Jay3fer Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 It was more than I wanted to spend, but eventually I succumbed to the special offer at Homeschool Buyers Co-op for TeacherFileBox membership. :blush: I told myself I'd make it SO worthwhile, of course. :lol: So now I have one year to get my money's worth. I already have History Pockets (Ancient Civilizations) 1-3 and a couple of the Literature Pockets resources and love them. What else is a must-not-miss from this publisher? What have your kids absolutely loved using? I'm looking for any resources from a K-3rd level, in just about any subject, though we have math just about covered. If you know of anything extraordinary, PLEASE let me know here! :bigear: p.s. I can't stand the TeacherFileBox interface, and they don't make it easy to search, but they really do have just about every Evan-Moor resource if you search hard enough... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 If you already have the literature pockets, I would get the daily books, daily geography, daily paragraph editting etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 We really like their Daily Math Practice and Daily Geography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 My DD has enjoyed the critical thinking theme units. I don't think they have the "daily" books on TFB-or if they do, I've never figured out how to search for them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 I don't think they have the "daily" books on TFB-or if they do, I've never figured out how to search for them! You're right... I have found this out. :001_huh: Still - lots of great materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 My DD has enjoyed the critical thinking theme units. p.s. Which ones are those - what are a couple of keywords I might use to search for them? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloversandlions Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 I've since misplaced the exact information, but a couple years ago, someone shared (in an online email group? another forum? alas, I cannot remember) a method she'd discovered for searching the TFB site by using the book's number. In the search box, you would enter something like "emc:3701" but that's not working, so I don't know if I am just missing a piece of information there, or if they disabled that search "feature". I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'll join TFB. I liked it well enough before (when my children were enrolled in a charter and they wanted to see plenty of samples of written work), but I'm not sure it's really worth $70 to me now. OTOH, I'm doing SOTW this year, and if I recall correctly, it uses history pockets. DD1 does not like them, but DD2 just might. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 I think if you put in "Critical thinking grade X", you'll pull them up. I also have found that using the "to find more, search X" comes in VERY handy. I wish they had a way to view/print an entire book. I understand why they don't want downloading and saving, but it's very annoying even with a search term like "History Pockets" to find what you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 My kids LOVE their science. We use their books to do different science studies. Last year we did Plants, Habitats, and Animals With Backbones. We're actually finishing up Habitats now. Then we'll move onto the Body, Weather, and Water. I think these are all in the 1st-3rd grade category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Can someone explain the TFB to me? Is it like an online database of all of the Evan Moor books? And if you become a member, then you can print off any book that you want? If so, that would be awesome. I was just about to purchase three more books that are about $10 - $12 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinahYeteirah Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Yes, you can print out whatever they have on the site. Apparently, it isn't everything they publish. I was considering a membership myself, but then I read that they would tell me to destroy any unused worksheets when I eventually canceled the membership. I understand that they don't want people to print everything out and cancel after a month or a year, while continuing to use those resources indefinitely. I don't think it would be worth the cost to me, however, if I had to destroy any extras. I suppose I will buy either the books or the downloads if I end up wanting their stuff badly enough. Then will be able to use them for multiple children (for non-consumable books) and sell them when I'm through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 (edited) I paid for this too, and then they emailed me saying something was wrong with their server at the time I entered my CC information, and could I go back and re-enter the info? I didn't get around to it, and about a month later, they emailed me, again apologizing for their error, and giving me the entire year for free :confused: Sometimes it pays to procrastinate, I guess :) I am going to spend some time looking through it this week to print stuff for younger, in particular. I am going to try to "crack" the search engine so I can search for particular books. Ii seem to remember reading that if one looks up the beginning of the books on Amazon, and views the table of contents, you can "search" on TFB for those. A pain, perhaps, but maybe it will work. ETA: Just tried this for their Europe Geography book and it worked! I looked up Water and Landforms (one of the chapter titles, as seen on Amazon's preview feature) and it came right up. Edited July 31, 2011 by Halcyon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Okay, I am just going to update this post as I find things that interest me ;) On Amazon, I found the Read and Understand Science series. They have different grade levels available. If you preview the book and look at the chapter titles, and then enter those titles in TFB, you'l get that chapter. These look quite nice, and seem to be well reviewed. Nice supplement to our science, I think. This is going to be time-consuming, but worthwhile, I think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Can someone explain the TFB to me? Is it like an online database of all of the Evan Moor books? And if you become a