Analytical Grammar - binder question

[Kate in Arabia]

I'm using AG for the first time this year; the program looks great, but I could do without the binders it came in. I don't think ds is going to be a fan either. I was hoping I could have them spiral-bound, but I wanted to check first whether people are shifting papers in and out of the binders often? Is there any reason I shouldn't replace the binders with spiral binding?

 

tia!

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

You mean you don't love that neon yellow green color:001_huh::lol: I hear you! When they arrived I immediately wished I'd ordered them BEFORE they went from spiral bound to binder. So far I haven't been taking things in/out of it but I too would like to hear from someone who's used it longer (I've been using it for 8 days). I have a comb binder and was thinking about comb binding it because you can open the comb to add/remove pages much easier than if it's spiral bound.

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used AG in a spiral binder - I guess it's changed now. There was no problem with it at all. The only time we needed to remove pages was when we finished the program, ripped out the exercises, and burned them. :D

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

We used AG in a spiral binder - I guess it's changed now. There was no problem with it at all. The only time we needed to remove pages was when we finished the program, ripped out the exercises, and burned them. :D

:lol::lol::lol:

 

Yes, it now comes in neon lime green binders:001_huh:

[~Jo]

Mine just came in the mail yesterday and I too do not like the binders. They don't feel sturdy enough to handle that amount of paper over a period of time either, KWIM?

 

I am thinking about just making them a section in their other binders for AG and putting just that weeks work in there at one time. I'll just use those hideous lime green binders as a storage unit on my shelf where I won't have to see it too often :D And I actually LIKE lime green as a color - not sure what they did with it to make it look so - um - yuck, LOL. :lol:

 

Oh...and I'm going to move what I need for that week (or most likely 3 weeks at a time) to the binder I have my TOG plans in.

 

We'll file the pages you keep as they are finished with them back into the original binders...once we're done I'll figure something out for how they can keep their reference guides.

 

That is my plan for the moment, although I reserve the right to change my mind at a future date :D:lol::D

[Kate in Arabia]

Lol, y'all are hilarious. I actually don't care about the color, it's more the binder aspect. It looks really uncomfortable to try and write in, does everyone take the pages out for the kids to do them? It all seems really "hassle-y", I thought a spiral binding would be 100 times easier. I wonder why they changed?

[mompotter]

Mine just came in the mail yesterday and I too do not like the binders. They don't feel sturdy enough to handle that amount of paper over a period of time either, KWIM?

 

I am thinking about just making them a section in their other binders for AG and putting just that weeks work in there at one time. I'll just use those hideous lime green binders as a storage unit on my shelf where I won't have to see it too often :D And I actually LIKE lime green as a color - not sure what they did with it to make it look so - um - yuck, LOL. :lol:

 

Oh...and I'm going to move what I need for that week (or most likely 3 weeks at a time) to the binder I have my TOG plans in.

 

We'll file the pages you keep as they are finished with them back into the original binders...once we're done I'll figure something out for how they can keep their reference guides.

 

That is my plan for the moment, although I reserve the right to change my mind at a future date :D:lol::D

 

This is what I am probably going to do too.

 

Another one who hates the binder color. It is just hideous!! May just take them out and put them in a nice white binder and call it good. :D

[M&M]

I thought a spiral binding would be 100 times easier. I wonder why they changed?

 

 

I went to Robin Finley's (author of AG) workshop at HEAV. She said the reason they changed from spiral to 3-ring binder is the cost. The cost of spiral was increasing, so by going to a binder, they reduced their cost and the purchase price as well.

 

Btw, it was really interesting to hear how she developed this course over the years out of necessity. She was an 8th grade teacher whose students were unprepared for highschool, had no grammar and couldn't write. With no budget to purchase more Warriner's grammar, she started writing what is now AG.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

I went to Robin Finley's (author of AG) workshop at HEAV. She said the reason they changed from spiral to 3-ring binder is the cost. The cost of spiral was increasing, so by going to a binder, they reduced their cost and the purchase price as well.

 

Btw, it was really interesting to hear how she developed this course over the years out of necessity. She was an 8th grade teacher whose students were unprepared for highschool, had no grammar and couldn't write. With no budget to purchase more Warriner's grammar, she started writing what is now AG.

I suspected it likely had to do with cost. I don't like binders (they take up so much more space and the holes tend to rip with heavy use) and prefer spiral but do appreciate cost cutting measures. I will probably end up comb binding it, with a different color cover;)

 

That is interesting, thanks for sharing about how AG came to be! I can only imagine how frustrating that would be!! That sounds very similar to how IEW came to be. The Canadian gentleman (I can't remember his name right now) who came up with the method was a college professor and (in a department completely unrelated to Engish, I think history but can't remember) found his students couldn't write and began using the TWSS method with his students so they could write for his class. It eventually became known that if you wanted to learn how to write you didn't take a class in the Language Arts dept but his class:lol:

[asta]

Don't be in a rush to tear out the pages when they're done, though. I insisted that we tear them out ("It says right here in the instructions that this is what we're supposed to do, honey!"), and kid cried! And by then it was too late! He viewed it as a ton of work (he had gone through the entire program, from start to finish, in one looonnnnggg year), and he wanted to keep it.

