Does anyone still use a hardcopy set of encyclopedias for school?

[birchbark]

I've been thinking about this since I read Bonnie Landry's booklets over a year ago. She uses them in her homeschool. I like the idea of children being able to look up items of interest without having to get on a screen. I'm just trying to decide if it's worth the money and the space usage.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We don't have a set of A-Z encyclopedias, but we have a couple science encyclopedias, a couple animal ones, a couple history ones, and I think one called the Encyclopedia of Knowledge which is sort of a science and history blend.  I'd like to add the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy by Hirsch, I loved reading that when I was a kid.  

 

There is definitely something to be gained in the idle browsing of knowledge, and to me, this is easier done with physical books.  

[scoutingmom]

Check library sales. I got the 2015 World book at least year for$12

 

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[eternalsummer]

we have the golden book ones from when I was a kid.  I don't have them for reference as much as for free reading. 

[Another Lynn]

Yes.  I got a set at a library sale several years ago.  

[meganrussell]

YES! My husband's grandmother gave us an older set, and my kids love browsing through them. I would love a brand new set (my birthday's is April, maybe I should ask...)

[Guest]

We don't have a set of A-Z encyclopedias, but we have a couple science encyclopedias, a couple animal ones, a couple history ones, and I think one called the Encyclopedia of Knowledge which is sort of a science and history blend. I'd like to add the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy by Hirsch, I loved reading that when I was a kid.

 

There is definitely something to be gained in the idle browsing of knowledge, and to me, this is easier done with physical books.

This is what we have as well.

[carriede]

I was just thinking about this...planning way way ahead, I was looking at MP's Geography, which has profiles on every country by region. And I thought, how would I have looked these countries up? I didn't remember having country anthologies like that...

 

Then it hit me - encyclopedias! When we get a bigger house, I need to remember I want some. ;)

[Elizabeth86]

We have thought about it and want to, but haven't yet.  DS asks us all sorts of questions we research on the internet and thought it would be fun to look up info the old school way.  DH and I both remember reading through encyclopedias for fun and can definitely imagine our ds doing this as well. 

[Critterfixer]

We have a full set. The librarian saw me one day and asked if I wanted a set they were getting rid of. It was missing one volume. We purchased the missing volume for about 3$. We use them almost daily.

Internet service is not the best here, so the encyclopedia is actually faster and easier sometimes.

[Farrar]

I had old ones and we finally got rid of them. They just weren't worth it.

 

We do like having topic encyclopedias, like one for American history, one for science, one for the human body, etc. etc. Those get used around here much more often.

[lllll]

nm

Edited March 2, 2017 by --Kathy--

[Guest]

ds9 loves ours.

 

We have World Book, Childcraft, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, This Fabulous Century, American Heritage Junior Library, and some Horizon Caravel world history volumes.

 

We also have Wikipedia for schools and gigabytes of ebooks in our calibre library, but those are pretty much ignored unless they are assigned.

 

Just a heads up if you're buying new-to-you paper encyclopedias that young kids can be kind of rough on books so it's worth a bit of time and a few extra dollars to make sure that the spines are still in good shape and the paper isn't too brittle.

 

hth

Edited February 17, 2017 by Guest

[MyLife]

I loved reading my World Book and Childcraft encyclopedias as a child. Such a fond memory. For those of you who mentioned topic encyclopedias, can you provide a link?

[Holly]

We have a Childcraft set from the 50s that I love. We mostly use their composer biographies and poetry.

[Artichoke]

We have a 1960's World Book set  that the kids have well loved over the years.  While there's some obvious problems with using portions of these, it's always been fun to use them as a springboard for further discussion.  Other topics they've been totally sufficient for such as grammar, state flags, most geography, and some history.  Overall the kids have just found them to be cool. 

[8Arrows4theLord]

We do! Got a set for free (1996), and we use them all the time! If you have space, get as new of a set as you can, for as cheap as you can. :) We have one reliable

computer and 7 in homeschool. We needed other research options. Some information doesn't change, so they are still reliable.

Edited February 18, 2017 by 8Arrows4theLord

[Hunter]

I'm a big fan of hardcopy encyclopedias. Even though I only own about 50 hardcopy books and live very near a large library, I almost bought a set of World Book.

 

Instead I bought a large 1 volume Columbia 6th edition 2000. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Columbia-Encyclopedia

I think this is the last edition that will ever be published and that is sad.

 

I don't always have home wifi, and even when I do, print is better and faster sometimes.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Hunter

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I do! We have the World Book set with the penguins. I wanna say it's 2013?

 

 

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[MotherGoose]

No, but I would if I could afford them. Last night I dreamed that I found a ton of used encyclopedias at a consignment store for cheap.

[Beth S]

No, but I would if I could afford them. Last night I dreamed that I found a ton of used encyclopedias at a consignment store for cheap.

 

 

 

Your Dream Can Come True.

You could post a request on FB, and one of your friends may pass along their dusty set.

Craigslist.

You can also ask your library when they'll discard their current set. 

They really are readily available.

 

(And yes, my dh just bought a pre-WWI set of Britannicas last week.)

[Julie of KY]

Yes, I have an old library set.

[scoutingmom]

Mine is an old library copy too. I was really wanting one, had looked with desire at the one in the library on the shelf. I started praying that I might find a recent set. A week later, the set was on the style shelf, then being carried to my car. Paid $12. That was maybe January or February 2016, and it was the 2015 set! It was still for sale new by Workshops Online for something like $1150 or something like that. Dreams can come true.

 

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