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dealing with piles and piles of books


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We've been doing a few days of light school before moving into a light work the next week or two followed by starting up full school. It's too hot here to play outside so we're getting an early start so they can have an extra couple weeks off when the weather is better. With six school age kids plus a few coloring and workbooks for the toddler there so. many. books.

 

On the shelf the books occupy over a yard of linear space. About 2/3 are used daily with the rest being used at least once a week. That doesn't even include reference books, novels, etc.. I feel like we spend so much time lugging books around.

 

Is there a better way to do this? Break down books into weekly work packets? Although that might get really time consuming. Try to somehow fit in a bookshelf near the table? Put stacks of books on the table each morning and eat lunch on the coffee table?

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I've been wanting this book caddy for a long time, but can't afford it right now. 

https://www.landofnod.com/white-good-read-book-caddy/s612293

 

In the living room we currently keep a milk crate with some of the toddler's books. We have books everywhere, too. I don't know what to tell you lol. You could try a rolling cart? I got one from Target, but I don't think it would hold all your regular use books.

 

Maybe keep a book shelf closer to where you use the books?

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We have 3 large bookshelves by the dining room table where we work. Each kid has a shelf, like their own locker. It holds their current textbooks, teacher manuals, folders, and binders. 

 

Reference materials are on other shelves by topic. Tests and catalogs and records are stored in marked magazine file boxes on the top shelf, grouped by grade or by kid. 

 

and literature for the year is on one shelf including each child's reads and my read alouds. I rotate those out. So I will be moving the ancients books out and the middle ages ones in before the start of the year. 

 

I box up text books that are finished and get them off the shelves. 

 

The shelves are near enough to the table and just off of the living room where they also go to work throughout the day. I expect them to put each subject back up when finished. (I nag this a lot. Still doesn't come naturally.) I don't specifically allow them to work upstairs, but often the high schooler needs time in the evenings to finish up and will take books up with her. That gets tricky when she doesn't bring them down. But the goal is to bring them downstairs at the beginning of the next day when she comes down for the day. My kids do end up running up a lot to get something they forgot though.  :) 

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I've been wanting this book caddy for a long time, but can't afford it right now.

https://www.landofnod.com/white-good-read-book-caddy/s612293

 

In the living room we currently keep a milk crate with some of the toddler's books. We have books everywhere, too. I don't know what to tell you lol. You could try a rolling cart? I got one from Target, but I don't think it would hold all your regular use books.

 

Maybe keep a book shelf closer to where you use the books?

That book caddy is too cute! I was thinking about a rolling library cart but I'm not sure how to brooch that topic with DH, lol.

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I've been wanting this book caddy for a long time, but can't afford it right now. 

https://www.landofnod.com/white-good-read-book-caddy/s612293

 

In the living room we currently keep a milk crate with some of the toddler's books. We have books everywhere, too. I don't know what to tell you lol. You could try a rolling cart? I got one from Target, but I don't think it would hold all your regular use books.

 

Maybe keep a book shelf closer to where you use the books?

 

 

 If you're comfortable with woodworking, you can find similar plans for this online.   It'd be a lot less expensive.  

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If not a rolling library cart maybe just a shelving unit kept closer to the room where you work. We once got a metal book shelf and little brackets that keep it secured to the wall. I didn't want to pay the steep price of solid wood so I found metal. My main requirement was that I could store binders on it.

 

 If you're comfortable with woodworking, you can find similar plans for this online.   It'd be a lot less expensive.  

 

I wish. I showed it to dh once but I guess he thought it'd be a pain. There's a similar item on etsy which you can buy unpainted or in a color I think and save a little. I have seen it go on sale on the Land of Nod site like once. You have to pay shipping no matter what. A long time ago we bought an item on LON and I got free shipping. I wish they would still do that. The item we own is a white book shelf that is mounted above ds' bed. We keep the recordable books there that we don't want the toddler to mess with.

 

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I was going to suggest a rolling library cart, but it looks like you already thought of that. Ana white has plans to build one yourself. We use our living room end tables (with lower shelves) as bookshelves. I added some wood crossbars to the ends of them to keep the books upright. The tv sits on an armoire that I have rebuilt inside to hold encyclopedias and other reference books. In the family room, we have books on side tables. In the dining room, I have books in my china cabinet. In the kitchen, I have upper glass-front cabinets filled with books. These are just what I have in play. The rest are stored on shelves in the basement. I rotate things as we go. I also try to use library books as much as possible because then my tax money pays for the storage. Maybe some of those ideas will work for you. You can also add shelving around the upper portion of the rooms for your older kids-like a few inches above head height of the tallest person in your home. Corner shelves are a good way to sneak things in too.

