Will I regret throwing this away?

[aminuteorless]

I will start kindergarten with my oldest this fall. I am very blessed to have a mother, mother-in-law, and a church family that all support this decision. Here's my situation. All of these wonderful people are giving me all sorts of workbooks, manipulatives, . . . Mostly used, some new. For example I have about 15 preK or K workbooks about letters and numbers that my m-in-law keeps getting at the dollar tree. (My kids don't really like workbooks) I just can't keep all this stuff and I am having a hard time letting go. Some of the gifts are great. My three year old loves all the cute felt games we've been given by a homeschool family in our church. I really want to get rid of all the random workbooks I have. Third grade money workbook? 2nd grade punctuation? Will I regret cleaning out a lot of this? It's so random and I feel like I'm going to be purchasing complete curriculum for subjects anyway. I hate clutter and have a small house. Thanks!

[Guest]

You know, I'm a minimalist, and love to get rid of anything I can. In your situation, however, I might be inclined to keep them. I would think it very likely that at least one (or more) of your kids will want to do workbooks when the older kids are doing school. Punctuation, yeah, I'd toss that. I actually was thinking the other day that I wish I had kept the money workbook, as my daughter has been struggling with money. (Yes, we had one of those, too!) On the flip side, they're obviously a dollar, so I don't think you would kick yourself if you did get rid of them.

[Garga]

I have 6 years worth of "maybe I'll use it later" junk-curricula/workbooks in my house. I have a week set aside this summer to try to sort it all out. A week! Yes, it will take that long to sort through it all.

 

If I were you I'd get rid of it asap!

[ByGrace3]

I sold a ton of that stuff at a yard sale last week. I keep a few things on hand for my preschooler and get rid/sell/give away the rest.

[Blessed Mommy]

I'm in the same boat as you! I got rid of most of the random workbooks at a garage sale. Whatever was left over, I donated. Otherwise, at the very least, recycle them, don't throw them in the garbage!

[coffeefreak]

I've learned to keep things like that because you never know when you'll need a quick reinforcement lesson. I used to keep everything, then I started purging everything, now I keep workbooks until we are a year or two out of that grade. I know that sounds weird, but especially with my oldest, we'll get going in math, and then she'll need a refresher course on something. Last year, it was division. We had half a Kumon division workbook from the year before and I made her do a page a day for a week or two. It was perfect and it saved me time and money. I purchased a LA standardized test review for her in 5th grade and used it for 6th grade too. I was looking through it and decided to use it with my younger daughter this year. You never know when you might need them.

 

What I would do in your situation is tell everyone you have more than enough workbooks and redirect their enthusiasm. Are there some learning toys or manipulatives you need? Art supplies, that sort of thing? Tell them if they want to help out, you would love to own ______________ for your kids.

 

Blessings!

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I save any "future" items I might use, then purge anything we've outgrown. If you have several items that cover the same thing, keep one and purge the others.

[Job384]

I have a family member who gives us the same workbooks. I held onto them for a couple years and tossed them a few months ago. They are not missed!

[Um_2_4]

With your age kiddos, I personally would go through and remove pages and sort (colors, alphabet, math by levels, etc), throw pages you KNOW you won't use and put the rest into file folders and put those into 1 "box" or drawer and keep it aside. I am just now using up all those $1 workbooks with my youngest. They LOVE when mommy pulls out a "big kid" worksheet like the olders have. And I don't care if they "do it correctly". I recently found an unused Huge workbook at the thrift store for $1...I grabbed it, it is in full color and will save me tons of ink!

You can minimize the space it takes in your home and yet save yourself the bother of searching out printables and the cost of ink later. And you never know, 1 of your younger kids MAY like workbooks (like my DD6).

[staceyobu]

I'd get rid of it. I got some of the same type stuff. We'll learn money and then six months later I find a money workbook somewhere that I had forgotten about. So, I saved it for years only to not use it to learn the stuff it taught.

 

I have put some of the better workbooks in our "church bag" to use as entertainment through sermons. Or, I'll give them to the 4 year old to scribble on. You could let your 3 year old use them while you do school with your oldest. My 4 year old is always wanting stuff to play school with.

 

Either way, no, I don't think you will want them for school... unless you are completely broke and need to make anything work that you can.

[HS Mom in NC]

I've very CM/Unit study/Classical oriented 85% of the time and workbooks aren't used much around here outside of math (MUS and Singapore) BUT every now and then having a couple of workbooks per kid on hand can keep them busy when mom or the kids are sick, when you need a change of pace, when need a little review, when you need to car school, waiting room school, hospice school etc. Not that you can't just read wonderful books at those times, but a workbook can be a quick fix for a short period of time. I just wouldn't keep more than a few. Some cover lots of different subjects and others are oriented to just one specific skill-I think the ones with various subjects are more worth keeping for this purpose.

