The Library Shelves

I thought it would be fun to update you on how we're doing with our library book shelf. It.is.awesome. Before this bookcase was in my life all the books you see here were sprawled all along this wall and no...we really didn't have that much better of a place!

During the school year I keep some relevant study items on the top of this shelf. It's perfect! I was also keeping books open for exploration. Right now the stuff of summer is there...R11's seasonal crafts, a bird watching book, a set of binoculars, a whole jug of beads just given to us and a Presidents trivia game.

This is a library book's home away from home. I'm still in love with my $40 shelf from the consignment store. I waited patiently and it paid off!

So, where do you keep library books while they visit your house?

To continue briefly with our spoils from the library book sale last weekend. I bring you the following:

The much acclaimed More-with-Less Cookbook...a very well used copy. But it's better than waiting on a 200 some waiting list at PaperBackSwap or buying it new!

Vietnam Fried Rice is a family favorite it at our house. I've borrowed this one from the library so many times, they ought to just let me have it! Instead, I have this worn copy all for myself.

I hit the jackpot on Janice VanCleave science books! At a dollar each, we will have plenty of science fun with these.

I have some things in my with the Quilting Activities book. Who doesn't love concoctions?

We have the Fractions version of this book and it's a winner. I figured I couldn't go wrong with division. Molecules is a repeat, but I have already shared it with a friend.

These Melssa Wiley books are the unabridged versions of her story of Martha and Charlotte- Laura Ingalls Wilder's great grandmother and grandmother. These are versions are no long published and I wish I could find the information on why on the author's website, but somehow it eludes me. Suffice it to say, the publisher wanted today's text shy youngsters to be able to read it easily. Sigh... the good news is that it appears I've gotten the first books in both series!

The science companion to the Math Book for Girls, I thought R10 might enjoy this one.

A peek at the style of activities in the Science Book for Girls! Looks like a fun cooking science lesson.

There are several living math books which I can't keep for long from the library it would seem. Perhaps other homeschoolers are always requesting them. When I saw The Number Devil, for a dollar, I decided it could come home with us.

We have done some latin and some french with some of the kids, but these Spanish resources called to me. The Usborne books of the first thousand words we have for English and French in sticker form. Which I think work well for an introduction to vocabulary. Right next to it, I found the work magnets with Spanish on one side and English on the other. Sounds like fun foreign language immersion to me!

I borrowed this one from the library...you never know when you wanna try a little unschooling.

These books are out of print, but we'd been waiting on Kirsten's Cookbook. In the fall, I was able to pick up a nice copy of the Little House Cookbook. We only need one to complete the full collection- Josefina's cookbook.

After our trip to the vernal pool and bog, I thought we could use a more thorough field guide on reptiles and amphibians. Although we have a few, but I think this is the best one on reptiles.

We LOVE the book sale! I go on the first weekend when paperbacks like these are $1 and games are $3.50. However, the sale continues on two more weekends and the prices drop. I8 and R10 joined me this trip and they picked out some favorites too. We have a few series we always look to add to- the color collector's editions of Little House and Narnia books for one and I always hit the activity book sections. R10 came home with two doll house craft books one is Klutz and one is American Girl and she loves to make mini things. She was pretty excited.

We'll enjoy our new library additions while we wait until October! In the meantime, I recently hoed out two bookshelves to make room for these new ones. I know....that is pretty resourceful of me! I guess I realize I don't need to hoard all the books anymore. I can part with some.

Found! One Perfect Library Bookshelf!

At last...at long last I found it! I was on the way to my favorite little consignment shop, but I lost out on a parking space at the front of the building. This turned out to be providential because parking in the back lot requires going through the furniture/housewares sister store. Every time I go through there, I look for that perfect little bookcase. It has to be the right size and the right price. But until this day, it was not to be. Bookcases fly out of there and that means the price doesn't need to be particularly low. I even sent my husband to try and buy the fixtures from our closing (sniff) Borders store which proved not to be productive. I was so disappointed.

But yesterday was the day! I was packed for the grocery store with four kids in tow. I had stopped to see about an Easter dress and to see about a shirt for E12 for next week's Civil War Ball. I saw two other shelves that weren't it and then I saw it from across the room. As I approached it, I told the kids...this is going home with us today. A nearby shopper laughed that I was a woman who knew what I wanted. No doubt! I bought that bookcase and hauled it to my van. THEN went grocery shopping and bought two carts full of groceries. Seriously folks, I like to live the adventure. So, after moving children around and putting down a seat in our slick Honda Odyssey, I moved the shelf on top of the folded seat and still had room for two carts of groceries!

