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How to make workbooks last longer?
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I know that workbooks are not CM friendly. But our catholic faith has a set of very good workbooks that our children do indepentantly. The problem is they are “workbooks”. They read a page or 2 and answer 3-5 questions. I have 6 children (at present with one on the way) and can not see how we can continue to buy these yearly. I have no issues with putting them in a 3 ring binder and using those clear covers to make the pages last forever. But what can I do with the questions? I can not use a dry erase board for there daily answers, for every quarter I have them go back and re-read the questions and answers (Mon – Thurs) and then on that Friday they do a little quiz with me to be sure they are retaining it.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Misty
You could have them write the answers on a separate piece of paper or in a notebook. If needed they could also copy the question into the notebook (copywork!!!!), then write out their answers. Both the workbook and notebook could be stored on a shelf together.
Heather
This may require a little extra work but it worked out for us ~~ I have 8 children (7 still at home) and we were having the same issues so what I did was purchased the thinnest clear plexi-glass that I could find and had it cut paper-sized (8X10), and my hubby used a drill bit to cut holes to match a 3-ring binder. I hole-punched the workbooks, placed the sheets in a 3-ring binder, and when they have work book time, they place the plexi-glass over their page and write directly on it with a sharpie marker. Walmart sells a product called EXPO that is for removing dry-erase markers but it also works for Sharpie. I purchased extra-fine markers. The draw-back? If you have to keep records there is no way to show your work, unless you are going to be buying a lot of plexi-glass (being facetious, okay?) But, here in Texas we are not required to keep records so I check the work and then clean off the glass. Twice a week I will have them do copywork onto a sheet of paper and we keep these just so we can have some type of paperwork (in case anyone nosy ever comes by). Also, now that it’s drawing towards the end of the year some of the glass is looking kind of shoddy (especially my younger kids) so I will probably replace it before we start our work next fall. Even spending ~$30 in material (glass and new sharpies) will be cheaper than buying 7 more workbooks! Hope this gave you a good idea!
You could do the same type of thing Angie suggested with clear page protectors and dry erase markers. But remember that dry erase markers and sharpie markers stain PERMANENTLY – I’m the queen of stain removal and these two are the bain of my existance!
Heather has already mentioned writing out the answers to questions, this must be a long-standing idea – I did this myself as kid. I attended a private Catholic school thru grade 7. We never wrote in ANY of our workbooks. They were “issued” to us at the beginning of the year with our textbooks. We wrote our names in inside cover. (I can remember being the 4 or 5th kid on the list) Anyway, we were required to write out our answers on separate paper/notebooks.(Sometimes we turned in whole notebooks, I recall seeing stacks of them for our teachers to grade) At the end of the year, our workbooks were turned in with our textbooks. Because our school was small, I assume they must have saved a bunch of money this way, by only replacing those workbooks that really needed it. (As a somewhat funny side note – on the rare chance one of my classmates did get a workbook that was written in, there was great rejoicing to find the answers! Of course this generally did not last long. Our teachers were smart!)
Another thought, I’m sure you’ve already had this one… could you do any of it orally?
We tried using the clear document protector pages with dry erase but the kids kept smudging their writing with the dry erase and the sharpie marker did not come out as easily with the EXPO product. I was replacing the sheets every 2-3 weeks. That’s when my husband suggested plexi-glass for this school year and only as of late has it started to look kind of shoddy. The idea of using the books for copy work sounds great, maybe when my kiddos are older it will work better but my younger ones would write in their books. Never really had an issue with staining, only on their hands but it washes out.
Misty,
I was going to suggest doing those pages orally with your children. You can ask them the questions, and then record their answers with a digital recorder or write/type them as they answer. It might turn simple workbook questions into great discussions…and that would make them more CM friendly!
Lindsey
Thanks for all the ideas. I am more partial to the recorder idea, but then I’d have to sit with each of them (in a quiet room no less) so they can get there questions on tape. I don’t see this as a viable answer. But they are wonderful idea’s and I appreciate them.
So I have resorted to typing all the questions in microsoft word and we’ll see if I can even get 2 books done in a good amount of time. AHH its’ a lot of typing though. Again, thanks for your thoughts and ideas. Misty
Misty,
I wouldn’t see sitting in a quiet room with six kids individually a viable option either… Perhaps you could make a family discussion out of it. See what the older kids say versus the younger ones. They’ll glean from each other (and you), and you can just set the recorder in the middle of the table and make sure everyone practices the habit of kindness by not interrupting. That’s what I meant; sorry for not clarifying.
Lindsey
We have a printer/scanner that I am able to copy all our work book pages off with and use them that way, but I don’t know how much money we are saving by that as the ink isn’t exactly cheap either. But it’s an idea if you have the capability.
Kristen
We have a scanner as well and copy much of our workbook type work (ie: 106 Days, CGod’sC), but for my 11yo’s Saxon we use a notebook for answers and working out the problems, or a dry erase board. At Walmart at the beginning of the school year they have their notebooks on sale for 5 cents a piece. We pick up at least 10, that’s only 50 cents! Throughout the year they run about .97 cents each.
Now we only have 3 kids, so I realize I may not understand how expensive it can be to home educate 6, but I try to stretch my dollar as far as I can, too.
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