 

Now that he is just doing the high school "touch ups", I wish we had kept the pages - being able to look at his *own* work would actually be more helpful to him than only looking at the reference book.

 

sigh

 

 

a

[~Jo]

Don't be in a rush to tear out the pages when they're done, though. I insisted that we tear them out ("It says right here in the instructions that this is what we're supposed to do, honey!"), and kid cried! And by then it was too late! He viewed it as a ton of work (he had gone through the entire program, from start to finish, in one looonnnnggg year), and he wanted to keep it.

 

Now that he is just doing the high school "touch ups", I wish we had kept the pages - being able to look at his *own* work would actually be more helpful to him than only looking at the reference book.

 

sigh

 

 

a

 

thanks!!! I'll remember that.

[ekarl2]

Wow, I had no idea people hated the color so much!:tongue_smilie: I'll try to tone it down next printing. It's a color match the paper binding it's been in for years ... hmmm ...

 

We did choose the binders to lower costs for us and you. The price of a set was lowered by $5 last November; an extra student book is now $10 less that it used to be.

 

I also chose it because it was more flexible. You can take a couple of units out at a time and put them in a term paper folder or file folder if you're traveling, for example.

 

I hope the flexibility and cost-savings was worth it ...

[DarlaS]

Wow, I had no idea people hated the color so much!:tongue_smilie: I'll try to tone it down next printing. It's a color match the paper binding it's been in for years ... hmmm ...

 

We did choose the binders to lower costs for us and you. The price of a set was lowered by $5 last November; an extra student book is now $10 less that it used to be.

 

I also chose it because it was more flexible. You can take a couple of units out at a time and put them in a term paper folder or file folder if you're traveling, for example.

 

I hope the flexibility and cost-savings was worth it ...

 

I don't know why the color matters to anyone? I never have any trouble finding it; I view that as a plus! :D

 

For what it's worth, I wish I'd waited to order until you were using binders. If anyone wants to trade the 2nd/3rd units in a binder for mine which is spiral bound, I'm game. We will be doing a bit of driving this year, and it would be awesome to pull it out unit by unit. My ds is also a lefty, and not having the spiral really appeals to me!

[~Jo]

Wow, I had no idea people hated the color so much!:tongue_smilie: I'll try to tone it down next printing. It's a color match the paper binding it's been in for years ... hmmm ...

 

We did choose the binders to lower costs for us and you. The price of a set was lowered by $5 last November; an extra student book is now $10 less that it used to be.

 

I also chose it because it was more flexible. You can take a couple of units out at a time and put them in a term paper folder or file folder if you're traveling, for example.

 

I hope the flexibility and cost-savings was worth it ...

 

Erin,

 

Sorry....neon colors are my all time least favorite color....but I wouldn't worry about it - it is just that, my opinion on color. I wouldn't lose sleep over it...if you like it stay with it. ;)

 

I also have a big problem with binders holding up...and I do want this to hold up - MY manual especially. I can see one of my children grabbing it and dropping it and the sides start to tear off eventually. BTDT bought several t-shirts. I have box of binders that I tossed the other day because of that - maybe I have become a binder "snob"?

 

I only buy heavy duty binders now with the one big bottom clip that opens the hinges. I can't stand to open/close binders...another "issue" I have - probably a lazy one :lol: I'm also a klutz and manage to pinch my fingers in the hinges - don't ask me how, I'm not sure I can explain it. :D

 

BUT I love that it is in binders now. I like the option of re-arranging things around to meet my needs instead of having a big book to tote. So I was excited to see that it came in a binder. I would have been thrilled with just getting the pages 3-hole drilled and in shrink wrap for that matter - like my TOG.

 

I do plan to take out the weeks and put them in their binders to use as we need them. In fact I have already moved the 1st 3 units to my binder.

 

But all that aside...I am looking forward to teaching AG this year. I have been using a different grammar and disliked the way it was presented. This looks exactly like what I have been looking for. I was seriously thinking about cutting up the other book and presenting it in about this order. So when I stumbled across this about a month ago I was THRILLED!!! So thrilled that I told all my friends, LOL. Now I don't have to do the work!