Isn't it a sight to behold? It's a Sauter's little thing but it's in great shape and it has the sweetest bevel on the top where it bows out. Great style. Great color. Great price. The most difficult thing will be what to do with that basket of books you see on the floor just to the right of the new bookshelf. I need to farm them out, but that's no easy task!

It's so handsome, I had to include another view.

On the top, I have a little runner and at long last I have a small space to display (and rotate) books that go with our study and some objects of interest for each unit. I can't put all of anything out at once, but it makes a delightful place to rotate things out to the top. Already I caught R10 cruising through the travel book on Great Britain that is open. As she was looking and reading she asked why it was open...I simply said to invited you to look at it and well it worked! And she laughed.

Now if you recall from my previous post on Organizing Your Homeschool Library, this is the shelf I've been waiting for to hold books from the library! My homeschool library dreams have indeed come true!This is our library books only shelf. I had just taken a bunch back or this thing would be nearly full. I also keep our current read alouds on here and the large dictionary for easy access. Trust me...I had this thing disinfected and ready to roll almost before the groceries were away.

Organizing Your Homeschool Library

My post is up over at Heart of the Matter today. I wrote a post on how to organize your homeschool library. I thought it would be helpful to have the pictures to match my descriptions, so I'm posting the pictures with the entire article here! I did rearrange it some and added captions for clarity. Happy Reading! (click here for the original post)

I bet I’m not the only one who has a home overflowing with books. Sometimes it’s just really nice to have a book on-hand rather than going to the library all the time- especially when you have a small library and have to order in like we do.

But how do you store and organize all those books on your shelves so that you can use them efficiently? I know some folks use a service like Library Thing.  Some families use the Dewey-Decimal System to organize their home library. I’ve always figured that if I need to shelve the books in my home using Dewey Decimals, my husband would declare us once and for all to have too many books! So, I haven’t taken that step.

I do a combination of several systems at our house. First, I have a magazine wall rack which holds our reference materials- the atlases, subject encyclopedias, DK general books, dictionaries, thesauruses, spellers, and some Field Guides.

I keep biographies, Newberry honor books, and other chapter favorites in shoebox bins on the shelf so the kids can flip through them. That strategy is a favorite of mine because it turns the book covers out. The other books on the shelves, but not really organized other than not being in any of those other categories. I am pretty good about remembering where a book is and pointing children in the right direction or pulling them myself. I have dinosaur books, train books, and stencil books together, but they aren’t labeled as such.

I like how the boxes let me see the covers of the books- a cool way to turn books out on a normal shelf

 The other books I arrange by subject on the bookshelves. I use a color coding system to organize them together on the bookshelf.  I just colored plain white sticker labels in a small size and then stuck them to the bindings of the books. Purple- math, Green- science, Red- Social Studies

Green is science

Red is Social Studies

Math is marked with purple

The books I use for instruction are on a different bookshelf and they are grouped together by subject area- usually there is room for two disciplines per shelf. On the very bottom of that bookcase, is where I keep seasonal picture books and our Five in a Row collections. I converted cereal boxes into magazine holders and I labeled them with winter, summer, spring and fall. I also have a box for Five in a Row, Before Five in a Row, and Beyond Five in a Row books. On another bookcase I have boxes for alphabet books, Henry and Mudge Books and a few other series we’ve collected over the years.

Five in a Row books (all levels). These homemade boxes might look stressed, but I've had them for 6 years or more...not bad for a generic cereal box.

Some social studies and science on my shelf- I've got a little Janice VanCleave collection going.

Ok I moved the shot a bit and got more of the science end of the shelf.

One of my shelves- art and social studies type books are on here

Our kids keep their favorite books on their gutters! (click to see) Jim Trelease is a big advocate of using rain gutters to hold books so that kids can see their covers. We have a set of those in our boys’ room and each child has one next to their bed for tucking away their favorite titles. We have a large bookcase in our living room which holds special books.

This system has worked wonderfully for us. I really only see one problem… I need more bookcases! OK…I’d settle for one more. I need a half size bookcase, but not a narrow one, that would be for library books only.  My book organization dream would come true if I could have a bookcase, just the right size that would hold all the library books we have out at any given time.

Our many books provide a print rich environment for our children and allow them to explore many topics and places. The key to having lots of books is making sure they are somewhat organized. If you have another way to organize books, please leave a comment and share it with us!

Some New Resources...

We went to the local consignment shop last week while R9 was at sewing camp- a little lesson in walking through the city for the boys. I found some fun things...they have a new homeschooling book section that totally ROCKS. I have some math resources to share in another post that were absolutely sent from heaven just for me! This trip however, we found these fun items.

