HollyBee Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 This is my first year using AO. Do you print the public domain books that you're using, or do you buy them? I can't decide what I want to do. I like having and reading out of books, and so do the kids. On the other hand, printing them would allow me to bundle just what the kids need for each week, so they don't read ahead (they'll keep reading one book and neglect others until I track them down and fuss). Also, I'm not sure what the cost difference is. Our home printer sucks down ink, but I could check out printing at Office Max. Any thoughts/advice? :bigear: Thanks! Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I buy the books. We use sticky notes to mark where to start and stop reading in a book. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Well, we are doing Year 0 this year of Ambleside, so I can't comment on their books specifically, but I am also doing Noah Plan which uses a lot of public domain Fairy Tales and I print them all out. My kids are way too little to sit still and read from a computer screen, so I have to read it all outloud anyway. We use a printer cartridge refill service and to print the public domain books is much cheaper than buying reprints in most cases. The Selfish Giant reprint was $10 at Barnes & Noble and 4 pages on the printer. My first choice is used if I can find a spine cheaply enough, but if it is rare or expensive I will typically just print it out. Can you get a good deal on refills for your printer? I know Walgreens does most types for a fraction of the cost. We did the math per page and then made a decision. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I used the formatted links here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_Year01_Notebook/ I put them in a binder in the order we will read them. (week 1, week 2, etc...) I refill my own ink and use "fast economical" setting until it starts to look faded. Then use the "best quality" setting until it's all.out.of.ink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Well, I have to be cheap this year. So I'm reading them directly from the computer. We have a bean bag on the floor here in the office/school room, so dd chills out on that and listens while I read aloud, and then narrates. But the things that she has to read herself (which is relatively little for her age level, because I'm trying to be somewhat flexible and do this the way she prefers), I will print out for her in advance, or buy a cheap copy when I can find it. I don't want to strain her young eyes too much with the computer screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline4kids Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I used the formatted links here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_Year01_Notebook/ I put them in a binder in the order we will read them. (week 1, week 2, etc...) I refill my own ink and use "fast economical" setting until it starts to look faded. Then use the "best quality" setting until it's all.out.of.ink! Are there any other years formatted in this way? I would love that. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ummto4 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Last year, for my 1st grader I printed a lot of public domain books from AO recommendation and also I printed may be 10 graded old readers from googlebook for school reading time. I also purchased and used ebook curriculum, printed donna young paper and printed notebook template. So, that was a lot of printing. IMHO, you will need a decent laser duplex printer. Last year, I bought a new Brother printer (HL 5250 DN) for $200 including shipping. I set it up in booklet printing format, so I essentially have 4 pages in 1 piece of paper. After printing, I cut up the paper in half and comb bind them. So essentially I get books sized half of letter paper. With laser, ink becomes a non-issue. I bought the refurbished ink from www.inkjetsuperstore.com The price of those refurbished ink from inkjetsuperstore is apparently the same as refill-yourself ink offered by other ink store, and is definitely much cheaper than the brand name ones. The binding supply --> I bought the machine for less than $50 at www.bindingmachine.com and then I bought the plastic cover and 3 sizes of comb. So far the books are fine for our level of use. I hope the books are good enough to last 3 kids. Printing and binding supply are not cheap. But I project that we'll have to print a lot in the future anyway, so it's worth it. Plus, some of our books are only available online anyway (those old readers from googlebook). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testimony Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I have printed out some books. I have gone to the yahoo groups and gotten that. I got a lot of money for Barnes and Noble once for my birthday and I purchased some books for Ambleside. I purchased books that we would use for several years like Plutarch, Handbook of Nature, etc. I mostly use the computer and read the books online. It is a public domain and their purpose is to make an education free for everyone. So, I utilize the free books online. Also, I use Old Fashioned Education. I download the books to my computer there too. Blessing, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hathersage Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Are there any other years formatted in this way? I would love that. :) Here's the link to the all the years they have formating for: http://www.amblesideonline.org/Links.shtml#Formatted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 create a computer file with weekly readings if reading too much is a problem and have them read from the computer. I did buy books in the past but now we read from our Kindle, ipod touch, or the computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandi_NC Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Here's the link to the all the years they have formating for: http://www.amblesideonline.org/Links.shtml#Formatted Thank you! In all my browsing over at AO, I somehow missed this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in MS Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Many of these books are available on audio book from librivox.org. For these books, you could all just listen. This is a great alternative if you have an mp3 player. If you were patient enough, you could even create daily playlists that correspond to the schedule. Paula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Another thing is that a good number (although not all, by any means) of these are often available at used book sales, like at the library. You can get them, often crispy fresh, for 50c or something. I'd keep your eyes peeled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Are there any other years formatted in this way? I would love that. :) Another thing is that a good number (although not all, by any means) of these are often available at used book sales, like at the library. You can get them, often crispy fresh, for 50c or something. I'd keep your eyes peeled. I've found quite a few good books for $.50 that are on the AO list. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyBee Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Thanks everyone. I don't like reading from the computer screen if I can help it, so it's either purchased books or printouts. I figure if I purchase all the books (years 2 & 4), it will cost around $200, give or take. I'm not sure if I can do better than that by printing and binding. Hmmm... The other question is whether I am just going to want these as books on my bookshelf anyway. Oh, and regarding finding the books at used book sales--yes, I'll keep an eye out, but we're short on time for this year. I *just* made the final decision to go with AO, and we need to start school at the beginning of August (with a week out of town thrown in between now and then). So I need to gather things fairly quickly at this point. Decisions, decisions! :tongue_smilie: Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyBee Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 IMHO, you will need a decent laser duplex printer. Last year, I bought a new Brother printer (HL 5250 DN) for $200 including shipping. I'm looking at a Brother HL-5340D at Costco.com right now--after coupon, the price is $120 including shipping. It does duplex. Would this be a wise addition? I'm thinking yes, for all the b/w printing I do. I have another color inkjet/copier/duplex printer for other tasks. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I bought the Brother 5250D from Costco. I have printed up the AO books that I could not access from the library...such as This Country of Ours. I love it. The price is right. Janell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momee Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I bought/well am buying all of the books for years 2 and 4. It's not been that expensive (compared to TOG!) and they'll be books I want on my shelves anyway. I love that come that last sunny Sunday afternoon in October I won't be at the computer printing out pages :) Seriously, for me, this year is all about easy on mom. I've gone with a laid out curricula using books my children love, shorter lessons, more handiwork, enjoyable art and music study, I just can't imagine not going to the shelf and getting the book we need. That's just my thought, and money is tight for us so I've been looking for the cheapest and still, the time spent now has been worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmsmama Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I get some books from the library and I was previously was buying the ones I couldn't get from the library (I have the books for Year 1-4 on my bookshelf right now). However, I found out about Stanza which is a free ebook reading program for ipod touch and iphone; so I can now download a lot of public domain books for free and read them on my ipod touch. I would love to get an Sony ebook reader, but I'll have to save up and maybe get that for Christmas :) For now reading public domain books on my ipod touch that I can't get at the library works alright because we can still cuddle up together on the couch and I'm not stuck in front of a computer screen. I don't print out ebooks often, but when I do I don't think it's all that costly because I only pay around $5/cartridge for my printer. I buy cartridges online for a fraction of the cost of buying the brand name in the store new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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