Someone tell me if this is a good idea or will end up going horribly wrong.

[Guest inoubliable]

Books for next year are starting to roll in. Not just textbooks. Books. Textbooks, too. This will be our third year, consecutively, of home schooling. With three kids. As I look around at the house, and I look at these boxes of books that I need to find room for, I'm starting to feel cluttered and a little panicky.

 

I mentioned this to DH last night. We're both minimalists and he said that he was starting to feel the same way about the clutter and wondering how I was going to find a place for it all. The talk ended with the idea to scan books. I remembered that a boardie did this in anticipation for moving overseas (I think the overseas part is right). I love the idea of this. I have a nifty little scanner and I'll have plenty of time now that we're taking this week and next week off of school so that DS5 and I can rest and recover.

 

My big question is "where do I save the files?" I'm a little paranoid about backup. My thought was to scan them, save as pdf files, and then put them on the Nooks and Kindle, depending on which kid needed it for the year. I don't trust this laptop to keep saved files on. Dropbox, maybe? We already use it to keep our school stuff on. I have an external hard drive, too, that I keep the same files on. Is there another, more trustworthy, place I should consider?

 

My other question is after I've got them saved, is there a way to put the books back together? I'm thinking that I'll have to slice off the binding to do this. Can I reglue the pages together and glue the cover part back on? If I can do that, then I could donate them, maybe to another homeschooling family.

 

So. Good idea? Bad idea?

[tex-bex]

It sounds like a nightmare to me! That's a lot of work!

[*Lulu*]

Is the problem that materials from one year to the next are being kept for a younger student?

[4kidlets4me]

I have bought several books in PDF format and have them stored in Dropbox with and extra copy on my external hard drive. If I understand how Dropbox works you can access the files from any computer so if your laptop crashed you'd still have access to them. That said scanning a ton of books sounds like a pain in the a$$.

 

Can you pack up this years books as you finish them to make room for next years?

[Dandelion]

I admire your gumption but this sounds like a heck of a lot of work to me too. Personally, I wouldn't do it.

 

Do you have a good library system? Another thought is to cross-reference your book collection with what's available at your library, and donate the books that you'll be able to check out when needed.

[KungFuPanda]

It might be easier to put doors on your bookcase. The logistics of all that scanning, making sure every child has a device that won't crash, and trusting that nothing will be lost in the process seems a lot lot more complicated than storing the books you need neatly and purging what you don't use.

[Um_2_4]

I worked for a company once that wanted to go back and scan in older records. We had a commercial scanner....It was a nightmare... talk about time...and paper cuts LOL

I would not suggest it (and our files were already loose papers, we did not have to remove bindings)!

How about looking into redoing a closet with shelves and make that you bookshelf, so then you won't have to "look" at it.

I do understand. I was HSing 2 with 2 toddlers in 800 sq ft (so I had a big Rubbermaid bin of "tot bags" to keep them busy in addition to books for 2) up until a few months ago.

Rubbermaid bins under beds also could work if you don't have a closet to redo. Each kid has one or each subject.

[itsheresomewhere]

It sounds like a massive migraine to me. I would store the items you aren't using right now and sell the ones you will not use again.

[Parrothead]

I'd rather build bookshelves than attempt what you are thinking of doing.

[Swimtaxi234]

I think it sounds like a nightmare too!

 

I am scanning photos for my Mother after she ripped all of the photos out of her 17-18 photo albums. It is mind-numbing to scan photo after photo and when I stop for a day (or two or five - LOL), I have to try to remember if I scanned certain photos, so when in doubt, I scan them again.

 

 

Based on that, I can't help but think about how many double page scans you will have and/or missed pages since you are probably a busy Mom like me.

[Um_2_4]

I'd rather build bookshelves than attempt what you are thinking of doing.

 

:lol: Well, I'd rather build bookshelves any day. I mean when can I NOT use more bookshelves :smilielol5:

[KungFuPanda]

Also, do the math. Scanning is slow and tedious. How long to scan one page? One book? Every book?

 

 

[Guest inoubliable]

Ha! Okay, I give!

 

I do have one big bookcase/entertainment center from IKEA and that's where most of our books go. This house is small and we have very little room for even totes and bins to store things in. I've pulled out things that we don't use already and would never use again and that helped a bit. I was keeping books/textbooks/workbooks that the younger kids would get into eventually, but those are in the bottom half of my china cabinet. I think I'm going to look at some small bookcases for the children's rooms.

