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Hi, ladies,

We'll be moving to a smaller house in the next couple of months, and I was wondering how you normally store curriculum you've finished? We'll be done with LHFHG soon and my next child is only turning 2 this year, so I couldnt decide whether to keep everything intact by storing them as soon as we're done----i'm actually wanting to keep the books on a shelf that my older ds can have access to since he's enjoyed the stories so much and thought he might like to go through them again anytime soon... What do you think? Is it a good idea to have the books out (and risk damage)? Has anyone left read-aloud books out when the next child is still a few years away from using them?

I guess i'm sort of overplanning coz of space issues at the next house thanks for any help out there!

Well, if you child is anything like mine, the stuff will get lost or destroyed if I leave it out LOL. So I box it all up and put it the basement. I do keep everything together in one or two boxes by grade or type. I am finding that the longer I do this, the more sense it makes to keep it by grade rather than by type though because with HOD everything is already partitioned by level and so storing it that way works well for me.

We haven't finished a guide yet, but I have last year's things in a cabinet in the same room we keep our craft stuff. It is out of reach from the kids, which keeps the younger ones from destroying them. We have bookshelves in our bedroom that I plan on putting the HOD books when they are completed - again up high so they aren't disturbed. The only thing I might keep down lower would be the Bible so that we can use it as reference for other things.

My kids are closer in age, but when we finish one and aren't using it immediately I put it in a storage bin (along with any books we have finished in the guides we are currently using). I have the books from the guides we are currently using but not in those books yet in a separate storage bin that is stacked on top of the other. DITHOR books for the year are in a separate smaller storage bin so that I don't have to try to remember what is DITHOR and what is story time books.

I need a new bin soon though... the higher guides have more books

I buy those long, medium-depth storage bins and each guide goes in a bin with all of the corresponding books. I do not put books out until both boys have gone through the guide. Storing the bins is always an issue, they are currently stacked on wire wracks in my walk-in closet (so much for lots of closet space).

I keep all mine on a shelf. I can't bear to box up old friends. However, it is on MY bookshelf, so permission must be asked to take anything off of it.

I used to keep them on a bookshelf in my closet and we would revisit them occasionally or my oldest could "check out" a book as long as she brought it back when she was finished. Now, since I have 5 guides worth of books and I really need to keep specific books with specific guides (and have even gotten different read-alouds for my second round with Beyond) I do put them in plastic storage totes by each guide. I also put different color dots or shapes on the spines of books that go with a specific guide, just in case they get separated, or also because the shelf in my closet is the current year's school book shelf and it is easier to find the right book when we switch from one book to another (ones we are currently using for school are in a different place, but the shelf in my closet has the whole year's books, the guides, and things that I occasionally use to supplement). I hope this helps.

I box it all up for the next child to use. I have palastic bins to store all the different levels in.
Once child number 3 is done, I don't care, the books can go on the shelf!
Success

Thanks everyone! Looks like I have a consensus of simply storing everything together, at least ready and intact for my next child to use! i do like the idea of a mommy-approved shelf/chance to go through a favorite book too

My girls are 3 years apart and I've decided to let my older dd keep the books out until the year I need them for my younger dd. Then I collect them all and put them away in that year's tub until we use them. After we are done, they go back out on the bookshelves where they can be easily accessed. I have designated one of my girls' bookcases as the "school books" bookcase and my older dd knows that all school books have to be returned to that bookcase. We are only in Bigger and LHFHG, though, so maybe once we get higher up in guides, storage in the interim will become a necessity. There are some books I do store away, like the CLP books for history and science.

HTH,
Kathy