National Geographic Magazines: Keep or No?

[scrappyhappymama]

I have a collection of National Geographic magazines I got a a library sale almost 10 years ago. They are mostly from the 60's- 80's but some earlier and some newer.

 

I always thought that a NG collection would be SO cool to have in a home library. I imagined using them a lot as a living resource for homeschooling.

 

But, we've moved several times in the last ten years and lugging them around is getting really tiresome. My husband has suggested getting rid of them, especially since we also have the "complete" collection of National Geographics software. But, the software is not the same, it's not easily readable or searchable and the pictures are not nearly as amazing as having them in our hands.

 

On the other hand, the collection takes up several shelves of prime bookshelf space. We have also not used the magazines nearly as much as I envisioned. More as an occasional pick up and flip through than as an actual resource.

 

I'm setting up our school room in our new house and trying to cull through the homeschooling resources we really use to make things more organized and less cluttered. I'm starting to think that the NGs are not going to make the cut. My head says they need to go to a new home; my heart says "NO!"

 

What says the hive?

Edited November 2, 2011 by scrappyhappymama

[Beth S]

My dad collects them. I'd donate them to Goodwill. Too much of a dust collector.

 

Here's a bookshelf made from old NG mags if you need some alternative use (and inspiration).

 

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/shelf-made-from-back-issues-of-nati.html

[MeaganS]

If you use them, keep them. If you haven't ever used them or used them very rarely, then get rid of them.

[Murmer]

let your kids loose on them with scissors to make a collage!

[cougarmom4]

let your kids loose on them with scissors to make a collage!

 

:iagree:

[Karen in CO]

If you were keeping them with the idea of using them in homeschooling, your kids are still a little young to make that determination. I'd wait a few years until they start reading non-fiction for fun before you decide. I'd actually box them away until closer to middle school age then put them on a shelf and see.

[Farrar]

let your kids loose on them with scissors to make a collage!

 

I was also going to suggest you keep a box full for collages!

[pooh bear]

Send them to me?

 

My son would love them. He has a stack of them that he reads a lot, over and over and over and over again.

[HS Mom in NC]

voted

[vonfirmath]

I always thought National Geographics were for cutting up for projects....

[AHASRADA]

I am a book collector at heart. I have collected numerous homeschooling books with the intention of lending them to interested friends. I have painstakingly compiled complete sets of series, over periods of years, because I felt it would be great for the kids to have all the books in one place in order to read the whole series. I also bought multiple copies of Highlights magazines at book sales before dc were even old enough to read them, remembering how much I enjoyed them as a child and expecting them to enjoy them just as much when they were a bit older.

 

As our family has grown and living/storage space has shrunk, I have had to completely rethink my priorities when it comes to clutter and "collections".

 

The homeschooling books? If I have no intention of reading them again, I can keep a list of titles and recommend them to friends. I don't need to be a personal lending library!

 

The series sets I worked so hard to compile? We never got around to reading hardly any of them. They sit there on the shelf, conjuring up visions of the cozy family reading time that never was, and likely never will be, since the dc have nearly grown beyond the story lines anyway.

 

And the Highlights magazines? I finally ended up selling and giving them away at book sales. The kids never read them.

 

A lot of times books represent an idealized image we have of family and school time. This might not mesh with our dc's visions, or it might just not work out in practicality.

 

IMHO, the likelihood that your dc are going to use 30-50 year old magazines as an educational resource is slim. They may flip through them once in a great while. Is this worth the space they take up? I doubt it. You have the software as a reference, and if you really need to see the photos in person, they must have copies at the library.

 

In my experience, it can take quite a while to let go of the dream and resign myself to the fact that we really never are going to use these books, and allow myself to let go of them. However, for your sanity, happiness, and effectiveness of organization, it is usually best to let go of clutter than to allow it to choke the life out of your home.

 

Just sayin'

[Teachin'Mine]

If you were keeping them with the idea of using them in homeschooling, your kids are still a little young to make that determination. I'd wait a few years until they start reading non-fiction for fun before you decide. I'd actually box them away until closer to middle school age then put them on a shelf and see.

 

:iagree:

[scrappyhappymama]

I am a book collector at heart. I have collected numerous homeschooling books with the intention of lending them to interested friends. I have painstakingly compiled complete sets of series, over periods of years, because I felt it would be great for the kids to have all the books in one place in order to read the whole series. I also bought multiple copies of Highlights magazines at book sales before dc were even old enough to read them, remembering how much I enjoyed them as a child and expecting them to enjoy them just as much when they were a bit older.

