Anyone made pdf's to email to kids instead of daily notebooks?

[StaceyE]

I am a perfectionist when it comes to organization, so much so that I don't get things done because I want it just so. My dad closed up his printing shop and gave me equipment he thought I could use which included a comb binder. I've been trying to think of something I could bind to justify the space it takes up in the closet (well, on the dining room floor right now, because I have to clean the closet to make room for it). Then I found the idea of a daily notebook, which I thought would be great for dd (going into 5th grade) but more as a weekly notebook.

 

This is what I was thinking it would contain:

Weekly task/assignment list

Spelling words

Vocab words

Bible study

Mult/div fact practice

Maps, Charts and Graphs work

Personal reflection journal page

 

I wouldn't include our main subjects because her work is stored in a binder for each subject which creates a book of what she has learned. At the end of the year, all subjects get transfered into one 4" binder along with my record keeping and it goes in the basement on a shelf. I like how this works for us and don't want to change it.

 

Here's my issue, I can't just cut the bindings off the books I bought and pop them in a weekly format because they are printed on both sides of the paper, so I would have to copy everything to place it by week in the notebook. That's a lot of paper and printer ink. Also, what if we get behind or work ahead in something or I change my plan through the year - it's all stuck in a particular week.

 

Then I came up with this idea:

Make each weekly notebook section as we go along through the year as an editable pdf file that she can click check boxes, type in answers, etc. I email her the document at the beginning of the week, she completes the work and emails it back to me on Friday morning. This gives her an opportunity to practice time management skills. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro, so it is entirely possible to create the editable documents. It would be a bit of work, but I could spread it out through the year, and I don't see it as any more work then creating a printed, bound notebook. Maybe I'm just over-thinking this whole thing.

 

Of course, this defeats the original purpose of justifying the comb binder, but one idea led to another. Has anybody done anything like this?

[thessa516]

We do something similar. I have an assignment sheet (excel-type) that is shared in Google Drive. I fill in the assignments and share it with each child. As they complete the work, they check it off on their individualized assignment sheet. There is also a place for them to leave comments or feedback.

 

I don't add spelling and vocab because we have separate books for those subjects, but it would be easy enough to add it to the assignment sheet. 

 

Oh, and another pro to this system - it allows me to link to websites. Before I had my 4th grader start a new book, I linked to the youtube book preview. He could click right over to it from this assignment sheet to watch the video. I also plan on adding Netflix shows that correspond with our history and science. We also use XtraMath.org and they can click right to their accounts.

[StaceyE]

I think I'm going to give this a try. Dd struggles with physical writing, so this would allow her to type more of her work, while we continue to work on handwriting as a separate subject. With acrobat pro, I can scan in things from her books and add entry fields for her. We'll see if it gets to be too big a hassle or if it makes things go more smoothly.

[Mom22ns]

I do this. I use a database to make lesson plans, track daily assignments, grades, hours (we have to keep them), etc. When my kids were younger, I printed daily schedules to give them. Then I switched to weekly schedules. Now I email a pdf of their weekly schedule. The schedule has times they meet with me for different subjects and then detailed "to do list" of the things they are to accomplish on their own. 

[jenamiles]

I'm also a fairly OCD perfectionist and can not stand clutter.  I classify workbooks and things just laying around on surfaces as clutter.  I have been thinking about this same thing lately and just this week I have been experimenting with converting all of our books & workbooks to PDF and just attaching the days work to our Evernote schedules.   All but one or two of our textbooks I also have in PDF format so our house really could go all digital.  My kids like physical books though. I tested it on a few analytical grammar pages first just to see if it was doable and it is :)  The few workbooks that we have are going to be taken to the local Office store today (tried yesterday and their machine was broken) and have the bindings cut off.  I'm then going to run the fronts through the feed on the scanner, the backs through.  I then found a command line app that is basically a PDF batch processing software that will take them and merge them together to make one large PDF or will break it up into pages; however, I want it.  The software is called pdftk and is free open source.

[Holly IN]

This is intersesting. I need to look into this.

[StaceyE]

I wish I had a feed on our scanner, but I have to hand place each one. I've got acrobat pro which is pretty useful in handling pdf files, it'll just take time to get them scanned in. I think I might try to go week by week instead of scanning everything all at once to make it seem less daunting. Next year when buying our curriculum, I'll look specifically for pdf options to make things a bit easier.

 

Last year I started using homeschool tracker online for record keeping, but didn't make a student account because I couldn't think of a reason to. I would pull in my lesson plans for the week and print off a task list for dd to follow. This year I did make the student account and so far it's working quite well. Dd logs on with her ipad, and she can see all the tasks I have set for that day. When she clicks on each item, the directions pop up along with a picture of the cover of the book she is supposed to be using or a link to a website. When she finishes the task she clicks done, then I can see from my account what she has completed and input a grade. I have to see if I can upload pdf files to a server and then link them to her homeschool tracker account - that might be a good way to organize pdf's rather then email them. I'm till trying to figure this all out. Guess I need to start with the scanning.

 

I still haven't found a use for the comb binder which is what got me started on this whole weekly thing - lol.

[StaceyE]

Guess it would be important to mention that we don't really use many workbooks so I'm probably over-thinking the pdfs. Most of our lessons are done together by reading, discussing, completing activities, and working on projects. This year I'm trying to implement more ways for her to be independent, develop good study skills, and better time management. I think that giving her a packet of things to complete by the end of the week might be good for her so that's really my goal more then anything else.