[elegantlion]

There really wouldn't be a good way to put the books back together. You could 3 hole punch and use book rings, but that's not really the same.

 

The other sounds like a nightmare in itself. Also, are you children ones who can learn from a screen. Some kids prefer the real thing. My son, who is a computer nerd, can't stand to read off the computer (we don't have tablets). I would hate to go through all the work and discover your child hated working that way.

 

I'd rather find some decent matching bookshelves and keep the lines simple.

[laughing lioness]

I "collected" books till we had a house fire 3 1/2 years ago. We lost a TON of books. We hadn't lived w/in a good library system for almost 20 yrs so it seemed reasonable. But, I'll tell you, throwing away all of those books/ the time/money/shelves/soring we'd done over the years- argh!

We now pay $60 a year to be part of a bigger library system and I hardly every buy books. We use it like crazy- pre-order, ILL, movies, books on tapes, etc. Worth every penny and waaaaayy cheaper and less cluttered.

 

Honestly, I "saved" homeschool books for my youngers too and threw away $1000's of dollars worth of them. No more. There are soo many new products on the market. I only save the things that are timeless- Alphaphonics, draw right now, Genevieive Foster books- other than that, no.

[Um_2_4]

Do you have coffee tables? If so how about getting a tall/thin bin or stack several to store upcoming books (next unit in history or science etc) and cover it with a table cloth to replace them. TA-DA more space.....

I did this once when I was teaching in a school and I stored books at home to prep lessons for upcoming semesters. It was just DH and I in a small place and he did not want to look at my books LOL

[Supertechmom]

Do you have any storage space anywhere?. Say the attic, under stairs or even a crawl space? I saw a house that had a door in the floor to the crawl space and had finished out part of it to house books. Other tricks I have tried - book shelves with doors, bins under the beds, installing a shelf high in the top of the closets and stacking books there. I have a cute shelf that has baskets that stores current school books. I have a friend that uses those big storage ottomans and storage benches as well. I do only keep Teacher manuals and certain programs that I know I want to use with the younger kids. I keep only really expensive collge texts that would cost a lot to replace but are only updated for silly things like a new picture not update for real content. But it is still a lot of books. Our history and literature are only what I can't get readily from the library or on kindle. I do have a line of classics that are at least matched. My hubby is a minimalist and the books absolutely kill him. He says you can just never make them look good. LOL! Oh!!! I saw an ikea hack using that really thin narrow shoe holder cabinet to hold books!

[PrairieSong]

I vote bookcases, and using the library.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

This is one reason I decided to buy a Kindle. I still buy physical books, but not as many as before. It won't help with the books you already have, but it would help with the incoming ones.

 

I know some people say they would never get a Kindle or similar device. I often wonder if they all have fantastic libraries, huge houses, or both.

[caroljenn]

Ha! Okay, I give!

 

I do have one big bookcase/entertainment center from IKEA and that's where most of our books go. This house is small and we have very little room for even totes and bins to store things in. I've pulled out things that we don't use already and would never use again and that helped a bit. I was keeping books/textbooks/workbooks that the younger kids would get into eventually, but those are in the bottom half of my china cabinet. I think I'm going to look at some small bookcases for the children's rooms.

 

 

This is us. I have books stuffed everywhere. We are between houses and in an apartment. For a few more months, I will have them piled up on dressers, stuffed in the drawer of the coffee table, in a small table type hutch- anywhere I can find. Not to mention the bookcases that are stuffed full!

 

Hope you figure out a solution.

[Orthodox6]

Expense of reprinting the files?

Print with or without illustrations and diagrams?

Children not well-suited to reading masses of information on a computer screen? (Never mind that their eye doctor would break outin hives at the thought!)

 

We are book people. Extensively so. I would not purchase a book that had been dismantled and reassembled, unless there was no other way possible to access the same information. (Hole-punched PDF files are not in that category; they are fine.)

 

If you belong to a homeschool co-op, does it maintain a library? You could "lend" your overflow books as a "long-term donation", with rights to reclaim at any time. If you do belong to a group, and it does not currently have a lending library (and has space to house ne), you might be doing a great favor for other families, as well!