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We work in the kitchen most of the time, and one thing that has helped me is to make sure all my surfaces are absolutely free of clutter so that I can easily plunk our big stack of books on the counter or table in the morning. We can't really shelve books or have them (safely) at toddler level, so instead I have 2 big storage bins in the closet off the kitchen. In one, I put all the manipulatives, games, art and science supplies, and anything else non-book we are going to need for the week. Every night I make sure the other one contains all of the books we'll need the following day (and none that we won't). There is a bit of hauling, still. But for me, the biggest thing that has helped is just realizing we have lots of books so maybe we don't have so much room for other stuff-- and making sure my table, counters, and other kitchen surfaces are clear and clean to welcome each kid's piles of books when we do lessons.

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We use a plastic rolling cart for actual school books and curriculum. (We got ours from Staples, I believe, but this is the same idea.) I've designated and labeled the drawers by subject and child. So, "Jane, Language Arts. Johnny, Language Arts. Jane, Math. Johnny, Math" and so on. And so in Jane's Language Arts drawer, I keep FLL, WWE, and AAS, and so on. I also keep our Math U See blocks in one of the drawers, and that has been amazing this past year. But the idea is, I can just roll the cart on over to the homeschool table when we're doing school, then roll it back against the wall when we're done. For some reason, it just seems so much easier and tidier to throw the books into the cart, rather than trying to stand up on a shelf. (It's especially hard to stand up workbooks once you start tearing out pages, so I really like this method.)

 

So that's what I do for actual curriculum. For novels and all other books, we just keep regular old bookshelves. However, I have become MUCH more discerning over time as far as what I will actually purchase. In the beginning of our homeschool journey, I pretty much bought every book I saw, but that quickly became too much. So now, I've learned only buy gorgeous hardcovers (classics) that I truly cherish, or high-quality paperbacks from library sales that cost like 50 cents. I would never spend money on or clog up my bookshelves with twaddle (but I'm definitely not opposed to occasionally getting it from the library for fun!). But yeah, before I make a book purchase, I ask myself: Is this book outstanding, absolutely necessary, and/or worthy of shelf space in my home? If it's not, I just get that book from the library. 

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Each child has a dishpan with workbooks.

 

Younger two who do science and history together get a basket with those books.

 

Oldest has rolling cart in her room - like workboxes with textbooks & supplies.

 

I have a basket with all teacher guides and planning sheets.

 

I still have random piles of books around, but if I keep up with cleaning up at the end of the day (and having kids clean up as they go), it cuts down on the "I can't find my math book, Mom!" around here.

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Wow 1 linear meter sounds kind of good for homeschool books with that many kids!

 

I use magazine holders for core subjects for each kid and we do them in a block. I also have one for art with everyone's books, one for history with everyone's notebooks. And one for me. And also the teachers manual is on the shelf. Then I have a completely separate storage shelf in a junk room for everything we aren't using right this minute.

 

I like the rolling cart idea but I can see that getting scooted around here!

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We're moving to a smaller space this summer and books are a huge question mark in my plans. I'm considering this for portability:

https://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Tabletop-Book-Browser/9108588/product.html

 

Or this as a desk top:

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Safco-9420MO-Wood-Adjustable-Literature-Organizer-with-12-Compartment-Medium-Oak/21821522?findingMethod=rr

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I used a plastic, portable file box like these, for each child's books and notebooks. Each child had one, in a different color. I put a few hanging file folders in to keep workbooks (like Rod & Staff's) and spiral bound notebooks from sliding down. (Each child used a spiral bound notebook for different subjects so I wouldn't have to deal w/ random papers everywhere.) There was a small spot on the lid to keep pencils, eraser, ... I kept all my manuals, standing upright in a smallish cardboard box for easy access, whichever child I was working with.

 

The file boxes were big enough to hold all the stuff each child needed to use daily.  When we worked at the kitchen table, each child brought his box and we were ready to go. End of day, all the boxes were stacked up in a corner of the back room.

 

Worked well for us, but I only have three children!

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I feel you!   If there is one thing I HATE it is not being able to do school because I am searching the house for a book.   Or not being able to write because there are books everywhere and no flat space..   Plus, the way our house is set up, I need to be able to quickly pack up our school stuff so we can use the house for other things.   I can't just leave piles of books and papers on our table.   (And I like being able to put away our seat work at the end of the day.   It just feels good mentally!)   

 

If your house is at all large enough, I have found that it is REALLY helpful to have a separate table (or desks) dedicated for schooling.   That way you don't have to clear everything every time you eat lunch, etc.   (Plus, it keeps all of the books and notebooks cleaner if the kids aren't eating right next to them.)  

 

Our main homeschool table is in our home library (which is a fancy term I use for the basement...hahaha).  So we have book shelves surrounding us within easy reach.   We keep all books we only use occasionally on those shelves and books we plan to use in the future.   (Future read alouds, future assigned literature selections, reference books, handbook of nature study, etc.)

 

The kids each have a rolling scrapbooking cart which I purchased from Michaels with a 50% coupon a LOOOOONG time ago.   They have one drawer for each subject.  They roll these up to the table behind their chairs during school hours and push these next to the wall when they are finished with school for the day.  They store all current books for the week in these carts, along with notebooks, and other supplies they need for that subject.   Larger/heavier books go on top.   I don't know that I would recommend these carts, because they are sort of wobbly for the price.   They are just what we have and use, and they keep everything organized.   

