Binding Options?

[silver]

So my son declared that he loves the one workbook he has. Not so much the material in it, he just likes all the pages neatly bound together in one place. For Bible, math, and English we have home printed pages in a clipboard case that I three hole punch and stick in a binder when he's completed them. He wants a "workbook" for each subject next year.

 

I know that I can take them to Office Max or Kinkos and have them coil bind the pages. But I don't like the idea of not being able to tell what is what on the shelf by looking at the spines (we have lots of coil bound teacher's manuals already and I hate them). I also have the problem that I make our Bible pages each week, so I'd have to make all of them in advance if I were to get them coil bound.

 

I'd love if there were some wonderful way to put pages together that feels cleaner than a binder, but pages can be added weekly, and a name can be seen on the spine. Does such a magical thing exist?

[73349]

Hmm. A ProClick solves the adding-things-later problem, but not the identification problem.

 

Would you be happy with colored dots? You could add a dab of paint to the plastic ProClick spines. Or what about tying on a little label? Or using magazine holders with labels on them to put things back in the right place?

[desertflower]

Proclick spines also come in different colors.  I have black, white, frost, blue. 

 

I don't know if that'll help.  The color dots sound better. 

[silver]

Are Proclick spines durable enough to be opened weekly to add new pages? What if I printed a month at a time and only opened them monthly? I was under the impression that although they can be opened and closed that doing it too often would break them.

[73349]

Are Proclick spines durable enough to be opened weekly to add new pages? What if I printed a month at a time and only opened them monthly? I was under the impression that although they can be opened and closed that doing it too often would break them.

 

I have been reusing the same five or six spines for a year now with no breakage. I bind three weeks' work, use it, and then take everything out and make the next booklet. (Sometimes I do add something while using it, too.) They're more durable than I expected.

[EmilyGF]

Proclick seemed so expensive and like so much work compared to just getting things bound at Kinko's. I think I can get a 200pg workbook bound for a few bucks. Add a few more for a good cover and back.

There are many binding options at office stores. Office managers have the same problem.

[justasque]

I have a GBC comb binding machine.  Love it.  You can write on the spines with sharpie.  You can cut the spines to make a smaller booklet. You can easily open the binding to add more pages - not as easily as a binder, but still easy.  

When my kids were younger, I would make workbooks by combining pages from various sources, picking and choosing things that were on their level, and interspersing different kinds of pages, throwing in a dot-to-dot or coloring page to balance something harder. For example, I might put together phonics pages on the same letter sound from a few different sources, and handwriting pages on the featured letters.  It made school very grab-and-go easy.  

[73349]

Proclick seemed so expensive and like so much work compared to just getting things bound at Kinko's. I think I can get a 200pg workbook bound for a few bucks. Add a few more for a good cover and back.

 

I find it less trouble to make a booklet than to drop it off at Kinko's and go back and pick it up. I do keep cardstock on hand for covers, and reuse the plastic backings. But in terms of price, that's a good point: unless you are going to make a lot of them (I do ~16 a year, and plan to for at least the next few years), a Proclick wouldn't be worthwhile.

 

The P110 is selling for around $250 to $300 on Amazon. The 5/8" spines are $15 for a package of twenty-five, which would last probably for several years. There is also a maximum to how many pages you can fit.

 

So if you can get your booklets professionally spiral-bound for $5 each, the question is, Am I going to make 70 booklets? If not, the convenience of being able to rearrange papers is not necessarily worthwhile, unless it's really far to Kinko's (or wherever you'll have them done).

 

I'm really happy with mine. For each booklet, I make a cardstock cover page, and then for each week:

• a checklist for all subjects,
• the printouts from the phonics and science PDF books,
• a page of copywork,
• math pages if we're in a book that has pages that tear out (we'll be back in Miquon next month), and
• anything else I don't want to forget about.

Then I have a backing on the back.

 

I like not having to dig for the right book, flipping through pages for the right lesson (and meanwhile losing the student's attention).

[FindingMyWay]

You could do a disc-bound book. Staples sells a system called the Arc - you would need a notebook to start with and a punch. I have several and I love them. You can get the discs in a couple of colors, or put one colored one in different places on the spine for identification. There are other brands, although I don't remember what they are off-hand.

