Printing Public Domain E-books at a Low Cost

Since we follow a Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum, many of our books can be found online as downloadable public domain e-books. This saves quite a bit of money, but reading the texts can cause a problem. The books can be read off the computer screen, but this isn't always convenient, and usually involves some special set-up by mom to get the margins at a convenient width and get the brightness adjusted to it is comfortable to read for a longer period. Another problem is that the computer will be tied up sometimes because our math curriculum (Teaching Textbooks) requires computer use.

We don't own a Kindle or other electronic reader, and that is not in the budget for our school.

Last year, I printed off a couple of texts with our ink jet printer, and that worked pretty well. I finally calculated the cost of that, and found that I would have been better off buying a used book!

This summer, I came across some good directions* for printing e-books at a low cost. This website is focused on the Robinson Curriculum, which also uses many public domain books. A black and white laser printer will print these books for a much lower cost, so I researched and found a printer on sale this summer for $60. I calculated the cost according to their method, and found that in almost every case, I could print a book for less than I could buy it used. I make my books half-size, as they recommend.

A tip that I have learned is to format all your printing on MS Word (or your similar software) and do not change any printer settings except for asking it to duplex, either manually or automatically. Print small samples of just a few pages to make sure your printer is going to do what you want.

I am currently experimenting with different binding methods to find what works best for my family. More on that later.

*I have found that these directions work for almost everything, except poetry and Shakespeare's plays. For that, you are better off printing as-is on half-sized paper. If poetry is included in the text, you will have to manually format it.

Preparing for the Fall

I have spent the past few days getting my schedule ready for next year. Last year we used AmblesideOnline for our core, and we are doing the same this year. We really enjoyed getting into a more Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum, and I feel like this is where we will stay.

To plan our year, I started out by choosing which years we will be using from the AmblesideOnline site. This year my daughter will follow Year 6, and my son will follow Year 4. There are different reasons why we chose not to combine both kids in one year, and I will go into that on another post.

To get everything lined out, I made tables in MS Word with five days across the top, and each subject down the left side of the page. I made separate tables for both children, although some areas are the same for both of them. This way, they will be able to see their weekly chart and tell how much they need to do for the day.

Here is a small shot of what they look like:



AmblesideOnline gives you the suggestion of work that should be completed each week of the program. I spaced things out so that Mondays and Fridays are light days, and Tuesday - Thursday are our heavy days. This will work out best with the schedule of outside activities we are planning. I also added a tweak based on my experiences last year. Instead of 12-week terms as AmblesideOnline suggests, I fit everything into 11-week terms. This gives us a catch-up week if we need it, or a field-trip week.

A New Birthday Tradition

This year for Junior's birthday, we started a new tradition. I think, anyway. Junior asked for a pie-in-the-face, so we gave it to him.

For the pie, I used a graham cracker crust filled with Cool Whip. I think next time I will just use the Cool Whip in a foil pan, as the graham cracker crust was slightly harder to clean up. We threw the pie at him in the driveway, so all we had to do was hose off the driveway, then hose him off and everything was cleaned up!

This was very funny, and made his day more special. He invited three little boys from the neighborhood over to watch, and now they want pies thrown at them on their birthday. Peanut does too! We have decided that the pie-in-the-face will be voluntary, of course. If you want it, you get it.

Kindergarten graduation

Several people I know have kindergarteners in traditional school (public and private.) They are having little graduation ceremonies complete with caps and gowns.

I have never done anything for my kids when they were done with their first "real year" of school. It seems very silly to me, but maybe I am strange. To me, it is an extra "thing" to put kids through, as well as the expense of a cap and gown for a quick photo opportunity.

I have a fifth grader, and her friends are also "graduating" from fifth grade. I don't understand why you would do something like this. I mean, no one is going to stop at fifth grade (I hope.) You have seven more years of school! And that is just for someone who is not continuing their education.

Maybe this year we will go to the park or some other pretty outdoor spot and have a photo session, and maybe some ice cream to celebrate the beginning of summer. But that is all that is "beginning" right now. She still has a long way to go.

Tot School - Pizza Game

"Bubby" is 39 months old.

Bubby got a game called "Noodleboro Learning to Listen Pizza Palace Game" for Christmas. He has really liked to play this game, and we've made it a part of Tot School. It has a couple of little pizzas in little delivery boxes, and two boxes of "toppings." The object is to listen to the other player's order, and then make a pizza according to directions.

