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Pretty stressed about TOG book lists...


momteaches2
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OK. Calm me down, please. I'm starting to stress the TOG Y3 book lists. I got unit 1 in the mail today, and half the books recommended aren't available in my library. That makes for a VERY expensive curriculum. I'm beginning to rethink my plans for next year, but I have no idea what else I would use to teach 11th, 7th, and 2nd grades. :scared:

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The books for your 11th grader will be used again. The books for the younger ones can readily be resold since there are more K-8 homeschoolers than 9-12 homeschoolers. AND this is all cheaper than private school!!

 

At least, these are the things I tell my dh when the Visa bill comes in!!:lol:

 

I find that I have to buy a lot of the R level history books because they are used for so many weeks and are not readily available. However, the R level lit is usually very available at used book stores or library.

 

The opposite is true for the lower levels: you can find books on, say, the Erie Canal, for little kids in the library, but good literature for little ones is rare (unless you consider Junie B. Jones to be good lit!!).

 

Finally, I tell me dh that TOG is cheaper than purchasing 3 SL cores!

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OK. Calm me down, please. I'm starting to stress the TOG Y3 book lists. I got unit 1 in the mail today, and half the books recommended aren't available in my library. That makes for a VERY expensive curriculum. I'm beginning to rethink my plans for next year, but I have no idea what else I would use to teach 11th, 7th, and 2nd grades. :scared:

 

 

I never could find any of the books at my library either. Have you looked into half.com, paperback swap, amazon used, etc? You can find a lot of books way cheaper that way. Sometimes you can find TOG books used on homeschool sites. Just buy what you need per unit, not the whole year at once.

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:iagree:

I never could find any of the books at my library either. Have you looked into half.com, paperback swap, amazon used, etc? You can find a lot of books way cheaper that way. Sometimes you can find TOG books used on homeschool sites. Just buy what you need per unit, not the whole year at once.
:iagree:

 

I have also found the alternative lists are more often at my library...TOG has that thing about out of print books, so very often books listed are newer and not yet in the library system.

 

 

I NEVER buy new books and I save a fortune...last year my list was around $1200 and by the time I bought what I needed, I spent less than $300...$20 here, $20 there!

 

Subbing is easy for the 2nd grader...remember it's about content and facts in these years.

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I never could find any of the books at my library either. Have you looked into half.com, paperback swap, amazon used, etc? You can find a lot of books way cheaper that way. Sometimes you can find TOG books used on homeschool sites. Just buy what you need per unit, not the whole year at once.

 

I agree with Summer on this, as well as what the other posters have said. And buying by the unit is how I manage to get what we need. We never buy the whole year's books, but I do keep my eye out for ones we'll need up ahead and tuck them away. I often get them free or for very cheap and just set them aside. There are plenty of ways to save money with getting those resource books. And once you have them, you have them for the younger kiddos.

 

I have never used the library, for reasons I've listed on other threads. I just keep my eye open for what we need and start packing them in bit by bit.

 

There are books listed for sale on the TOG forum website, as well as here on this forum. (I have several YR 1 upper grammar reading books for example, all of which I bought brand new and am selling for almost half price. If I had younger children I'd be keeping them, but that is not the case for us. ) And there are numerous other hs websites that offer used curriculum such as Homeschool Lounge, HSLDA, Homeschool Classifieds, etc.

 

We love TOG so much that we go to the trouble to get the books, no matter what. The education my dd is getting is well, well worth the cost, inconvenience or challenge that it sometimes takes to pull everything together.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

Edited by HSMom2One
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Do you have a homeschoool group that is willing to share books?

 

I lent 2/3's of my SL5 books to a mom last fall who needed to save some money.

 

Always worth a shot...if you don't get any takers you won't have less than you when you started.

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Do you have a homeschoool group that is willing to share books?

 

I lent 2/3's of my SL5 books to a mom last fall who needed to save some money.

 

Always worth a shot...if you don't get any takers you won't have less than you when you started.

:iagree::iagree: I loaned all my books for year 1 to a friend. The same friend is taking my Y2 books for next year. We've decided to go halfsies for year 4, as I am coming up on it and she'll get there eventually. It made it possible for her to use TOG, I get blessed for sharing, and now we'll save some $$on year 4 together!

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Wow! I LOVE the idea of loaning groups of books out to co-op or hs group friends. What a great way to save money! I only wish I had someone to do this with because it is a super idea.

 

So between borrow from libraries or friends, book swap websites, and finding used curriculum and getting the books only by the unit, there are many ways to make TOG work.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

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Another option is inter-library loan. Most libraries can borrow more-or-less any book on your behalf from another library. Some libraries charge a nominal fee, but most don't. We've gotten quite obscure books this way, sometimes from libraries several states away. Very inexpensive way to go - ask about it at your library. The only downside is that you have to be somewhat flexible in your timing.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...
The books for your 11th grader will be used again. The books for the younger ones can readily be resold since there are more K-8 homeschoolers than 9-12 homeschoolers. AND this is all cheaper than private school!!

 

At least, these are the things I tell my dh when the Visa bill comes in!!:lol:

 

I find that I have to buy a lot of the R level history books because they are used for so many weeks and are not readily available. However, the R level lit is usually very available at used book stores or library.

 

The opposite is true for the lower levels: you can find books on, say, the Erie Canal, for little kids in the library, but good literature for little ones is rare (unless you consider Junie B. Jones to be good lit!!).

 

Finally, I tell me dh that TOG is cheaper than purchasing 3 SL cores!

 

 

:iagree: I try to buy the R and D level books and then pick and choose for UG and LG based on what I have here and what my library has available.

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Don't forget to check the book updates on the TOG site. As mentioned sometimes it is easier to get find the alternate titles listed on the assignment pages, other times it might be easier to find the book that was replaced in the book updates. Depending on how you access TOG you can print these assignment pages as well.

 

I go through my unit first just to mark availability, what I have, what my library has, and what of any book updates I want to look at (again usually looking at the older book, not the newer one ;)). Then I can go through and plan what I what to use and what I may wish to look to find or substitute for.

 

I have a post somewhere about what I actually bought this year. Oh, and check the TOG resources to see what may be in the public domain on the links. I need to order my Y3...

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OK. Calm me down, please. I'm starting to stress the TOG Y3 book lists. I got unit 1 in the mail today, and half the books recommended aren't available in my library. That makes for a VERY expensive curriculum. I'm beginning to rethink my plans for next year, but I have no idea what else I would use to teach 11th, 7th, and 2nd grades. :scared:

 

 

I have a lot of the UG and D level books that I would like to sell. If you are interested in them please send me a pm.

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