Karen FL Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Do you have a system beyond listing them on your computer as a document? Just curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Hmmmmmm........yes, it is all filed neatly in the original computer system, my brain! ;) Seriously, I know what we own. I usually know exactly where it is (not quite so much right now b/c since we moved and unpacked, there are some things the kids unpacked that we haven't been using that I am not quite sure where they are) I put everything on book shelves by subject. Some subjects have multiple shelves. But, hey, my mental card catalog system has worked fine for 15 yrs. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I recently signed up for Library Thing, got a lifetime membership and a Cue Cat. Now I am scanning everything I own into it!! Working for me after years of not having a clue what all I had. The site is Librarything.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissarobert Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I have to check out the librarything thing. I have over 9000 books, and I am always buying books I already have, especially chapter books. Right now my library is very organized, because I redid it this summer. Fiction is filed by author, except for picture books, which are mostly by size because my dd4 has access to them. History is organized by time period starting with biblical times and going up through modern, with general texts on their own set of shelves. Science is shelved by general category, i.e bio., chem. etc., and general science books like books on animals are by topic. Language Arts and Foreign Language are by topic also. Spelling together etc. Literature/Great Books have their own set of shelves by author. I have 13, 6 foot bookshelves, and 16 shorter bookshelves throughout the house, and some books are stored in our shed. I can usually find anything quickly, but as I stated I can't remember what I have. :001_smile: My kids say they love living in my library. I say that I use homeschooling as an excuse to collect books. Good luck organizing your books!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraL Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Yes! Homeschooling is a great excuse to collect books! Seriously, I am envious of your bookshelves. Part of my problem is that I can't remember about the items stacked in shelves in the closet. They have to be in front of me on a shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I use Readerware and a cuecat scanner, works great. No brain to remember everything I own. Like the others, I organize my books heavily. history--by time period picture books--in laundry baskets fiction--by author FIAR and extra special books--together poetry me books (parenting, teaching, etc.) series that I collect Curriculum stuff is by subject. I have a closet and the tm's get really heavy, tend to fall over, so I've been rearranging them, inserting milk crates every so often. They're handy because they create subject divisions, keep things upright, and allow me to put larger things like maps and stuff on top. So that way the supplemental materials for the subject are integrated right in with the tm's. I may not remember what I have, but it will be in the right place when I go to look for something nifty on that topic. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwilliams1922 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 sadly, I'm not doing a very good job. really need to. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I use LibraryThing. I don't yet have half of my books on it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I use Book Collector. It also works with a scanner or manual entry. You can design your own categories or databases as needed. Maybe Martha does a better job explaining than I could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 -I do have most of our books cataloged at http://www.librarything.com but I need to update it. Sigh. -I keep our games in easy reach and each quarter I make a purposeful effort to see if there is something to include in our studies. -I keep our books organized by what year of the cycle we're in, Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, Modern. We're limited on space right now, so I have Rubbermaid Totes for the books we're not immediately using. All of our science books are accessible because at any time, something may interest us. I keep music and art books available as well for the same reason, although we have a selected few that we will intentionally read during the year. I keep all DVDs and CDs, including seminars and helps for me in CD cases in these and I get rid of the extra packaging. I have one for Educational Videos, French, Classical Music, HS Helps and Kids' Movies. We have smaller ones for our own movies. I use all kinds of storage Love those over the door shoe holders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Jessica, Where did you get the cd/dvd holders? They actually look nice and would stand on a shelf? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Here's the info at Case Logic, if you want a better price, you'll have to shop around http://www.caselogic.com/products/index.cfm?modelid=56427&sourceId=CLFROOGL01&CAWELAID=128912752 There are different capacities, 64, 96 and smaller ones that I think hold 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I used MS Excel 6 years ago when I decided to keep a list of what books I have. I typed each book in individually on the first column. The second column is for subject, and subsequent columns narrow it down more (i.e. US-Civil War, TOG Yr1, etc) Now when I get new books, I just add it to the list. When I need to see what books I have for a certain subject or time period, I re-sort the list and can easily see what books I have. As for storage, I have 2 big and 2 small bookcases. The books are roughly grouped into subjects. Then I have bins (lost count of how many) in the basement. Each bin is labeled TOG Yr. 1, math, science, etc. Gonna look into the librarything and see if it's worth switching over. HTH! Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I'm also working on getting everything into Library Thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titus.Two.Five Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I have no system...but desperately need one! :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissarobert Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I was looking online at LibraryThing. Does anyone know if it allows you to print out your collection? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Right now? Since I'm just starting, I just put all my curriculum materials in a clear box I bought at my local supermarket, Publix. The whole "curriculum-in-a-box" gave me that idea. I just rounded up all the materials myself, but they're all easy to find. Everything I already have for next year, first grade, I have on one shelf separate from everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