We don't always end up playing by the rules, but it is fun to take turns ordering and making pizzas. The game came with a music/story CD and a storybook, and those have been a lot of fun too.


I have searched it out, and this game is not being produced anymore, but it is not hard to find available for purchase online.

I can't get a good picture of this, but we have been using a balloon to work on a lot of gross motor skills. We play basic balloon volleyball, balloon catch, etc. Basic easy stuff, but I can't get a picture of course, since I'm one of the players.

My daughter taught me a new trick. Before you blow up a balloon, drop one marble inside. Then blow up and tie as usual. The marble will bounce around inside and generally cause the balloon to act haywire. It is good for a laugh, and it does give us a case of the giggles. It makes the balloon's life a lot shorter, though.

We've needed to play a lot inside because the weather has been so cold. Here in Oklahoma, we do know what snow is. It snows pretty much every year...a little. We rarely get a nice snowfall like the one this week. It has been so much fun to do all the usual "snow things" like make snowmen, snow forts, snow angels, and snow ice cream. It hasn't been all wonderful. The ice that came before the snow wreaked havoc, but still we are thankful for such a pretty snow!
For more Tot School, visit 1+1+1=1 blog!

Tot School - Color matching and sorting

Bubby is 35 months old.

Sorry I am behind on Tot School. These pics are from a few weeks ago, but representative of what we have been doing this past week.







I made Bubby some color matching cards. I got them from the ChildCareLand website. This was originally meant to be an emergent reader book, but I made the pages into cards to better suit this activity. Each card has a different colored car, and I painted a clothespin to match the color of the car. He clips each clothespin to it's matching card.
This is an activity in which I get him started, and then he can work on it while I'm helping the older kids with their schoolwork. Tot School works better if I will sit with him, and let the big kids come to me for help. The way he sees it, Mom's presence is the same as Mom's attention.

Bubby has also been helping me with laundry chores. I've found that for sorting, it is better to give him one color and have him pull everything that is that color to put in a pile. His favorite is to sort out all the jeans. It is challenging for him to lift some of that stuff out of the deep hamper, but he likes to show off his strength.

He also loads the washer and pours the detergent in after I have measured it out for him. He loves helping with this chore, and I'm not allowed to load the washer without him.

One funny thing: On the inside rim of the washer, there is a little sign with a picture showing that you should make sure all the items are all the way in the washer before closing the door. He has taken this to heart, and very meticulously will arrange each item until it is completely inside to his satisfaction. Great attention to detail!

Check 1+1+1=1 blog for more Tot School posts!

Burgess Books Online

Here is a list I have compiled of all the Thornton Burgess books I could find that are available for free online.


If you have read any of the Burgess stories, I know you have fallen in love with the little characters. We always look forward to hearing about nosy Peter Cottontail, mischievous Sammy Jay, and wise Grandfather Frog. For me, the best thing about them is reading them aloud. The dialog is charming, and I love doing the different voices.


I know that Ambleside Online curriculum recommends some of them, as do other homeschool curricula. They are wonderful stories which teach morals and values while exploring the world of wildlife.


The majority of the Burgess books that you can find online are at Gutenberg.org. There are a few more out there, however, that are not included on Gutenberg. Most of these are not available in text format, because they are scanned images. They do include the color illustrations by Harrison Cady.


Burgess books on Gutenberg.org
Burgess Bedtime Stories from an old calendar.
The Adventures of Peter Rabbit
Bobby Coon’s Mistake
A Great Joke on Jimmy Skunk
The Neatness of Bobby Coon
A Merry Coasting Pary
Paddy’s Surprise Visitor
The Three Bears
Reddy Fox’s Sudden Engagement
Grandfather Frog Stays in the Smiling Pool
A Robber Meets His Match
Peter Rabbit Proves a Friend
Young Flash the Deer


Additional Link: Podcast of Old Mother West Wind by Lori K. Brooke. There are audio versions of some of the Burgess books available at Gutenberg.org and Librivox.org, but I wanted to share these because they are different, and not as easy to find. The woman reading them has a grandmotherly, sweet voice, and there is background music added which gaves them a relaxing, bedtime feel.


Please comment if you know of any other Burgess stories available online, and I will add them.

