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Good Ways To Recycle Books And Magazines

6/27/2020

by Phoenix Desertsong, Parent of Book Lovers

The need to recycle paper products becomes more important every day. As more old-growth trees are cut down every day, we rob our planet of valuable oxygen. We have to wait decades to replace these valuable natural resources. Of course, we don’t want our kids to pay the price for that!

While paper products are mostly biodegradable - nearly one hundred percent - a great amount of those include books and magazines. Why send them to a landfill when they’re easy to reuse and recycle?

The truth is that old books and magazines do have cultural and historical value. Not only is a good idea to pass them on, but some can even be valuable to collectors! As your kids are growing up, it’s important to teach them about the value of these printed materials after they are done with them.

Of course, you can also send old books and magazines to the recycling bin, especially if they are quite beat up. But,not all recycling companies accept them just as they are. So, what are some good ways to reuse and recycle books and magazines than simply throwing them away?

Donate Old Books and Magazines to Local or College Libraries

Have a bunch of books and magazines that your kids no longer use? Ask your kids which books and magazines they are willing to let go. All kinds of libraries, both public libraries and school libraries, will happily accept donations of old books and magazines in good condition.

The best condition copies of some of the books you donate will end up on library shelves. Others will be put out on racks for sale. These books will be also often used for running fundraisers to raise money for library improvements. In any case, it’s better than letting them gather dust in your home or storage unit

Sell Valuable Old Books and Magazines

There are many resources online to see what your old books and magazines are worth. Several websites exist that allow you to type in or scan the barcode numbers of mass-market books. They will pay you cash and even send you a shipping label to cover shipping costs. However, be aware they usually pay you a small percentage of what the item is actually worth.

Used bookstores still exist, of course. But, many are very picky with what they’ll buy and some don’t actively buy - but accept donations. Also, not everyone has them locally.

There are always flea markets, too. These can be great events to bring your kids to in order to teach them how to run a sale. But, you want to be sure that you’re actually selling something worth bringing and paying for the table space.

Then there’s garage sales, but they typically aren’t big sellers for books and magazines unless you get lucky. One thing that can sell, though, piles of classic magazines like Highlights, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated.

Speaking of classic magazines, in great shape, they can be worth money. Covers featuring celebrities or sports stars can fetch good money on eBay. For example, you can find many Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated magazines for sale online.

eBay is your best bet for selling books and magazines with actual demand. It’s easy enough to find out - just check current listings and completed listings and see if your book or magazine is anything that sells.

Creative Ways to Reuse Books and Magazines

For books with illustrations or pictures and magazines that don’t have any resale value, you may decide to use them for creative purposes instead. Magazines in particular make excellent craft supplies for both kids and adults. They make great material for collages or scrapbooks. You can even make DIY hanging mobile art with magazine cutouts. You string thread through holes cut into the tops of the shapes and attach the shapes to a clothes hanger.

Another creative option is cutting out articles or pictures to create a vision board or dream board. These can help you visualize goals and dreams you want to achieve in your life - sort of like a visual bucket list. You can create one alongside your kids, as they are good activities for any age. These can include a dream career, a special vacation, or a fancy new car.

Throwing Unwanted Books and Magazines into the Recycling Bin

Whatever you don’t feel like donating, reselling, or reusing creatively, you can always throw into the recycling bin. This includes books and magazines that are in poor condition or ones you’ve already used for cutouts. You’ll want to check what your local recycling pickup or drop-off center accepts first,

Fortunately, there are more areas accepting books and magazines as-is all the time. This includes even magazines printed on glossy paper. Because glossy paper is in much lower demand than regular paper, recycling companies don’t get as much in return as raw material. But, now some companies will take it anyway.

In some areas, to recycle old books you still have to separate the paper from the bindings, whether there’s adhesive or staples - or both - involved in holding them together. There are companies who can remove these bindings with their machinery. But, having to deconstruct books and magazines just for recycling can be a major hassle. So, donating them may be a better option for you if this type of extra labor is involved.

So, if you and your family have some books and magazines you need out of your way, take these good ways to reuse them in mind. Not only is it a good idea to give people another chance to enjoy them, but keeping them out of landfills is great for the environment. Whatever you do, make sure to reuse and recycle whatever paper products you can to save as many trees as we can. Let’s be sure our kids have a very green future!

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5 Homeschooling Mistakes And How to Avoid Them

6/17/2020

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by Phoenix Desertsong, Parent of Three

There are many advantages to homeschooling your kids. Not everyone will do it the same, and in fact, there are many correct ways to do it. How you do homeschool is all up to how your kids learn best. But, there are some common homeschooling mistakes which can put your homeschool success at risk. The good news is that if you find yourself doing any of these five homeschooling mistakes that are easy to make, you can quickly learn how to avoid them.

Don't Set the Bar Too Low for Your Kids' Expectations

In traditional schools, research shows that teacher expectations have a direct effect on student performance. This is no different when it comes to homeschool. The main difference is homeschooling is that you as a parent are the teacher. Parents tend to have much stronger biases than school teachers when it comes to the perception of your child’s abilities.

