Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 A new homeschool bookstore opened up in our area. Yea! The next closest one is 45 minutes away. That one sells both new and consigned curricula, books, etc. It also sells a wide range of new homeschool materials from Singapore to Abeka to Story of the World to AAS etc. I've seen everything from soup to nuts in their consignment section. A friend just told me that the new, very convenient one will not accept anything that is Christian in nature for consignment and does not sell any curriculum that is Christian in nature. What is your take on this? (And if you don't mind identifying whether you are looking at that from a Christian point of view or a nonChristian point of view, I'd be interested in seeing the extent to which that affects (or doesn't affect) the take on it. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. :iagree: In our area, the bookstore probably wouldn't last. I mean, you can only sell so much HWOT :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helena Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I'm Muslim, and I think that sounds rotten. Maybe there's some reason that makes perfect sense once explained, but when reading it here as is, it's a turn off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dulcimeramy Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 A new homeschool bookstore opened up in our area. Yea! The next closest one is 45 minutes away. That one sells both new and consigned curricula, books, etc. It also sells a wide range of new homeschool materials from Singapore to Abeka to Story of the World to AAS etc. I've seen everything from soup to nuts in their consignment section. A friend just told me that the new, very convenient one will not accept anything that is Christian in nature for consignment and does not sell any curriculum that is Christian in nature. What is your take on this? (And if you don't mind identifying whether you are looking at that from a Christian point of view or a nonChristian point of view, I'd be interested in seeing the extent to which that affects (or doesn't affect) the take on it. ) My take is that it is certainly their prerogative to sell whatever they want in their own shop, but they are probably shooting themselves in the foot. If they want their business to succeed they probably shouldn't be quite so narrow. I can't blame them, though. If they do not wish to help Christian publishers make any money, or they feel that homeschooled children are not well-served by young earth science materials, or whatever their bias is, then of course they should run their business according to their own conscience and beliefs. There is nothing connecting homeschooling to Christianity. It doesn't belong to Christians. It shouldn't be assumed that a curriculum store would include Christian materials. I am a Christian, but I personally wouldn't want to sell many hs materials that are marketed as "Christian." I wouldn't sell sectarian lifestyle stuff that masquerades as homeschooling, either. One more thing, they might be trying to fill a badly-needed niche in the community for secular homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. Especially considering how many Christian homeschoolers there are. Unless this store is in a very non-religious area, they just cut out a rather large chunk of their potential clientel. I'd probably still check out the store for myself, to see what they offered (since I prefer to add my own spiritual elements to our homeschool, rather than having it pre-inserted into the curriculum), but I'd wonder how long they'd be in business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think they won't stay in business long. For years providers have refused to carry anything that wasn't explicitly Christian or not Christian enough for them. My guess is the new store is trying to be competitive with the other store by catering to a different clientele. Mostly I'm just mildly annoyed but resigned to dealing with these games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 What is your take on this? How unusual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think they won't stay in business long. For years providers have refused to carry anything that wasn't explicitly Christian or not Christian enough for them. My guess is the new store is trying to be competitive with the other store by catering to a different clientele. Mostly I'm just mildly annoyed but resigned to dealing with these games. In which case, they would be better off providing materials both Christian and non - resulting in all of the customers instead of half (or less). Perhaps you could point this out when they open? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I would be suprised by it and ask them their reason for it. Perhaps they just do not want to "compete" with other HS shops in the area? Did they perhaps make a deal of some sort? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think it would be lovely to have an exclusively secular homeschool store. There are so many resources for Christian hsing already, and for the secular hsers in the area, I'm sure it will be nice to not have to hunt through a hundred copies of Abeka books to find something they like. As you can see from my sig, I'm non-Christian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 A secular Jew here. If they do not wish to help Christian publishers make any money, or they feel that homeschooled children are not well-served by young earth science materials, or whatever their bias is, then of course they should run their business according to their own conscience and beliefs. This is the key, I suspect. I have a friend who sells second-hand books and mediates in the process sometimes. He says that while, if somebody explicitly asks for a specific work that he can get him by ordering from other sources, he will do so if he feels he is the only convenient way for the customer to get tit, but he will never openly offer certain types of works to people. His list of "I don't offer" works is quite interesting :tongue_smilie:, containing many diverse things, from New Testament to Dada, which he considers morally or aesthetically problematic. He just doesn't want to promote them, ergo, he doesn't offer them. Those who seek them will still find them, but elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I would be suprised by it and ask them their reason for it. Perhaps they just do not want to "compete" with other HS shops in the