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Does anyone make their own workbooks from other materials?


frugalmama
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I was pondering this today while out and about, and the thought occurred to me that I could either copy or take the pages out of DD's workbooks and put them together into single day packets or even into a full workbook type thing. It would make leaving work for her to do with Grandma easier, and break things up so that DD isn't intimidated by looking at the whole book.

 

So - has anyone done this? How did it work for you?

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I am doing this more and more. Often the little workbooks have pages copied/printed from more than one book and often enlarged. They lay flat and I can highlight and mark up and make a total mess. I like to interact with my text while I study and I like it to lay flat.

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... we did this rather a lot when we were using Kumon workbooks. On my organized weeks, I had the pages pulled and in my notebook by day :). At the moment we're not doing much in a workbook, and Button moves at different speeds through material so I can't plan ahead for the workbooks he does use (more than a day or two). I do make worksheets for him sometimes, on graph paper, with particular sets of math problems or drills.

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  • 1 year later...

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering, OP, if you actually tried this out and how it went? I found this thread through a search to see if anyone else had ever tried this.

 

I'm going to try it this coming year. I've already got two spiral bound workbooks made up (they'll last about 5-8 weeks each - depending on our speed). We're using a lot of EM materials and Math Mammoth this coming year, so it made sense to me.

 

I gathered all of the pages that we'd be doing in a specific time period. Then I mixed the subjects up. So the first few pages are like this:

Page 1: a page from MM

2: an EM Daily Vocab page

3: copy work from WWE

4: a page from her Spanish workbook

5: an EM Building Spelling Skills page

6: a blank notebooking page to draw/write about a book she's reading

7: a lesson from EM Daily Science

8: another MM page

9: EM Thinking Skills page

10: EM Language Fundamentals page

11: another MM page

12: mapwork & coloring page from SotW

and so on. There are fun things in there too. Like little booklets about famous Americans that we'll tear out and put together. It's a nice variety, with enough MM to do about a page a day of math.

 

It's not meant to be completely independent work (although a lot of it will be). I thought it would make things interesting..."I wonder what page is next today?" Dd saw the first workbook yesterday and begged to start it now. She did a couple of pages, but we're not really starting until August.

 

I'm just trying to make this year a bit more relaxed than last year (my first year hsing :rolleyes: yes I made K way too serious). I want it to be easier on her and on me.

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I did this last year and will continue this year. It makes good use of my Proclick. :-) Last year I I had a Daily Grams page in every day. It also allowed me to add some of those Scholastic $1 books I've been collecting. I put in analogy pages and logic grids. I also used the Abeka Read & Think Skill Sheets for reading comprehension. I wanted an all-in-one LA, and this allowed me to create my own.

 

This year we'll be keeping the Daily Grams. We'll be using Apples Spelling and ACE Science for reading comprehension. I'll add in the fun logic pages occasionally to keep things fresh. I also have some a map skills book I should use. . .

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That's actually a cool idea. I have always liked to keep workbooks together to make storage easier. But I do like the idea of using a notebook (I may use a spiral binder) with the kids work in it.

 

Some of what I want to use with 1st wouldn't work well with this. FLL mainly. And the BW activities. But I like the idea of putting all the consumable type stuff all together in one binder.

 

Can you describe in more detail how you decide what you'll put in there for a day?

 

ETA; I've been reading the Teacher Binder thread. I would really love to learn how to do this type of organization. it seems we do juggle too many books.

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Here are some pictures of what I made for Dd (sorry about the poor quality - I don't know what I'm doing) :

 

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ETA: This cover isn't very pretty. With the next workbook, I'll remember to make the cover before I go have it spiral bound.

 

IMG_2312.jpg

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Very cool! I was actually planning on doing this this year. I figured it would be good to do in the car and when we're out. And I have so many of those Scholastic ebooks now, and thought I'd get some Evan-More ones, too.

Yeah, I bought quite a few of the Scholastic ebooks the other day and will be adding them to the second quarter's workbook(s) that I'm making today. It's kind of a lot of work to put these things together and make sure I'm not missing anything. But then each day during the school year we'll just move on to the next page in the work book (fitting in FLL when I remember!), so that should be really nice.

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I tried uploading a picture of our booklets, but I couldn't. They are here http://www.exploring...s.blogspot.com/ because I posted them for a fellow boardie awhile ago. Now I need to figure out what is wrong with my computer!

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm doing! Looks nice!

 

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy with this idea of mine. I think I'm going to go ahead and do the whole year's worth. Hoping I don't regret it!

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I've been contemplating this as well, though I was thinking of doing it in a binder with 24 tabs (for our 24 weeks of CC) so we can always add papers they've made into it. Then I was going to use a small 1/2" binder for their current week's worth of work. There are some subjects that are already spiral bound such as their Latin and Greek and copywork so I will leave those as they are. They also have a thinking skills workbook that is bound and I will leave that as it is. We only use Latin, Greek, and thinking skills once a week so they will not be cumbersome. The remaining things I'm thinking of binding are:

 

-blank pages to copy down their memory work (thinking of using gel paper for fun)

-copies of their memory work at a glance for the week from CC

-a copy of the scripture they are memorizing

-a copy of Bible fact they are working on and review facts

-a copy of the character trait they of the are memorizing

-a copy of the catechism questions they are memorizing

-a prayer journal page

-maps to color, trace, or draw

-math worksheets and drill pages and tests, etc.

