Cost of implementing scm

One thing that I found a true blessing to me, is that as I came from a book and literature loving family and a family that never got rid of any books – I had a lovely stash to start with when my children were born 17 years ago.  I had also kept all the books that I had read through highschool and college and all my notes, and all the books that I have purchased in adulthood – so along with my husband’s books, we have a vast library.  For all those of you starting out, keep your living books, look out for bargains and second hand books that fit the bill, and see them as a treasure.  My daughters are now 17 and said how lovely it is that they will have books from my childhood for their own children.  I know that space and money is a consideration, but personally I always made sure to have room for my books, to me they are all good friends and I love each and everyone of them.  Even when we were not homeschooling the girls, they had a vast library of books to read, and I think that is why they love reading so very much, plus there father and I read avidly.  My mother collected books for my sister and I when we were tiny, as money was tight, and she had a collect a bit at a time, but I am so grateful now that she did that.  So if you can collect some through the years, and I still get a lot of secondhand books and out of print books when I can afford it, I always consider it an investment.  I am quite sad when I go into a home, and see few if any bookshelves, they really are a treasure and an investment.  So buy and take care of what you can, and keep them for your children’s children, one day they will thank you.  I have some old reader’s that my English grandma used when she was in primary school, they are of such good quality and so lovely to look at, perhaps future generations will look at our books and think the same thing – I do hope so.  Blessings,  Linda

I’ve found the following to be helpful in buying books for our home library.

1.  Library book sales.  You can find amazing, wonderful books for 25 cents or so.  They are often hardbound too.

2.  I keep a “wish list” on Amazon and anytime I’m placing an order I flip through my list to see if anything used has become available.  With patience I have found many a hard-to-find and expensive books for very, very cheap.

3.  I try to review a book as much as possible before buying.  I read reviews here (at the Bookfinder), on Goodreads, Amazon, etc.  I’ve found that some well-liked books aren’t a good fit for us and reading lots of reviews have helped me determine that.

4.  Admit a mistake.  If I can return the book, I do so.  Otherwise I donate to my library or a friend I know will like it.  If I were really ambitious I could re-sell it, but I’m not.  By getting rid of mistakes I have more room for books I do like.

5.  Start looking for books you’ll need early.  If I know we’ll be studying American History or Rome or whatever the next year I start planning and buying months in advance.  Then I don’t feel the pressure to buy a book at full price.

Recently I’ve been working on cataloging them since I have a bad habit of buying the same book twice.  And because I often can’t remember if I have a certain book on a certain subject.  I’m getting too old!!!

We are building our library by using paperbackswap.com  This is our first year homeschooling the cm way with my four kiddos. Ages 13,11,9,and 6. We purchased Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt. Most of the books in the history module 1 I have found at paperbackswap and I am awaiting others that are on my wishlist. I’ve saved a ton of money using them. I also have a stash of books from a library book sale a few years back that I thought about getting rid of,but the more I look at them the more I see that they will be used at various times during my children’s schooling. I can’t bare to part with them now.. I LOVE books too. We have so many classics and I had a bunch of older books given to me. I also use our library. I can search their website for what I’m looking for and what they don’t have I look for at paperbackswap. Depending on what the books are I could get them through interlibrary loan. The library has been a $$ saver for us.

As far as nature notebooks go, I purchased our books from Walmart for under $4 each. We’ll see how they work for us this year. We may find something better next year. I’m in the process of scheduling for our year and entering it in the CM Organizer. I don’t know why I didn’t do CM earlier. My kids would’ve loved their studies so much more. I like the wide range of topics that will be covered in a year. And the short lessons that will help them stick better..

While I do love to buy books, we are a family of five on a tight budget and in a house with little to no storage space, so buying is not always an option.  I have come to love our local library.  We make a trip into town once a week to go, stopping by the park in town as well, if the weather permits.  I’m doing Genesis thru Deut. this year, as I think many people have mentioned they’re doing too.  I wanted to just mention to those that are, if your library doesn’t have  a copy of a book you are looking for, and you can’t/don’t want to buy it, ask your librarian if you can put in a request for books.  I put in a request for 4 of the required books for this study, and my library bought them all!  When they come in, I’ll be the first to get my hands on them!  You can also check about an interlibrary loan, getting books from other libraries in your state, but I figure that putting in a request for the book ensures that other people who want them will have them, too.  We’ve gotten 2 or 3 of the Jennie Fulbright books in our local library system because of local homeschooling familes requesting them!

I would like to know what grade was Sonya’s list for?