A go along for Marie Curie and a Before FIAR book The Carrot Seed- my copy isn't too good of shape so I am happy to replace it

A book on presidents (a go along resource for a new unit study of ours) and a space from the Let's Read and Find Out science series- super science books for elementary kids.

An eye wonder book and a fun little book on unplugged family activities. I love a good activity book!

I so could not pass up on the bird flash cards to add to our collection.

Why not throw a little Spanish in this year? This fun little pairing puzzle will introduce some vocabulary. We are continuing with our Latin study this year, but some basic Spanish pronunciation and vocabulary can't hurt.

This little store is the best. I'm successful at selling there as well as buying. I have sold so much baby equipment in there as well as clothing. You never know what you'll find when you arrive. But I rarely leave empty handed.

Library Booksale!

Disclaimer- some of my pictures are turned. Ignore it and just tilt your head to the side and play along. For some reason my camera turned the pictures because when I loaded them into my photo software I had to turn them. They were all taken the same way so who knows. I had been thinking that it was my Memory Manager software that couldn't save the picture properly because when I load it on here the picture is turned again. So, today I tried to solve the rotation issue in Picasa. Seemed ok. Then when I loaded them up they were still turned. Maybe I'll put my IT guy on this issue. He'll love that. Until then folks...enjoy the variety.

So I went to the local library sale with a friend of mine a few weeks ago. It was very exciting to get there right as the sale was starting for the first weekend and to wait in line for an hour to get my turn. I'm thankful I had a friend to chat with. I felt like I was still in my early 20s waiting for concert tickets to the big "HFStival" held each year at RFK stadium in DC. I think waiting hours in line for day long concert tickets for the likes of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Blondie, The B52s, Beck, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Jimmie's Chicken Shack is probably cooler than waiting outside a library warehouse to get first dibs on children's books and games, but that's how I roll these days kids. What can I say?

We had to wait an hour and watch as customers ahead of us in line came out with bags and boxes full of stuff. I don't know if their stuff was cooler than mine. I don't think so except one lady did come out with at least three bags full of boxes like game boxes. I think they might have been puzzles. The puzzles were red hot that day. I practiced some self control and didn't stalk her loot. She was waiting for her partner in crime so I had to look at her totes full of game size boxes for too long. But things turned out ok. Check out the haul.

Fun games- Bazaar (I was told is a great game- it's helpful to bring a gaming friend to the booksale with you- just a free tip) and a card game version of Labyrinth. We love the board version of Labyrinth so hopefully this will play well too.

We caught up on collecting the Kaya American Girl books- we are only missing one now. Plus, we added a few more for Kit and Josefina.

I did it! I found the last book in the What Your ____ Grader Needs to Know series. I use them for grammar benchmarks among other things. I thought I had them all, but it turns out I was missing 5th grade. Honey for a Child's Heart was an exciting find. It is not the newest edition, but I think I'll manage.

I found this cute American Girl Writing book. R8 has a love/hate thing going with her writing. I thought she might enjoy working through the suggestions in this book. After all, she loves that Math for Girls book I picked up at the same sale in October. The route 66 Molly book will come in handy very soon. We are hosting a Molly themed birthday party this weekend! Details coming in another post.

Love, love, love Cobblestone magazines. I hadn't found any at this sale until this time. Finally. I got an issue on Helen Keller, Quakers, Thomas Jefferson and Pirates. How cool is that? Beyond Five in a Row go along and other cool stuff. Cobblestone devotes each issue to a whole theme each month. Our kids love Cobblestone!

A nearly new copy of The Daring Book for Girls Things to Do- this one will be a gift for our sweet 8 almost 9 year old girl R. I don't know if it's any good, but I couldn't leave without the American Girls Club Handbook.

They have a whole section on instructional/activity books. There are always super finds there. Here we have some young child Science by Janice VanCleave and this great book on pretending with cardboard. I've always wanted this book so for a dollar it is a good risk.

Two awesome AG finds- the plays written for Molly, Samantha, and Kirsten. With 9 girls here on Friday night this might be a fun thing to try. Also, a brand new Samantha Christmas craft kit. It even still has the materials attached. So fun.

We've been playing this non-stop. What a great game! I'm jonesin' for the world version now. They love the computer game and this is even better. When I worked at a toy shop in college Carmen was very popular. University games put out some great games back then. I'm happy to have a few now that I have my own kids.

I'm always on the look out for fun math books- super for the math journal and math boxes. I was able to pick up a few Magic School Bus titles we didn't have. Love the original series.