 

I also have two Ikea Raskog carts.   One I keep downstairs in our "library"/homeschool room.  It has all of the the books I use to homeschool the kids.  (For example, books I read aloud or teacher manuals.)  

 

Another one I keep upstairs in our eating area.   It holds all of the books I use for morning time (since we do that while the kids eat breakfast), plus our current after dinner read aloud, and the bottom shelves hold craft supplies since they often do crafts while I am reading.   

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Bookshelves, cabinets, Desk Apprentice, and those magazine file holder boxes that I got from the Target dollar section (one per kid). There are certain bookshelves that the children do not touch because I have everything there organized by history rotation and if I let them into the books without directly supervising them, the books will wander away and never return. I was working on dd1's history lesson plans for the coming school year and discovered that happened to one of the books at some unknown point.  :huh:  I mean, I guess we don't really need that book, but I'd kind of like to use it.

 

Most of my bookshelves I got from other people who were downsizing and decided they didn't need them anymore. Others, dh built for me. One storage location is a hutch that I refinished and another is a cabinet with shelves inside that I got from an antique store back before I had children. I really worried about that purchase, but that cabinet has gotten loads of use. Oh, and I have a four drawer filling cabinet with other things in.

 

A dedicated school room and table sounds lovely. I could maybe swing one in the basement. Clearly I need to mention it to dh. He usually figures this stuff out for me.

 

ETA: Oh, and I also have a decorative type crate that sits in the living room, but that's just for library books because otherwise, have I mentioned how books disappear in my house? It's like the Bermuda Triangle, but with books and it's less of a thrilling mystery and more of a thing involving children.  :glare:

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Edited by mamaraby
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Thanks for all the suggestions! Lots to think about now.

 

I totally agree with a separate table being best but we're getting ready to move again and need to get rid of stuff. Hopefully we will have a place to put a second table in our next house. We used to have a dedicated homeschool room and it was great for organization.

 

Yes, one linear yard or meter of books is t much for so many kids but we're coming off a couple year gap in homeschooling during which we got rid of just about everything. All those books have been purchased in the past couple months. I'm also trying to keep things to a minimum until after we've moved.

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We have tried everything. Right now I keep most of our in-progress stuff on this IKEA cart. It is incredibly sturdy and though the bottom and top shelf aren't ideal for storing books up-right, I can stack them pretty easily. It was super cheap!

 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90333976/

 

That's funny because that looks like the cart I got from Target. I was just thinking today about how maybe if I stand the books upright I can fit more on the cart, but that might only work with certain items.

 

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We have tried everything. Right now I keep most of our in-progress stuff on this IKEA cart. It is incredibly sturdy and though the bottom and top shelf aren't ideal for storing books up-right, I can stack them pretty easily. It was super cheap!

 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90333976/

 

I have this cart too. It's my all time favorite product. I agree that's incredibly sturdy and durable. I've been thinking of getting a second cart for books. 

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I have the Ikea cart as well. Our communal books for subjects we study together are on the top level of the cart. The second level has all our markers, pencils, scissors, etc., and the bottom level has all our math manipulatives. For subjects that are individual to the kids grades and ages, I use a magazine file that I keep in a closet. Each kid has one for their math and one for language arts. I also have moved to using pdf versions of curriculum for textbooks, which cuts way down on what would be a significant book problem that wouldn't fit in magazine files. Last, unless the book is in use, it is kept in a tote in a closet for later, or if we are finished with a book, it gets sold or given away (unless it was a really, really phenomenal book, in which case I might put it in the tote to use again down the road). Anyway, that is how we manage. We have a small house, so it just really helps to have everything central that is being used (though tidy, in the cart or the closet), or put away so it's out of my hair.

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I use the magazine holder thingys for all the textbooks and current read alouds, and they live on a big library table in our living room. There are two baskets for supplemental history and science books checked out from the library. Otherwise, we are blessed with a house that has built in shelving on one whole side of it. And we still have piles of books here and there, though not as bad as when the house I lived in was really tiny. Then there were just piles of books everywhere. I tried to make them look as decorative as possible. :blush:

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I have a shelf in our 'library' that has magazine boxes. Each one is color coded for a kid and holds one subject's worth of materials - textbook, workbook, notebooks, readers, etc.  When it is time to work with me in that subject, they bring the whole box to my table and when done, file it away.

organization-3-500x375.jpg

 

Edited by J&JMom
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I feel your pain.  We only have one child.  Books stack up to the ceiling in shelves.  It's overwhelming.

 

I decided to toss a subject overboard to lighten our load, so I sacrificed history.  Why did I do this?  It's easy to find free history materials online without having to store stockpiles of books which consume walking space.

 

I'm still weeding through materials.  

 

The photos of organizational methods help.

 

I'm drowning in books.  I hope that we don't have an earthquake.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

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