Tot School - Wonders of the Bathroom

(Bubby is 33 months old)

This is the most interesting thing Bubby has picked out on his own. He loves to have me open the lid to the toilet tank and tell him about how it works!
He has a book called What's Inside? Great Inventions which has an illustration of the inside of an old-fashioned toilet tank, and it explains how it works. I don't know how much he understands about it, but he certainly does like to see all the parts and compare them to the picture. You can see the book lying open in the photo above.

His older brother, now eight, loved the very same thing when he was two. In fact, that is how I potty trained him. His reward for "good work" was that I would lift the lid to the tank and tell him about everything inside before he flushed. I couldn't get little Bubby interested in the same thing while we were potty training, but now that we are almost to the end of that road, he is very interested.

Usually he will ask twice a day if he can look inside the tank. We go in the bathroom and I stay with him until he has seen enough. He asks for the names of the different parts (I don't know what everything in there is called, but I do my best) and we talk about what happens when you push the handle. Then at least once he needs to get down on the floor so he can see the water pipe coming from the floor and entering the tank.

I have never heard anyone else say that their kid was this interested in the workings of a toilet tank, although since both my boys have been so big on it, I am assuming there are other kids out there that like to see what is going on in that tank. One of the hidden mysteries of life!

Frugal Friday: Organizer boxes

When I was organizing my over-the-dryer cabinet a few months ago, I needed a little box in which to store some cleaning pads. I didn't have time to run to the store, and I wasn't sure they would have one as small as I needed anyway.

So I took an empty cardboard box and made one. I covered it with some decorative Con-tact® paper to make it look nicer and make it stronger. It turned out very nice, and I saved the money and time I would have had to spend finding the perfect box.

The other day, I decided that it would be better if the sides of the box were a bit taller. As I used and re-used the pads, they didn't want to stand up anymore, so I needed the box to support them so they wouldn't fall out and mess up my system! So I made a new one and took pictures this time. Here is what I did:


First, I cut one side off the box for my opening.

Then I taped the original opening closed. I'm just using a small piece of tape, because my box is getting very light duty.

I cut a piece of Con-tact® paper the size to wrap the box on two sides and the bottom, and overlap the edges a bit.

Then I peeled the backing away little by little, adhering it to the box. It's not perfect, but this isn't going to the State Fair. *grin* I also cut a second piece of paper to wrap around four sides of the box, this time missing the box bottom.

Here is the finished box, now holding my cleaning pads. (These are microfiber cleaning pads from FullerBrush, a gift from my mom.)

A couple of helpful hints: The sticky paper is not necessary, but it does help the boxes look nicer and keeps them sturdy. I could have instead used wrapping paper for looks, and reinforced the edges with packing tape. I have tried an off-brand of sticky paper that is supposed to act like Con-tact® paper, but it is more difficult to use, so I don't mind investing in a bit of the real thing. *smile*

The great thing about this project is that when I found that I needed a different box a few months later, I didn't have to go far to find a new one. It is really versatile, and if I re-organize later on, I just need to save a few boxes and I will have my own nearly free system ready!

Call Menus and Listening Skills

As a teaching mom, I get tired of explaining things to my kids and seeing their eyes glaze over. I know they are not with me. I will redirect them and say, "Are you listening?"

The answer is always something like, "Yeah. What'd you say?"

Or when I asked them to narrate back to me, a la Charotte Mason, I get a blank look, and if I hear anything, it is not related to what we just read. It is usually related to the picture on the front of the book.

It's aggravating, I know. But if you are in the same predicament, you might want to be a little easier on them. You might be doing the same thing yourself, but in an acceptable, adult manner.

Have you ever thought about this: How many times have you called a customer service line and had to listen to the computerized menu twice? Or thrice? I have to do that all the time. As soon as I press "one" for English, my focus slips down the drain like spaghetti. Somewhere between "three" and "four," I get hopelessly lost.

Now, what did they say? Was it "three" for account information? If I push "three", will I get a recording of my balance, or will they let me talk to someone? I really need to talk to someone. ..Oh, no! Now they are on "five"! What was "four"? Oh no, I think "four" was what I needed! Do I push "0" or "*" to make this thing repeat?

I wonder if you can still buy a rotary phone?

After thinking about this issue, I am resolved to be a little easier on my kids for their listening skills. I'm going let them push "*" to hear the menu again, and repeat with all the coolness of the computerized lady. I might even say, "Your call is valuable to me. Thank you for being a customer!"

And I really am going to look into getting a rotary phone.