Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: free reading, literature, twaddle

This topic has 8 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 8 months ago by LDIMom.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

Author
Posts
September 7, 2012 at 8:01 pm
eawerner
Participant
Do you ever get the little newsprint orders through your co-ops? Do you ever find anything worthwhile in them? I remember liking them so much when I was in gradeschool and was excited that a mom in our co-op had brought some in for this month. Looking at them though, it seems like they are 95% twaddle. I suppose I didn’t really know the difference before but I could only find 1-2 books that I would consider getting now. Am I being too picky, or would you likely not find anything worth purchasing in them either?
September 7, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Bookworm
Participant
They ARE mostly twaddle; the ones that aren’t twaddle (there are a few classics mixed in) are cheap, cheap copies that fall apart at the least stress. Skip it.
September 7, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Monica
Participant
Even when my kids were in PS I didn’t order from Scholastic. The books are terrible quality. If there’s a book you are interested in, check and see what a second-hand hardcover version of the book would cost on Amazon (or another used book source).
September 7, 2012 at 10:16 pm
suzukimom
Participant
The only time I got to order something from them as a kid – they ran out of the book and substituted something completely different.
September 7, 2012 at 10:34 pm
LDIMom
Participant
I have to say we go to a Scholastic Warehouse Sale about once every 2 years or so. We have found worthwhile books there, but I haven’t tried the order form.
If you go to Scholastic, you can see what they offer. I think their science books are sometimes good especially for the K-2nd grade or so range. If we buy one of those in paperback, we will put contact paper on the cover. We haven’t had any issues with falling apart.
Also, we check these books in a series sometimes from our library and they are very living in nature. Here is one example: http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_28299_-1_10001_10002
They also have some great math books, like the Greg Tang series: http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_28797_-1_10001_10002?source=igodigital
Just depends on your preference I guess.
September 8, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Sara B.
Participant
Skip them. They are definitely almost all twaddle. :-/
September 8, 2012 at 1:07 pm
missceegee
Participant
Some are worse than twaddle pushing an agenda that isn’t ok for our family. One yeaR a local mom was starting an alternative with wholesome and classic well made books. I loved the idea, but I don’t think they were able to make a go of it. Shame really. I loved the book fairs when I was a kid, but the offerings were different.
September 8, 2012 at 2:08 pm
delaney
Participant
I actually like the orders. I think the choices for historical fiction can be pretty good. I also like the easy readers and cd/book packs. I figure if I am going to buy them anyway I might as well get credits to spend on other stuff. When we are done they go on paperbackswap or to the local used store so I can turn them into other books.
September 8, 2012 at 7:08 pm
LDIMom
Participant
I guess everyone’s definition of twaddle is different. I like to have a nice collection of books my newer readers can pick up and read, and I love to have more than a few that are living (in my opinion) and non-fiction in nature. AS I mentioned in another thread, going to the library for these will not be an option for us in a few weeks as our baby girl is having open-heart surgery and bringing germy library books home won’t be an option for us anymore.
I like the historical fiction and easy readers as well, especially ones that are non-fiction in nature. We have some about the life cycle of butterflies and other animals that are easy readers, and they are some of our DC’s favorites. Their is no agenda in them, and the real-life photography is superb. I find these especially good for those animals we’ll probably never see in real life or at the least at a zoo.