More from the parent activity section- you just cannot go wrong with these. Ever.

Some experiment books- I've wanted the Usborne title for a long time. The DK book on nature will be fun to try out this summer.

J3 is looking to beef up his George collection. He's a fan. These will be part of his birthday present- um yeah we have three of our four kids' birthdays the first 10 days of June. So, I have birthdays on the brain! I had already purchased some new ones for him so he's gonna squeal.

The Snail's Spell seemed like a good garden title to me- don't tell me if it isn't! And another appearance of Daring Girls.

I snagged the whole My Side of the Mountain series- our kids LOVED this as a read aloud. I remember being read this book when I was in sixth grade.

I'm collecting the Little House extrapolation series- The Rose, Charlotte, Martha, and Caroline Years books about Laura's women relatives. I was able to get two of the Rose years books we didn't have. With all the abridging of the original books, the books with the original text will be hard to come by. They may even go out of print according to one of the authors. Such a shame. Oh and though we own the whole little house series, the book on the left is such a fine copy that I would love to replace all of ours with that edition.

Who can pass up a great instructional book for sewing? Well especially since I was sure it was a match for a book I wanted over at Paper Back Swap. It isn't the same, but there are some great projects waiting to be done.

Lots of pictures, but I couldn't resist sharing my excitement with you all! This sale happens twice a year and I can't wait to spend an hour on the sidewalk on a crisp October morning. Cindy are you in??

The Busy Books- A Review

Per a recent reader's request, I've decided to review some of my homeschooling stash. I thought I'd start with some of my first and favorite books. Come to think of it, I probably should have grouped my baby and toddler books together (as they were my first purchase), but I will go with a trio of books I have by Trish Kuffner- one of which was the first I purchased...back in the day.

This is the one! The Toddler's Busy Book- A book I bought when E9 was a toddler of 18 months. I googled "activities to do with toddlers" and came up someone's list of fun things to do. Being resourceful, I checked this woman's bibliography and this is one of the books that was listed there.

My copy is worn and loaded with small post it notes! I adored this book when I needed it most. Some categories in this book include: rainy day play, kids in the kitchen, water play, outdoor adventures, out and about, early learning, music and movement, arts and crafts, birthdays and holidays, an appendix full of recipes for modeling dough and bubbles, and the first part of the book has general ideas of encouragement- organizing the activities, planning them and stocking your craft cupboard. Here we have the origins of my preschooler planning sheet and my craft closet.

One of my favorites from this book is the felt face from the out and about category. I cut out a round face out of felt and then bunches of face accessories from ears to hats and hair and everything in between. It goes in a little plastic container and travels with me to doctor's offices.

The Preschooler's Busy Book- This book is organized in much the same way only the activities inside are for kids ages 3 to 6 years old. Imagine a book full of a year's worth of fun activities and games for kids. One of my favorite activities from this book helps kids to learn to recognize their name. You write out the child's name on a strip of cardstock and then cut out the letters individually. Then you have the child arrange the letters in order. Brilliant!

She has ideas for setting up centers and playing grocery store, bakery, and library with your child- among other similar ideas. She has instructions for learning games like Number Match. You write numbers on index cards and then make matching cards that have magazine pictures of things with the corresponding number of them. The kids have to match up the number with the corresponding set of objects.

Or how about Dictionary Zoo? On a rainy day have your child write out a letter of the alphabet on a sheet of paper (or you could write it out for them) and then draw an animal that matches the letter. What a great on-going project for a preschooler.

The Children's Busy Book- This one is for 6 to 10 year olds and is, as you might guess, patterned in the same fashion as the other two. Rainy day play includes the alphabets of codes such as American Sign Language, Morse Code, Braille, and Semaphore among others. Pretty cool.

Even for this age she suggests having busy boxes and bags, rainy day boxes, baker's boxes (full of items to play with dough), tickle trunks (full of dress up items), etc. There are 365 of these fantastic ideas for this age group.

One of her ideas is the Crazy Can- aka The Boredom Bottle at my house- this is full of little slips of paper that have ideas on them. Ideas for things to do that require little of my time or supervision. When things get a little crazy or the kids are bored, I send them to the bottle.

Mrs. Kuffner has written a few other books for kids including another one I will review shortly. She is a homeschooling mom living in a rainy region of Canada. If you have kids in any of these age groups, I highly recommend these books. They are just full of simple ideas for kids to have lots of fun. She also has some words about the habit forming tendencies of the television. Great stuff!! Her words of encouragement and wisdom are worth seeking out. Enjoy!