-anything related to their IEW or additional copywork assignments

-grammar charts for the week

-grammar task sheets for the week

-editing pages for the week

-vocabulary quiz of the week

-derivatives pages

-spelling lists and charts

-phonics review and charts

-reading word lists with a place for me to comment on their oral reading lesson

-McCall answer sheet (reading comprehension test) and chart

-reading assignments for history, science, literature (possibly including poetry), and Bible

-a copy of the poem they are working on

-blank lab report pages or pages from CC Connected related to our science experiments from CC or directions for making a diagram instead on weeks we do science projects at CC

-anything from CC Connected I think they should have related to our memory work

 

My kids also have sketch notebooks for multiple subjects such as Bible, History, Timeline, Science, Fine Arts, Nature Study, and Literature. If their maps are in the booklet they'll have to draw their maps into a sketchbook. I plan to make notebooking an afternoon thing next year using mostly VP Bible and History cards and CC's Timeline and Science cards. I am considering using 5 x 8 spiral notebooks for putting a copy of the front of the card on the left and a copy of the card information (from the back) on the top right with lines for them to write on on the bottom right (such as a key word outline or summary sentences, etc.) It is going to be a lot of notebooks to do this, though because we are going through all the cards in one year at lightning speed (like 15 minutes per card) and there are only 50 pages per notebook. I may consider doing it a different way somehow but I did like how they could just flip through the pages of the small notebook and it would be like flashing the flashcards to themselves. I just know I like to have as little loose paper as possible. With five of my kids in CC next year I don't want a ton of papers everywhere.

 

I have the Proclick and I do like that it can open and close and more pages can be added (though it can be a pain to do so). I don't like that it is easy to mess up the pages if you aren't really careful when you slide it. I see that some of the pages already were hole-punched because then it should be easy to put them in a binder at the end of the year if desired. At the end of the year it should be easy to just put them all into a box to save. The bad thing about doing it this way vs. a binder is that with a binder you don't have to keep reprinting things that may stay the same from week to week, but it is easier to carry around than a binder. A binder may be less likely to be ruined by a spill or something, though. Hmmm....this is a tough call. It takes much longer to bind the books rather than just stick them in a binder if I use the Proclick, and if I take it somewhere to be bound it will cost money. I just know when we did lifepacs at one point my daughter LOVED just having a small booklet to work on for the week.

 

Has anyone thought through similar pros and cons?

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The math papers are templates that come with the Saxon books (5/4 - 7/6, anyhow). I put 5 copies of each, one test paper, a test, the fact practice sheets and various other math papers in each book for each week. Ds8 had blank pages for CWP and Beast Academy pages. Dd10 had the Saxon papers, HOE, Patty Paper Geometry, and blank pages for CWP. Ds6 had his Saxon 2 pages. The checklists had every individual task for the week listed from M-F. I prefilled the spaces that they weren't required to do that day. They filled in the others as they completed the work.

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We've tried a variety of methods, and daily workbooks cause my DD the least stress.

 

I use my Circa punch/disks, and I have a 5 pack of their nice thick covers. Inside I have a set of 15 numbered Avery dividers, and created a title page that lists her subjects. I put the papers in there, or the directions "grab binder and find mom", or, "skip today" if we aren't doing a subject.

 

It works well, and I think I have my groove with it.

 

I don't have the title page here, but I started with daily grams and now that has evolved into a, "daily warm-up", then there is a section for a logic puzzle and so forth.

 

Work boxes and file-folders stressed her out. This she knows she just has to turn the page and it is all there ready, and no surprises on adding more stuff and such.

 

I can do pictures tomorrow if anyone wants to see, but they Aren't that exciting! Lol!

 

ETA: I'm doing them weekly, but I may have a stack if the pages printed sainting to go in. When I check her work I pull the pages so I start with blank books each time I fill.

 

I don't think I could do a year ahead, and this child old freak at that anyway!

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What do you do if they don't do very well on a test or on their pages? For example, right now if my kids need to redo a test I just add it to their binder. If they are bound you can't just add to it. Maybe one idea would be to put a few blank pages in the back in case something needs to be stapled in.

 

When you prefill the things that don't need to be done do you do that with highlighter? What do the colors mean? Just curious....I made something similar using timberdoodle.com/schedule for free and was also using highlighter to highlight what they needed to do. Then they just put a check mark on the highlighted boxes they did. If they didn't need to do it it wasn't highlighted. But I could see doing it the other way where the highlighted boxes were what they didn't need to do and the white boxes would either be checked off or not, indicating that the white boxes at the end of the week were what needed to be made up.

 

The problem for me is that I wrestle with whether to have something so perfectly put together because if we get behind then it gets messed up. But it is nice to know how far behind you are (we are in week 6 instead of week 8 for example, so we'll need to make up 2 weeks over winter break). If one were doing a schedule in which the morning was devoted to sort of a loop schedule then you just pick up where you left off the next day (not including devotional which would be the first thing daily no matter what). I'm thinking of making a morning loop using our weekly binder or booklet and then having an afternoon session for notebooking while the littles are in bed or having quiet time. That way the only other workbook they would need in the morning would be their IEW book (for my 4th-6th graders) and their copywork book.

 

Would you want to put tabs in it to put the papers together by subject or possibly by day (which could generically be labeled day 1, day 2, etc.)? If I make booklets rather than a binder I can even have the days labeled according to which day of the schoolyear it is (day 55, day 56, etc.) so I know how many more days of school we have left to do at a glance. Another idea would be to number them backwards like a count down.....which makes it even easier to see how many days are left.......