 

If you're buying packaged curriculum that has workbooks the extra donated ones will probably be redundant. Only if the workbooks in your packaged curriculum are not working for your kids will you need to replace them with something specifically different. The odds that the ones other people who probably know little to nothing about homeschooling approaches and curriculum options will be just what your child needs are slim to none.

 

It's also possible a preschool child will want to "do school" before (s)he is ready do phonics, basic handwriting, and simple math. You can use the donated ones to keep her/him appeased with pre-K busy work types of things. Just pick a few if you decide to keep any for that purpose.

[happypamama]

I'd save a few. Even if your kids aren't really into workbooks right now, one, things might change, and two, your second, third, or fourth child might want to do something alongside the older sibling(s), and the workbooks might be just right then. (For example, I picked up an unused Comprehensive Curriculum workbook for Kindergarten about six years ago at a library sale, for a quarter. It wasn't needed for my first two children, but it was just right to pull out for #3, my 4 year old, this spring when he wanted to do letters and such like his big brother.)

 

But yes, I'd get rid of most of them and suggest other things that people could give your kids.

[Alessandra]

I'm not a minimalist at all, but I'd get rid of the dollar store workbooks. I like to chose good quality materials that I think are a match my dc's particular needs and learning styles. Childhood years pass too fast to waste!

[brookspr]

I would save a few and maybe keep them in the car for when you need to take a trip or go to the store or something. There may also be times when you need to get something done and you could give your kids a page or two out of a workbook to do while you're busy. But I would just keep one of each type of book and donate the rest. I used to stock up on those, and then, like you, discovered the kids don't really like workbooks. I would pull them out on a rainy summer day once in a while just to reinforce what they learned that year, but didn't use them much. If you have family close by that you visit often, you could always keep a book or two there for when/if you visit during the week. Otherwise, purge!

[Wheres Toto]

My MIL does the same thing - constant workbooks from the dollar store. Usually on things we are already past or just not interested in doing. I'm going to put them out at our garage sale this weekend, and what doesn't sell is getting donated.

 

We also get cheap holiday decorations and toys, that don't usually get here until a month after the holiday, so I have to find a place to keep them for a year and remember where they are.

[heritagelearningacademy]

I got a bunch of manipulatives from someone when we started as well as workbooks. I looked and kept maybe 2 workbooks, only to find we got rid of them the next year untouched. If I am going to get a workbook, I like to pick it out myself. But, what I am learning is that we tend to only ever use half of the workbook anyways. The idea of pulling out pages you like and then discarding is great too.

 

The manipulatives we received were some color card games, counting cubes, scale, clock, etc. We have used them all.

 

Now that I have 3 I homeschool and I am 3 years into homeschooling, i am much much more discerning. Especially as I have learned my teaching style and their learning styles.

[boscopup]

I'd keep some of the PreK/K stuff for little ones to do if they want to "do school" while you're teaching your oldest. You'd be surprised how much they can like workbooks at that stage, even if you don't use them at older ages. My youngest will sit with those workbooks for an HOUR sometimes... total craziness, but whatever entertains him! :D Your 1 year old might like something to scribble on, and they really think those workbooks are their school. :)

 

But certainly chunk or give away some of it. If you need punctuation worksheets in the future, you can go online and print some up. Same goes for money. Just keep enough to have something for the little ones to "do school" with. They don't need to even follow the directions or do them "correctly". Just hand them over and let them have at it.

[T'smom]

I would save them to give to the littles while the oldest is doing school. They LOVE having their own thing.

[aminuteorless]

Thanks for the imput. I've saved a handful for my three year old daughter, and the rest are in a big pile to head out the door.

[Kathryn]

I'd keep some of the PreK/K stuff for little ones to do if they want to "do school" while you're teaching your oldest. You'd be surprised how much they can like workbooks at that stage, even if you don't use them at older ages. My youngest will sit with those workbooks for an HOUR sometimes... total craziness, but whatever entertains him! :D Your 1 year old might like something to scribble on, and they really think those workbooks are their school. :)

 

But certainly chunk or give away some of it. If you need punctuation worksheets in the future, you can go online and print some up. Same goes for money. Just keep enough to have something for the little ones to "do school" with. They don't need to even follow the directions or do them "correctly". Just hand them over and let them have at it.

 

This is exactly what I was going to say. It's those dollar store workbooks that keep DS3 from driving me crazy while I'm working with his brother sometimes. Your children are much too young (and not even here yet!) to say whether or not they'll like workbooks, especially when older siblings are doing their school work.