 

The punch:

http://www.staples.com/M-by-Staples-Arc-System-Desktop-Punch-8-Sheet-Capacity/product_324688

 

What the notebooks look like:

http://www.staples.com/M-by-Staples-Arc-Customizable-Durable-Poly-Notebook-System-Navy-9-3-8-x-11-1-4-/product_886316

[EmilyGF]

I find it less trouble to make a booklet than to drop it off at Kinko's and go back and pick it up. I do keep cardstock on hand for covers, and reuse the plastic backings. But in terms of price, that's a good point: unless you are going to make a lot of them (I do ~16 a year, and plan to for at least the next few years), a Proclick wouldn't be worthwhile.

 

 

When I looked at Proclicks, it looked like you had to do only a few (12?) pages at a time. I foresaw nightmares of clicking all night and carpal tunnel to go with it.

 

Do you have to batch? We live in a city so getting to a Kinko's takes less than 5 minutes and I bundle errands.

[73349]

When I looked at Proclicks, it looked like you had to do only a few (12?) pages at a time. I foresaw nightmares of clicking all night and carpal tunnel to go with it.

 

Do you have to batch? We live in a city so getting to a Kinko's takes less than 5 minutes and I bundle errands.

 

You can punch 15 pages at a time. The larges spines I've seen are supposed to hold 100 pages, so you wouldn't need to punch more than 7 or 8 times for your booklet and cover.

 

Kinko's is not far, but ours often only has one person working, so there can be a wait. I try not to go unless there's something I can't do myself. I did have them bind The Writer's Jungle, and I have them print and bind my annual wall calendar, because of its size.

[silver]

I'm not too concerned with the time it would take to self bind. It would beat hand sewing the page together, which is one option I considered! ProClick does has the advantage (over hand sewing or Kinkos) of being able to add to it. But it still has the disadvantage of the spine not being useful for identifying the workbook. I've got some books that have an attached cover over a wire or coil binding, but I think it would be awfully complicated to duplicate that at home.

[Bookworm4]

I have a Proclick P50 that I got for around $50 from Office Depot with a coupon.  I needed to bind several things and the cost of that plus the bindings was going to even out with the cost of paying $5 per binding at Office Depot (not to mention having to drive there and wait for them to get done).  I like the look of the coil binding a little more, but love the convenience of the proclick.  You can also get wire coils with a 3:1 pitch to use with paper punched on your proclick if you need/prefer coils sometimes.  I have opened and closed the proclick spines without a problem several times. If I do a whole lot more binding than I currently do some day, I would probably consider investing in a coil binding machine with a 4:1 pitch because the coils are so much cheaper than the 3:1 pitch or proclick spines (the machines were a lot more than my proclick when I was looking, but there are more options available now).  That said, if I had to bind 200 pages in one booklet I would just take it to Office Depot rather than buy a special box of spines or coils for it unless I needed that size a lot.

 

I used a comb binding machine at my old workplace.  They are very easy to use and add pages to as well.  The spines would also be easy to write on with a marker.

 

Check out mybinding.com.  They run specials and sales a lot.  You can sign up for their email list/notifications or check their specials page on their website.  They started offering their own brand of binding machines the month after I bought my proclick.  I noticed some pretty inexpensive binding machines in their clearance section earlier this week.  I have also read different places that they have the best price for binding supplies most of the time. 

 

When I looked, often the more expensive the machine, the more pages it could punch at one time.

 

[AHASRADA]

Well, if you want easy and low-tech, I use clamp binders from Staples. It is a 3/4 inch wide clear binder with a clamp inside instead of 3 rings. You just slide the pages in, clamp them down and they are secure. Since the binder is clear, you just slide in a label to easily identify it on the shelf. I think they can hold up to 100 pages, but are very slim. It is easy to add and remove pages as needed. I guess this would be pretty similar to what you are doing now, but the clamp is on the side like a binding, so you could put in a whole quarter or semester of work and he could use it like a workbook, then remove those pages to a binder or file and start fresh for the new quarter or semester.

[silver]

For the clamp binders, how easy is it to write on both sides of the pages while they are still in the cover? I've looked at some other report cover options, and they seem more designed for reading only, not for writing on double sided paper. I assume this one is the cover you have: http://www.staples.com/Staples-Clamp-Binder-Clear/product_806968

 

 

 

I've got the added issue that the designers of the bookshelf we keep current school books on must have not been thinking--binders are a tiny fraction of an inch too tall to fit on the shelf. So all binders meant for 8.5x11 paper are too tall and many report covers are as well. We have other shelves that fit binders, but I like all our current books in one place.