 

I'm hoping this will also make it easier to know what is for "homework". We need to be done by 4:00 next year so that we can do music practice and go to activities such as sports and music lessons. If they are not done with their morning work by lunch time then it becomes homework to do right after dinner (if not before). I want to make 8:00 a mandatory reading time at night where they work on their reading assignments and I can read Bible stories to the little ones. Having their reading assignment checklist will make this easy to keep close to them along with their homework. This can also easily be taken with us if we are on the road to lessons or what have you.

 

Wow....so much to think about.....

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Tracey,

 

I would love to see pictures! I had not heard of the arc system and now I'm drooling! So, if it is a daily notebook that means you must put it together every day for the next day? So do you have a master binder you just pull from? And I'm assuming the 15 tabs are one per subject/curricula. Do you use any of their special arc pages or just your own? Can you put pages in it that already have binder holes? If so, does it mess up the binder hole? I'm wondering if the largest discs would hold enough pages for a week's worth of work. The colored tab things and small checklist accessories look cool and useful for marking pages that need corrections or that they need to come see me about, etc. Or pages that need to be made up later or redone could be flagged. I like the pages that look like Cornell notes because I've found that set up to be helpful with lots of things.

 

I get to order the main curriculum we need later this week and now I am so excited to figure out our set up.....This arc system might be the best way to be able to quickly add or remove pages as long as it holds enough....I'll be listening for more input.....

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When you prefill the things that don't need to be done do you do that with highlighter? What do the colors mean? I originally made the spreadsheet when I had a color printer, and I filled the boxes in Excel. When I got a laser printer, I used a highlighter. I left the boxes they needed to complete white, because I thought the white drew the eye more easily. The colors were different subject groups: math, LA, Latin, lit.

 

The problem for me is that I wrestle with whether to have something so perfectly put together because if we get behind then it gets messed up. I only put certain subjects/activities in the booklets. We do 5 Saxon lessons (+ test and investigation, if applicable) each week, so each booklet got those things. Each booklet got one week's worth of WWE lessons, one spelling list, etc. I did not include content subjects. We considered the booklets the basics. It wasn't a full school day unless they got the basics done. Any basics not done were finished on Saturdays. If we had a full day or the basics didn't go well, we could put off the content subjects. We will finish the content subjects over the summer, but we kept on track with the things that had to be done.

 

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That makes perfect sense. That is what I am thinking too. The 3 R's go into the booklet and the content subjects would get their own notebook(s). I might put a few things in that are directly related to our memory work for them to read or to keep little ones occupied, but our main work in those subjects would be in something else. And that way it is easy to make sure the basics get done either in the evening or on our "off" days. And if we get behind on content there is always the summer, like you said.

 

Now I'm convinced that the arc or circa system Tracey mentioned is better than binding them (in terms of being more flexible, but not less expensive), but I'm wondering what advantage one of these special disc-bound notebooks has over a regular binder. Any thoughts? I keep wondering what one does with the papers before and after they go into the disc-bound book.....And if papers that come three-hole punched already (like Saxon) would be able to go into one of these or not. I read somewhere online that they are not compatible......

 

Meriwether, did you organize their papers by subject or by day in your books? And did you have some way to mark the end of each day or subject?

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I have 5 notebooks, and assemble them on Sunday most of the time. For us, it is a "workbox" in a book, I have to have everything in there for her (she is my special needs DD) or she gets upset. O, she goes to language therapy and has homework - it gets a tab.

 

The books hold up well, and I do have stuff that I 3 hole punch without issue.

 

I don't use the largest disks - I think those hold like 400 sheets! Right now I don't even have all the disks in all the books, just every other hole - I couldn't find all the size I needed in the dungeon of doom! (you used to be able to buy rollerbind disks on eBay cheap!!). They stay together for what I need right now, I will add them in a few weeks. I will have to check on the size of the disks, I have a mix but I'm thinking the 3/4 are the ones I like the most?? Hey, it's the middle of the night - don't expect a lot! Lol!!

 

Someone on here as an old post on their TOG notebooks they make for the year in the circa stuff, you might search for that.

 

I will take some pics tomorrow, unless I go hang out at the SS office nice my kids are potentially all victims of identity theft thanks to some moron at their Peds office. Sigh.....

 

For me, the circa books are more like a workbook than just a binder, not unlike having them bound, but yet easier on the adding/removing pages side of things. She also likes working with the pages in it, and can lip the cover around if needed/wanted. A binder would work though, but around here the pages would be coming in and out, as no one likes working in a binder.

 

I've printed my own Cornell paper in the past (there is a website). The Levenger paper is nice and thick, the arc is nice too (I use an arc cover set or me). Mainly I just print whatever paper we need on 24# paper I buy at SAMs club, the extra heft over 20# is nice. Right now we aren't using a lot that requires her to use extra paper. She also has a "pretty" arc binder that stores paper.

 

Ok, I'm going to try to go to sleep again, or give any/all typos -iPad in the dark without reading glasses on! :p

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Here are some pictures - hopefully they help some. I couldn't think of what else to take a picture of! LOL!!

 

The Levenger covers are THICK - at least twice as thick as a poly binder. I have the 5 of them standing in a file bin tote and they don't flop around. They are these ones:

http://www.levenger....overs-(set-of-5)-7134.aspx

 

I do have a set of the Levenger dividers in my Arc notebook, they fit fine and are nice. I think the "mushroom" part of the Arc punch is supposed to be bigger? I can't remember now, I wouldn't say that I have had any problem interchanging them. The rollabind disks work fine, and come in colors - and I think are cheaper. I wouldn't buy much bigger than the 1", and more of the 1/2" - 3/4" ones. It gets confusing because rollabind calls them small/med/large and you have to compare sheet capacities to sort it out.

