BOOKS FOR CHILDREN, EDUCATION, AND HOMESCHOOLING
Home of Barb's People Builders

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A LITTLE MORE ABOUT
BARB'S PEOPLE BUILDERS

Owners: Kosta and Barbara Radisavljevic, Templeton, CA

History: Barb's People Builders was founded in January of 1992, a few months after our son Jason*, whom we had taught at home from grades 5-8, died in a jet ski accident at Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County, California. This left a big hole in our lives, since no other children were left at home. Most of our close friends were home schoolers and they had provided much of our spiritual support after Jason's death. We couldn't envision ourselves leaving the home school community. At first I (Barb) offered my support to those who sought me out with questions about how to teach English, since they knew I had taught English and writing in both public and private schools. I constantly found myself recommending my favorite resources . Gradually it dawned on me that I didn't need to keep referring my friends to other suppliers for these books. I could sell them myself. And that's how it started.

After that it just grew. We began going to home school conferences later in 1992. Our first was in Fresno, California. Then we began to go farther -- to the state conventions in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado -- even Ohio, Pennsylvania, and last of all, Virginia. Traveling was interesting, but exhausting. We enjoyed meeting and interacting with home schoolers and other vendors, and we still miss that very much. But we have pretty much stopped the home school convention circuit because my husband developed rheumatoid arthritis and he could no longer help much in loading and unloading and setting up and tearing down our large booth.

We live in a small town with many home school families, but not enough to support a business such as ours. We couldn't afford to print a catalog that would do justice to all the titles we carry, and we are constantly getting new things. Because few people we haven't met at conferences have heard of us, we had to find new ways to display and sell our books. So we started supplying Christian school book fairs. We enjoyed doing this until Kosta could not even drive the truck anymore.

Then I discovered the Internet. It became possible to meet people from all over the world, put my catalog before people without great expense, and change it easily whenever I add or subtract something. and that's where we are today. We have begun to add used books in all subject areas -- not just textbooks -- to our catalog. We hope that will make it easier for you to get inexpensive or out of print books. We hope to add more articles as we travel less, and eventually to write some of our own curriculum materials.

In 2001-2002, Kosta had both hips replaced, one at a time. His recovery has been slow, but he's been swimming to build up strength, and I'm happy to report that he no longer needs the cane you see in the picture. He can't walk as fast or as far as I can yet, but he's making more and more progress. But I'm content to stay at home now and work in the garden when I have spare time. When I was traveling, we always seemed to be gone at planting and harvest times. See my gardening blog, which I add to when I have time.

Since 2006 I have been on the Board of Directors for the Internet Bookseller's Co-Op, tomfolio.com, which hosts my e-commerce site. You can find out more about it herel

If you have any questions you'd like answered about our company, please feel free to ask.

If you would like to know more about me, please check out my Squidoo lensmaster page. A Squidoo lens is a unique perspective on a topic. Squidoo gives me an opportunity to express myself on subjects that are more personal that I do here. For example, I wrote two lenses about my daughter, who died in May, 2009.
        Sarah: The Suicide of a Child  Sarah was 36 when she died, and we hadn't seen her in 14 years. I tell her story in this lens.
        Adoption Song was written for and to Sarah when she turned 18. It was an attempt to win her back.
        A Dollhouse Full of Memories was written about my fourth Christmas in 1947, when I was given a special dollhouse. I have a picture of me beside it.
        Our Fight Against Termites: Not a Commercial discusses when our lives were turned upside down in April, 2009, by a termite attack. It describes how we eradicated the termites and repaired the damage with only the help of our handyman. It is illustrated with the photos I took of the different stages of work.
        Templeton, California is where I take you on a tour of my hometown. It includes a trip to our local Farmers Market and introduces you to some of our vendors.
        The Paso Robles Earthquake, December 22, 2003 shows you how much damage an earthquake can do to a home without really destroying it.
        Why does the suicide of a loved one take us by surprise? This is another sad lens that introduces our friend Rich. He was a special gift to us, and we enjoyed his company for ten years. At the end of those ten years, he became ill and convinced he was losing his mind (as far as we can piece it together) he took his life.
        My Tomatoes Were Hit by a late Frost in April shows the part of me that likes to garden.
       My Squidoo Lensmaster Page lists all the lenses I have written and adds all the new ones that I will write week by week. It also lists the links to my blogs that aren't hosted here.
       Just for fun, check out this Quiz: How Well Do You Know Barb R?

    If you like to write and would like the encouragement and support of others who also like to write, think about joining Squidoo. It's social network of people who like to write about almost anything -- as long as it's G-rated. It's free, and some people even earn some money on it through affiliate programs, but I don' t put the effort in to do that. I joined because I like to write. You will also meet some interesting people, many of whom are educators in homes or schools. May of them share their lesson plans and unit study ideas. If you want to join, just click the big Make a Lens button found on all my lenses. It's normally on the right side or near the bottom or both. All you need to start is an idea. If you do visit my lenses, please interact with the site by taking polls and leaving comments in various modules that encourage participation by readers.

 

Thanks for dropping by to get acquainted.

*Jason panning for gold in American River about a year before his death.

This is Sarah modeling my wedding dress when she was about 14 .

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We're in the Pacific Time Zone
Our normal office hours when we answer the phone are 10: 30 AM - 4 PM Monday - Friday.
We answer email and ship at other times, but normally take Sundays off.
 

We prefer you ask your questions about products and availability by e-mail, since that gives us more time to prepare a thoughtful answer and keeps us from playing phone tag. Please remember to put our email address in your address book if you have a spam filter or you won't ever get your answer unless you also leave a phone number. We cannot usually tell you immediately over the phone if a book is here. We have to walk two blocks to check the warehouse, so I usually have to call you back or email you anyway.  We do check our e-mail frequently throughout the day when we are at home. If we should be out, and you leave a message on our answering machine, we sometimes cannot hear the phone number clearly to return your call. Those are some reasons why we recommend you email us first. If you want us to call you, please leave your phone number and time zone.
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