No sleep....
Feb. 20th, 2011 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiberaddictI guess it's pain, because not much else is going on right now - we're in a waiting period. Fun stuff...
Yesterday, we went out to pick up some Math books. I have a lot of stuff bookmarked online, but - since we are pulling him out mid-year - I decided it would be best to have *something* in print, just in case the school wants to play nasty. (Yes, I've lawyered up - HSLDA isn't that expensive, and seems worth the money - but still, don't want to use them if I don't have to.)
We hit Half-Price Books first......and the "local" one has a pretty good section specifically for Homeschooling. I must have spent a good hour there......got some books in a series called "Creation ________" I got Science, Astronomy, and Anatomy. They're chrischun, but they're for K-12, they work Art/Music/whatever into each section (which is cool), and seem to be - on a quick browse, anyway - pretty good. They were $9.98 each, so not too much wasted funds if they are crap - and I can use the crap as a jumping-off point. I also stocked up on Asimov (for free-reading - Himself is already DONE with his age-level stuff) and "real" Astronomy books (Hawkin's "Brief History of Time", anyone? :lol:)
We then hit Borders, which is going out of business. 20% off of everything, + 10% if you're a member (and some things were 30% - 40% off to start!). I...um....OK, I'm a book junkie; adding the word "Sale" to "Book" makes me go a little crazy. We now have 4 Science Experiment sets, a skeleton model for Anatomy lessons, a scale model of Stonehenge....and, of course, more books. 1 of which is "What your kid should know by the end of 6th grade", just because, and some good Math books. Let's not discuss the hit to my wallet - I will defend myself by saying that we are set for this year and next, and I won't be able to run free in a bookstore ever again. Or at least, not like this.
After lunch, we hit Mardel's......yes, it's chrischun, but they have a HUGE HS section. :sigh: I scored the 2-volume set on History of the World, with the Teacher's Guide AND Test guide, some new microscope slides...I think that was it. It's all a blur - I think I hit book overload, which doesn't happen often. :lol:
I still need to find Grammar books, but I'm going to look for .pdfs online - which leads to a question I've been mulling over.
OK...so I'm on an email list for freebies - won't name it, since I don't want an active link here due to the nature of my discussion - they mostly have links to free .pdf files. Usually, it's aimed at much younger kids, but I've gotten a lot of good resources over the years. All free.
Every once in a while, they'll send me an email where they're selling CD collections of stuff they've gathered together. I usually delete them - before now, I wasn't going to HS, so didn't really *need* CDs laying around - but last week I decided to check out the "deal". Ummm....
1 CD = normally *$50* - full of the resources that a) they got free; b) they've offered for free before; and c) that are still available ON THE WEB for free.
I went thru and wrote down the resources on both CDs, to see if it'd be worth the $$......then I saw some that I had downloaded. Huh. I then went to Google with my list - and all 12 items I had marked were there, still free to download. Granted, I had to do the search, but....
I feel like they are doing something..not necessarily wrong, but.....immoral, by selling CDs of free stuff at such a huge profit. Is it just me? I mean, yeah - they went thru and put it all together - but the CDs aren't organized; I mean, this particular set has a little bit of this'n'that on it - it's not like they spent the time to put together a "Science" CD, or an "Art" CD or anything like that. This collection has a bunch of various holiday stuff, some reading, some Art, some crafts, some - well, everything.
It just.....gave me a bad feeling. I mean - normally $50? For free stuff? CDs aren't that expensive, and it doesn't take that long to burn one - so you're talking massive profit here. Yeah, they *did* go thru and find the stuff.....but, honestly? Anyone with a search engine can find the same stuff, if they think about doing it.
I'm going to stay on the list for now, because I don't know what I don't know. Thanks to their CD collection, I found a bunch of OOP Chemistry, Astronomy, and Rocketry texts that now reside on my Mac - and I wouldn't have thought to go looking for them. But...I have a bad taste in my mouth about them now.....is it just me? Am I being too...high-and-moral? I do sometimes get that way.........I don't think I am in this case, but wanted some outside views, too.
Yesterday, we went out to pick up some Math books. I have a lot of stuff bookmarked online, but - since we are pulling him out mid-year - I decided it would be best to have *something* in print, just in case the school wants to play nasty. (Yes, I've lawyered up - HSLDA isn't that expensive, and seems worth the money - but still, don't want to use them if I don't have to.)
We hit Half-Price Books first......and the "local" one has a pretty good section specifically for Homeschooling. I must have spent a good hour there......got some books in a series called "Creation ________" I got Science, Astronomy, and Anatomy. They're chrischun, but they're for K-12, they work Art/Music/whatever into each section (which is cool), and seem to be - on a quick browse, anyway - pretty good. They were $9.98 each, so not too much wasted funds if they are crap - and I can use the crap as a jumping-off point. I also stocked up on Asimov (for free-reading - Himself is already DONE with his age-level stuff) and "real" Astronomy books (Hawkin's "Brief History of Time", anyone? :lol:)
We then hit Borders, which is going out of business. 20% off of everything, + 10% if you're a member (and some things were 30% - 40% off to start!). I...um....OK, I'm a book junkie; adding the word "Sale" to "Book" makes me go a little crazy. We now have 4 Science Experiment sets, a skeleton model for Anatomy lessons, a scale model of Stonehenge....and, of course, more books. 1 of which is "What your kid should know by the end of 6th grade", just because, and some good Math books. Let's not discuss the hit to my wallet - I will defend myself by saying that we are set for this year and next, and I won't be able to run free in a bookstore ever again. Or at least, not like this.