materursa Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 I've started using a library software. The one I use is called Delicious Library and it's for Macs. They just came out with a version 2, and I haven't yet upgraded (even though they gave me a link to upgrade for free.) But, you can catalog anything in there, not just books (though that's why I bought it.) You can enter information by entering the ISBN, Title, (or any other bit of information you might have) or you can scan the bar code with a scanner or with an isight camera. It searches online for matches and downloads the information right in there for you. You can search by keywords for things in your collection, and can also set up themed shelves. I use this for different periods in history and different science topics. You can also just browse your books in neat photo-realistic bookshelves. http://www.delicious-monster.com/ HTH, Amanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 You can export it as Export as CSV or Export as tab-delimited text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 I buy and own a lot of stuff, but it's not so bad I don't know what I have! If it got that much, I would sell some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommylawyer Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 I just keep track with an OpenOffice database. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalynnrmc Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 I'll go back and read responses, but here's my answer: cube storage. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaid Dad Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 We use LibraryThing to inventory our family's books, but we don't have enough curriculum on hand at any given moment to require anything but mental notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Kirsten~ Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Here's the info at Case Logic, if you want a better price, you'll have to shop aroundhttp://www.caselogic.com/products/index.cfm?modelid=56427&sourceId=CLFROOGL01&CAWELAID=128912752 There are different capacities, 64, 96 and smaller ones that I think hold 20. Thanks for this, Jessica! :001_smile: I don't have an answer yet, so I'm reading these responses with interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Mom Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Ha! That at first made me laugh! We're only starting first grade this year and I could see things quickly getting out of control! Our public library is.....well desperately lacking to put it gently, so I have to buy alot of books and I don't want to buy themn and then lose track of them and forget why I bought them! I started listing of my curriculum and books into an excel spreadsheet like this: File name: "First Grade 2008/2009 Books List" Then subheadings for categories by subject headings: HISTORY: Spine Book: SOTW Supplemental books: blah, blah, blah.... READ-ALOUD LITERATURE: Poetry: blah, blah Fairy tales: blah Bedtime: blah, blah SCIENCE: Spine: blah Supplement: blah, blah, blah Get the idea? You could do whatever categories and subs that you prefer this is just roughly how I did it. It works GREAT for me so far since I go crazy if I can't keep track of things, and I'm just a spreadsheet lover anyway! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Mom Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 when I said "that at first made me laugh", I meant laughing at the original post which struck a cord with me thinking of my own disorganization! I was not referring to (laughing at) anyone else's post . Hope no one took it that way! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill- OK Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I buy and own a lot of stuff, but it's not so bad I don't know what I have! If it got that much, I would sell some of it. I have regular books (picture books, chapter books, etc.) on shelves throughout the house, and our pantry houses stuff that's being used particularly for school (math books, manipulatives, markers, art supplies, etc.). There's a Rubbermaid bin in my closet with some curricula that I'm keeping to use with younger kids, but I pretty much know what's in it. A quick scan can refresh my memory. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I'm not sure what you mean. I can't imagine owning so many homeschool resources that I'd have to create a document to keep track of it all. One child or another is typically using what I own. Any materials that are awaiting the next go 'round are just stored in a Rubbermaid container with an index card attached to the top, noting the contents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I'm not sure what you mean. I can't imagine owning so many homeschool resources that I'd have to create a document to keep track of it all. One child or another is typically using what I own. Any materials that are awaiting the next go 'round are just stored in a Rubbermaid container with an index card attached to the top, noting the contents. I think she just means, "How do you keep track of the home school material you own?" Apparently, some of us either have more home school materials than others, or perhaps just a worse memory. :D Actual curriculum, like Singapore math, is easy enough to keep track of, but the extra little supplements and games tend to get away from me, and I don't have enough kids to be happy discovering a lost treasure in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaMere Academy Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I don't keep track...which is why I have doubles of several reading books. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailaena Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I don't keep track...which is why I have doubles of several reading books. :001_huh: Im glad it's not just me! (I have four different copies of Edith Hamilton's Mythology:blushing:) What a great thread, though. I had started using Librarything, but with the amount of work before me, I gave up. I never knew about Cuecat, though, maybe that would help, thank you guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmac Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 People do that? Really? :tongue_smilie: Most of what we're currently using are on shelves and then I have many lovely cardboard boxes full of the others. Do you have a system beyond listing them on your computer as a document?Just curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Well, I used Library Thing also, but it's not very well organized at the moment. For curriculum, I pretty much know what I have although every once in a while I come across something I had forgotten. I've run out of bookshelf space so I'm story curriculum in Rubbermaid totes until the time comes for me to get it out. All history and science is on the shelves. Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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