 

I have these other nifty things that would be awesome for daily work - but Levenger quit making them, and I only have 3. They were a presentation type of notebook, with 1/2 disks, poly covers and an elastic band to hold them closed. Oh well....

 

Im intrigued by the Proclick - less a bit because of the comment about them not being overly easy to open and close - and think that it has its place in my system. I have access to a spiral binding machine in my mom's garage technically.... have you seen her garage?? I also own a comb binder that i don't current use, but Id be apt to use it over something permanent for a whole year. I can take those apart and put them back together without a machine (I should mention I used to work at Kinko's back in the day - I'm a binding machine junky and can tell you pros and cons of most of them!).

 

Honestly, I love the Circa approach for this application. The pages can be easily moved, added, and it is key for me to be able to rearrange the order of subjects in a year. It took us about 2 months to reach a way that did not cause her undo stress in having a packet of work. This was key because it was causing her to have meltdowns, and I needed her to be able to get started on her own while I was doing my school work.

 

I will be revising her subjects (i've made a couple of more changes), and adding some better pages for the history and science. I just have a 2.5 more weeks of school myself and then I can get there. Because technically it is "summer" after 2:00 today (youngest gets out of public school!!!), I will be changing up some of the stuff in there too. A bit more fun - but not really getting rid of anything else.... just some creative combining of the worksheets. :D

 

If you wanted to do a whole year of papers over the summer - i would print/make the copies, and then either group them by the week into stacks, OR just keep each subject separate, then set them out once a week and fill the notebooks. Then if you get off schedule in one subject - you haven't mucked up the whole rest of the year. Or if something isn't working - it is easy to toss it aside and slip its replacement in there. But maybe you never have to change things up in the year like I do!

 

 

http://s68.photobuck...w/pics to share

 

The dividers I use: http://amzn.com/B0000AQOB1

 

I'm putting that link in there because the 6 pack set is wayyyy cheaper than the 3 pack, and Amazon often makes it hard to find them.

 

Oh, and I orginally was going to do a notebook for each subject with 1-31 dividers, but this worked out to the be the better solution for us.

 

ETA, the Rollabind disk size is the Medium for the 1/2" interior, i'm going to add a picture of that one to photobucket. It works, but is tighter with the covers and reinforced edges of the dividers. I think i like the size up - which is smaller than the 1" Arc from staples. Oh see how confusing it is??!?!?! LOL!

 

OK, the 1/2" inside rollabind says 80 sheets on the bag of them I have. The description on Amazon says 100 - I think the 80 sheets comes from the Levenger sizes because their pages are thicker. ACK!!!! :p

 

ETA again: Well shoot, the covers i have are only now available in the Junior size. HMPH. Darn it - I was going to order another set for my youngest. I guess the translucent ones in the 2 pack are the cheaper way to go - except weighing the cost of the Arc binders since they come with the disks is something to pencil out too. The disks on Amazon do not indicate a quantity for the ones Pen is selling - strange.

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Okay after digesting this I think I am just going to use a combo of a 3 ring binder and spiral bound. I had a friend spiral bound the Saxon sheets for me to make two spiral notebooks. That really worked. My ds just takes down the spiral notebook with his math text and turns to the next page. I think I'll keep that system for his math. It seems too much work to decide what to do in every subject every day and mix it up. It is easier to add or take out pages in a 3 ring binder. Easier for the kids too.

 

I think I'll use a binder divided into lang arts, math, science, history. So for my 1st grader I'll put his ETC, HWT, and any extra lang arts sheets (I have a Scholastic ebook extra phonics practice for example ). I'll also put a folder there to store Jot it Down writings. FLL is mostly oral. Any copywork for FLL or WWE I'll have him do in a nice sketchbook. My oldest does all his dictation in an unlined sketchbook and then illustrates it with colored pencil. That is a system that they love so I'll keep it. Behind the math tab I'll put his Miquon books and any extra math sheets we use (MEP etc). Behind the history tab is where he'll store his ongoing work with History Pockets and HO and any SOTW maps and coloring sheets. And I'll put all the RSO lab sheets and any nature study notebooking pages behind the science tab.

 

For my 5th grader I'll keep his Saxon separately spiral bound, but I'll put the Key To sheets and any extra math sheets (logic) behind the math tab. I think he would prefer to keep his SeqSpell book together, but any extra lang arts related sheets I'll put behind a tab. I'm not expecting it would be much other than some cursive or grammar practice sheets. He can also store his writing activities there. Same with science and history as my 1st grader. Lab sheets and nature study notebooking pages.

 

They can also have a log for read alouds and independent reading. I'll keep the smaller art only notebook with page protectors.

 

Then I'll make a master teacher binder with the same tabs and any sheets I need for instructions, answer keys, master copies, lesson plans and so on.

 

So that may work better than a different binder for each subject and juggling the various different workbooks.

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Also, Meriwether, since you use VP History and Bible, what do you do to organize those subjects since they aren't part of your booklets?