 

There is spiral binding (either going out to get it done or buying a machine). Both getting it done or buying a machine can be pricey, especially since at least half of this work to be bound will likely be thrown away at the end of the year. Both have the issue of not having a labeled spine and not being able to add pages.

 

I found this for sewing a binding: http://www.curbly.com/users/diy-maven/posts/8297-how-to-bind-your-favorite-ebooks

It seems like a lovely result, and perhaps if I wrapped a strip of paper around the spine before punching/sewing, it could even be labeled. But, man, that seems like a lot of work, and I'm not sure how well it would hold up over a school year as a workbook. And I can't add pages.

 

I found this for making a cover for a spiral notebook: http://www.callaloosoup.com/crafts/2011/08/tuesday-to-do-diy-smash-style-book-summer-journal/

Which, again, is a lot of work for something that will likely be thrown out. And also includes the expense of doing the coil binding in the first place.

 

I found a patent for a clip on spine for coil bound books: http://www.google.com/patents/US7406790

But I can't find an actual product to match the patent.

 

I found this for making hardcover books at home: http://www.bindingbooksbeautifully.com/

Along with glowing reviews from a few homeschoolers. It looks nice, but seems to be way more work than I'd want to put into a workbook. Maybe for a journal or something else that we'd plan to keep. A year of elementary math, though? Not so much.

 

There's ProClick. Which would be an initial expense. I could add pages. But we'd be limited in the amount of pages we could put in a book. And the spine can't be labeled.

 

There's various report covers. Some of them are too tall (we have a pressboard one that is the same height as a binder, and doesn't even have a spine). Most of them have small page limits, so we wouldn't be able to have a year of math in one, for example.

 

And a big thing holding me back from many of these options is that I don't even know how well this would work. Our current method of loose papers in a clipboard case works. This endeavor is mostly following the wishes of my son. His personality is a lot like mine, including wanting things to be organized and neat, so I get it; I get why a bound workbook for each subject is appealing to him. But that doesn't mean it will work out in practice. We may not like juggling notebooks. We may not like having to have enough clear table space for a double spread (as a non-coil binding would need). He's not a fan of reading from spiral bound books (when pages need to be turned it always seems to involve confusion for if the book needs flipping or a page needs turning and which way to turn the page), so he may not like writing in one.

 

Blah. I wish there was some magical perfect solution that was sure to work.

[Btervet]

I think a ring binding system like the Arc stuff from staples sounds perfect. It's super easy to add and move pages around, it doesn't take up any more space than the worksheets. The hardest part to adapt for you would be seeing which subject it is from the side, but you could solve that by getting colored rings. I bought one set of colored rings and use that to color code stuff. So each notebook doesn't use all the colored rings, but rather the placement of the ring tells me the subject (so top ring colored is math, 2nd ring colored means science etc.) You can also make any size book, since you just change the number of rings you use.

 

The expense isn't too bad up front, but you do have to buy the hole punch, which is around $40.

[Amy Jo]

I've been making saddle stitch booklets for my kids. I limit them to about 10 sheets of paper (40 worksheets). For identification the covers are color coded (so blue is my youngest son), and then I have a rectangular basket we keep them in. But there are other home-binding options, saddle stitching is just super simple and quick. I love SeaLemon's tutorials on Youtube.

[AHASRADA]

You're right, I hadn't thought about the writing aspect with the clip binder. We've always only used them for reading, or storing papers after they've been written on.

 

I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I think Duotang folders would be perfect. You 3-hole punch the worksheets, and they are held in firmly by the brads. Each one probably holds one quarter's worth of work, depending on the subject. There is no way to write on the spine, but the folders come in a lot of colors, so you can just assign a color to each subject (I usually use red for math, blue for history, green for science and yellow for English, but whatever).

 

I think this would be your best, and cheapest, compromise. Otherwise, you should probably just stick with, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. "

[Allearia]

Okay, I have found a solution to this and I love it but I am not sure how to describe and explain it because I haven't perfected it yet. Basically I use a pro click and I found some thin chipboard I can punch with it, or I have some thicker chipboard but I have to punch the holes by hand with a special hole punch to use for the back and some times the front because otherwise the books flop around and won't stay on the shelf, and this way you can write on them without a table! I have worked out a way to put a paper spine over the spiral in a way that you can still open it etc. just like a regular spiral notebook, then label it or use different colors like a regular book. The hard part is getting the width of the paper and the folds right and I want a better way to attach it besides clear tape but to be honest that is just me being picky. I will try to post a picture, and maybe some brave souls will use the idea to experiment on their own. I also bought some other spiral bindings that don't open but they go up to be able to bind over 200 sheets of paper.

