Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (Full Version)

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OHmom3 -> Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 9:59:26 AM)

Just wondering if you have ever borrowed books from your local public school?

Aside from a secular stand point, I'm looking for opinions about the pros and cons you may have dealt with when borrowing.

I would assume they would have to let me borrow them since I still pay property taxes which fund the schools. They just might not WANT to!



shadowspring -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 10:32:37 AM)

I think you are making a faulty assumption, OHmom.

Once you pay your taxes they are the property of the state. The state does as they deem best.

The textbooks that are the property of your local public school are for the benefit of those students enrolled in that public school. Funds are scarce and books are precious. I sincerely doubt if they will loan you any books.

I have used public school textbooks in my home school, but they were all purchased used from home school book fairs .

Our school district in FL used to have book giveaways during the summer for books they were updating or taking out of circulation for some reason. Your local school district might make books available that way.



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 10:47:25 AM)

What you've said makes sense but I'm not sure that I agree with the state's reasoning, if that is in fact how they feel.

I may call the school and ask but not before I see if anyone else responds. If I can't borrow, maybe I can buy like you said.

Thanks for the input!



cynthia -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 12:31:06 PM)

Homeschoolers are responsible for purchasing their own materials. I don't think the school has any obligation to lend text books or anything else to homeschoolers. It's not a matter of it being purchased with public money. The items are purchased for a specific purpose and are not available to any tax payers that decides she has need of them. For example, I cannot go into a government office and ask for printer paper. It is not purchased for me to use. It is purchased to for proper functioning in that particular office. The same is true with books. The school has a certain amount of money to purchase books for their students. They are not allotted money to purchase books for homeschoolers as well. If they hand out books to homeschoolers, they won't have enough for the students. The schools receive their dollars based on number of students. The homeschoolers are not included in those counts.

If the government gives money or materials, we would then be accountable to the government for how we use those things.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 3:02:32 PM)

I've never borrowed from a public school, no. I agree that I don't think they'd let you.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 3:10:51 PM)

Even if they let me, I could not see and advantage. The library has better books than the PS have...that's one of the reasons we HS, after all, because the textbooks are politically-driven, dumbed-down, re-written versions of half-truths.

I read a book...wish I could remember the name...about how PS textbooks were written and chosen. After that, there's no WAY we would use any of them.



cindybode -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 4:53:34 PM)

Ohio's homeschool law does not include a provision for borrowing books from the school. I homeschooled in OH for 12 years. You are responsible for obtaining all your materials yourself in Ohio.

PA's law does allow you to borrow materials from the school, but I have never done it. I can't imagine them having anything I would want to use.

Why do you want to borrow books from the public school?



joannepir -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 6:00:14 PM)

Actually, in NY you are allowed to borrow books. It says so in the homeschool manual that you get. You can also use the school library and be tested at the school.
In 4th grade, they teach NY state history. I've known several people who have borrowed books for that. It would depend on the school district, but I wouldn't think a school would be so threatened by a homeschooler as not to let you borrow some books.
The schools spend over $10,000 a child to educate them, I'm sure there are some good books to borrow. You'd probably have to find someone on the inside to know what they are though.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 7:16:27 PM)

Someone gave me a bunch of old public school curriculum, and I found very little in it that I could actually use, anyway. There were a few things I kept, but most of it was useless to me.



shadowspring -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 9:26:41 PM)

quote:

It would depend on the school district, but I wouldn't think a school would be so threatened by a homeschooler as not to let you borrow some books.


You'd be surprised! [;)]



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 9:42:37 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cynthia

The schools receive their dollars based on number of students. The homeschoolers are not included in those counts.

If the government gives money or materials, we would then be accountable to the government for how we use those things.


Strange thing is...our neighbor says that one of my kids is still "on the roll" and has his name called on the first day of school for attendence. Maybe he is included in the count??

I wouldn't want the government regulating me any more than it does. Good point. I'm glad to see it from your point of view.



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 9:46:19 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenny-Fair

Even if they let me, I could not see and advantage. The library has better books than the PS have...that's one of the reasons we HS, after all, because the textbooks are politically-driven, dumbed-down, re-written versions of half-truths.

I read a book...wish I could remember the name...about how PS textbooks were written and chosen. After that, there's no WAY we would use any of them.


I wish you could remember the name of that book! Sounds like something I'd like to read.