 

We do the Bible together as part of a morning routine. History has its own set of booklets with 1-5 cards per booklet depending on how many project sheets, coloring sheets, SOTW sheets, etc. I am including. Science also had its own set of booklets. Everything was in a workbook (LfC, Voc., etc) or in the weekly booklets. I'll probably do things a little differently next year since were are adding Prairie Primer, but I'm going to keep the same basic system. I like the Circa method, but I couldn't handle dealing with the papers each week. I'd rather spend two weeks in the summer and have everything in place for the year. I think all of the methods mentioned in the thread have merit, and there are probably many other ways to organize the booklets, too. I started with a list of everything I needed to organize and went from there. FWIW, I'm make my own "Foundations" booklets for the kids this year. It will have memory work from across the curriculum (Bible verses, poetry, Latin chants, history/science facts, geography work, Shurley English chants, math definitions or facts) listed in 36 weeks. I'm going to laminate the cardstock covers so that it is sturdy enough to last all year. Oh, and, the booklets have cardstock covers. This year I am going to have them decorate the covers with a drawing lesson each week. Nothing fancy, just a lesson from whichever drawing book takes their fancy.

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I like the Circa method, but I couldn't handle dealing with the papers each week. I'd rather spend two weeks in the summer and have everything in place for the year. I think all of the methods mentioned in the thread have merit, and there are probably many other ways to organize the booklets, too.

 

I have never not changed the course of our "stuff" during the year - hence I could never do/bind a year at time! LOL!!

 

Our schedule can vary too, due to what therapies and appointments are happening during the current phase of life. Right now it is just the middle DD having speech and language weekly, and not current new medical issues going on, so appointments don't impact us as much.

 

I have been printing/copying things weekly, but will move to a quarter at a time. I'm hoping that with a 1-2 intensive planning session in a few weeks that I have a bigger scope of how a whole year will play out - but again, I am graduating from college and facing a job hunt, hopefully having my youngest return home for school next year (and she is starting team gymnastics). Because I don't know what my schedule will be in the fall - I can't put them all together.... certain things my mom or her Dad will not be able to teach to her - so those would need something else in those spots for the week.

 

I have learned sooooo much here by reading these scheduling/planning type of threads. I really really appreciate everyone that shares - there is always something that makes me go "duh" and helps me out. That is why I shared - because even if just one tidbit helps someone else have a "duh" moment, we have managed to help each other!!

 

For me the goal did not start out as a "workbook for the year", but as a way to have a "workbox system that wasn't drawers". I'm thankful it "only" took a month to find a system that works for this child..... and I am not sure it will work for the youngest! Oh the FUN in that!!

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Very interesting thread. My wire binder should be here today, and I was planning to make mini-workbooks by subject (1/2 to 1 term each workbook). I had dismissed weekly workbooks as too difficult. But I'm wondering now... I could print & file by subject, and then make a few weekly booklets to try out & see if it works. (If it does, I'd love to do ~2 mos. worth at a time.) Thanks for bumping this. I even have a few of those daily Scholastic warm-ups now.

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I am reading this with interest. I could see doing this with ds and combining 6 wks of work at a time. I'd love it if we had less papers and books to deal with, it would be nice as well as w/ the spiral binding it is easier for him being left handed. I could see binding his RS Math pages, LoE lessons, and WWE. I'll have to think about what else we are doing but I think it would be nice just to have the basics bound and then he can see as well what he has to do for each day if I put in a divider page for each week. I don't have my own binder(although I did own one and sold it) but Office Depot does a good job and for a reasonable price.

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I am reading this with interest. I could see doing this with ds and combining 6 wks of work at a time. I'd love it if we had less papers and books to deal with, it would be nice as well as w/ the spiral binding it is easier for him being left handed. I could see binding his RS Math pages, LoE lessons, and WWE. I'll have to think about what else we are doing but I think it would be nice just to have the basics bound and then he can see as well what he has to do for each day if I put in a divider page for each week. I don't have my own binder(although I did own one and sold it) but Office Depot does a good job and for a reasonable price.

 

For a lefty - consider binding on the right edge instead of the left! (or at the top!)

 

The corralling of the paper is nice - and card stock works well as a divider. You can put a stick on tab on it if you want it labeled. I happen to have a ream or two of red card stock here from where I used to work, it is great to just divide things up with it.

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So let me see if I'm understanding this....

 

You CAN 3 hole punch a Levenger punched page. You CANNOT Levenger punch a 3-hole punched page? Correct?

 

More to follow after I get more thoughts cohesively organized.....

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So let me see if I'm understanding this....

 

You CAN 3 hole punch a Levenger punched page. You CANNOT Levenger punch a 3-hole punched page? Correct?

 

More to follow after I get more thoughts cohesively organized.....

 

Ummm, the cannot probably depends on your hole punch. As long as you haven't "mutilated" the tab pieces, it would go in there just fine (I think mine does 20 pages at a time?). We have a couple of things that we store in binders, so I always and punching them for either direction. In fact the picture that I posted of the 3 hole punched Circa paper - I punched that this morning.

 

Honestly, the only thing that doesn't hold up well for the circa is "cheap" notebook paper. I think it is like 18#, it is doable, but can fall out on the ends if there is slop in the disks when you turn the pages. The paper just doesn't have enough "bite" to hold onto the disks.

 

The MUS paper comes pre-3hole drilled, I'm not sure if the holes are in a bit further on the paper than regular 3-hole punches. I could measure.

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Tracey,

 

When I click on the link of the tabs it works, but when I click on the link to the photo album it says it is a private album so I can't see any pictures and when I click on the link for the covers it shows some 3 x 5 cards but no covers. Maybe you can double check your links?