 

Obviously I have gone off the deep end over here... Now if I only used all these books to teach my children...

[silver]

I'd love to see a picture when you get a chance.

[Allearia]

 

Hopefully this is a picture of my shelf with all my spiral bound books (some with ProClick spines, some with regular spirals that fit the ProClick punch). Sorry it is so small, I am trying to quickly reduce the file size...

 

[Bookworm4]

spines.jpg

 

Hopefully this is a picture of my shelf with all my spiral bound books (some with ProClick spines, some with regular spirals that fit the ProClick punch). Sorry it is so small, I am trying to quickly reduce the file size...

Thanks for the picture. Can the workbooks be opened in a way with the front folded around to the back (so only the size of regular paper is showing) without messing up the labels?

[Jennifer132]

I have a Fellowes binding machine. You can add papers whenever you want by using the machine to open the binding again. Also, the binders have a solid piece along the spine that you could easily attach a label to with the name of the book.

[Allearia]

Thanks for the picture. Can the workbooks be opened in a way with the front folded around to the back (so only the size of regular paper is showing) without messing up the labels?

Yes! That's why the spines are tricky, I didn't think it was worth it if you couldn't still open it up and fold back the front cover. I tried to post another picture but it wasn't letting me. But all these can be opened like a regular spiral bound book.

[silver]

Where are the spines attached? The front cover? Back cover? The spiral itself? Do they have holes punched in them (and threaded onto the spiral) or are they just folded paper taped to some part of the book?

 

 

 

I have some spiral bound books that have a spine inside the spiral. It would be hard to duplicate at home because of the fact that the spine needs to have paper that is just as tall as the book but more than 2x as wide as the book. I've tried to work out in my head a way to duplicate that by taping multiple sheets together. The front cover can fold around to the back on some of them, but not all of them. Many do it as a way to attach a hard cover securely to a ring bound book in a way that creates a spine, similar to the link I gave for giving a spiral notebook a cover. I wish I could play around with something like that, but I can't without first getting a punching machine and some spines.

[Allearia]

The books are spiral bound as usual, and the spine goes on the outside. It is taped to both the front and the back cover. The spine has to be pretty loose to allow the cover to rotate all the way back.

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

 

I found this for sewing a binding: http://www.curbly.com/users/diy-maven/posts/8297-how-to-bind-your-favorite-ebooks

It seems like a lovely result, and perhaps if I wrapped a strip of paper around the spine before punching/sewing, it could even be labeled. But, man, that seems like a lot of work, and I'm not sure how well it would hold up over a school year as a workbook. And I can't add pages.

 

 

I don't think this sewing technique will give you a flat book you can write in easily when it's open.

 

How about using a slim binder?  Like the cheap poly binders they have at back to school for about $1 or so a piece and have maybe an inch spine?  It's not quite like a workbook, but it's smaller than a regular binder, reusable, and could be labeled by taping on a label or using a Sharpie.  Just a thought.

[silver]

The books are spiral bound as usual, and the spine goes on the outside. It is taped to both the front and the back cover. The spine has to be pretty loose to allow the cover to rotate all the way back.

 

Thanks for the details. That sounds like something doable, and I may use it for the spiral bound teacher manuals I already have.

 

 

I don't think this sewing technique will give you a flat book you can write in easily when it's open.

 

How about using a slim binder?  Like the cheap poly binders they have at back to school for about $1 or so a piece and have maybe an inch spine?  It's not quite like a workbook, but it's smaller than a regular binder, reusable, and could be labeled by taping on a label or using a Sharpie.  Just a thought.

 

It seems like it couldn't be any worse than the perfect bound workbooks where all the pages are glued together at the spine. Although the page perforations may make a difference with those.

 

Are the binders you're thinking of the ones where the front, back and spine are all one long piece of folded plastic? I think I have some of those from college that I could try...

[Bookworm4]

Five Star also makes a "Flex Hybrid Note Binder".  You would be able to write on the spine as well.  It folds like a notebook, but opens and has rings like a binder.  Amazon has some, but I think I've seen them cheaper in stores.  Avery makes a foldable binder as well, but it wasn't very well rated last I looked.

[desertflower]

spines.jpg

 

Hopefully this is a picture of my shelf with all my spiral bound books (some with ProClick spines, some with regular spirals that fit the ProClick punch). Sorry it is so small, I am trying to quickly reduce the file size...

