What did you do with old homeschool curriculum?

[sbgrace]

I've finished my homeschool journey. I have all these years of material we used on bookshelves and in closets. I don't think I've ever gotten rid of any curriculum.

What did you did or do you do with your old materials? 

 

[sgo95]

If the curriculum is appreciated by others in my local area, I give it away. Otherwise, it goes in the recycling bin or trash if not recyclable. I value the space in my house and my time more than any money I might recoup in selling things.

Edited June 6, 2023 by sgo95

[Storygirl]

Things that my kids wrote in were thrown away, after I saved out some samples. Reusable books and other items went to Goodwill.

[Ali in OR]

Sold some, saved some, tossed some.

[Arcadia]

At the end of each academic year, my kids have decided on what they want to keep for sentimental reasons. The rest is given away or thrown away depending on condition of the items. 

[ScoutTN]

Sold some, thrifted some, gave some away, kept some, recycled the rest. 

[Arcadia]

For community college books that my kids didn’t want to keep, the literature books were donated to the library, a friend would take those that she (or someone she know) could use and I intend to donate the rest to the community college study area (which has older editions of textbooks for students to use).

ETA: while they don’t count as homeschool curriculum, they are what my kids used during their homeschooling journey.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Arcadia

[Amethyst]

Teaching Textbooks are in the attic for some reason. We don’t have any computers that will ever play those CDs again.
 

Story of the World is on book shelf. So is History of US series. I probably still have Alpha Phonics somewhere just cuz. And maybe Spelling Power. But mostly everything else I tossed. 

[Heartstrings]

I sell a bunch every year and try to stay in top of it.  I just helped with a used curriculum sale and a few people brought 12 years worth of school stuff to sell.  I can only imagine how nice it must be to regain that square footage.  

[Kareni]

I sold a fair bit. A few items were given away and others were donated. 

Regards,

Kareni

[elegantlion]

I kept more than I should and donated the rest. I made extensive use of thrift stores when I homeschooled, so I wanted to give someone else the same chance to get a bargain. 

Some things I kept for personal enrichment when I am old and grey - okay, older and more grey. 

 

[Shoeless]

Sold off most of it. There are a few things we've kept for sentimental reasons, like Beast Academy and the first levels of MCT. I have a lot of good memories about Grog from BA and Mud the Fish. ❤️

[kathyl]

Sorted the stuff I wanted to keep and donated the rest.

[Spryte]

Donated or freecycled. I never sold any, just enjoyed passing it along.

[Resilient]

Donated that which people wanted; took the rest to consignment store and donated proceeds to friends.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Sell it at the homeschool consignment store. 

[Hannah]

I sold ours annually on a local homeschool 2nd hand facebook page.  I always priced low, but did not want to give it away for free as I did want the person to really want and use the books.  

[MEmama]

Gave it to Goodwill.

[Eos]

Kept it.  Will purge one day.  We weren't big textbook and worksheet users so there's little of that.

All those "living books" will stay here but maybe give to grandchildren one day.

[Laura Corin]

Gave it away.  The last thing was a microscope which I only gave away last year. 

[Garga]

There’s a homeschool consignment store somewhat near me (a bit of a country drive away). They take current editions of things, so my more current stuff was taken there. I get a tiny portion of the sale from them.

Things not current, I’d put on the pages of the FB pages of the homeschool groups I’m in and offer them for free. 

I just gave away a substantial amount of science equipment to a homeschool school near me. A group of parents run a “school” that meets a few times a week. Each parent takes on one of the subjects to teach it. They’re very serious about what they do, and I was able to give them a lot of science stuff that all their students can use for many years to come. I felt really good about that one, because I know it’ll get used over and over by many students. (Bunsen burner, microscope, beakers, etc, etc, etc.)

[stephanier.1765]

I gave the majority of mine to a homeschool coop. Just recently, I found a few more things that just don't seem right to throw out but I no longer know anyone to give it to. I tried Goodwill because I would have been thrilled to find something like that there but they won't take it. Ugh.

[Soror]

I'm not a keeper of things. Over the years I've got rid of a lot- gave some away, sold some either locally--- online-- consignment, trashed some, and Goodwill the rest.  I need to go through it again. I'm still not sure if I'm entirely done with hs'ing but even if the girls end of staying home there is some I'll never use. 

[skimomma]

We had a very active annual curriculum swap in my community so I tried to stay on top of it over time, selling anything we were done with as we went.  Most things did actually sell that way.  For what was left at the very end, I took photos and posted on our local FB sale site in lots.  I priced everything very low with some being free.  I really didn't expect many bites, but much of it went the first day.  The last 30% that did not go, I made into a new bundled free-to-good-home post and that went too.  I did recycle anything consumable, in poor condition, or outdated first.

[kathyl]

I also asked all my dc if they wanted anything from our hs curr before I chose mine and donated the rest.  Some of them did take some of it.

Edited June 6, 2023 by kathyl

[Lady Florida.]

Homeschooling changed a lot by the time ds was done. We were mostly do it yourself-ers only using specific curriculum for math. Therefore most of the stuff I had was a mish mash of books that I used to create his curriculum. When he was young that was fairly common around here. Most people homeschooling when we were finished wanted a laid out curriculum that told them what to teach. At least that's how it is in my area. I donated some books to the thrift shop, some to the library, and sadly threw a lot away. When I could I tore pages out of the books to be trashed and put them in the recycle bin. 

[kbutton]

Given some away. Sold a lot for next to nothing at local homeschool sales, usually through specific co-ops (some of which we weren't part of but were open to others). I still have more to go. 

I still have way too many kid books that are well-done, but I hate to not have them for grandkids, lol! I loaned them out to my mom on and off though; she often has kids visiting from other parts of the family, and they appreciate the rotating library (she swaps things out to be age-appropriate). 

I really need to work on the remaining boxes in the basement.

[Momto6inIN]

Currently my plan is to keep it all in case I need to educate our hypothetical bunker community's children in the event of the apocalypse 😜

[Clarita]

I've lent it out, "sold" it to half price books (you don't get very much money), and placed it in the free box at our homeschool charter. It's one of the nice perks of going through the charter school I just return a bunch of stuff to them every year as well. 

[Kidlit]

When we quit homeschooling, we also moved.  I had a HUGE giveaway event at my house: think mountains of books piled on our pool table and in bins and on shelves.   (These were the leftovers of what I kept for sentimental reasons.)  I generally sold what I couldn't use with younger siblings as we went along, so by this point I really did just want to give it away to people who would use and appreciate it.  
 

I was the recipient of this sort generosity from retiring homeschool moms when we started our journey, so it was nice to be able to pay it forward. 

[PronghornD]

I did a big giveaway event when I moved and advertised it on every local forum I could think of. People were so impressed by my generosity, they still handed me some cash. I also had some leftovers picked up by some organization -- Lupus Foundation, maybe. And I kept some of my favorites for personal edification and in case one of the students I tutor might benefit from it. Quite a lot falls into this category. Some people, meeting me on Zoom, think the extensive library behind me is a fake background. It is not!