[Orthodox6]

This is one reason I decided to buy a Kindle. I still buy physical books, but not as many as before. It won't help with the books you already have, but it would help with the incoming ones.

 

I know some people say they would never get a Kindle or similar device. I often wonder if they all have fantastic libraries, huge houses, or both.

 

 

I have a Kindle, as does DS#3. We use ours only for public domain texts. It's been great for us both!

 

We do have a very extensive home library and, thankfully, a large house in which to maintain it.

 

The local library is fairly good, but does not stock much of what interests us at this point in life. (We don't read bestsellers, for example.) After all these years, I still pine for the libraries at Duke University and at UT-Austin. They spoiled me for later life.

[vonfirmath]

It sounds like a nightmare to me! That's a lot of work!

 

 

I worked at a job where we digitized all the files for one office of the National flood insurance program. It took about 10 of us nearly all summer to do it. We had to take EVERYTHING apart. They ran it through a high power scanner and then we put it all back together. We didn't have any books to take apart. But some were bound with this comb binding stuff and that we could put back together -- but it was a pain.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

We do have a very extensive home library and, thankfully, a large house in which to maintain it.

 

 

If you ever needed to move to a smaller space would you buy more Kindle books?

[elegantlion]

 

If you ever needed to move to a smaller space would you buy more Kindle books?

 

I wouldn't mind a Kindle, but it would never replace real books for me. We have about 1100 sf, and probably over 1,500 books. Some are still in storage with a few of my bookcases, but by the end we'll have books in every room. We have less of other stuff, just more books.

[Guest inoubliable]

I "collected" books till we had a house fire 3 1/2 years ago. We lost a TON of books. We hadn't lived w/in a good library system for almost 20 yrs so it seemed reasonable. But, I'll tell you, throwing away all of those books/ the time/money/shelves/soring we'd done over the years- argh!

We now pay $60 a year to be part of a bigger library system and I hardly every buy books. We use it like crazy- pre-order, ILL, movies, books on tapes, etc. Worth every penny and waaaaayy cheaper and less cluttered.

 

Honestly, I "saved" homeschool books for my youngers too and threw away $1000's of dollars worth of them. No more. There are soo many new products on the market. I only save the things that are timeless- Alphaphonics, draw right now, Genevieive Foster books- other than that, no.

 

First, I read about your fire. :( How awful.

Second, I "lost" over 1000 books a couple of summers ago - voluntarily, though. I just packed up boxes and boxes and took them to Goodwill. It was just too much and I got annoyed with how often we moved, how much space it took up to bring them along, and how often they went unpacked for lack of space. We're no where near that today, but the amount is creeping up there. I could check out another library system, but being a one-car family means I'd have to find one with a nice selection of ebooks, to get much out of it.

 

Do you have coffee tables? If so how about getting a tall/thin bin or stack several to store upcoming books (next unit in history or science etc) and cover it with a table cloth to replace them. TA-DA more space.....

I did this once when I was teaching in a school and I stored books at home to prep lessons for upcoming semesters. It was just DH and I in a small place and he did not want to look at my books LOL

 

Our coffee tables have our Desk Apprentices under them already! LOL. DH is supposed to build a platform for our bed in the next few months, so maybe I can get some storage space built in to that.

 

Do you have any storage space anywhere?. Say the attic, under stairs or even a crawl space? I saw a house that had a door in the floor to the crawl space and had finished out part of it to house books. Other tricks I have tried - book shelves with doors, bins under the beds, installing a shelf high in the top of the closets and stacking books there. I have a cute shelf that has baskets that stores current school books. I have a friend that uses those big storage ottomans and storage benches as well. I do only keep Teacher manuals and certain programs that I know I want to use with the younger kids. I keep only really expensive collge texts that would cost a lot to replace but are only updated for silly things like a new picture not update for real content. But it is still a lot of books. Our history and literature are only what I can't get readily from the library or on kindle. I do have a line of classics that are at least matched. My hubby is a minimalist and the books absolutely kill him. He says you can just never make them look good. LOL! Oh!!! I saw an ikea hack using that really thin narrow shoe holder cabinet to hold books!

