Thriftschooling

Yesterday was one of those infrequent trips downtown to the thrift shop with the great book corner. I brought home two plastic bagfuls of books--32 in all, plus several Highlights magazines, for a total of $11.55. Most of them were kids' books, and most of them had some kind of school value. I wasn't trying to create a whole curriculum this time, but I did have two rules to play by: nothing we already had, and no outright junk. Most of the books were 25 or 50 cents each.

Here's the list of what I found, and some comments.

Kristli's Trees, by Mabel Dunham. This is the only thing I sold right away, at the used bookstore around the corner; it netted me $4 off another book that we needed for school. (I knew there was a copy sort of hidden at the back, which is why I hauled my two heavy-enough-already bags in there after the thrift shop. And no, I didn't hide it.) (Oh, and if you've never heard of Kristli's Trees, it's a children's story with local interest, and it's been out of print for twenty-five years, so any copies are sought after.)

Something else vintage but likely without much real value since it's ex-library and not in great shape: Becky's Birthday, by Tasha Tudor. (Peach ice cream?)

Two books for us older ones: Under the Tuscan Sun, and a Jan Karon Mitford book. (We don't have any of them.)

Prayer for a Child: that one's a gift for someone else.

Something for French: Tous les tutus doivent être roses, an easy-reader book I used with The Apprentice. I still have the vocabulary cards we made for it around here somewhere.

Something schoolish: Winter Activities, a book of reproducible winter-and-holiday-themed busywork pages

Books for science this year or anytime: a kids' introduction to electronics, David Suzuki's book about the five senses (I used that with The Apprentice when she was younger), Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell.

A few easy books for Crayons to read: The Fire Cat, The Jungle Joke Book, How St. Francis Tamed the Wolf, Come Back Amelia Bedelia, and James Marshall's version of Red Riding Hood.

A couple of things for Crayons' language arts and other schoolwork next year: More Surprises (easy-reader poems) and several issues of Highlights magazines; also a different edition of A Child's Garden of Verses (okay, I broke the rule with that one but it's not exactly what we had, right?). (I'll do a post later about things you can do with Highlights and other magazines--I used to use them a lot when the Apprentice was Crayons' age.)

Chapter books I still need to check out: Jingo Django (a novel about gypsies), Aunt Vinnie's Invasion by Karin Anckarsvard,The Mystery of the Auction Trunk, The Family Under the Bridge, and The Wombles (the book that inspired the TV series).

Just for fun: How to Draw Bugs, a Precious Moments colouring book, a dolls-of-the-world colouring book, a book about juggling, a Dr. Who Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (that was for Mr. Fixit), three Highlights Magazine Hidden Pictures activity books, and a book about making your own hairbows. And a photo book about The Muppet Movie, to add to our small collection of Muppet books. (I didn't say everything had to be practical.)