Biases really become clear when you are homeschooling two or more children. Your son may be a math genius, while struggling to read aloud. Meanwhile, your daughter seems allergic to numbers, but reads aloud like a pro. The important thing is to not simply favor your children’s strengths. You need to set aside any preconceived notions you have about your child’s abilities in order to help them succeed.

The best teachers go into every lesson knowing that they will give every chance to succeed in that lesson. When you expect the best from children, you are far more likely to get their best effort. Sometimes what may be holding one child back in a subject is easily corrected. Be positive and encouraging, especially when a child is doing something he or she struggles at. You may be surprised that a child who appears bad at math just needs it taught in a slightly different way, only to discover that he or she is actually rather good at it.

Of course, don’t set your expectations so high that they are unrealistic. Allow your kids to work through things at their own pace. That’s a major advantage of homeschool: your kids don’t get left behind or get way ahead of the rest of the class. Use that advantage to their advantage.

Don’t Simply Teach the Way YOU Liked to Learn

It’s been said that certain types of teaching styles are better than others. While there is some truth to this, it’s more accurate to say that certain teaching styles are more effective with certain individuals than others. Yes, you may have learned just fine from lectures yourself, but some kids just get bored.

Just because something worked for you in your own learning doesn’t mean it will work for your kids. Even more importantly, if you have multiple kids, they may not learn as well by the same method as the other. The best thing to do is try different teaching styles, such as showing videos, doing hands-on activities, and using highly visual presentations. Then, ask your children for what they prefer and adjust accordingly. There is no one size fits all approach to learning. This has been known for years. That’s yet another advantage of homeschool you should help your kids use to their advantage.

Not Setting Rules For Learning Time (AKA Classroom Management)

This is where I partly disagree with many homeschooling experts: separating “class” time from other regular at-home activities. Some people feel that their own in-home system if discipline, rules, amd consequences are enough. I actually mostly agree with that.

However, it IS important to have some simple rules for learning time, especially if you are trying to have a more regular classroom setting. These rules can be as simple as not talking over others, paying attention, and doing the work in a timely manner. Some children do need that structure to stay on task. Really, it’s more about setting up a routine that kids know what to do and have respect for learning time. Plus, you want to teach your kids good work habits.

Of course, some parents don’t want to set any rules for learning time. They’ll just let their kids sort of wander sometimes. Honestly, if that’s happening, you should be trying to teach a different way. The beauty of children is that if you’re doing it right, you will know, and vice versa. The best rule of thumb is to not be strict and inflexible, but instead adaptable and flexible.

Only Teaching One Thing at a Time

In most traditional school settings, subjects are taught one at a time. This is how many homeschool parents schedule their days, often one subject per hour. It works, right? Well, it’s been found through the years that having an overarching theme throughout the day informing what you do in each subject is more effective. By each subject being interrelated, kids tend to retain what they’ve learned much better.

Some schools have done this for years. One day the class will have Bird Day and another day there will be Cat Day, and so on. This isn’t true everywhere, of course, especially when you get into middle school and junior high where students begin to have different teachers for each subject. But I remember having themed days and weeks in elementary school, and wow, does it make a difference having every subject relate to it. Unfortunately, they weren’t every day and usually had something to do with a holiday or event.

Some educators have made it a point to design curriculums with study units that have a theme that ties together math, reading, science, and social studies. Students have been found to retain more and have more fun with learning when they are taught with themes, even if those themes only show up in loosely related ways.

One great example I’ve found has to do with animals with predictable life cycles, particularly frogs. You don’t just teach about a frog’s predictable life cycle during science time. You can have a book about a frog during reading time that covers a lot of the same concepts through a story. Then, you can teach multiplication using frog legs, such as if there are 5 frogs with 4 legs each, how many frog legs? It’s a cute example, but even younger children will pick up on a lot of these concepts more easily because it was taught in a fun and interesting way.

Teaching is NOT Telling

Yes, even though this seems like a really basic mistake,teachers and parents alike still do the whole “tell, not show” thing. Yes, it is far more common for teachers to “show, not tell” even in a lecture setting, but the opposite is more common than you think. Yes, there are some students that are perfectly fine with being told about something. But, in many cases, simply telling about something isn’t enough to make it stick with your student.

Teaching is NOT just telling. Yes, telling is a part of it, but you have to show an example of what you’re telling for it to be most effective. Really, the best way not to fall into the “tell, not show” trap is to change up your learning styles. Switch up between using hands-on activities, visual aids, tech-based learning, and more. Also remember that as a teacher, you are learning, too. You might be learning a different way, in that you’re learning how to teach more effectively, but you are. As you learn and improve your teaching methods, you’ll see your children improve in their own learning, too.

We hope that you’ve found this advice helpful and hope that it can help you become a better homeschool teacher. Do you find yourself making any of these homeschooling mistakes yourself? How have you overcome certain difficulties in your own homeschool?

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Good Ways To Recycle Books And Magazines

5 Homeschooling Mistakes And How to Avoid Them

Heart 'N Mind Homeschool Journal

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