Library System

If I have an obsession about anything, it would probably be books. I love to look at them, shop for them and buy them. But, because we homeschool (and the curriculum we use is very literature heavy) and I love books, we are well on our way to having shelves full of them. (Hopefully the Kindle will help me a little bit with this.)

Anyway, I want the kids to always have access to all the books we have. But, that being said, I don't want the books to go missing AND I want to be able to find the books when I need them/want them.

So, one of my little projects I wanted to work on over the holidays was some way to organize our books, and keep track of them. A system that everyone could use, even Boop.

This is what I came up with, based on some discussion on my homeschool loop. (Many of the women discussing this have WAY more books then I do.) Anyway, I spent a lot of time, this weekend, sorting out the books. I divided them into school years. And then resource books and puzzle books, coloring books and magazines. A biblical resource section. There are two shelves of books I want to read. Some fun books. Other family, school and life books. One shelf (not in the system at the moment) is in a totally different room and, at this moment, has not been incorporated into my system. They are mostly books I have read and are a little above their reading level. For the time being. But, there are some really great books such as The Invisible Man and The Count of Monte Cristo. I digress.

My system is as follows: Each kids gets three colored index cards with their name on them. At any given time they can take a card and "check out" a book. They write the name of the book on the card and the date and place the card on the shelf where the book was. Only three books at a time and there is no "due date." I even have a set of cards for myself, so when I loan a book out, I can remember who it was to.

Now, if I need a book or notice one has been missing for awhile, I know who to go to. Also, when they "return" the book, they will put it back where it belongs. Because their colored card is in the right spot.

They thought this was great fun, at first. For about 20 minutes they "checked out" books. I have since seen the books laying around in the living room and in their bedrooms. So, as with every other system I come up with, we will have to see how it works out in reality.

But, for the moment it gives me a little piece of mind as to where my precious books are. And, for the moment, I will cherish that little piece of mind . . .