After lunch, we hit Mardel's......yes, it's chrischun, but they have a HUGE HS section. :sigh: I scored the 2-volume set on History of the World, with the Teacher's Guide AND Test guide, some new microscope slides...I think that was it. It's all a blur - I think I hit book overload, which doesn't happen often. :lol:
I still need to find Grammar books, but I'm going to look for .pdfs online - which leads to a question I've been mulling over.
OK...so I'm on an email list for freebies - won't name it, since I don't want an active link here due to the nature of my discussion - they mostly have links to free .pdf files. Usually, it's aimed at much younger kids, but I've gotten a lot of good resources over the years. All free.
Every once in a while, they'll send me an email where they're selling CD collections of stuff they've gathered together. I usually delete them - before now, I wasn't going to HS, so didn't really *need* CDs laying around - but last week I decided to check out the "deal". Ummm....
1 CD = normally *$50* - full of the resources that a) they got free; b) they've offered for free before; and c) that are still available ON THE WEB for free.
I went thru and wrote down the resources on both CDs, to see if it'd be worth the $$......then I saw some that I had downloaded. Huh. I then went to Google with my list - and all 12 items I had marked were there, still free to download. Granted, I had to do the search, but....
I feel like they are doing something..not necessarily wrong, but.....immoral, by selling CDs of free stuff at such a huge profit. Is it just me? I mean, yeah - they went thru and put it all together - but the CDs aren't organized; I mean, this particular set has a little bit of this'n'that on it - it's not like they spent the time to put together a "Science" CD, or an "Art" CD or anything like that. This collection has a bunch of various holiday stuff, some reading, some Art, some crafts, some - well, everything.
It just.....gave me a bad feeling. I mean - normally $50? For free stuff? CDs aren't that expensive, and it doesn't take that long to burn one - so you're talking massive profit here. Yeah, they *did* go thru and find the stuff.....but, honestly? Anyone with a search engine can find the same stuff, if they think about doing it.
I'm going to stay on the list for now, because I don't know what I don't know. Thanks to their CD collection, I found a bunch of OOP Chemistry, Astronomy, and Rocketry texts that now reside on my Mac - and I wouldn't have thought to go looking for them. But...I have a bad taste in my mouth about them now.....is it just me? Am I being too...high-and-moral? I do sometimes get that way.........I don't think I am in this case, but wanted some outside views, too.
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racket
Date: 2011-02-20 02:59 pm (UTC)I think it's stealing and robbery. Other people say, "Well, think of it this way - anyone can gather straw and weave a basket, but you buy them at the store, paying for someone else's work. They're not STEALING in taking money for their time and effort." But I think they are - because the mark-ups are unbelievable on that stuff in the store.
S'why I buy baskets for a dime at Goodwill, thanks. *wink!* I'm just the Goodwill of homeschooling, I guess. But a LOT of people *DO* sell their assembled items... on Currclick... for mere dollars, sometimes fifty cents a document. I've tried them - they weren't well done. I guess my standards are just too high? Dunno.
Re: racket
Date: 2011-02-20 03:18 pm (UTC)I mean - you'll notice I bought most of my stuff at Half Price (which is a misnomer - most of the stuff was LESS than Half Price, but I digress). I can't afford to buy full-price, even when I *am* working full-time. If we had a decent Goodwill here, I'd shop there - but we don't. We have a Thrift store where I get a lot of clothes from - $0.50 for an almost new pair of women's blue jeans? I'm ALL over that!
Free is good - I hit google books and found free copies of Harvey's Grammar books (which were recommended to me). Amazon has the print copies for...about $8/each. Ditto the Chemistry book I found....(look for "The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments" - it was banned in the 60's. It's GOOD - we've already got a lot of the experiments marked to try. :lol:)
And your lapbooks? Yeah, you should charge - even if *I* don't use them (I've got a kid that's just not into manipulative-type stuff), they're very well done. I do understand why you don't.....and it's why I don't mind sending stuff I find to you. :wink:
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 04:09 pm (UTC)I have paid money for a couple of things there - only when they are on some crazy introductory sale - so $4 or $7 instead of $30. And even then after seeing what I got - I felt a little taken. However a fool and their money are soon parted - I was a fool donating the money part a couple of times and I am sure they are doing well with their business.
Don't you feel that way now when you see expensive goat milk soap? Like "Ha!" I could make that! It is so cheap and easy!"
I feel guilty charging people for easy stuff, I would rather just do the nicer thing and share stuff for free.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 04:39 pm (UTC)Little Passports
Date: 2011-02-22 01:31 pm (UTC)Yesterday I found a site called 'Little Passports'. It's an around-the-world culture/nations study put together by two mothers. It's 10.95/mo, and they donate a (not specified) portion to charity, and then you get a package from two fictional children who are globetrotting, who send pictures, trinkets, games, fact sheets, etc. to you.
I can't put something like this together, myself. But $10/mo... that's STEEP, IMHO. BUT... it looks good. Really good. Fun and informative. I don't know what to do. My gut says "Put one together, yourself!" But...
Re: Little Passports
Date: 2011-02-22 02:29 pm (UTC)The cool thing is the box in the mail thing. Kids LOVE to get mail! But.....it might be worth the $10/month for a bit to see if it's worth it for your kids. 1 less thing you have to do....
Nope
Date: 2011-02-23 04:26 pm (UTC)But this wouldn't be until AFTER we finish our state studies. I might even make them en masse and send them to my sisters kids, my kids, and the penpal kids. :) I'm already in the intensive planning stages...
But $10 per country is NOT what I find acceptable.
Re: Nope
Date: 2011-02-23 05:34 pm (UTC)