[ekarl2]

Erin,

 

Sorry....neon colors are my all time least favorite color....but I wouldn't worry about it - it is just that, my opinion on color. I wouldn't lose sleep over it...if you like it stay with it. ;)

 

I also have a big problem with binders holding up...and I do want this to hold up - MY manual especially. I can see one of my children grabbing it and dropping it and the sides start to tear off eventually. BTDT bought several t-shirts. I have box of binders that I tossed the other day because of that - maybe I have become a binder "snob"?

 

I only buy heavy duty binders now with the one big bottom clip that opens the hinges. I can't stand to open/close binders...another "issue" I have - probably a lazy one :lol: I'm also a klutz and manage to pinch my fingers in the hinges - don't ask me how, I'm not sure I can explain it. :D

 

BUT I love that it is in binders now. I like the option of re-arranging things around to meet my needs instead of having a big book to tote. So I was excited to see that it came in a binder. I would have been thrilled with just getting the pages 3-hole drilled and in shrink wrap for that matter - like my TOG.

 

I do plan to take out the weeks and put them in their binders to use as we need them. In fact I have already moved the 1st 3 units to my binder.

 

But all that aside...I am looking forward to teaching AG this year. I have been using a different grammar and disliked the way it was presented. This looks exactly like what I have been looking for. I was seriously thinking about cutting up the other book and presenting it in about this order. So when I stumbled across this about a month ago I was THRILLED!!! So thrilled that I told all my friends, LOL. Now I don't have to do the work!

 

Jo,

 

I really appreciate the feedback. I think I'll talk to my binder company and see if there is a way to upgrade to a heavy-duty inside clip. That's a good idea.

 

The color has been that way for about 16 years, so I think it's here to stay! ;-)

 

Thanks, ladies!

[Kate in Arabia]

I also have a big problem with binders holding up...

 

In the set that I got one of the binders was already partly broken -- as in one of the rings didn't meet properly, so pages were coming loose at that part. Unfortunately I didn't have time to contact someone, send back, wait for a replacement (since we were traveling home); and I already had in mind to change the binding to spiral binding. I never seem to have much luck with binders, I always end up having to tape one or more of the rings closed, which of course defeats the purpose of a binder, lol.

 

I do appreciate the goal of reducing prices, however; and I also don't mind the color.

[Pegasus]

I do like binders better than other binding methods. I pull a section/season of the AG student book and put it in a smaller binder for DD to use. When she's finished with each lesson, she pulls the worksheets out and places them in the back. They are still available, just in case, but they don't get in the way as she pages through the notes. When she's completely done, I do plan to take just the note pages and have them spiral bound so that she has a reference to keep.

 

Pegasus

[keptwoman]

Can't please everyone I guess huh!

I'd rather have it in spiral, especially when I will spend that extra anyway plus some, having the holes cut off and it spiral bound.

[ekarl2]

In the set that I got one of the binders was already partly broken -- as in one of the rings didn't meet properly, so pages were coming loose at that part. Unfortunately I didn't have time to contact someone, send back, wait for a replacement (since we were traveling home); and I already had in mind to change the binding to spiral binding. I never seem to have much luck with binders, I always end up having to tape one or more of the rings closed, which of course defeats the purpose of a binder, lol.

 

I do appreciate the goal of reducing prices, however; and I also don't mind the color.

 

 

Kate, just so you know, I'd be happy to send you an empty binder! No need to send back what you have. E-mail me if you want one.

[Kate in Arabia]

Kate, just so you know, I'd be happy to send you an empty binder! No need to send back what you have. E-mail me if you want one.

Thanks for offering, Erin, but I'm pretty set on switching to a spiral binding.

 

I do really appreciate the offer, though! :)

[TechWife]

I also chose it because it was more flexible. You can take a couple of units out at a time and put them in a term paper folder or file folder if you're traveling, for example.

 

I hope the flexibility and cost-savings was worth it ...

 

This is exactly why I kept wishing ours was in a binder last year - the whole book had to go everywhere and then we had to deal with the ragged edges of the papers we tore out, 3 hole punch them and place them in his "completed work" binder.

 

For those of you that have the binder, perhaps it would work better for you if you added a divider to the back of the binder for completed work and moved the work there after it was finished. You would still have it all in one book but would be able to page through the reference section easily.

[Homeschooling6]

I don't know why the color matters to anyone? I never have any trouble finding it; I view that as a plus! :D

 

For what it's worth, I wish I'd waited to order until you were using binders. If anyone wants to trade the 2nd/3rd units in a binder for mine which is spiral bound, I'm game. We will be doing a bit of driving this year, and it would be awesome to pull it out unit by unit. My ds is also a lefty, and not having the spiral really appeals to me!

 

I'm not a neon lover :D but I like the fact that I can find AG at a glance. It doesn't get lost with all the other binders. I'm liking the binder because I can pull a unit out at a time. Works for me;)