 

Tonight I'm hoping to figure out what circa materials I need. So far I think I would need 5 letter size notebooks, three of which need to hold at least 120 pages for my oldest three kids. The other two are for my preschooler and K'er next year so they won't need to hold so much. I will need 12 junior size notebooks that can hold 160 pages each. I will need 4 tab marker sets and 4 pocket dividers at least. I'm not sure what tabs I need since I am not sure how I want to divide up my weekly notebook. I will likely do it by the day, which would be a total of 20 dividers (4 sets of 5). That way they can actually bring it to CC with their presentation papers in it and take notes at Essentials, etc. I will need 5 zipper pockets to hold pencils and of course all the disks for these. If I don't use tabs for days I may just buy a page marker for each. I'll probably buy a ruler too for each of the four oldest. I'm sure I will buy ruled pages, blank pages, and maybe cards. I will also buy some page protectors, but hopefully not many. I wonder if one can use regular page protectors that are three hole punched? I'm sure they are less expensive. Of course I'll need a punch, too. And I'm sure I'm going to want a teacher notebook of some kind but I have not begun to think about that in any detail yet. That will likely be a separate order. I'm scared to know how much this will cost but if it holds up well it can be used year after year.

 

The other thing I was thinking about was that I can use an expanding file to store pages before they are put into the notebook. They can be paper clipped together by student and already punched with holes to make it easy to slide them in. That way it would only take a few minutes to switch papers in and out each week. Afterwards, at the end of the year, the papers that were going to be saved could be put in a folder or some kind of portfolio.

 

A very cheap way to do this instead of buying the covers and rings and such would be to make one using laminated cardstock that is three hole punched and binder rings. It would move in the same way as a disc bound book, but it would be a little less easy to open and close, though easier than something comb bound or spiral bound or bound with a Pro-click. It would obviously be flimsier. Maybe a poly type folder could be cut in half and hole punched for a cover? If I get desperate for a cheaper solution I may try this. Then the papers could be stored in a thick binder with tabs for each week instead of an expanding file. Let me see what my cart looks like.....

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Tracey,

 

I forgot to say thank you for your comment about the thickness of the paper. That means that Saxon paper would not do well in it and would need to be stored in a pocket divider or bound some other way as a separate book. That might be worth taking to an office supply store to be spiral bound.

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Wow, you all have much fancier set ups than I have! :) I could see it getting that complicated as DD gets older...

 

For now mixing the different subjects up and having half a quarter's (or 5 weeks) worth of work spiral bound at Staples works for me. It's only a few dollars. But of course, I can't add things to it; hence the stress of putting eight of these things together (enough for the whole school year), making sure I'm not missing anything. But so far I'm happy with the outcome, and I'll reassess in April/May.

 

I'm making a preschool one for ds too. He told me yesterday he's ready to be a kindergartner, so I'm calling it K4 and putting together a workbook of letter tracing pages, cutting/pasting activities, counting worksheets, etc.

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When I click on the link of the tabs it works, but when I click on the link to the photo album it says it is a private album so I can't see any pictures and when I click on the link for the covers it shows some 3 x 5 cards but no covers. Maybe you can double check your links?

Whoops, should work now - I was/am sleep deprived.... and, I thought with the slide show if you had the link it would work. Guess not!

 

I have to walk out the door in 2 minutes, so don't push BUY yet! LOL!! I have thoughts!!!

 

The start kit from Levenger is $40 - and you get $40 back to spend, so it is like getting all of that "stuff" for free!

 

http://www.levenger.com/Circa-Notebooks-326/Circa-Notebooks-339/Circa-Simply-Irresistible-Sampling-Kit-5961.aspx

 

I would go ahead and order that - then decide. Do you have a Staples near you to look at what they have too? Their website sometimes doesn't pull up all the pieces. I need to look at my dividers and see if I have the Levenger ones, or Arc ones.

 

What do you plan to do with the Junior size? the covers that are on sale gives you 5 sets for $13 - i'd order those too. The Avery tabs I linked hold up awesome - we used to use that type in our field books at work. We'd even reuse them.... for multiple years.

 

OK, i'm going to be late.... Back tonight, or in the morning. I have school to do and just got told it is an in-house movie date night :D

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I am experimenting with something similar. I have dozens of workbooks and workpages ranging from PreK-3rd grade and many of them have only had some pages used.

 

I'm going to remove all the pages from the various workbook from their binding and separate them by topic in ascending order (increasing by difficulty) so all pages that deal with place value, skip counting, using money, etc... will be in a topical folder and I can make multiple copies if I need multiple copies. If I want a page dealing with 2x3 multiplication suitable for a 3rd grader, I will have it.

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Thanks, Tracey.

 

I'm planning to use the junior size for history, science, and Bible because the sizes of our cards (VP and CC) are perfect for that. So after looking at a sample cart I'm thinking maybe I need to do is order 3 of the sampler kits and 2 starter kits (letter size). My younger two could have the starter kit ones and the older three could have one letter size and one junior size each. Then we would still have $120 I could put towards a punch, a set of pocket dividers, and some zipper pockets. Also, I would probably pick up divider tabs for the junior notebooks. Then it would be about $150 for my original order and an additional 50 for the accessories after my gift certificates. Or I could go ahead and buy all of them the starter kit knowing they will use the junior size soon and then my initial order would be $200 and my second order would be free. Well, obviously that is the better deal (sorry, thinking out loud). I may even have to throw in a starter kit for myself!

 

I will look into the arc system again and see what they have. But I'm betting they can't beat the starter kit deal....

