Is it just me?

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  • September 20, 2011 at 10:20 pm
    MelissaB
    Participant

    Or does anyone else have a hard time cleaning their bookshelf?  I’m not talking getting rid of homescholing books, I’m talking about all the other stuff.  We have a nice “collection” of picture books and there are some I’m happy to send on their way, but others I have fond memories reading to my kids even tho they are pretty much considered “twaddle”.  Or even worse, ones I love from my childhood.

    Then there are the books that have been gifted to me (old National Geographic books mainly) that I really don’t want, but am afraid if I donate them, then I’m going to regret it later.  I’m really not a packrat, so why am I having such a hard time?

    Lastly, my MIL found us a set of World Book encyclopedias at a garage sale this summer.  I had asked her last school year to keep her eyes open for a bargain set and she found it for $5!  They are early 1990’s, but really nothing changes with the history, they just add to them.  And now I feel bad having them hog up the bookshelf – do we need them and will we really use them?  I just hate for my kids to rely on Google for any research, shouldn’t they need to know how to look things up in books?  Plus they were only $5, so I hate to get rid of them now.

    Give me words of wisdom SCM gang!  TIA! 🙂

    September 20, 2011 at 10:33 pm
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    I understand:)  I love books, but also desire simplicity!  I had an old set of garage sale encyclopedias (except I paid more!) and I finally got rid of them…Goodwill, I think.  We just never used them and they took up so much space.  Yes, the internet age:) 

    I do save sentimental books.  I have a ‘grandma’ tub I store books I want to keep to read/give to my future grandkids.  I’ll also probably save older classic books.  But most others, if I think I’ll never use them, I try to sell or put on Paperback Swap so I can buy books I need:)  Don’t know if that helps any…..   Blessings, Gina

    September 20, 2011 at 10:41 pm
    Sara B.
    Participant

    My dh won’t let me buy encyclopedias because we have the internet.  😛  Much as I want a set, he’s right!

    I cannot get rid of books easily, either, although lately I have been purging the twaddle almost mercilessly (almost…) because I really, really, really need the shelf space for other books.  I have kept a couple of books here and there that my dh or I have fond memories of, even if they are twaddlish.  A little twaddle isn’t going to hurt, just like a little bit of dessert isn’t going to hurt.

    September 20, 2011 at 10:46 pm
    simple home
    Member

    Can you do book rotation with you favorites? I store away in a big tub a load full, and have just a select few on the shelf. Every so often I will exchange the books from our “library tub”.

    Also, I do categorize by seasons some books. In a cabinet, I keep fall, winter, spring, and summer books…the ones that talk of the actual season (like my apple and Thanksgiving books are in the fall collection, Christmas books in winter, etc). This has really kept a tradition going and I enjoy getting them out every few months.

    HTH!

    September 21, 2011 at 1:14 am
    AprilMayJune75
    Participant

    I have that problem with both kids’ books and my own books, LOL! 🙂 I just took half my non-homeschooling books to a local thrift shop today, so that I can fit everything I actually need/truly want to keep on the 8 foot tall, 5 foot wide bookshelf in our room. DD has her own, and I keep weeding twaddle from our pre-CM days off the shelves as I pick up more quality children’s literature.

    I am planning to keep most of the CM-friendly kids’ books for the long haul, though. My mom homeschooled, and saved a lot of the books for me to use with DD (many SCM Early Years titles, FIAR, etc.). I’m pruning some out some of the twaddle, adding some new books to the collection that they most likely checked out from the library. When my brother has kids, he is welcome to the updated collection, and then when DD grows up, they will be available to her as well. 🙂

    April

    September 21, 2011 at 1:14 pm
    mom2fourboys
    Participant

    I wanted a set of encyclopedias for years and then I finally found a really nice set that someone donated to our local library to give away. They were given to me for free. I was so excited to finally see them sitting on our bookshelf just like I always had pictured. And there they sat, sat, sat and sat. No one ever used them for anything. It wasn’t because we weren’t researching items, rather it was that we owned so many other interactive encylopedias and science/history books that my kids and I would always go over to the shelf and pull off a book on the topic we were interested in. After three years of sitting there taking up a whole shelf and a half, I finally boxed them up and passed them on to another homeschooling family.  Of course, that extra space on the shelf has been filled up and we have since added two more bookshelves. I have found that the more organized I keep my bookshelves, the  more my kids will go and use them. I have each shelf labeled with either History, Art, Science, Religion, etc. As the shelves fill up and we need to add new, we just switch the tags around to keep “like items” together. This has worked so well for us. Also… don’t forget to make sure that you have a shelf for the little ones. They need to have their own shelf to learn proper book handling and organization. When I showed my two year old his own shelf, he was so excited. It has been a challenge to get him to put his books back on his shelf, but it is getting easier the more he does it. I do believe a “habit” is forming. 

    Tammy

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