 

This is very impressive. 

[katilac]

I found this for making a cover for a spiral notebook: http://www.callaloosoup.com/crafts/2011/08/tuesday-to-do-diy-smash-style-book-summer-journal/

Which, again, is a lot of work for something that will likely be thrown out. And also includes the expense of doing the coil binding in the first place.

 

You could do a disc-bound book. Staples sells a system called the Arc - you would need a notebook to start with and a punch. I have several and I love them. You can get the discs in a couple of colors, or put one colored one in different places on the spine for identification. There are other brands, although I don't remember what they are off-hand.

 

 

Okay, I do love my disc-bound notebooks, and I do use some color-coding, but I have way too many notebooks for that to be truly effective. Plus I love the look of neatly labeled notebooks on a shelf. 

 

So, I think I am going to attempt to adapt the Smash book idea: I'm going to make the cover that can be neatly labeled, but not adhere the notebook to it. In other words, it will just be for storing the notebooks on the shelf (neatness, labeling), and I will simply pull the disc-bound notebook out when I am ready to use it. 

 

I'm going to try it this afternoon! 

[Bookworm4]

Okay, I do love my disc-bound notebooks, and I do use some color-coding, but I have way too many notebooks for that to be truly effective. Plus I love the look of neatly labeled notebooks on a shelf.

 

So, I think I am going to attempt to adapt the Smash book idea: I'm going to make the cover that can be neatly labeled, but not adhere the notebook to it. In other words, it will just be for storing the notebooks on the shelf (neatness, labeling), and I will simply pull the disc-bound notebook out when I am ready to use it.

 

I'm going to try it this afternoon!

Are you making a cloth or paper cover? Let us know how it turns out. This sounds interesting.

[katilac]

Are you making a cloth or paper cover? Let us know how it turns out. This sounds interesting.

 

I think I'm going to try chipboard for my disc bound notebooks; they will be pulled off of the shelf a lot, plus I want them to stand up neatly. 

 

I also have some regular spiral notebooks, and I just made some covers out of cardstock for those, that seems like it might work. These are notebooks that I jot in for quick reference, so I don't want to spend a lot of time on them, but I really hate the way cheap spirals look on my shelf. 

 

Also will see if I still have a photobucket account for pictures, I know I did at one time. 

 

If I like the general idea, I might get ambitious over the summer and make a few with pockets on the inside so I can slip the notebook in, rather than adhering it. You can buy these for regular notebooks but they rarely fit disc bound notebooks. 

[katilac]

Let's see if this works - this is the quick and dirty spiral covers. I just scored the cardstock and then placed them over the spirals. They are not adhered; these only get pulled off the shelf once a week or so, so I'm thinking it might work. 

 

Edited because I added a photo of a disc-bound notebook cover made from grungeboard and patterned paper; I'm not sure it will be thick enough, but my chipboard was too thick to do quickly. Again, not adhered but just placed over the notebook for labelling/looks. 

 

 

 

http://s375.photobucket.com/user/katilac1/library/Notebooks%20and%20Office%20Supplies?sort=3&page=1

[katilac]

 Apparently I forgot how to make the thumbnails show up, but if you click on the link, it will take you to my public Photobucket. 

 

[Bookworm4]

Let's see if this works - this is the quick and dirty spiral covers. I just scored the cardstock and then placed them over the spirals. They are not adhered; these only get pulled off the shelf once a week or so, so I'm thinking it might work.

 

Edited because I added a photo of a disc-bound notebook cover made from grungeboard and patterned paper; I'm not sure it will be thick enough, but my chipboard was too thick to do quickly. Again, not adhered but just placed over the notebook for labelling/looks.

 

 

 

http://s375.photobucket.com/user/katilac1/library/Notebooks%20and%20Office%20Supplies?sort=3&page=1

I like this idea. Would it be easy to add a "pocket" on each side of the inside chipboard so you could slide the spiral cover in it and keep it from falling out when in use?

[AngelBee]

Following

 

[katilac]

I like this idea. Would it be easy to add a "pocket" on each side of the inside chipboard so you could slide the spiral cover in it and keep it from falling out when in use?

 

I think you would have to play around a bit with the pocket portion to find the right material. Paper probably wouldn't last; I'm thinking some type of lightweight plastic? Either stapled or adhered with that super strong double-sided tape, the kind I buy is red.