 

As our family has grown and living/storage space has shrunk, I have had to completely rethink my priorities when it comes to clutter and "collections".

 

The homeschooling books? If I have no intention of reading them again, I can keep a list of titles and recommend them to friends. I don't need to be a personal lending library!

 

The series sets I worked so hard to compile? We never got around to reading hardly any of them. They sit there on the shelf, conjuring up visions of the cozy family reading time that never was, and likely never will be, since the dc have nearly grown beyond the story lines anyway.

 

And the Highlights magazines? I finally ended up selling and giving them away at book sales. The kids never read them.

 

A lot of times books represent an idealized image we have of family and school time. This might not mesh with our dc's visions, or it might just not work out in practicality.

 

IMHO, the likelihood that your dc are going to use 30-50 year old magazines as an educational resource is slim. They may flip through them once in a great while. Is this worth the space they take up? I doubt it. You have the software as a reference, and if you really need to see the photos in person, they must have copies at the library.

 

In my experience, it can take quite a while to let go of the dream and resign myself to the fact that we really never are going to use these books, and allow myself to let go of them. However, for your sanity, happiness, and effectiveness of organization, it is usually best to let go of clutter than to allow it to choke the life out of your home.

 

Just sayin'

 

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to read. I definitely have an idealized picture of what these magazines would mean for our family. I started collecting them before I even had children!

 

On the other hand, we also collected Disney movies on VHS in the years before we had children. And by the time we had children old enough to enjoy them, we no longer had a working VCR. So we ended up getting rid the movies on video and buying the ones we really wanted in the newer formats. Along the same lines, I do have to admit that it's much more likely my children will use the internet for research than sift through shelves of old magazines.

 

And while I appreciate all the suggestions to use them a collage material, which my children would LOVE, the thought makes me queasy! It would be like letting them cut up a set of encyclopedias or real books. For some reason, I don't mind cutting up other magazines, but these... I just can't! I'd rather get rid of them and not know what happens to them.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! The weight of the poll really helps too.

[ereks mom]

I would keep only the valuable ones, if you have any. According to the National Geographic websiteL "Serious collectors prize the magazines from the first twenty-five years of the Society's history [1888-1913]. There are many "special issues" which are highly regarded as well." So if you have any of the really old ones or any of the special issues, keep those, and get rid of the rest.

[SJ.]

I can't answer because I have a stack of them that I am keeping so I can finish reading them and so I can use them with my boys...

 

:leaving:

[Jenny in Atl]

let your kids loose on them with scissors to make a collage!

 

:iagree:

 

They're awesome for projects, collages, cards, etc!

[Brenda in FL]

If you were keeping them with the idea of using them in homeschooling, your kids are still a little young to make that determination. I'd wait a few years until they start reading non-fiction for fun before you decide. I'd actually box them away until closer to middle school age then put them on a shelf and see.

 

This is our experience - my son is 13 and he is just now using them as sources for research topics. You can access an online index to search for subjects.

 

However - you can do that with your cd-rom collection and they are a pain to lug from one move to the next.

 

We had boxes and boxes given to us (other than our own subscription). We gave most of those away - I posted on a local homeschool loop that they were free for the taking. But when we had them out ready to give away, I got to looking through them and kept several that I thought would complement our history cycles. We found others to keep as well - like the one with the cool holographic cover.

[Punchie]

I just got rid of a lot of our NGs. It was a hard decision, but they rarely, if ever, get looked at after the first reading. Plus I was getting sick of moving them back and forth across the country. I feel your pain.

[jennsmile]

I am sure a public school teacher might enjoy them for her class, just don't ask what she is going to do with them as it might involve cutting.

[Mary in VA]

let your kids loose on them with scissors to make a collage!

 

:iagree::iagree:My 17 yo artist dd has made several beautiful collages with our NGs.

 

But this poll made me laugh and I voted to get rid of them. This has been an ongoing battle with my dh for YEARS. We were a military family and those magazines have moved all over with us. I would love to get rid of them, but he can't bear to part with them. One year I got him the entire collection of NG on CD Rom for Christmas, but "it's not the same!" I put up with them now because they are on an old bookshelf in our garage and my dd uses them for art projects. My 21 yo El Ed major dd wants us to keep them so she can use them for art projects for her students one day. I believe they are going to outlast me!!

 

Mary

 

Mary

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I might keep a few if they had really interesting cover art or a special story that issue but would probably let them go ....but I keep all my recipe mags LOL---