Top Ten Ways to Get Free Books (or Nearly Free)

Our budget is tighter than tight, since the Ref has not had a job in 4 years (he refs during seasons).  My motto is Make do or Do without.

But our family LOVES books.  So I've found many ways to get books to read, without a budget for books.


1.  Public Library - on the shelves, and most have an Inter Library Loan program for other books.  For the last 12 years, this has been our default action for reading school books without purchasing them.  Sometimes, we would have 6 or more people reading the same book - to avoid having to have them spend the time and money to ILL it a second time.  ...  Also, some libraries have a free table or shelves, and some do book sales.  Ours sells the children's books for 25c each.

2.  Garage Sales - Not always free, but especially really large church sales, I can usually find a few great books tucked in between the romances.  More than once, I've looked back wistfully at a stack of books that I left behind, only to have a worker tell me to go get the rest of my stack and take it home, because I'm the first person to show any interest in the books.  (I'm not asking them to give them to me for free - but when you spend time going through them, stacking, sorting, counting your loose change, and then leave behind half of your stack, sometimes people are just generous.)  ....   People also tell me I glow when I smile.

3.  Friends ....  Honestly, do you know how much money I've saved with the words, "Does anyone have a copy of *** to borrow?   ....  AND having a reputation for returning the books in good condition in a reasonable amount of time.   For me, this is among the best reasons to become a part of some homeschool network.

4.  Amazon! - Really.... they offer thousands of classic books for free all the time.  Free Classic Books on Kindle

5.  Librivox - http://librivox.org/  -  All audio books of non-copyrighted literature.  Not every recording is easy on the ears - but we've found a few readers that we love to listen to!  ...   This is also a great opportunity for an older teen to practice their oratory skills, by volunteering to do some of the reading on current projects.
We almost always download the books to the MP3 players, and they can listen while doing their chores.

6.  Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org - This has something for everyone.  You can read books online, in several types of readers, PDF, Txt, and other formats.  Sometimes there are audio books offered as well.   Librivox gives a link to a print version of every book that they have read aloud - and I've found this useful with a reluctant reader .... allowing them to listen to a book being read, while reading along.

7.  Google Books - http://books.google.com/books  ...  I've not used this one a lot, and like Amazon, you have to watch them to make sure you've got a Free book.

8.  Paperback Swap - Not entirely free ... you have to be willing to part with some books from your collection (or pick up some cheep ones at a garage sale) - and pay to ship your own books to their new owners.

9.   Good Will - I've found this to be a great place to pick up books cheap.  Kids buy a book to read for school or college, and dump them at Good Will when they are done.

10.   Need more places to look?   http://educhoices.org/articles/Online_Libraries_-_25_Places_to_Read_Free_Books_Online.html

Homeschool Snapshot: Sprittibee - What Works for Us

Sprittibee - homeschool photography parenting mommy christian:

The article is "Doing What Works" ... and describes what they are doing right now in their home school to make it all work.

I especially liked that she pointed out that they don't do the same thing every year ... and sometimes what worked one year, isn't the best fit the next.

I love the flexibility of Homeschool that can be tailored to fit each child and parent.





'via Blog this'

Keeping Up with a Busy Toddler

Sunshine is a Busy Body.

Her little body is always busy.

And she adores her older siblings.

So what do I do with her when the older ones need to 

concentrate on their schoolwork?

Have Sunshine fix lunch for everyone.

She thinks this is a LOT of fun.

Find simple chores to do.

She really enjoys putting the empty laundry basket back in the bathroom.

As well as picking up hangers, laundry, and shoes and socks.

Have a tea party with a cousin.

Pretend to not notice her science experiment.

After all,

the mixer will clean up nicely.

And Baking soda is really cheep.

Do you like my red mixer?

It is one of my top 10 best

Christmas presents ever.

I have an awesome MIL!

See Sunshine knows you have to MIX on the mixer.

And she knows you have to have liquids and powders.

I haven't a clue where she got the liquid.

Her sippy cup maybe?

Have her read stories to her babies and put them down for naps.

We let her help in the kitchen.

She wanted to help peal the carrots.

After all,

her 4 year old cousin is doing it.

Right?

I believe in starting them young

helping out around the house.

I'm also not above

putting on a VHS video

or a DVD

and letting her watch her favorites.

Like Blue's Clues, and Donut Man,

and Cedar Mont Kids,

and Richard Scarrey,

and Winnie the Pooh ....

What do YOU do to amuse YOUR toddler?

Tricks to Get Work Done

Three Tricks I use to help Scholar do his schoolwork.

Trick 1 - Use a snack.

Sometimes Scholar gets really wiggly and hungry and just can't work.

Especially on long pages.

One trick up my sleeve,

is to put his snack on the page that is giving him trouble.

Each time he finishes a problem,

he gets to eat that snack.

He thinks this is a LOT of fun.

Cheese Nips are a very rare treat,

so they worked especially well.

Here is a glimpse of his 1st Grade

Rod and Staff workbook.

Smaller treats work better if he is struggling with

Phonics and Reading.

Meanwhile, Sunshine

busily does her own clipboard.

She even dutifully tells me to

"fwip my page ober, peas!".

Trick 2 - Let one child teach another child

One of my nieces has learning disabilities.

Concepts like addition and subtraction elude her.

Scholar doesn't like flashcards.

BUT  I can get him to sit and help 

"Pony" with her lessons.

He is so patient while

he carefully counts out her

problems with her.

I also used this trick while Song struggled with reading.

I let HER listen to Scholar and do his

Phonics lessons with him.

And suddenly, we saw a 2 year jump in her

reading ability.

Trick 3 - Art Projects

Set up an art project to the side,

set a timer,

and IF the assignments are completed on time,

Then the child gets to do the art project.

Scholar has a LOT of imagination,

and regularly turns anything he finds into a project.

Here he is cutting out donuts for his birthday party.

But by a landslide,

Scholar's favorite Trick is the 

SNACK.

These tricks can also be creatively used for older children

and adults (including yourself!)

1.  Fix a snack 

(popcorn, nuts, raisins, veggie sticks)

 to munch on every time you complete a task.

Do you want to clean the kitchen shelves?

Count the number of shelves you have to clean

BE REALISTIC!

Let's say you have 8 shelves...

So you fix 8 celery sticks with peanut butter.

Then each time you finish a shelf,

you get to eat one of your treats!

2.  Work WITH somebody else.

There is nothing quite like Teamwork.

So find a best friend to work with and give them a call.

Clean your kitchens together while you chat.

Or teach a child how to do a task.

Or get all the kids involved with you.

Sing and dance and tell jokes.

Have Fun

and pretty soon the job will be done!

3.  Art Project

Any project or book will work.

What do you LIKE to do?

Set a timer for a set amount of time

Let's say you have 2 hours to do your project.

So set the timer for 1 hour, 

work hard,

Then pull out the project that you enjoy working on

and do that for your second hour.

You will feel better about working on 

the fun project 

IF

You feel like you accomplished what you wanted to do first.

Also, this gives you a better perspective of your project.

So often I find myself completely done with

"that horrid project" 

in well under my time limit.

And just as often,

the "it won't take long"

project is barely started

before my timer runs out.

4.  Never underestimate the POWER of 

JUST 15 MINUTES

I learned that from Flylady.

And it is so true,

In fact, in college,

I found that I could accomplish a lot

in just 5 minutes.

If I applied myself.

I had so much homework and reading assigned,

but I was always amazed at how much 

I was able to get done in "just 5 minutes" 

before I had to be in my next location.

It made all the difference between 

my Freshman and Sophomore years of college.