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 9:52:34 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cindybode


PA's law does allow you to borrow materials from the school, but I have never done it. I can't imagine them having anything I would want to use.

Why do you want to borrow books from the public school?


Now that you say that about PA schools, that's where I heard about borrowing. We have friends in PA and I heard it from them.

I wouldn't necessarily want to borrow every subject. Math would be a good one. I can't imagine there would be objectionable material in a math book. Unless, of course, "Sally went to the fortune teller with $25 to spend. Her reading cost $20. How much does she have left?"

I'm trying to decide what curriculum to use and also looking at the financial aspect of it.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 10:09:10 PM)

There might not be much objectionable content in a math book, but it probably won't be a good math book, either. I know there's a youtube video of a meteorologist in Seattle discussing math curricula that you might want to look at. And, still, there are so many places to get decent materials for low cost that I don't know why I would involve the gov't in my life unnecessarily.



cindybode -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/18/2008 10:53:11 PM)

There are many ways to homeschool that don't require a large outlay of cash. You don't have to buy a boxed curriculum.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 8:32:39 AM)

quote:

Strange thing is...our neighbor says that one of my kids is still "on the roll" and has his name called on the first day of school for attendence. Maybe he is included in the count??


You might want to get that taken care of. I've read articles in HSLDA's magazine about schools who still had kids on the roll, and then after a certain number of days of that child being absent, the truant officer showed up on their doorstep.



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 10:32:49 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cindybode

There are many ways to homeschool that don't require a large outlay of cash. You don't have to buy a boxed curriculum.


I haven't quite figured out how to do this yet! Any tips would be appreciated!



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 10:45:04 AM)

First, I always recommend that you write down why you are homeschooling and what your goals are.

How old are your kids?



cynthia -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 11:03:17 AM)

Here's a link to something you might be interested in. This is a program that gets you started homeschooling. I got an e-mail on it yesterday. It is $12 per month for six months. During that time, they provide many of that materals you will need and teach you how to find what works for your family. It looks like a good program to me from a company that I trust.



shadowspring -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 11:31:59 AM)

Great link, cynthia! [:D]



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 1:01:55 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenny-Fair


How old are your kids?


I have a 4th grader (9 1/2), 5th grader (11) and a 7th grader (12 1/2).



OHmom3 -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 1:04:21 PM)

Thanks for the link Cynthia. I only wish they included a sample day to look at. It sounds like something what would be good for me to stay organized, but I need more information about it.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 1:04:48 PM)

Oh, you could have lots of fun with those ages! You can teach most subjects together. I would begin the year with a unit study. Poll the kids and write up all the ideas they come up with and then pick one. Ideas could include knights and castles, outer space, horses or whatever. Then you arrange what they learn around that. Whatever you pick, google that and 'unit study' and you are bound to find lots of info and activities.



cynthia -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 1:27:08 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: OHmom3

Thanks for the link Cynthia. I only wish they included a sample day to look at. It sounds like something what would be good for me to stay organized, but I need more information about it.

Send them an e-mail asking for more information on what will be expected of you daily.



Sunnymom -> RE: Has anyone borrowed books from public school? (8/19/2008 1:58:37 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God

Someone gave me a bunch of old public school curriculum, and I found very little in it that I could actually use, anyway. There were a few things I kept, but most of it was useless to me.

Ditto that- a retiring salesman for Holt Rhinehart Winston gave us all his samples- over 300 texts and TE's. (I picked out some books and donated the rest to our church's charitable foundation that provides education materials for schools in the Philippines).

I have had fun comparing all the material, and something I saw yesterday was that the language arts curriculum courses, from the Introductory Course through the Third Course are all nearly identical except for the number and length of the practice sentences and the difficulty level of some of the writing assignments. They all start out with kinds of sentences and the parts of a sentence. They all review the parts of speech. They all cover punctuation and capitalization. There's nothing new under the sun.

You'd do just as well checking out a grammar text from the library. Some libraries have a 'teachers card' that allow you to keep materials longer, and in many areas you can renew your materials online. As long as there is no demand for that particular book, you can just keep renewing- I have renewed books as many as six times. That's six months.

If you are in Ohio you just need to file your Notice of Intent so the school knows your kids aren't going to be in school. Our district just mailed them out, which is funny, because the first day of school here is the 26th.



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