Organise books

[Flowergirl159]

How do you organise your books? Our book collection is getting larger each year and very unorganised. I am not sure if I should organise by subject or grade level. Any ideas?

[73349]

:bigear:

 

I'm re-organizing mine now. Some of what I do is going to depend on the sizes of the books.

[Coco_Clark]

I'm lucky enough to have room for 5 tall bookshelves in our basement.

 

1st and 2nd shelf- fiction (alphabetical by author with poetry at the end), 3rd shelf- children's fiction (alphabetical by author with all poetry on the top, and the my book house set on the bottom), 4th shelf- curricula, manipulatives and children's non fiction not in current use (by subject starting with math, language arts, history, science, music and art), 5th shelf- non-fiction and religious (by subject).

 

Picture books are all in their room in book baskets on a short shelf. In-use curricula and manipulatives are on a bookshelf in our kitchen/homeschool area.

[MiMi 4under3]

I try to make it look "pretty." 

 

But I group by content and have a shelf/shelves for each category: poetry books, fairy tales, biography/autobiography, science, history, "literature," chapter books (history related), chapter books (fun reading), Yesterday's Classics, hardcover picture books (read alouds), easy readers, reference (dictionary, encyclopedia), etc.

 

My and DH's books occupy a separate bookcase.  Homeschool/curriculum is its own bookcase too.

[Coco_Clark]

I realized you were asking specifically about curricula and not books in general.

 

I would suggest by subject first, program second, and then grade level last. So my math shelf is organized; Life of Fred apples, butterflies, cats, dogs, ect; Miquon orange, red, ect; Singapore PM 1, 2, ect. When you go to look for a book you will most likely be thinking "I need a math book. Specifically I need Miquon math. I need level two." Or at least that's how I think. Organizing by grade seems like it would get confusing if your kids don't always follow grade.

 

Non fiction is always best organized alphabetically of course. Unless it is uber-themed (like Christmas books). My husband can attest that I will die on that hill.

[MiMi 4under3]

I'm lucky enough to have room for 5 tall bookshelves in our basement.

 

1st and 2nd shelf- fiction (alphabetical by author with poetry at the end), 3rd shelf- children's fiction (alphabetical by author with all poetry on the top, and the my book house set on the bottom), 4th shelf- curricula, manipulatives and children's non fiction not in current use (by subject starting with math, language arts, history, science, music and art), 5th shelf- non-fiction and religious.

 

Picture books are all in their room in book baskets on a short shelf. In-use curricula and manipulatives are on a bookshelf in our kitchen/homeschool area.

 

Oh my! I thought my 7 tall bookcases in the basement were organized - but this... this surely takes the cake.   :lol:

[MiMi 4under3]

I realized you were asking specifically about curricula and not books in general.

 

Oops... me too. 

[Coco_Clark]

Oh my! I thought my 7 tall bookcases in the basement were organized - but this... this surely takes the cake. :lol:

I have three small sons and a passion for order. I get my kicks where I can ;)

[MiMi 4under3]

I organize by subject because sometimes a child will need a higher/lower level, and I like to be able to look at all the options without digging through a ton of books.

[Flowergirl159]

This is perfect! Just what I was looking for :)

 

You were right, I am meaning curricula. But I also mean books in general, chapter right down to our picture and board books. Both fiction and non-fiction. Since we use all types of books for all types of subjects, I was meaning "books" :)

 

So thanks, organising by subject or topic sounds best.

[Flowergirl159]

Just arrived home with a medium sized bookshelf to replace the plastic crate that has been storing out latest book purchases. I am off to set that up and then begin organising our many books. :/

[FO4UR]

Well, right now I'm not organized at all.... :willy_nilly:

 

 

In the past, I've organized by subject.  We had a history bookcase, a science bookcase, classics & fine arts bookcase, and curricula bookcase, and I keep picture books on small shelves so little hands can reach.

 

 

[kiwik]

I just stick everything on the shelf randomly. It can be a hassle finding a particular book but sometimes you find something you like better.

 

If I were homes hooking I guess I would be a bit more organised.

[Mystie]

I have a bookcase in an office space that holds the curriculum-y things not currently in use (teacher manuals, math books for the next level, phonics & Bob books if I don't have someone learning to read, etc.). Then there's a bookcase in the basement (play room) with two lower shelves for science & art (like how to draw) books. In our living room we have three bookcases, two of which have 2 lower shelves for the kids' books: 1 shelf for My Book House, Childcraft, and Fairy Tale & poetry collections. 1 shelf for Eyewitness, atlases, and history anthologies (books that cover more than 1 cycle). Then 2 shelves for the books pertaining to our current history cycle (I do a three-year cycle: ancient & myths, medieval & fairy tales, and modern & folk tales). The books that go with the other time periods are boxed away. I don't separate them by level at all. The picture books are in a basket and I purged to keep only the best and only what fit. Then the kids have a bookcase in their bedrooms (2) for their fiction and biographies and comic books and magazines.

 

I am in the process this summer of cataloging all our books. I think I recently passed 1500 in our entire collection, and I'm beyond the point of remembering, at a library sale or used bookstore, what we have. 

 

My kids use the books too frequently for the books to actually really be organized, though. Once a week or every other week I try to go around and put books back where they belong.

[Ecclecticmum]

I have 3 seperate organizing strategies for 3 different lots of books.

 

1. My curriculum books aren't too huge (I purchase quarterly), so they just go on a shelf in the computer room cupboard till I require them. I have a milkcrate on wheels that holds my currently in use curricula & books, my table holds the proclick-ed curricula & MUS and any items not for the current year are boxed up and shelved.

 

2. My own/personal books are large and many. I often ruthlessly cull these books and try to use the Ipad where I can instead. I am currently re-arranging rooms so my books are currently in boxes awaiting moving of furniture. Once thats done they will go on bookshelves in a random order that is very precise to me and random to my husband. He gets in trouble if he moves them. lol. I usually put them in some sort of subject/category order.

 

3. The kids books. This is where all previous literature from school stuff, books the kids read, informational books, everything ends up. This is a large majority of the household books and I have tried numerous ways of keeping these (even upto a meticulously arrange library room with a scanner) I've tried just on the shelves, in baskets on the shelves, in mini baskets, sorted into groups over various parts of the house. My current version works quite well, but is not the most eye-pleasing version, but keeps the house tidy and even my son has no dramas putting them back. I also have a mini bookshelf in the bedroom, so the books hubby reads to kids of a night (amd books my eldest reads to herself of a night) can be temporarily placed on a bookshelf in their room, to avoid books being left on the floor.

 

I currently have signs on a spare wall (in the L shaped akward lounge we don't use) with genre's and their descriptions. Below each genre is a large tub/basket (or two, or sometimes three) to hold the books for that genre. I then stickytaped a color-coded genre label to the book. Its simple, not overly complicated and the kids put everything back without messes or dominos of books falling down. Eventually, hopefully, by the time I end up with way too many Fiction or Information to fit beneath the signs, they'll be old enough to handle a bookshelf. I also go through these tubs every now and again for books that are getting too young for them.

 

So its definitely not pretty (luckily our home is not a showhome and is completely private) but it works wonders.

 

 

 

 

[kolamum]

Subjects. :) Each subject has it's own area. Smaller subject matters are on their own shelf, but not own case. So, for instance we own just about all the books that go with FIAR curriculum. They are on a shelf, the shelf above holds boxes for the kids current readers. The shelf below holds books that are Biblical in content or study, etc. The shelf below holds our non-fiction geography books.