member, then you can print off any book that you want? If so, that would be awesome. I was just about to purchase three more books that are about $10 - $12 each. Not exactly. As others have said, it's a bit of a pain... for example, History Pockets - Ancient Civilizations. you can get all of it on there, BUT in theory you have to print off each pocket separately and you cannot keep the materials after your year is up. There are ways around it, depending on how flexible you are about your interpretation of your rights to the materials. :ohmy: For example, I have a free PDF "print driver" that - when i click Print, saves whatever it is to a PDF on my own hard drive. it can also append to an existing PDF, so i can create an entire 'book" based on chapters. But it's fiddly. is it more value than paying $12-15 for the books? That remains to be seen, i suppose... (p.s. as others have said, it is notoriously difficult to search & use the interface) Please forgive my bad typing; i'm in bed with a broken foot. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 The single most obnoxious and disappointing "feature" of TFB is that they don't have an easy way to search by book - as the pp said. So... you're stuck searching blindly for keywords (there's a phrase search, but it's not always reliable, i've found). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I've since misplaced the exact information, but a couple years ago, someone shared (in an online email group? another forum? alas, I cannot remember) a method she'd discovered for searching the TFB site by using the book's number. In the search box, you would enter something like "emc:3701" but that's not working, so I don't know if I am just missing a piece of information there, or if they disabled that search "feature". Yes, that's right. You find out the code of the book you want (e.g. Daily Paragraph Editing Gr 2 is "EMC 6551") and search for that code on the TFB web site. The code is in the footer of every page of the book, so the search will bring up each individual unit/chapter of the book. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'll join TFB. I liked it well enough before (when my children were enrolled in a charter and they wanted to see plenty of samples of written work), but I'm not sure it's really worth $70 to me now. Well, since it costs $70, if you intend to use atleast 5-6 books (of about $12-15 each) then the membership pays for itself. Anything more that you download is free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I've never used the Pockets before, but I was thinking of buying them - for 2 children. I'm wondering if maybe this deal would be worth it for us. So if I print these out on cardstock it is basically the same as the History Pockets you can buy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 So if I print these out on cardstock it is basically the same as the History Pockets you can buy? BETTER. the ones you buy are printed on regular paper. And you can print multiple copies for your multiple children, whereas on paper, it's obnoxious because everything is double-sided, and some of the resources, like the vocabulary sheet, are used in every single pocket. BUT there is an ebook version that is better if you're only buying one Evan-moor book this school year. Yes, that's right. You find out the code of the book you want (e.g. Daily Paragraph Editing Gr 2 is "EMC 6551") and search for that code on the TFB web site. The code is in the footer of every page of the book, so the search will bring up each individual unit/chapter of the book. Sorry to disagree, but i have tried variations on this all evening and it doesn't work. Have you gotten it to work recently, because another poster said you used to be able to but she can't get it anymore? i have tried various codes with no luck. :001_huh: Do i need the quotation marks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savmom Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 (edited) I've been a member since they first started the site. You used to be able to search by book number, but for some reason, that feature no longer works (well for me at least lol). A cool new feature I recently discovered is that you can print pages directly from Evan Moor's site! Log into your TFB account & on a separate tab, open Evan Moor. Then, find a book you are interested in and select the grade and/or format (any one will work). At the bottom, you will see a blue tab that says E-Pages. Under that will be a thumbnail list of all the pages in the book, sorted into groups by chapter or topic. Beneath each thumbnail is a VIEW link & when you click it, you can see & print the pages, just like TFB! LOVE that feature!! :D Edited to add: I forgot to mention that not ALL the books can be printed on TFB (or via Evan-Moor). So far, I have come across about 15-20 that you would still have to purchase if you wanted the book. Edited August 1, 2011 by savmom Clarify Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paceofnature Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 A cool new feature I recently discovered is that you can print pages directly from Evan Moor's site! Log into your TFB account & on a separate tab, open Evan Moor. Then, find a book you are interested in and select the grade and/or format (any one will work). At the bottom, you will see a blue tab that says E-Pages. Under that will be a thumbnail list of all the pages in the book, sorted into groups by chapter or topic. Beneath each thumbnail is a VIEW link & when you click it, you can see & print the pages, just like TFB! LOVE that feature!! :D That is great! Thanks for the tip :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Going through Evan Moor's site, many of the "Daily" books ARE available, one week at a time. I just finished printing off the daily cursive one, and am starting on Daily Editing-because my daughter really does well with these (although she'll often do a week or more at a time). Good thing I have a laser printer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 ...a blue tab that says E-Pages. Under that will be a thumbnail list of all the pages in the book, sorted into groups by chapter or topic. Beneath each thumbnail is a VIEW link & when you click it, you can see & print the pages, just like TFB! LOVE that feature!! :D @savmom, you're my HERO! Who cares about searching by book number when you can just look at the book itself??? I'm Soooo happy. Off to waste another sunny day, broken foot on the coffee table, browsing their site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloversandlions Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 @savmom, you're my HERO! Who cares about searching by book number when you can just look at the book itself??? I'm Soooo happy. :iagree: Awesome info - thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 I haven't tried this yet, but I did get a reply from Evan-Moor today about searching by book number. They say the feature still works: "to perform this search, go to the search window and use this format: Emc:#### For the title mentioned, you would type: Emc:3303 It is case sensitive, so upper case E and lowercase mc, colon, and number." So if you have the book number, you can apparently search on TFB if you prefer. I like it enough the other way, personally. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettW Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I must be doing something wrong... please help! I've been trying to decide if I want to spring for the TFB offer this month in the Buyer's Co-op... I'm searching the TFB box to see what's there. But I'm having troubles... When I go the the TFB website and do a search on an Evan Moor book by EMC# (for example, Colonial Life History 4-6 pocket, according to Amazon is EMC #3709). If I enter Emc:3709 (as was suggested in a previous response) something should come up then, right? When I try it, it just says nothing is found. I've tried dozens of other titles from EM and none seem to work this way. :confused: I know that as a non member, all I can see are the previews (and I'm ok with that!) I just can't figure out how to search this site. At this point, I'm just trying to figure out what's available so I can decided whether to buy or not. Help! what am I doing wrong? Are none of the "Pockets" books or "Daily practice" books available? Can someone give me an example of one book number that works this way? Thanks... Brett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherL Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 There is actually a really easy way to search for an entire book. First go to evan moor's site and find the book you want. Find the book version (verses the e-book), the item number is listed under the title. In the search field on TFB you type "Emc:####" Make sure the e is capital and no spaces between any characters. This will pull up every file tied to that book. HTH!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherL Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 AHHH!!! I just tried the search way I have used up to a few weeks ago! They must have changed it! BOOO!!! Now I will probably cancel it. It's just too hard to search for books. Grrrr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 The opening from Evan Moor's site allows you to get many of the daily books. I've printed Daily Editing, Daily Handwriting, and Daily Word Problems so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savmom Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I have not been able to search by book number on TFB for awhile. I can search TFB using the TOC from Evan Moor and I can easily search for books on EM site but not on TFB using the EMC# (which is very annoying) :tongue_smilie: I just sat with my catalog & searched on TFB for several numbers in multiple variations from every page and nothing came up. However, when I searched just the book numbers on EM, every book I searched came up. I did not have to input the "EMC" either. So for Everyday Literacy grade 1 teacher edition, I entered 2419 and the book popped up. Not sure why they would say you have to enter "Emc:" in the search box because the number by itself worked fine for me. The best way I have discovered to search for a specific title is to log into TFB first then go to Evan Moor on an alternate tab. Search for the book you are interested in & then check if there are any e-pages for it. If E-pages are available for the book on EM then you can print them from either site (if you are a member of TFB). Another thing I noticed is that even if a book has e-pages, it may not be ALL the pages in that book. For example, I was interested in some of the History Pockets but they only provide e-pages to part of the books (Ancient Civilizations is not available at all :(). Now, there are several reasons I like my TFB membership: The Giant Science Resource book is available along with: Basic Phonics Skills (they are $30 EACH), Beginning Geography, all the "Daily" books, Skill Sharpeners, Science Works & the Never Bored books to name a few. Of course, what I REALLY wanted was some of the art books, but they are not available as e-pages :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paceofnature Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Ancient Civilizations is not available at all :(). I found Ancient Civilizations when searching those exact words. HP is a big reason why I use TFB ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 I must be doing something wrong... please help! I've been trying to decide if I want to spring for the TFB offer this month in the Buyer's Co-op... I'm searching the TFB box to see what's there. But I'm having troubles... Brett: It seems like the whole TFB site search wasn't working yesterday. I tried it just now and it pulled up all 8 pockets just fine... I have noticed a few flaky "features" at the site. But they were quick to respond the one time I emailed them. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 (Ancient Civilizations is not available at all :( Just searched and found Ancient Civilizations. I think the search was just down over the weekend... :confused: Also tried it with Emc:3701 and that works, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savmom Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I found Ancient Civilizations when searching those exact words. HP is a big reason why I use TFB ;) YAY! I could not find it yesterday so thank you for posting the link (TFB search is always so wonky :tongue_smilie:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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