area? Did they perhaps make a deal of some sort? Like with the devil? :cheers2: j/k :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Well, I think this is perfectly OK. It is their business - they can do what they want. There is an under-served segment of the home education market that wants secular materials. They probably opened this store because they felt they personally weren't served by what it out there. Seeing that there are HS conferences that won't accept certain vendors because they aren't "Christian" enough, I don't see why anyone would have a problem with someone choosing to go the opposite direction. As a Christian of the Catholic variety, my faith really doesn't influence my decision much - other than I can identify with people who feel marginalized by the exclusive Christian homeschoolers (SOF issues, kids shunning mine because we weren't Christian enough, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I'm Muslim, and I think that sounds rotten. Maybe there's some reason that makes perfect sense once explained, but when reading it here as is, it's a turn off. :iagree:. That makes no sense what so ever from any point of view. Is there a big Christian Homeschool community where you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 It doesn't bother me. I would go to them to look for secular items that I use if I had no Christian things on my list. But if I had both Christian and secular things on my list I would go to the one that is farther away because I would only want to make one trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think it would be lovely to have an exclusively secular homeschool store. There are so many resources for Christian hsing already, and for the secular hsers in the area, I'm sure it will be nice to not have to hunt through a hundred copies of Abeka books to find something they like. As you can see from my sig, I'm non-Christian. :iagree: If the store can make a go of it, hooray for it! It would not survive in this area but my core group of five secular friends would shop there passionately. :D I am an atheist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Like with the devil? :cheers2: j/k :lol: Well....I would think with a Christian shop. I don't know what sort of non-competition issues there may be with a supplier and some suppliers do have them. I don't find the devil joke appropriate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 I think they won't stay in business long. For years providers have refused to carry anything that wasn't explicitly Christian or not Christian enough for them. My guess is the new store is trying to be competitive with the other store by catering to a different clientele. Mostly I'm just mildly annoyed but resigned to dealing with these games. Actually, the other store is pretty inclusive. I can't really think of any new secular materials that cater to homeschoolers (as opposed to public school textbooks) that they don't carry. There are plenty of public school text books in the used section, however. Lots of biology, environmental science, etc.etc right along with Apologia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Well....I would think with a Christian shop. I don't know what sort of non-competition issues there may be with a supplier and some suppliers do have them. I don't find the devil joke appropriate. My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) What is your take on this? Very strange...I guess they just want to serve a niche homeschool market rather than the whole homeschool market. Edited March 9, 2011 by CynthiaOK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I have no problem with what a business decides to sell or not to sell. When I first started homeschooling, I only used secular and would have shopped at such a place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Actually, the other store is pretty inclusive. I can't really think of any new secular materials that cater to homeschoolers (as opposed to public school textbooks) that they don't carry. There are plenty of public school text books in the used section, however. Lots of biology, environmental science, etc.etc right along with Apologia. Oh well then. No accounting for business sense, but that's their freedom. My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) Oh don't sweat it. That's how I took it and I thought it was funny.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Interesting. Depending upon your location there may be a wider market. I've never lived in an area with a homeschool bookstore, so ANY store within an hour would make me giddy. The ones I have visited seem to have been overrun with Old Abeka and BJU books. I know Abeka changes their editions so often something might be out of date before you're done using it. Perhaps he's trying to avoid a scenario where he is inundated with material like that. I would be interested to hear the real reason and wonder where they chose to draw the line. Is a secular curriculum written by a christian author acceptable? I you read the latest debate on SOTW, would it make the cut? Some says it's too christian, some says it's secular. If the area has a large group of secular homeschoolers it might fly. Otherwise they might just be shooting themselves in the foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) LOL! I laughed at the comment. But maybe that's because I'm reading Doctor Faustus right now :D and it just hit my funny bone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 :iagree:. That makes no sense what so ever from any point of view. Is there a big Christian Homeschool community where you live? There is a big homeschool community in general. I would guess that Christian homeschoolers are in the majority, but secular homeschoolers are certainly common within the homeschool community. The homeschool community, however, is a small percentage of the overall community, of course. There are both inclusive homeschool support groups and exclusive ones. One of the secular groups meets at a church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 I would be suprised by it and ask them their reason for it. Perhaps they just do not want to "compete" with other HS shops in the area? Did they perhaps make a deal of some sort? They are a good 40 minutes from the other store. The area has enough homeschoolers to support two stores for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dulcimeramy Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Is it a very small