Prior to homeschooling, going to a used bookstore was a simple endeavor. Enter store. Head to fiction section. Browse. Wander into science section. Browse. Leave. An event lasting perhaps 30 minutes.
Life has now changed, the old ways are gone. A game plan is now enacted. Book lists including home inventory are in hand. Store routes. Step stool locations. Emergency exits. All of these are imperative to survive the onslaught of freshly pressed pages offering worlds unexplored.
Enter stage right, a used book sale involving an all you can get in a bag for $25.00 and I become a lion roaring early in the morning to hunt gazelle. Don’t worry, I don’t actually hunt gazelle-but, I am doing better than I deserve.
Homeschoolers study everything of value. History, Art, English, Literature, Science, Culture, Geography, Geology…
Each. And. Every. Aisle in the bookstore is unclaimed treasure. Mere browsing does not exist. Anything could be reclaimed treasure. Include mental images of topics to be studied two years in the future and the world starts to spin. That’s where the step stools come in handy.
Packing a tote bag full of books is an art within itself. Making sure that you get maximum capacity is an engineering feat. Sure people start to stare as repacking has occurred for the third time, but the prize is in minimal space between books. The final prize is the tote bag straps not breaking under the strain of just one more poetry book.
Small books have priority over large bulky items. Textbook? Nope, takes up too much space. Fact book on owls, hmm, yep-it will fit in the empty space between biographies. If only I could pack a dishwasher with as much efficiency.
A conversation wafted by me. My ears picked up. The gazelles staring at me on the bookshelves shuttered in terror. I heard a lady inquire to the manager regarding the specific rules of filling the bag. Just how full…was…full. He responded if she could lift the bag on the counter and nothing falls out-it was hers.
Packing the bag now took on new meaning. Heavier books could be included. The laws of physics were stretched thin as I mentally calculated the center of mass of the growing pile. I enlisted my husband’s help, we would both lift the bag onto the counter. Now the question remained. Could I fit. Just. One. More.
Thin sticker books made their way into empty spaces, map coloring books folded over just enough, small art books made their way in and rubbed shoulders with science books. Finally, two and a half hours later-the hunt was over. I just could not carry on any longer. Yes, I could have fit more books in the sides and on top, but exhaustion set in. The gazelles were finally safe on their shelves.
The bag was lifted onto the counter with me holding the sides and my husband stabilizing the bottom. We waited. High fives erupted between us as the manager stated “You did good”. They were overstocked and trying to move inventory. We were elated.
Feeling the rush of a successful hunt we opened the trunk of the car, placed the books in and then it hit me.
Where are we going to put all of these?
Ahh…the dilemmas of a homeschooling family. I love it!!