I should check if they have a website, I think they might.

[Wheres Toto]

I found it - its the Book Barn in Niantic Ct. Some of you may be closer and should check it out. They do have a website but don't sell online (I guess that would be a lot to expect from a used book store).

 

http://www.bookbarnniantic.com/default.htm

 

I really have to convince DH we need to take a trip to coastal Connecticut.