An E-treasury of Living Books!

Have you seen Yesterday's Classics e-book bundles? A LOT of books that Ambleside Online has recommended for decades and AOers have been enjoying for just as long, are included, conveniently and beautifully formatted into e-books!

For those of us who live overseas, this is a HUGE treasure trove of books we don't have to lug around, which really means only one glorious thing... we have MORE room for other books in our suitcases!

Not only will you have more room, you'll have more book money 'cause with these bundles you end up paying only 50 cents a book!

Yes, many if not most are available somewhere online for free, but NOT always in an easily navigable or beautifully illustrated format. I do like free, but I also like convenience sometimes.
Just think, by searching garage sales for 15 years, you might find these kind of prices.

Only wait, your kids will be in college. ;)

You might want to check it out before then.

Honestly, I may already own the majority of these in book form. And maybe I did lug every one of them overseas (hardcover, too! eek! the weight!!) since we've been using AmblesideOnline long before Yesterday's Classics bundles existed. But, even if you don't travel much, if you have multiple children like I do, and you can afford it, I think the convenience of having the book in electronic format is worth it. If for no other reason, it is SO nice for each kid to have their own copy on their kindle!

Find them here:
Bundle #1: 225 titles for $49.95   [On sale!]*
Bundle #2: 106 titles for $49.95   [NEW- Introductory price!]


*Special holiday pricing ends January 4th.

MEP Y9 Maths without a printer? {well, almost}

While it is possible to teach MEP maths without a printer, I must admit that, doing it completely without a printer is ever so slightly challenging. Technically however, it can be done. I'm going to show how we prefer to do it, with only a minimum of printing, and how we could almost do without.

What we do:
Though at first it seemed to me that I was skimping on MEP by only printing out SOME of the materials; I got over it. Quick. And now that I've adjusted, I have seen that MEP is none the worse for almost entirely electronic implementation. AND I'm SUPER glad that I've saved myself (and the environment!) over the years from using SO much ink & paper! For every MEP year, I print* the Student Practice Books. I look at my kindle* or computer screen for the Teacher's Lesson Plans & other files. {If I had been certain that I was going to use MEP with ALL my kids EVERY year, maybe I would have gone and printed them all...? Probably not. I AM skimpy with my printer ink and paper and I don't like having TONS of printed off materials to try and keep track of with lots of kids doing lots of years. AND it would have been REALLY expensive if I'd taken ALL those files to the printer.} 


:: 
If you do NOT have a printer, the practice book is really the ONLY thing you MUST print if you also own a kindle/iPad or computer. This could be sent to the print shoppe.
Obviously, if you LOVE paper and have unlimited ink and such, or hate electronics in general... you could print it ALL. 
In which case, you should STOP reading this post.
::

What you need for MEP - Year 9:
Note: The upper years of MEP, beginning in y7, are a little different than the lower years in that, the curriculum is arranged topically (seems a little more mastery-ish than the previous spiral-ish approach). It may seem like it is more printing, but if it is more, I think it's only slightly more.
Also, there are three tracks in the upper years, Standard, Academic and Express. Each track increases in the amount/difficulty of the student's work, which also translates to the amount of problems and pages finished per lesson/booklet.

Student(s):
1 Practice Book per student (PRINT!* technically, students could do this off of a kindle screen, writing out all of their work and answers in their exercise books, though imo, this would be rather difficult, and unnecessarily exasperating...) For us in y9, this turns out to be, one little mini-booklet over a week or two*, for a grand total of 18 books per year. When printing booklet style, each practice book is only about 6-8 double sided sheets of paper.
1 Exercise Book per student (purchase whichever size notebook, preferably with graph paper)

Teacher:
Teacher Lesson Plan/LP** (Kindle/iPad or Computer or PRINT!* - I print this & write planning notes, I ONLY print the Academic pages, as that's the track we're using)
Overhead Sheets/OS** (Kindle/iPad or Computer, IF you use these)
Activity Sheets/Answers/ACT1,2** (Kindle/iPad or Computer, IF you use these)
Practice Book Answers/PBA** (Kindle/iPad or Computer)
Mental Practice/MT** (Kindle/iPad or Computer)
Revision Test/REV** (you could have students copy down the questions, OR do them orally OR PRINT! - if you use them as traditional tests)
Extra Exercises/EX** (I don't use these, but you could do the same as above)
Teacher's Notes/TN** (I look this over at the beginning of a new math section, there'd be no reason to print, imo)
For the younger years: 
Copy Masters/CM** (Kindle/iPad or Computer or PRINT if you don't have a dry erase board, these work really well for working out the problems with the students.)

(**denotes the abbreviations used in actual .pdf file names downloaded from MEP website)

Here's how I do MEP maths EVER-SO-EASILY-Electronically!!
On our computer, I keep a file on the desktop called >> MEP. There I have >> Y2 – LP & CM files, >> Y3 LP & CM files and >> a folder for Y9 materials, which contains >> LP, OS, ACT, PBA**, etc. .pdf files for the Y9 book we're in. 
Note: That will make a LOT more sense to those of you who have already looked over the MEP materials or have previously worked through one of the upper years of MEP.