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Ok, Tracey. You talked me into it. I went to Staples and ended up buying a big one and small one for all of my kids and a leather one for me. I bought the 1 1/2 inch rings, which is supposed to fit 200 pages. The reason I settled on arc was because I felt all the poly folders for my homemade idea and they were all too flimsy compared to the arc cover and I like that it is cheaper than circa and right down the street so I can just hop down there anytime to get refills. Also, the Martha Steward Home Office stuff is compatible so I also got 3 of her pocket folders (which look like they can hold more than the arc version) and a set of 8 tabs to put in mine. It was more expensive than the circa would have been initially I think, but I think in the long run it will be cheaper and more convenient. Plus, I was able to color code! So if it can be hole punched both ways then I think I can just store pages in a fat binder for the year and then just take out what I need each week. Or I can do it in an expansion file like I said before. I'll have to play around with what is more practical.

 

I also have to see how well 5 days of Saxon papers fit in one of the Martha Stewart pocket folders. Otherwise, Saxon may have to be spiral bound.....

 

Now I hope I won't have buyers remorse......I'm a little scared to take out the paper and start putting our own in.....

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P.S. I wanted to add that I plan to order reams of paper from Miller Pads and Paper such as their spelling paper, notesketch paper, drawing paper, and lined paper. A ream of 500 sheets is like $12.00. The paper feels heavy to me so I think it should work. And I plan to make my own Cornell notes pages from worksheetworks.com. It is awesome!

 

millerpadsandpaper.com

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Oh no, don't hate me if you hate it... Please!! But I do love it, and it is, or me, just a nice compromise between a binder and spiral binding.

 

Start with yours, then open the rest! :)

 

I haven't seen the Martha stuff, great, a trip to staples in my future - always an expensive prospect. :D is it online???

 

I get 750 sheets of 24# at SAMs for about $7, Costco might have it still too (I lost track of my mom's paper availability stories, she's retired..... Buying paper is a story), so keep that in mind. which reminds e, I'm going to need paper in a couple of weeks for my marathon.

 

I was working on my printing to do list at gymnastics tonight, I think my next big expense is going to be having edges cut off books so I can scan them. Shall I profess my love for my scan snap again tonight, or have you spent enough money!?!? Lol!

 

Enjoy, can't wait to see how they turn out!,

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For now mixing the different subjects up and having half a quarter's (or 5 weeks) worth of work spiral bound at Staples works for me. It's only a few dollars. But of course, I can't add things to it; hence the stress of putting eight of these things together (enough for the whole school year), making sure I'm not missing anything. But so far I'm happy with the outcome, and I'll reassess in April/May.

 

I'm making a preschool one for ds too. He told me yesterday he's ready to be a kindergartner, so I'm calling it K4 and putting together a workbook of letter tracing pages, cutting/pasting activities, counting worksheets, etc.

 

I love this idea!

Question: How do you "mark off" one day's worth of work, then? Or one week? (I guess for each week you use a piece of cardstock with a tab?)

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Okay after digesting this I think I am just going to use a combo of a 3 ring binder and spiral bound. I had a friend spiral bound the Saxon sheets for me to make two spiral notebooks. That really worked. My ds just takes down the spiral notebook with his math text and turns to the next page. I think I'll keep that system for his math. It seems too much work to decide what to do in every subject every day and mix it up. It is easier to add or take out pages in a 3 ring binder. Easier for the kids too.

 

I think I'll use a binder divided into lang arts, math, science, history. So for my 1st grader I'll put his ETC, HWT, and any extra lang arts sheets (I have a Scholastic ebook extra phonics practice for example ). I'll also put a folder there to store Jot it Down writings. FLL is mostly oral. Any copywork for FLL or WWE I'll have him do in a nice sketchbook. My oldest does all his dictation in an unlined sketchbook and then illustrates it with colored pencil. That is a system that they love so I'll keep it. Behind the math tab I'll put his Miquon books and any extra math sheets we use (MEP etc). Behind the history tab is where he'll store his ongoing work with History Pockets and HO and any SOTW maps and coloring sheets. And I'll put all the RSO lab sheets and any nature study notebooking pages behind the science tab.

 

Then I'll make a master teacher binder with the same tabs and any sheets I need for instructions, answer keys, master copies, lesson plans and so on.

 

So that may work better than a different binder for each subject and juggling the various different workbooks.

 

Walking-Iris, so then are you ripping out your 1st grader's ETC books and 3 hole punching them to put in his binder? I also have a rising 1st grader and we are also using ETC, BW (like your folder idea for the Jot It Downs), and Miquon (at the moment). We will also use MFW. I've been wondering how to organize all the "books", and we too have papers floating around everywhere.

 

Are you going to put one week's worth of work in the binder at a time?

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I love this idea!

Question: How do you "mark off" one day's worth of work, then? Or one week? (I guess for each week you use a piece of cardstock with a tab?)

 

I didn't mark them in any way. I figured there was no way to know for sure what we'd get done each week. ETA: and I didn't want us to feel behind! ;) I just divided our year's worth of curriculum into eight work books. I plan on sticking post-its on the pages the night before that I want to get done the next day. ETA: In the beginning I plan on doing about six pages a day, but some of the pages are so different from each other, and if we have to increase or decrease the amount I'm not going to freak out about it. If we have pages left over at the end of the year (after forty weeks in our house), we'll finish them up in second grade. :)

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For everyone who does this... what curricula are you using? Math Mammoth would translate really well to it, but pretty much everything else I want to use doesn't have PDFs available for it. I love the idea of doing this, so what programs are available in PDF?

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Walking-Iris, so then are you ripping out your 1st grader's ETC books and 3 hole punching them to put in his binder? I also have a rising 1st grader and we are also using ETC, BW (like your folder idea for the Jot It Downs), and Miquon (at the moment). We will also use MFW. I've been wondering how to organize all the "books", and we too have papers floating around everywhere.