 

Sadly, no. All the storage space we have is being used. We have a basement, but it's unfinished. Dirt floor, lots of mold and mildew, no lights. We don't use it at all. It's awful for our allergies. Since we're in a rental, there's little we can do to change that. So far I'm trying to keep mostly reference books and have a small stack of books that the kids would read through the school year in the bookcase, and the teacher manuals and workbooks/textbooks go in our Desk Apprentices for the school year. Anything not being used, but saved for a little, goes in the china cabinet. I'm starting to think that maybe I should explore school with less books...

 

I vote bookcases, and using the library.

 

Our library is small. Pitiful, too. Someone upthread mentioned paying for another, nearby library system. I'll look into that.

 

This is one reason I decided to buy a Kindle. I still buy physical books, but not as many as before. It won't help with the books you already have, but it would help with the incoming ones.

 

I know some people say they would never get a Kindle or similar device. I often wonder if they all have fantastic libraries, huge houses, or both.

 

Yep! The kids got ereaders from different people over the years and I bought a Nook when they first came out. Just for this reason - to keep from having so many physical books. I can't imagine homeschooling without them, to be honest. I just don't have the space to keep so much physically, and our library is bleh.

[TraceyS/FL]

Even though you decided to skip the scanning i'll still throw this out. I have a ScanSnap 2 sided scanner (the smaller one), and it still took me awhile to scan DDs MUS book so I can reprint her pages if needed (she has learning disabilities, and I learned the hard way last book about not having a copy for her to redo the chapter). I also did some other stuff so that I could just print what I needed from "here" instead of finding where i put it, going back and copying it....

 

Anyway, it was slooowwwww going. UGH.

 

I do buy all that I can in eBook form, or borrow it (DD has access to more ebooks that most people because of her vision issues), this way, no one can see how many BOOKS i have on my iPad. Shhhhhh........ :D

 

HOpefully you can find a spot for them that works for everyone!

[KungFuPanda]

Kids are short and rarely use the top half of their walls. I say mount bookshelves about 2 feet from their ceilings and store the books in the room of the kid who is currently using it, or will grow into it next. Then, you only have to keep the books you're using this week/month/semester in the part of the house where you school.

[Halftime Hope]

Like KFP's suggestion, high perimeter bookshelves can be put in almost any room, and they are not underfoot or in the way. : ) If you need to store workbooks and other things that are "messy" you can always put them in fabric boxes on the shelves.

[fairfarmhand]

We hung wall mounted, bracket bookcases in my dd's room. Dh kept saying "Are you sure you don';t want me to just build a book case?" But no, I wanted that floor space underneath. We went almost all the way to the ceiling and she can push her desk under the cases. I'd love to do this in a couple other bedrooms but my dh has this weird phobia about nailing holes in the wall.

[twoxcell]

This really confuses me. Why would you want to do this? :confused1: If you want ebooks then buy a kindle and download them. Otherwise build some bookshelves. :lol:

[Night Elf]

Hmm... I would imagine that if you took the books apart and put them together again that you would get very little for them when you sold them. And you would have to disclose their exact condition. Would you really buy a book like that to use as a real book? Workbooks are different, but regularly bound books like reading books and textbooks? Nah, unless I'm misunderstanding what kinds of books you mean.

 

I like the idea of mounting bookshelves on the upper part of the walls. We did that in the living room and in my dd's room. I think they look nice.

[Guest inoubliable]

We hung wall mounted, bracket bookcases in my dd's room. Dh kept saying "Are you sure you don';t want me to just build a book case?" But no, I wanted that floor space underneath. We went almost all the way to the ceiling and she can push her desk under the cases. I'd love to do this in a couple other bedrooms but my dh has this weird phobia about nailing holes in the wall.

 

 

This might work! I'm always up for a trip to IKEA, too, so... Ordinarily I wouldn't put holes in a rental's walls but we'll probably end up painting this place before we go.

 

This really confuses me. Why would you want to do this? :confused1: If you want ebooks then buy a kindle and download them. Otherwise build some bookshelves. :lol:

 

 

I guess I thought it was obvious. LOL. Some books that I have aren't available as an ebook.

[Chris in VA]

KK, you could take the books you are storing out of the china cab and put them on top of door frames--just attach a shelf over the door inside your kiddos' bedrooms or closet doors and there ya go. Store your others in the china cab. (Ikea is your friend!)