store? I can't think of enough secular materials to fill up the shelves of a whole store. Maybe a kiosk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) It would probably do well around here but we have a lot of secular homeschoolers here. They actually seem to be the majority - many are Christians but most seem to be homeschooling due to learning issues or problems with the school district. We don't have any homeschool stores just general teacher supply stores like Educational Warehouse. We do have a local Family Christian Books store which I believe someone told me carried some homeschool materials. The store owner may have personal convictions that lead them in this direction and, depending on where you are located, they may be able to do well. Edited to add: Of course, we are a very densely populated state and, due to no regulation, we have a lot of homeschoolers. A less populated area or one with less homeschoolers in general, would probably still have a real hard time staying open. I belong to 3 homeschool groups that do park days and meet-ups and 3 or 4 different yahoo groups. Around here it seems if Christian isn't in the title, inclusive is assumed. Edited March 9, 2011 by dottieanna29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3Monkeys Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 We are secular homeschoolers and it would be nice to have a shop like that where you already knew everything was secular rather than having to hunt through a handwriting curriculum for Bible verses :001_smile: Having said that, I think it's a pretty dumb business move. Even in our area, with a huge homeschooling population, the stores that cater to both Christian AND secular homeschoolers struggle. I can't imagine that they will be able to stay in business long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. :iagree: We are Catholic and use all secular materials, but I would love to be able to browse through some of the Christian publishers that I read so much about here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secular_mom Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Sounds to me like they are catering to non-Christian/secular hsing customers so I'd guess they don't care if they offend any potential Christian customers. I mean I doubt they'd mind having a customer who's Christian, but if there is a potential customer who is also Christian who would be offended by their policy (and possible make a stink about it) then I'd assume that's exactly the type of customer they wish to avoid. I can see the need for a store for homeschoolers that's not packed full of Christian materials- it would really save a lot of people a lot of time in browsing if they know upfront that none of the offerings are based on a 'worldview' with which they do not agree. Much the same as a Christian bookstore catering specifically to Christians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) The devil joke was funny!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Would one be equally baffled by a store that only sold from Christian publishers? I have received homeschool curriculum catalogs filled mostly with curriculum of that sort with the exception of a few books where I doubt even the most orthodox religious Christian would think twice about (spelling and math come to mind). Otherwise, everything else is Christian. I find THAT baffling. I'd shop there. Where is it? :D I was just about to say something similar. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) My take is that it is certainly their prerogative to sell whatever they want in their own shop, but they are probably shooting themselves in the foot. If they want their business to succeed they probably shouldn't be quite so narrow. I can't blame them, though. If they do not wish to help Christian publishers make any money, or they feel that homeschooled children are not well-served by young earth science materials, or whatever their bias is, then of course they should run their business according to their own conscience and beliefs. There is nothing connecting homeschooling to Christianity. It doesn't belong to Christians. It shouldn't be assumed that a curriculum store would include Christian materials. I am a Christian, but I personally wouldn't want to sell many hs materials that are marketed as "Christian." I wouldn't sell sectarian lifestyle stuff that masquerades as homeschooling, either. One more thing, they might be trying to fill a badly-needed niche in the community for secular homeschoolers. I can see how not supporting Christian publishers might be an issue of conscience, but what about their policy of not consigning anything Christian? That doesn't give money to any publisher. Edited March 9, 2011 by Laurie4b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbrother Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 This is slightly off topic, but I thought I had seen that you were maybe in Washington. If so, could you please let me know where both stores are. The only one I'm familiar with is consignment only. Thank You Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Actually, around here, I wouldn't expect a store that carried/consigned only Christian materials to do well, either. Most of the Christians I know do not use exclusively Christian material, but they might use some. I'm really curious to find out if stuff like SOTW or Joy Hakim's stuff is considered secular or Christian by this store... Edited March 9, 2011 by Laurie4b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindergretta Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) I thought it was :lol: ! Where are these stores?? I've never been to an IRL store for hs'ing, only online. I'd love to browse in an actual brick and mortar now and then. :D :lurk5: (I tend to worry about most small, specific stores in this economy. We have a lovely little store here that caters to natural mommy'ing with cloth dipes, organic baby clothing, Diva cups, etc. I am always worried they will disappear b/c their niche is so specific, kwim?