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Anyone use kindle books with a curriculum like Sonlight, HOD etc??


JaneP
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We are currently using Preparing from Heart of Dakota. I was looking ahead to their next guide, Creation to Christ, and noticed there are quite a few titles I could get as kindle books. I am tempted to do this because I love my kindle and then I wouldn't have to store more physical books. I think it should be cheaper too.

 

How hard would it be to use the schedule if I do this? Has anyone got any tips of how they have made it work (maybe with another curriculum)? Do you think it is worth the hassle?

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We use the Kindle for about half of our readers & read-alouds. I was a bit skeptical about doing this, but dh said I had to cut down how many books we were carrying back and I still wanted to use all of them :D. Honestly it has worked out far better than I thought it would. It's very easy to read off the Kindle and dd doesn't mind reading from it either. I assign it the same way I would a normal book. I just look at the ToC and schedule it according the the time we have (ie. 10 chapters in 1 week, so she has to read two chapters a day). I do tell her that she is not allowed to use the text to speech function! I've also found that I prefer actual Kindle books to pdf versions. So far I'm very pleased with my Kindle and we'll continue to use it for homeschooling. Hope that helps!

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I'm going to be using the Kindle for the first time next year as a main aspect for our readings. I used it once this year (a read aloud), but many of the TOG Year 3 books are available as Kindle books (quite a few free). so that I can buy more books on my list, I'm willing to buy some Kindle. My eldest is not excited about using the Kindle (she likes the "feel" of books), but it will save me some money.

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Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I have used it often for assigned reading with my own scheduling but I'm not sure how it would work if a teacher's guide scheduled page numbers as the kindle doesn't have page numbers. Of course it would be fine if the teacher's guide referred to chapters. Maybe I am over thinking this and it wouldn't be hard to adapt?

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I'd love to do this for my Nook! I've already gotten most of my books for next year, but I would love to be able to put my IG on there.

 

Jyn - Did you have a certain program to do this?

 

No, my only method is a scanner that can convert documents to pdf (not an all-in-one!) and lots of patience. It has been worth the effort!

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I'm moving this direction. We recently got abbyy fine reader express. it does text recognition of a pdf file, which can be converted in calibre to mobi format, which works on kindle. I had been doing the pdf thing on my kindle but it was too frustrating.

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I'm moving this direction. We recently got abbyy fine reader express. it does text recognition of a pdf file, which can be converted in calibre to mobi format, which works on kindle. I had been doing the pdf thing on my kindle but it was too frustrating.

 

I think I will try this. I'm glad you posted. It should be fairly easy since everything is already in pdf format, right?

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I think I will try this. I'm glad you posted. It should be fairly easy since everything is already in pdf format, right?

 

YOu can also scan things and save them in pdf format. A little time consuming but what isn't? abbyy isn't cheap but DH and I are so glad to have it.

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YOu can also scan things and save them in pdf format. A little time consuming but what isn't? abbyy isn't cheap but DH and I are so glad to have it.

 

This is what I have been doing and you are right - it is very time consuming but well worth the time. I have completed all but one IG and have moved on to other teacher's manuals. It also clears the shelves. I don't resell, by the way. I either destroy the IG or give it away to someone who couldn't ever buy one themselves.

 

The pdf format is a little frustrating on Kindle, as the pp mentioned. I think if I could get a little bit better format then they would be slightly easier to read. I had some sort of mobi program on my computer for awhile but took it off to save space. :tongue_smilie:

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We are using Kindle books and it is working out just fine. In fact, I scanned my SL IGs and have them on my Kindle now, too. :D

 

 

Ok, I'm intrigued. Beyond the can't drop the HUGE binder and all the pages fall out and you lose the next decade of your life trying to put them back in order....:lol: What benefits are there from scanning the IG?

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Ok, I'm intrigued. Beyond the can't drop the HUGE binder and all the pages fall out and you lose the next decade of your life trying to put them back in order....:lol: What benefits are there from scanning the IG?

 

One major one for me is that it keeps your place for you by bookmarking the page on the Kindle. I do 3 cores at once so this is huge (we don't do them the "perfect" SL way, but we do try to complete the books one way or another and in order). Another is that, as amazing as it may sound, I do lose the massive binders. If it is on my Kindle (and backed up in another place) I don't have that worry. And then there is having to lug the things around everywhere. I can take SL with me just about anywhere - ALL THE IGs! - in my purse. It also makes it more likely that I am actually going to refer back to notes and maps and such things. We have phases where we are in the hospital a lot with two of our dc so it also makes sense so that grabbing my Kindle for both IGs and books covers at least 3 subjects (although I am scanning other subjects in as well).

 

Another thing to consider if you decide to scan is how you want to break the IG apart. I ended up scanning everything according to how they are in the binder, but you could choose to put the notes and maps in with the week you are working on.

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We are currently using Preparing from Heart of Dakota. I was looking ahead to their next guide, Creation to Christ, and noticed there are quite a few titles I could get as kindle books. ?