 

You could also hang something like this on the back of your closet doors or even on your kiddos' bedroom doors. I'd ask your landlord for permission--but he might even give you some off your rent, as it would be a property improvement.

[Guest inoubliable]

KK, you could take the books you are storing out of the china cab and put them on top of door frames--just attach a shelf over the door inside your kiddos' bedrooms or closet doors and there ya go. Store your others in the china cab. (Ikea is your friend!)

 

Good idea. Apparently I was ignoring one of the first rules of living in a tiny house - maximize your vertical space!

[texasmama]

This is unconventional, but I might consider building/hanging a bookshelf high up, near the ceiling in the kids' rooms. That would keep them out of the way but allow you to keep them. You would have to pay me a great deal of money to scan the books. That sounds like it would go horribly wrong.

[twoxcell]

I guess I thought it was obvious. LOL. Some books that I have aren't available as an ebook.

Maybe it was. I'm having one of those days. :huh: Just reading your idea made me go :ohmy: . Hehe, sounds like a nightmare to me. :tongue_smilie:

[Unicorn.]

Well, my solution is that you just need more bookcases! I do have to say, that reading your posts about scanning books, and not keeping them, sent me into a panic! Seriously, starting having breathing issues and it sent my heart racing! I'm going to go eat some chocolate, and try to calm down, now.

[TechWife]

I vote for bad idea because unless you have specific copyright permission to store the book electronically or digitally, you are violating a copyright. Without specific permission to copy from the publisher, you are violating a copyright. You bought one book, not two. If you were to get specific permission from a publisher to do this, it would likely come with the caveat that you destroy the original books, not reassemble them and sell them or give them away.

 

Sorry.

 

On the other hand, traditional textbook publishers are now making digital copies of their books available, either on CDROM or as a download. Hopefully homeschool publishers won't be too far behind!

[Forget-Me-Not]

Yeah I was going to say major copyright issues too. That aside, just the thought of attempting that is migraine-inducing!

[Orthodox6]

I vote for bad idea because unless you have specific copyright permission to store the book electronically or digitally, you are violating a copyright. Without specific permission to copy from the publisher, you are violating a copyright. You bought one book, not two. If you were to get specific permission from a publisher to do this, it would likely come with the caveat that you destroy the original books, not reassemble them and sell them or give them away.

 

Sorry.

 

On the other hand, traditional textbook publishers are now making digital copies of their books available, either on CDROM or as a download. Hopefully homeschool publishers won't be too far behind!

 

I held off from mentioning the copyright issues. Decided that this librarian would take the day off from that one! But since the topic surfaced, yes, this is a wholly illegal proposition.

[twoxcell]

I held off from mentioning the copyright issues. Decided that this librarian would take the day off from that one! But since the topic surfaced, yes, this is a wholly illegal proposition.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Moxie]

What about bed risers? Then you could store more under the beds.

[Orthodox6]

What about bed risers? Then you could store more under the beds.

 

I can't help it. This post reminded me of the Marx Brothers film, "The Big Store", which we watched last week (for the zillionth time). KKinVa, try to find a copy of this movie and watch for the scene in the beds department. You might glean some good ideas! :001_smile:

[Orthodox6]

 

If you ever needed to move to a smaller space would you buy more Kindle books?

 

I dream of living in a smaller house! The book-vultures (AKA my children) already have claimed what they consider "theirs" for the future. They won't have much more inheritance than that, so at least they are happy!

 

More Kindle books? Probably not. I'm happy as a clam with all of the no-cost, public domain titles available. That is just a function of my reading preferences, though.

 

I do appreciate a fine hardback book, both for the artistic elements of bindings, endpapers, illustrations, and font. and for the "feel" of a book in my hands. Liking an e-reader does not conflict with this, because there is a legitimate place for such, and I'm happy they exist.

[gaillardia]

Are you doing the 4 year plan in homeschooling, where you'll touch on the same topics (only more in depth on the 2nd and 3rd time around) every four years in science, history, art, music?

This allowed me more freedom from book clutter as I could pack away all books not needed for that school year.

Also, I don't stick to the exact time frames I've seen mentioned for the years and then the books we need from the library are available and I don't have to buy them and can also put them on reserve in some cases and renew 3 times (unless someone else has put them on hold).

You say you've gotten rid of a lot of books, but I've been quite relieved to see a lot of the books recommended by SWB in our library system. Yay!

