A Suggestion...

[Chrystal in TX]

I think it would be great for the manual to come spiral bound so that when we make copies the job is a lot easier? Either that or in pre punched so we can put in a binder?

I just have a small copier at home and so it would be easier if I just had to fit a page or a bound book on the copier rather than a bound book.

We love the program! Thanks for everything!

[Melanie]

I took mine to a print shop and had it spiral bound. It cost about $2. It cost $.50 to have the spine removed and then I could have chosen to have it 3-hole-punched, or spiral bound. I plan on doing this with all my volumes.
Hope this helps!
Melanie

[Carrie]

Chrystal,

You know I used to be with you on this one! We actually did have the manuals come in spiral binding for the first several years they were available, but over time the covers tore off from the bindings which made them less durable in the long-run. I was frustrated with using spiral bound guides that were coverless after awhile. We also contemplated having the guides be 3-hole punched and binder ready (which is much cheaper to do by the way), but any guides I've had this way often got dropped and the pages fell out in a big mess. (I have boys who drop these guides in transport, can you tell?)

One other consideration for us is also that many retailers do not like to stock large, spiral-bound books as they get caught on everything, don't pack easily or stack easily, and slide off the shelves. So, we ended up switching to a lay-flat perfect binding on our books. We actually pay extra to have every book lay flat. You can bend and crease them without having them fall apart. We haven't had any of our books come apart since, and we have dropped them and lugged them everywhere. We figured for those who prefer a spiral bound or in a binder guide, you can still have it if you take it to a copy place and cut off the binding and do what you wish with it.

So, there's a little background on why we do what we do. That being said, we may go back to a spiral-binding someday if our guides get a little less hefty

Blessings,
Carrie

[amysconfections]

Thanks, I've wondered this too. I do like the way it is now but wish The Reading Lesson laid as flat. I really would like it spiral bound but couldn't find anyone who could do it around here.

[Chrystal in TX]

I'm glad to know that you have considered/done it in the past. I understand why you are doing the printing/binding the way you guys do it.

Thanks for responding!

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Carrie,
Have you considered making your guides into an ebook or having them available in CD formats? I know I would certainly consider purchasing this to make it easier to copy any pages I needed. I am very visually oriented though, so I much prefer to work from the bound hard copy, but the convenience of having the guide on a CD or downloadable would be nice too!
Just another thought...
Charlene

[Carrie]

Charlene,

We have considered offering our guides in an ebook format, but decided against it for several reasons. First, we would lose the side-by-side formatting that shows each day of plans on a two-page spread. Secondly, since our guides are so hefty, it would be very time consuming for the user to print them out and collate the needed pages from an ebook. And last, our guides have very few reproducible pages overall, which is one of the main reasons for an ebook.

"Little Hands...." has the most reproducibles at around 69 pages for the the whole program, amounting to about 2 pages of copying a week. "Little Hearts...", "Beyond..." and "Bigger..." have no reproducibles unless you choose to reproduce the poetry or math assignments from the Appendix.

For our newest program "Preparing Hearts for His Glory", we will be selling an optional set of Student Pages that will have all needed copying for the year done for you. This is due to the fact that the students will need their own set of plans to refer as they work more independently. These Student Pages will also be available in the Teacher's Guide, giving you the choice of either making your own copies or having the them already copied for you.

We again chose to bypass the ebook format due to number of copies needed and the collating that would be required.

Hope that helps! Believe me when I say that we haven't had the time to ponder long about all of the publishing options available to us, as our "free time" all goes toward the writing of our latest book. Maybe someday when our path through 8th grade is done, we'll have time to go back and add on the extras. For now, we're just happy to get each book published in a hard copy version

Blessings,
Carrie

[hippiechyck]

something to think on for the future is just having a CD of the reproducible pages available...lots of other curriculums do that

although, i like the thought of them already printed because i'm always low on ink

[Carrie]

We'll definitely discuss the options again and weigh the amount of time it would take us to offer the book in another format. Thanks for your input ladies!

Blessings,
Carrie

[holyhart]

I know that this is a REALLY old post that I'm replying to, but I'll share what I did with mine already.

I removed the binding myself and removed all the pages till they were all loose. I then put them into page protector sheets and then into a 3-ring binder.

That way it will open and lay flat to each page you are on, plus there is no chance of coffee, juice or whatever being spilled onto the pages. They can not tear or get ripped or get little finger print smudges on them. And they can still be taken out if you need to copy a page.

[jsusgrl]

Carrie, I just have to say I completely agree with your decision not to use spiral bound. I have been homeschooling for 10 yrs and have had spiral bound texts or manuals and hole punched manuals for binders, and BOTH ended up tearing. I would prefer the books the way you have them. They will last much longer:-)
Just my humble opinion!
Love in Christ,
Angie

[netpea]

plus there is no chance of coffee, juice or whatever being spilled onto the pages.

I like my manual as is, but the coffee quote got me laughing...

In January when we had our car accident, I had a bag in the front seat full of school books. My coffee cup flew out of the cup holder when I hit the first tree and coffee (it was full) went everywhere. So everytime I pull out one of those books, I am reminded of my accident when I see the coffee stain across the top edges of each page.

[Homeschooling6]

I love the idea of having only the student pages on cd or to purchase printed. I wouldn't want the whole manual on a cd though. Too much printing for me In the end the cost wold be the same or more IMHO.

Blessings,

[Lori_in_Austin]

Thank you, Carrie, for explaining all the care and serious thought you have put into choosing the type of binding for your HOD guides. Wow.

I did not know there was such a thing as "lay flat binding". Maybe I will have to give this a try !!!

[SouthernMrs]

Carrie wrote >>>For our newest program "Preparing Hearts for His Glory", we will be selling an optional set of Student Pages that will have all needed copying for the year done for you. This is due to the fact that the students will need their own set of plans to refer as they work more independently. These Student Pages will also be available in the Teacher's Guide, giving you the choice of either making your own copies or having the them already copied for you.

Hi Carrie,
I was wondering if you would reconsider this or something similar for the next Ancients guide. For those of us with the older end of children using the guides the children are doing more work independently. It really would be nice to have the student pages reproduced (or on a cd for easy reproducing) for them. This year with Preparing, my dd is carrying the TG all over the house to do her work. When it is time for me to work with her, I have to ask her to bring it back to me. It just would be so nice if she had some pages for her own use that I could pop into a small notebook or 3 prong folder.

Just another suggestion....