 

Do you have a list of which ones?! :) And are they quite a bit cheaper??

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Do you have a list of which ones?! :) And are they quite a bit cheaper??

 

If you look at the book descriptions, anything published by Yesterday Classics can bought as a kindle book from them and that can save quite a bit of money. A big factor for me though is the convenience of using the kindle. From the packages I am interested there are five books I could get in kindle format. The two streams of History titles from the economy package and the two Arabella BUckley books from the science package. From the girl interest package Anne of Green Gables should be free from Gutenberg or similar site. this is all I have noticed from a quick glance...there may be more.

 

HTH.

 

I am in awe of the pp scanning her IG for the kindle. I would love that!

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We just bought a kindle this week. I've downloaded - for free! - several books both dc will need next year for history and literature. Both really like the kindle and I can see we will probably need to purchase another in the not too distant future!

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Also, to pp who scans into a PDF, if you scan it, does each page come up as a single pdf, or can you link the pages somehow? I've only scanned a couple of pages before.

 

On my mac I can just keep scanning pages and it will save them as a single file. You can also get Batch PDF merger or another program like that and it can merge individual files for you.

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So, are you able to add to it or modify it in any way?

 

I'm not sure if I can or not. I have not spent that much time with it yet. If you have a document with no pictures I'm sure you can, but I'm not sure about what it does with additional pictures.

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Also, to pp who scans into a PDF, if you scan it, does each page come up as a single pdf, or can you link the pages somehow? I've only scanned a couple of pages before.

 

You can do it either way. You just need to figure it out on your specific program and scanner. I have a scanner that automatically converts the files to pdf as I scan them (I bought it for this purpose).

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This is really fabulous! I just tried...I had never used a scanner before. I used my AIO copier/printer/scanner. I scanned in 2 pages to test it out. I then sent them to my kindle via email, and presto! I have my TM on my kindle! WOOHOO!!!!

 

I really hope this works for you. I tried for a couple of months on an all-in-one and I ended up losing my work over and over again. I am a pretty persistent person, though, so I bought the scanner only machine and it works much better.

 

Does it not charge you to email documents to your printer? I thought it did. If not, I could really use that service.

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It is working just fine, scanning right now...

On kindle, you can send it free if you are using your own wireless network, not the 3G, and if you send it to your FREE kindle address. say your kindle name is lovetobehome@kindle.com, you send it to lovetobehome@free.kindle.com

No charge. :-) Happy!~!

 

I am going to try this! How do you access it? Do you just download it from your email onto your Kindle once it has been emailed?

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Are you asking about scanning the IGs or using Kindle/Nook books from the curriculum?

 

I was asking about the scanning and the Nook. I think I already have my question answered. I think I would just put the pdf in Adobe and then put it onto my Nook, like I do library books.

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A lot of the books I have are in PDF format.

 

I hate converting rofl. We have a Kindle DX, the white one, whatever gen that is lol. It reads pdfs, no conversion neccessary. It also has 9.7" screen I think, so larger than the 6" one on the normal Kindle. I have wanted a normal kindle, but between all my pdfs that would need to be converted and the fact its screen is 3" smaller (i read fast and hate miniscule print that it would probably have, as some books on the 9.7" screen are like reading fine print) makes me stay with my DX lol.

 

I am hoping since we need so many books next year, that I will be able to get them in ebook format, one, to save them, as they will need to go through 3 children, and two they take up less space, and 3 so its cheaper lol.

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I am going to try this! How do you access it? Do you just download it from your email onto your Kindle once it has been emailed?

 

You just send it to your kindle. After a minute, it shows up on your kindle, in your menu of books I think. You can also use the USB to move it from the computer onto the kindle, but I use the wireless option. You can push MENU and "sync and Check for Items" if you don't see it immediately. You can also check for pending downloads. It took awhile to download mine when it was 18 pages long. But then you can scroll through it just like and kindle book. I can't believe how simple it is, and how nice it will be to have this info on my kindle for travel and stuff.

ETA: Just make sure you send it to the @free.kindle.com address. You have to have it working on your wireless DSL or whatever, because I believe they charge if you use 3G. In kindle accounts, you can set your documents allowed to $0.00 so if you screw up it won't automatically charge you for the doc.

Edited by lovetobehome
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I'm using kindle books this year for all of my dd14's Excellence in Literature reading. Every book was FREE! I love that I can have copies on my kindle and the kid kindle, so we don't have to battle for the books, and for discussions, we can each have it in hand. Having the dictionary on demand is awesome as well, especially for classics with strong and/or archaic vocab.

 

I've been SLing for so many years that we already have the vast majority of the books we'll ever use (having bought Cores 1-100!), but this year the one core I was buying was Core 100, and I got kindle books for all that were available.

 

Kindle books will be a huge $$ savings for me now that my olders are hitting high school and reading a lot of classics.

 

It's working beautifully. I can't see any reason why a print book would be preferable, unless the kindle version is not free and is more expensive than a print (and impossible to resell).

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