stm4him Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Ok, this is only my first round of decluttering books. I am focused at the moment on the ones actually in my house. I have boxes and boxes in my garage, some of which pertain to our current cycle of American history and literature, and some of which pertain to all three cycles. I also have books on anatomy, chemistry, and origins because that lined up with our CC cycle, but I am considering reorganizing my science into life science, earth science, and physical science instead of the way CC had it because it makes more sense to me that way. Anyway, here are the books from my family room that are mine that I am thinking of getting rid of. Please tell me if there is something in here you REALLY think was life-changing for you and worth me hanging onto. I am trying to live in the present and only keep what is interesting to me right now as well as face up to the fact that some books will either never be read again or I will just never read them even though I bought them, so keep in mind that some of the ones that I am listing I have never even read. I Can Do It! (this is from Hewitt Homeschooling and is just a list of life skills by age) Climbing Parnassus (never could get all the way through it) Homeschool Supermom.....NOT!: When Grace Meets Homeschooling by Susan Kemmerer (and study guide) Seasons of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson (as much as I love listening to her speak, I never read through her whole books) Norms & Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks (I have never read and feel guilty) A Layman's Guide to the Sabbath Question (never read) McGuffey and His Readers (never got through it) DONE! by Don Aslett (don't think he is my style) Never Too Early by Doreen Claggett (never got through it) Making Room for Life Randy Frazee (already read it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Well, from your responses to those books they sound like they either ran their course or will continue to just gather dust on your shelves. I vote give them away/sell them at the earliest opportunity. More power to you! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 I forgot to mention this one: Understanding Mathematics: From Counting to Calculus by Keith Kressin (and the problems and solutions guide that goes with it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 That last one, Understanding Mathematics, was it not terribly useful in the elementary and middle school years? Might it be useful later on? With High School math? Or not.... I haven't read it so I can't say for sure. Just thinking about the ages of your kids.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Im not going to be any help, those all seem like keepers to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Don't listen to us. Go with your gut. Dump them! We had to downsize the books a couple of years ago. Best decision ever. I think in the almost two years since, I've only once looked through my books for one of the thousand or so books we got rid of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 I say get rid of them (and I HATE getting rid of books) because I agree with Farrar, it can be soooo freeing to declutter. I realize, though, that getting rid of books can be stressful for many (including me). This is a long shot, but are there any homeschool co-ops in your area that have a library? We have one here that I am hauling a bunch of books to. That way others can use them but if I suddenly realized I needed one back I could just borrow it from that library and return it when I didn't need it anymore. Makes it less painful and easier to say "Go, be gone!". :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 None of those seem important to me. Esp. Climbing Parnassus - I thought it was pretentious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 These are the ones so far that my kids are willing to give away: Coals of Fire The Night the Bells Rang 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre & Incredible Experiments Wonderful Words: Poems About Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening Ruth Heller World of Language Books Math Riddles in Silly Rhyme Simply Grammar by Charlotte Mason Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysburg Address Red, White, and Blue: The Story of the American Flag The Best Trick Henry and Mudge books Little Pilgrims in God's World History for Little Pilgrims Snowboard Showdown by Matt Christopher The Kingfisher Book of Great Boy Stories Most of these I don't care about but I am a little sad that they don't care about the flag book or the Gettysburg Address book. I am also surprised they don't care about Henry and Mudge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Actually, the 13 year old wanted the Boy Stories Book and the 5 year old wants Henry and Mudge. The rest are out of here I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Do it! You go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadenceSophia Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Can I highly recommend the next book you buy/read be The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up? It is not a judgment -- it blew my mind when I read it and changed the way I handle our stuff. Now I absolutely know when to keep something and when to thank it for its time with me and send it on its way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest uihsongshi Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I vote give them away/sell them at the earliest opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateMomster Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 You can get quite some money for the Norms and Nobility one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Massive and sudden purges will always require repurchasing a few things later on. It's still worth it. Get the library down to a serviceable size that allows you to maintain your chosen lifestyle. No single book is worth sacrificing the lifestyle you choose for yourself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Lol.. Cadence, that is why I am doing this. I loved that book. Most of the books belong to the kids so I am just taking away what none of them want. So far I think it has gone well but I have so much more to do in the garage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Is Norms and Nobility out of print? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Is Norms and Nobility out of print? No. It's always been that expensive. That's one I would keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 You can get a $15.64 gift card at Amazon for Norms & Nobility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennay Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Wait! Not to be an enabler....but you still have little ones. I would personally keep all the quality children's books that have not been outgrown by all the children. It is nice for children to be able to browse a bookshelf for free reading without having to lug everyone to the library. It can be a pain to keep checking those books out of the library over and over again. I know this from experience! However, adult books that you really have no desire to read can go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm4him Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 We don't do the library so I definitely am keeping most of my kids books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 If you are having to ask us for permission to get rid of books that you think no longer serve your family well.....I'm pulling out my wand and granting it to you. Over the last two years, I've gone through my house and downsized from about 3600 sq ft to about 1200-1500 sq ft of stuff. I donated about 8 full bookcases worth of books. Then we got rid of the bookcases. We haven't missed any of them. At all. Really. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to name more than a dozen titles that I gave away now that it's been several months since they left the house. I suspect that once we are permanently settled into our new house that I'm going to do another round of purging. When I packed up our books, I cataloged them on librarything.com. I tagged my favorite books (the ones I would immediately replace if our house burned down) with the words "essential". They would all fit onto one bookcase, I think. That has helped me come to grips with the fact that I still have 7 bookcases worth of unessential books in my possession. In our new house, some things are going to go to make room for new treasures. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Get rid of them vote. Maybe take a picture JIC you need to know a title or want to remember them one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy M Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I'll buy Norms and nobility from you! (Although we have a serious problem with too many books here as well...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Awww, Amy beat me to it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venusmom Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Can I highly recommend the next book you buy/read be The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up? It is not a judgment -- it blew my mind when I read it and changed the way I handle our stuff. Now I absolutely know when to keep something and when to thank it for its time with me and send it on its way. I think I need this book - I'm good at getting rid of many things, but every time I look at a book we no longer read - I think we might want to look at that one again. Then there are all those books I bought with good intentions - I was going to use them with our curriculum, they were on the same topic, etc, etc! Now - I have bookshelves in every room, an outdoor room built for science & art that is FULL of bookshelves, boxes, and totes. Who can enjoy books I can't find...I've GOT to start a used homeschool curriculum / book sale on my block! I've got enough for a small bookstore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waa510 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I had to recently do this before our big move to Japan. Our former home library would have been a huge chunk of our weight allowance. There were lots of tears (solely on my part!) but I'm hoping when we get that shipment in..it'll have been worth it. I did the whole KonMari method with my books before hearing about the Magic of Tidying Up but I'd agree from listening to the TeD talk and hearing about it here in Japan that it seems like a great help. So, I took every single book we owned and plopped it in a pile in the the middle of my living room floor. Took up the whole room. I spent hours upon hours organizing them into life, earth and space and physical science categories, etc. I then was able to see that I had 25 books on dinosaurs from dd's dino phase and could cull those to just the ones that aren't too young for her or ydd now. I also was able to find a whole lot of duplicate books this way!! Then, I looked up which books I could get on overdrive fairly easily including series books. Then lastly what I could get cheap or free on Kindle. I donated 34 bags of books to the local library. It was painful but I felt really really good about it after a couple days. I know that the ones in great condition will be put into circulation. The ones that aren't will be sold at their sales to help other homeschoolers still in the area or just moms who love reading and books. Making it into a charity thing helped. I also agree that the books on your list sound like they aren't doing much for you. Saving just the ones that feed you and the kids is the goal. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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