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) A new homeschool bookstore opened up in our area. Yea! The next closest one is 45 minutes away. That one sells both new and consigned curricula, books, etc. It also sells a wide range of new homeschool materials from Singapore to Abeka to Story of the World to AAS etc. I've seen everything from soup to nuts in their consignment section. A friend just told me that the new, very convenient one will not accept anything that is Christian in nature for consignment and does not sell any curriculum that is Christian in nature. What is your take on this? (And if you don't mind identifying whether you are looking at that from a Christian point of view or a nonChristian point of view, I'd be interested in seeing the extent to which that affects (or doesn't affect) the take on it. ) We also have a new homeschool store in the area - very similar situation - and I've consigned there. They do (gladly!) take Christian materials... but they have specifically said that they won't be carrying the "big" Christian curricula - Abeka, Bob Jones, etc. Not out of any anti-Christian bias, but because that market is well served by the other store. The new store is really tiny, and they're saving as much space as they can to allow classes and groups to meet there. I could easily see that policy being misquoted as "not accepting anything Christian". It makes sense to me for a tiny store not to devote that much space to the full curricula that would tend to fill all their shelves. No one is going to come to their store for one book out of the entire set, and if they can't afford the space to carry the entire line, it's reasonable for them to leave that to the other store, which has more than three times their space. Edited March 9, 2011 by KAR120C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 What is your take on this? (And if you don't mind identifying whether you are looking at that from a Christian point of view or a nonChristian point of view, I'd be interested in seeing the extent to which that affects (or doesn't affect) the take on it. ) My take is that they seem to be cutting off their nose to spite their face. They certainly have the right to run their business however they want, and I've seen a few successful bookstores that are exclusively secular, but catering to an assumedly minority portion of an already small segment of the population seems unwise. Maybe they've done their homework and determined that their business is likely to succeed the way they're running it, but independent bookstores have a hard enough time without self-limiting to that degree. If I had the conviction that I didn't want to run a business that supported certain publishers, I would definitely want to make sure I could run a profitable business without them. I am a Christian, btw. I went to a Christian homeschool bookstore once and never went back--the owner seemed to be more concerned with promoting her ideology than selling books--she talked nonstop about YEC and "The Light and the Glory" and why virtual public schools are going to destroy homeschooling (after I told her I was a member of one). Her store is closed now. I personally wouldn't have a problem shopping at a Christian or a secular bookstore, though my hunch is that it would be more convenient to order online from Amazon or RR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 We also have a new homeschool store in the area - very similar situation - and I've consigned there. They do (gladly!) take Christian materials... but they have specifically said that they won't be carrying the "big" Christian curricula - Abeka, Bob Jones, etc. Not out of any anti-Christian bias, but because that market is well served by the other store. The new store is really tiny, and they're saving as much space as they can to allow classes and groups to meet there. I could easily see that policy being misquoted as "not accepting anything Christian". It makes sense to me for a tiny store not to devote that much space to the full curricula that would tend to fill all their space. No one is going to come to their store for one book out of the entire set, and if they can't afford the space to carry the entire line, it's reasonable for them to leave that to the other store, which has more than three times their space. I'll have to check that out. I can understand what you're saying about the complete Abeka, BJU, etc. stuff. (The other store only started carrying the Abeka type stuff within the past few years. They didn't always.) It's possible she misunderstood, She told me she was specifically told she couldn't consign anything "Christian." She uses Sonlight etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWOB Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I can see how not supporting Christian publishers might be an issue of conscience, but what about their policy of not consigning anything Christian? That doesn't give money to any publisher. I can understand not wanting to support certain Christian publishers. There is a Catholic bookstore about an hour or so away from me with a rather large selection of homeschooling materials. However, you will not find a single thing from BJU or Abeka. I understand completely this bookstore's decision to not carry these materials, as BJU and Abeka have a pretty low view of Catholicism. And even though I'm not Catholic, I find tons of great things there. Now, I do NOT understand not even allowing Christian materials for consignment. I would feel the same way if a Christian homeschool store wouldn't allow "secular" materials. That just stinks of serious control issues. But whatever. It isn't my business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funschooler5 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I would be very surprised to see that. It's up to the business owners how they want to run their shop, but it seems like they're cutting out a big market. We're secular homeschoolers, and as much as I'd love to have a secular store to shop in, I don't mind looking through Christian materials. I'm always kind of curious to see what's in them anyway. :001_smile: It seems like maybe they could just have different sections in the store, though, if they want to keep things sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. :iagree: I'm not Christian, but will use Christian materials if they're the best fit for my need. While I would happily patronize a bookstore oriented towards secular homeschooling, not selling Christian materials might mean that I'd turn to a different store (online or otherwise) first if I was looking for something specific, meaning they'd miss out on both that sale and any opportunity sales that might arise from an in-person visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Is it a very small store? I can't think of enough secular materials to fill up the shelves of a whole store. Maybe a kiosk. If their offerings included NEW items like supplemental resource materials (Evan-Moor), typical school supplies, educational toys, manipulatives, science & art supplies and equipment, and reference books as well as some NEW homeschool specific materials, it could very well work. If they are just selling used secular curriculum, I agree. They're limiting their sales too much by doing that and won't likely survive. There's so little out there that is secular and even less used. We have a learning store (not homeschool specific--more of a teacher supply store) in our town. The owner recently decided to share space with an office supply store so that expanded her stock even more (because her businesses were both struggling in this economy). It's not a consignment store though, and is not dependent on the homeschooling community for it's survival. She does not actually sell any curricula--just supplemental workbooks and pretty much everything else (like those really cool Folkmanis puppets :001_smile:). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My apologies. I meant it light-heartedly. (if that's a word) FWIW, I laughed too :D What I heard in my head was, "Could it beeeee...hmmmmm...SATAN???!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn in OH Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Points of faith aside, I think it's a foolish business model to limit the scope of your offerings in this economy. I agree. I prefer to buy secular materials, but if I were a store owner, I would most definitely carry both. By not carrying Christian materials, you are cutting out a large portion of your potential market. It just doesn't make sense from a business standpoint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccabillington Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 i dont they will have very full shelves, or be in business very long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 It's possible they are shooting themselves in the foot. Who knows, perhaps there is a big enough secular market to keep them going. Only time will tell, I guess. Personally, it's a private business and they can sell whatever they want. It wouldn't bother me in the least. I would view it the same as I view the random teacher's supply store. I don't expect to find any explicitly Christian materials there and I'm never disappointed. I would shop at a secular homeschool store if they carried something I was interested in buying. I am curious how they will handle secular materials written by Christian people as there seems to be some debate as how Christian is too Christian. I'm thinking about SOTW, for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 It's possible they are shooting themselves in the foot. Who knows, perhaps there is a big enough secular market to keep them going. Only time will tell, I guess. Personally, it's a private business and they can sell whatever they want. It wouldn't bother me in the least. I would view it the same as I view the random teacher's supply store. I don't expect to find any explicitly Christian materials there and I'm never disappointed. I would shop at a secular homeschool store if they carried something I was interested in buying. I am curious how they will handle secular materials written by Christian people as there seems to be some debate as how Christian is too Christian. I'm thinking about SOTW, for one. There is a huge store from the United Arts & Education chain near my mil. About the size of a small grocery filled with readers, manipulatives, quality puzzles and toys, workbooks, science equipment and lots of quality art stuff. I've often bought stuff there that I might have otherwise bought at Rainbow Resource. However, I'd also note that most of the education stores that I've been in also have a Sunday School section. It might only be stickers and bulletin board decorations, but there is typically a corner, even if all the rest of the education stuff is purely secular. I could see why a store might decide that they didn't want to sell certain items because they thought they were untruthful (Apologia or providential history as an example). What one huge used chain does in its flagship store is to put secular homeschooling materials and books specifically about how to homeschool (from any viewpoint) in the homeschooling shelves of the education section. However, I found that the Christian texts (Apologia, ABeka, Christian Liberty, etc) on any subject were filed in the religion section. I found this annoying because the store is huge and I don't always check the religion section at all. I only stumbled on these books because I was looking for info on monastic orders for our middle ages study. (I also found it slightly disdainful, as if only a religious nut would use these books and they should be kept from consideration by other homeschoolers. But I'm probably reading more into than I should. Maybe they were there because of a perception or statement from customers that they didn't want to have to go be confused in the education section?? :confused:) We also have a new homeschool store in the area - very similar situation - and I've consigned there. They do (gladly!) take Christian materials... but they have specifically said that they won't be carrying the "big" Christian curricula - Abeka, Bob Jones, etc. Not out of any anti-Christian bias, but because that market is well served by the other store. The new store is really tiny, and they're saving as much space as they can to allow classes and groups to meet there. I could easily see that policy being misquoted as "not accepting anything Christian". It makes sense to me for a tiny store not to devote that much space to the full curricula that would tend to fill all their shelves. No one is going to come to their store for one book out of the entire set, and if they can't afford the space to carry the entire line, it's reasonable for them to leave that to the other store, which has more than three times their space. Is this store not carrying new Abeka etc or won't consign it? I wasn't sure that ABeka was carried by anyone but their own catalog. (I don't think, for example, that rainbow resource carries it.) And I can also see how matching books would be a headache the way that ABeka changes editions. Were I running a used store, I'd probably only accept books in sets that covered a group of books with the teacher guide. And since the workbooks are consumable, you probably wouldn't get many of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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