Paperback swap?

I will be homeschooling Africa where there is no library (with English books) and its expensive to ship things out so we have to be selective. I had a kindle and have switched over to the iPad. There are tons of cm books in digital format. Not all of course but a lot and many/most for free! As time goes on there will be more and more available in ebook format. Some places to look for these is amazon, Gutenberg.com (or is it org?), and manybooks.net. There are other places too that I can’t recall off-hand. Google searches can be the title of the book plus ebook or PDF. Some have to be quite searched for but they can be found with some work. Again, not all of them but it all helps a lot with our situation. You can look at them on the computerntoo but it’s harder to look at that compared to something hand-held. HTH!

I have used PBSwap to obtain many of my hs materials.  The trick is you must be patient.  You can set up a wish list of up to 200 books.  I have obtained several of the books from the history modules from PB Swap.   After I use them, I do generally repost rather than trying to keep for the next cycle.  I too have limited space so I can only keep so many items around at once.  My other suggestion is to try to cultivate a relationship with your local librarians.  Mine have been so helpful and sometimes will even order one of my requests for the local library rather than going through the interlibrary loan system.  You can also consider substituting books for ones that are actually available in your library.  For history, I make sure that I have all of the “family” books, but I don’t mind skipping or substituting for the grade level book list.

I do store the books!  I have over 9 large bookcases and a few stacks on the floor.  We’ve gotten rid of a lot of “junk” and “stuff” to make room for it.  I’ve hit so many library sales it’s ridiculous.  But I always, always, always come away with huge boxes of books I had on my lists of “I need this book.”  Last year I got all of the Exploring Creation with…(Apologia series) for 25 cents each.  Brand new.

I also have a Kindle where we store lots of books.

And YES, I use Paperback Swap.  I have gotten a lot of great books for our CM curriculum there, but I do plan ahead.  For example, we are studying American History right now.  I put books I needed on my Wishlist over a year ago.  Slowly, slowly they trickled in.  I have several books I want for Ancient History on the list now (two years away).  They’ll get here sooner or later.  If you try to use it as a “I need it right now” option, it won’t work very well.  But plan ahead and you can get a lot!

Heather

Agree with above, have to be patiet with PBS.  I got some books immediately, others I’ve had on my list for months.  But worthwhile and I plan to keep doing it.  I keep meaning to request books for next school year NOW so  hopefully I’ll get more:)  I’ve been very impressed with how efficient the PBS system is.  Mailing is so quick and easy.   :)Gina

That’s the very reason I like PBS better.  They are stricter on time frames–means I get my books more reliably and quickly than a more decentralized system.  I have only had a couple of books, out of hundreds of transactions, fail on PBS due to someone just not mailing the book, and friends of mine on Mooch complain of this all the time.

You can also purchase credits at PBS.  It usually works out to about $3 or less to do that.  So that will get you a book, shipped.  Much cheaper still than buying a one-cent book at Amazon and paying shipping on it. 

But, yes, I go out and buy good condition paperbacks for a dime or a quarter at used book sales, and ship them out to people.  It’s not being unkind if they want the books.