[Amira]

Well, since I'm the one who actually did scan all our books before going overseas, I don't think it's crazy. I LOVE that I still have all my books but they don't take up any space. I have them backed up in four or five different places, in addition to living on the devices. Works great for us.

 

It did take a long time to do, but since we move all.the.time (we're in the middle of our 18th move this week), I have zero regrets and it saves me so much time and effort now, and since we always have lived in small spaces, it's been nice even during the months we're not moving.

 

It would be easier to do now that there are many more books available as ebooks, and it would be easier if we always lived in the US because the library could replace a lot of books. I scanned 600 books when I did it almost three years ago and sold or donated another 400 that I could get as ebooks.

 

One other advantage to ebooks is that they're much more accessible than stored books. Before I scanned our books, I almost never could have them all out on shelves which is really annoying when you want to get to your books. It's much easier with them on devices or hard drives.

 

Like I said, zero regrets and so many advantages.

 

Also, we avoided the copyright issues by recycling every book we scanned (I had to, since I destroyed them to scan them). It's certainly not clear copyright law that it's illegal to simply change the format of the book. I could copy an entire book for my own use and store the copy and the original at my house without violating copyright law.

[Guest inoubliable]

Are you doing the 4 year plan in homeschooling, where you'll touch on the same topics (only more in depth on the 2nd and 3rd time around) every four years in science, history, art, music?

This allowed me more freedom from book clutter as I could pack away all books not needed for that school year.

Also, I don't stick to the exact time frames I've seen mentioned for the years and then the books we need from the library are available and I don't have to buy them and can also put them on reserve in some cases and renew 3 times (unless someone else has put them on hold).

You say you've gotten rid of a lot of books, but I've been quite relieved to see a lot of the books recommended by SWB in our library system. Yay!

 

Yes, we're definitely doing the four year plan. Two of my kids are on the same cycle, and the littlest is a year behind. I think I'll pull out any books not being used for this year and see what that leaves me with. I have no room for multiple totes of books, but I can maybe squeeze more into the china cabinet.

Our library system hardly ever has anything I look for. :( I did just read a thread here about someone who requested that their library buy some titles. Now that's interesting. I have no idea if my library does that or not, but I might call and ask as soon as I get my voice back.

[Guest inoubliable]

Well, since I'm the one who actually did scan all our books before going overseas, I don't think it's crazy. I LOVE that I still have all my books but they don't take up any space. I have them backed up in four or five different places, in addition to living on the devices. Works great for us.

 

It did take a long time to do, but since we move all.the.time (we're in the middle of our 18th move this week), I have zero regrets and it saves me so much time and effort now, and since we always have lived in small spaces, it's been nice even during the months we're not moving.

 

It would be easier to do now that there are many more books available as ebooks, and it would be easier if we always lived in the US because the library could replace a lot of books. I scanned 600 books when I did it almost three years ago and sold or donated another 400 that I could get as ebooks.

 

One other advantage to ebooks is that they're much more accessible than stored books. Before I scanned our books, I almost never could have them all out on shelves which is really annoying when you want to get to your books. It's much easier with them on devices or hard drives.

 

Like I said, zero regrets and so many advantages.

 

Also, we avoided the copyright issues by recycling every book we scanned (I had to, since I destroyed them to scan them). It's certainly not clear copyright law that it's illegal to simply change the format of the book. I could copy an entire book for my own use and store the copy and the original at my house without violating copyright law.

 

There you are! LOL. I knew I wasn't dreaming when I said a boardie had done this exact thing.

About the copyright issue, it was my understanding that the fair use bit means that I can do this as long as I'm not distributing the work. I understand now that means I'd have to destroy the physical book and I wouldn't be able to donate it, since I would be doing this in order to get rid of the physical clutter in the first place. I'm okay with that, though.

[Skadi]

There's a service that does this for you: http://1dollarscan.com/

 

If you Google "1dollarscan review" the reviews are pretty positive. I first heard about it by reading the review on GeekDad. I think it's a great idea, especially for magazines (National Geographic, etc.). The longer the book, the more they charge. They also charge more for full color than just black and white. But really, considering how much time you would save over doing it yourself, it's a great deal.

 

I just can't bring myself to do it because we are so attached to our print copies!