To buy books or not?

[John'smom]

I'd love to hear your opinion on my question, ladies. Dh and I are still prayerfully considering HOD for next year (kind of like "Lord, please let us do HOD" ) Really, we do want the Lord's will though. Anyway, after studying everything and looking and reading over the books, I'm trying to decide whether it's best to use my library or to buy the books. We'd buy everything in the economy package and basic package, plus grammar and math. Obviously if I use my library (which has every single book I'd need as far as the storytime and DITHOR, except 3 books) I'd save money. I was thinking that there were probably pros to getting the books for the house though too. I'd love to hear what you, ladies do and what you like or dislike about having or not having the books on hand. Right now with the curriculum that we use , I get books from the library all the time, I have over 100 checked out, but it can be a lot of work. I realize with HOD the books are already picked and have been read through for the best choices though, so it would just be putting the book on hold online, and then picking it up. I hope my question makes sense. I don't always word things well.

[eazbnsmom]

I think deciding using the library vs. purchases depends on a few things. 1) Your Budget 2)How good/organized using the library (sounds like you are) 3) how many children you have (if you are going to be using them over again for other children it's helpful to have the books on hand). and 4) personal preference. I personally am not organized enough to get the book I need ahead of time and have several children I will use it with so it is worth it to me to get the books. We also like to read some of the books over again too! Just my .02! HTH

Kay

[Tmisek]

Hi! I love to buy the books because they are sooo good. After we finish one my daughter is always excited to put it in our bookcase so she can read it anytime she wants. The library is certainly a good option,too. Then if there is a book that you just LOVE, you can always purchase it later for your home library. Here is a thread on the topic:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5158&p=37824&hilit= ... buy#p37824

I hope you are able to do HOD next...we love it so much!

[John'smom]

Kay,
Some very good points. As of now, I just have two dc (would love more though) and I would be combining them, so I'd be using the books with them at the same time. Thought I'd add that since you brought that up as a good point.

To be honest, I'd love to get away from using the library in a way although we love our library and I think they love us too. In a way it's probably sounds like laziness though. I think I'm just getting a little burned out with putting so many optional books on hold and then weeding through them, but I have to remember that with HOD the books have already been chosen for me, and the manual is grab and go as well, unlike what I'm doing now.

[John'smom]

Hi! I love to buy the books because they are sooo good. After we finish one my daughter is always excited to put it in our bookcase so she can read it anytime she wants. The library is certainly a good option,too. Then if there is a book that you just LOVE, you can always purchase it later for your home library. Here is a thread on the topic:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5158&p=37824&hilit= ... buy#p37824

I hope you are able to do HOD next...we love it so much!

Thanks so much for the link to the other thread. It was very helpful.

[countrymom]

I really think it depends on your library. Although our library "system" has many of the books, most are not at our closest library. I request them through interlibrary loan and have no idea how long it will take to come. Sometimes in two days, sometimes two weeks. Also, some of the interlibrary loan books don't cannot be checked out as long. I am just using it for extra reading from one of the storytime packs, but I would go nuts trying to use it for schoolwork.

[water2wine]

If it were possible for my family I would buy them. But I am not very organized with getting to the library and it seems they do not always have what I want. On the other hand if you did go with the library you could reserve a few options for the story time and go with what comes in time. It can work if you are organized. We have the reuse factor in our family plus my kids love to read on their own what I have read aloud for some reason. I think if the library has worked well for you in the past the fact that you only truly need the genre really helps to make it a good possibility for you. If it were just one HOD program you were doing too that would help as well.

[inHistiming]

We've tried the library a couple different years....and like others, I am just not organized enough to get the books put on hold, pick them up and use them, then back to the library ON TIME. We have had some rather large 'late fees' due to the fact that we check out so many books at once. For us, it is a better choice to buy them. Plus, I do have other children with whom I plan to use the curriculum later, so that is incentive to own them as well.

[jenntracy]

i am just going into Beyond with my son in the fall but we have started the Emerging Reader already. When i see some of the books at Goodwill or used curriculum sales i will buy them. i also have the opportunity to volunteer at the Scholastic Warehouse sales and i get "scholastic bucks" for doing that. i got some good books the last time i did this. i just keep looking ahead to what we will need. i do plan to use the library if i can. for instance, next week we need Owl at Home. My library does have it and it is ready for me. just have to have hubby swing by and get it. we will only need it for 5 days and a "young" book (don't see my kids reading it over and over), so to me it isn't worth buying it new.
When the kids get older i can see the pros of buying the books. i do have 3 kids. I will still look for them used first or Scholastic Fair with my "volunteer bucks".

When i was a kid we always read books from the library. i wasn't homeschooled, and we didn't have money to buy lots of books. i didn't get my Little House on the PRaire books set til i was in college! Can't tell you how many times i checked those out of the library. Some books are definitely worth it!

Jenn D.

[Shimmer]

I think it depends a lot on your library. I'm a big library person. I don't like a lot of books in the house (except for favorites that will be reread over and over) as I'd rather just get them from the library when I want them. I am also pretty frugal. But I think I'm going to have to make an exception for school books, because the books I need to borrow from the library are never in when I need them. It is so frustrating. I wish they would keep more than one copy of books that are common in homeschool curriculums. I know some libraries will let homeschoolers check books for longer than a couple weeks, but mine isn't like that. I'm fed up after this year with trying to get the books for our Learning Language Arts Through Literature course. And that is just books for a Kindergartener. I plan on buying as much as possible next year.

[MomtoJGJE]

We are going to use the library for at least a portion of our year next year. We just won't have the money to buy all of them when we need the new curriculum, and our library has all of them... We are going to be using them for other children, but we'll have to wait and order the books later... I want to have them, but we just can't do it this year.

[Tansy]

when we I used Dithor with DD1 I always got the books mainly due the joy on my child's face when she finished it cause she knew it was her book now. It then went in her bookshelf. it was a big reward for her.

Now I don't have all readers I need for 100 Easy lesson last chapter, and I used the library last time, this time 5 of the books have been withdrawn, and 2 of them I have put on hold but they have not been returned. Its been a frustrating season compared to last time. And due to my mess up I have a 5$ fine... the fines are 50 cents a day and no grace period!!! I have a system for returns that normally works i just got mixed up last week.

So last time using the library worked fine, this year it's been much harder.

[annaz]

I think it depends: what you think your time is worth; is it worth the extra stress on picking up and returning and maybe not having what you need when you need it; the gas it takes to go; would the books ever be re-read; do you have more than one child that will use the program; are the funds there?

I live in the boonies. And the library that is available to me is poor. They'd all have to be shipped in. I think my time is worth something. Plus I'm a book hog We also never go on vacation, because dh owns his own business and we have pets that have no sitter. This is my entertainment and dd's as well. If the power goes out, the computer is down...I always have my books!

[billswife]

I didn't buy all the books this year. I'm using the library. I'm finding that I can't keep the books long enough. Most of them are through interlibrary loan and you can't check them out for very long. I would definitely buy the books if I could afford it. It's so much easier!!!

[Happy2bMommyof3]

This was/is our first year with HOD and we love it! I bought the chapter books to read aloud at storytime, but next year I will utilize the library for those. We purchased the whole set but got into a book once or twice and wished that we hadn't purchased, simply because it may not have been as interesting as another one within the same genre. I will definitely utilize the library for next years read-alouds!

Hope this is helpful!