 

Are you going to put one week's worth of work in the binder at a time?

 

My old system has been to keep all the books together. We store them in a metal magazine file , one for each boy. I think what I'll do now, after reading this thread, and the thread about teacher's binders, is to make each boy a 3 ring binder.

 

I'm not going to separate the books by weekly work. I'll just put the entire 3 hole punched ETC book behind the lang arts tab. I usually let my ds work on as many ETC pages as he likes at one time, until it's done, and then we start on the next thing. So one day he may do two pages, the next he'll work through 4. I'd rather keep it self-paced than decide what he will do in a week.

 

I think I'll put a checklist in front so he can see what we'll do daily. And I'll let him decide the order. So he can flip to the math tab and work on Miquon (again I allow this stuff to be self-paced) or go to the lang arts tab and work on ETC. Some people like to organize Miquon by topics. I like to just work through the Orange book straight through, then start Red and so on.

 

Some things are still teacher directed. I'm using things that are oral or not consumable (FLL, BW, WWE, phonics) so I'm looking at the teacher binder to help me organize those plans.

 

I keep tubs in the attic for each boy. It's easy at the end of the year to just put completed books in there for storage. I'm not sure what to do with a lot of loose papers at the end of the year? Buy a new binder? That would get old. Maybe spiral bound a year's worth of finished work for safe keeping?

 

But I like the idea of each boy taking down their binder and getting started. I also like the idea of a zipper pouch. My boys are always losing, or arguing over, pens and pencils.

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For everyone who does this... what curricula are you using? Math Mammoth would translate really well to it, but pretty much everything else I want to use doesn't have PDFs available for it. I love the idea of doing this, so what programs are available in PDF?

 

We are using Math Mammoth, Scholastic ebooks (reading comprehension, Famous Americans, Science Wheels, animal units), Evan-Moor Building Spelling Skills, EM Language Fundamentals, EM Daily Vocabulary, EM Daily 6-Trait Writing, EM Daily Geography, a few different EM science books, EM Critical Thinking, and a Spanish workbook (? the name).

 

For Story of the World I put the map work and coloring pages in there. And I put a blank notebooking page to narrate/draw for each chapter.

 

I put blank notebooking pages in there to narrate/draw about books she's reading.

 

I put handwriting pages in there for her copywork/narration from WWE1.

 

FLL2 is the only thing that isn't in there. Oh, and ETC (but I'm not sure we're going to keep doing that next year).

 

We'll be casually reading Life of Fred. I should have put some blank pages in there to work on the problems, if she wanted to. Shoot! I probably should have made one quarter's worth of workbooks at a time so that I could change things if they needed tweaking. I just couldn't wait. :)

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We are using Math Mammoth, Scholastic ebooks (reading comprehension, Famous Americans, Science Wheels, animal units), Evan-Moor Building Spelling Skills, EM Language Fundamentals, EM Daily Vocabulary, EM Daily 6-Trait Writing, EM Daily Geography, a few different EM science books, EM Critical Thinking, and a Spanish workbook (? the name).

 

For Story of the World I put the map work and coloring pages in there. And I put a blank notebooking page to narrate/draw for each chapter.

 

I put blank notebooking pages in there to narrate/draw about books she's reading.

 

I put handwriting pages in there for her copywork/narration from WWE1.

 

FLL2 is the only thing that isn't in there. Oh, and ETC (but I'm not sure we're going to keep doing that next year).

 

We'll be casually reading Life of Fred. I should have put some blank pages in there to work on the problems, if she wanted to. Shoot! I probably should have made one quarter's worth of workbooks at a time so that I could change things if they needed tweaking. I just couldn't wait. :)

 

Thank you! I was actually going to ask about the Evan-Moore books, particularly the daily language arts ones. Do you think they're a relatively good complete curriculum? Obviously I'll help her out when needed and we'll supplement as needed. And I don't want to make this workbook to make extra work for her, but as a way to efficiently provide most of the work for a few subjects that she can do independently, so that we can concentrate on other subjects during the alone-time we have to "school."

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Well I made subject books for the summer. Since we are doing math, Latin, spelling and handwriting - so not too complicated right now. I may make a few little books with just independent work in them, but I want to get in a better groove first. I am toying with the idea of weekly books for next school year though - I'd probably try a few weeks worth at first. For what we use that is bindable:

 

First Form Latin (cut the binding off - DS was developing bad hand position) -- I'm not sure it would work for weekly books, since you often have two lessons on one sheet.

MEP Math PLUS various warm-up sheets (multiplication tables, long division, etc.)

KISS Grammar

Scholastic 5 Minute Warm-ups (Geography, Proofreading, Vocabulary)

SWR (made my own reference sheets & bound them - I may bind a whole booklet for my youngest) --Also not sure how this would do weekly

Spelling Wisdom (studied dictation)

The Fun Spanish (on currclick)

Italic Handwriting from Briem.net (or later Copycat Books, if they still need a model)

Blank map grids for map drawing (the Globalmania freebie is one I hope to use)

Custom pages (like a grid for the Drawing Textbook, maybe graph paper, a log for recording 4-H work or piano practice)

Maybe worksheets for PLL/ILL (haven't decided)

 

Plus I'd need a page for their assignment lists, at least what books to read. The ability to print a curricula is a MAJOR factor when I am choosing.

 

So people who are doing this now: do you subdivide by subject or by day? Or do you not subdivide at all, haha!

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