At math time, I open up the MEP folder on my computer, and open ALL the files in it. LPs & CMs for y2 & y3, and ALL those files in the y9 folder (listed above). If everyone does math, there are about 12 .pdfs open on my computer at the beginning of math time. I follow the lesson plan for the given child's year, and as I finish using each .pdf resource listed in the lesson, I close it. When everything is closed, we're done! :)




Previously, I kept a dry erase board handy or a notepad to work out the example problems. But we discovered something recently that we're having a LOT of fun with... We write right onto the screen of my laptop when using the overhead sheets and the activities!! :) We use fine tipped wet-erase markers that wipe right off with a wet tissue when we're finished! Saves even more paper! And it's fun. ;) The kindle fire screen is also glass, so the same could be done there! 

:: PLEASE NOTE:: 

Computer/kindle screens made with permeable materials will STAIN!! 

Please check your device BEFORE writing on it!!

* MEP maths is a complete curriculum available online for free. It has been implemented in schools in Europe and many homeschoolers have successfully adapted it for use with their students.
* When printing materials, I find it WAY more economical - and only slightly if ever annoying to the student when doing measuring exercises - to print them booklet style as opposed to the full sheet size (which prints 2 pages per sheet of printer paper, in order to fold the pages that can be then opened/read as a booklet, not to be confused with multiple pages option which just prints 2 consecutive pages side by side, per sheet of paper).
* Transfer the .pdf files to your kindle via USB.  ** See above for the key to abbreviations of specific files.

Helpful Links:
MEP - Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching website
Queen of getting started with MEP for homeschool, imo: Jeanne @ A Peaceful Day!
MEP thread on the AmblesideOnline forum (must be a member to read & post)

this kindle will kindle no longer.

it's a sad day at our place today...



the kids' kindle got crunched.

so SO sad.

ps. isn't that word starting to look weird... kindle, kindle, kindle.
sounds weird too when you repeat it over and over that many times

Ah. ah. ahhh... PLUTARCH!! ...bless you! *UPDATE!*

YAY!

Plutarch is now available for FREE on kindle!

I just love my kindle.

Here it is in three volumes:

Volume One

Volume Two (not free - $1)

Volume Three

You may or may not want to read the previous Plutarch post in search of seemingly elusive cheap audio... it was rather confusing and hair-brained :)  so maybe you'd better not go... ;)

*Image courtesy of GoFish

FEELING kinda kindle-y like

Yes. I changed sides. I didn't think I ever would. I thought I would never convert. But I've been won. I would be crazy not to... I am now of the opinion:

Kindle = awesomeness.

Kindle for homeschoolers = awesomeness quadrupled.

$3,500 books weighing less than 1 pound?!  How can it be?! (and that's if each book is only a $1!)
(Do you know how much it costs to send ONE book to Peru?!
Almost as much as it would cost to China!! TOO much.)





Do you know how I spent the majority of my first year homeschooling with Ambleside ONLINE?  Uh, yeah.  With a laptop perched on one knee, a nursing baby on the other, kids squeezed up one every side, a toddling child in and out of the room... reading from the computer screen.  Yes, now that you mention it, I do wish this invention had come a little sooner.

Now.  I am not giving up my real, hold them in your hands, crinkle beneath your fingers, hear the page turn, with a delicious mixed aroma of ink on paper, printed words...   I've just gone and done the sensible thing.  I bought a Kindle.

Now, I can have all the books in one place.  I can carry them all with me in the car, up a creek, when we go a traveling, to bed, out on date night, without breaking my bag straps anymore...
oh, I think I'm in love.

For many books, I have a choice of whether I'd like to buy the fondle (paper between my fingers) version, or buy the kindle version (send it through cyber space for instant perusal).  Or I can take advantage of 1,000,000's of free books online!

Using Ambleside Online, of COURSE the FIRST thing you'll be sure to download is the six-volume Home Education Series by Charlotte Mason!!  Obviously.  And I couldn't find it anywhere in Kindle format (though I didn't look terribly hard...) So, I've created them and put them right here!  I'm also sending the files to the AO site so they can put the links up there too...


Download CM's six volume series in Kindle format here:


Vol. One - Home Education
Vol. Two - Parents and Children
Vol. Three - School Education
Vol. Four - Ourselves
Vol. Five - Formation of Character
Vol. Six - Towards a Philosophy of Education
download instructions:

{Right click on the link above and select "Save file as..." to download the files in a .zip file to your computer (save to your desktop).  You'll have to unzip the files to your desktop (click on the little icon, and then you should be able to just drag and drop the individual files to your desktop), then drag them to the "My Kindle Content" folder on your computer, or straight to the "Documents" folder on your Kindle device. 
(Click here if you need free software for 'unzipping')}

How to find 1,000's of more free books:

• A compilation of AO y1-8 books in Kindle format at Blossom's weebly site.  She's adding more too!
• Archive.org - Search for free books here in LOTS of formats
• Amazon.com - Get TONS of free books for your kindle here
• Using the Kindle for Homeschool squidoo lens

Are you feeling a little kindle-y too?  Check out the links below...

*(Pssst!  If you decide to buy one, use one of the links below!  that way we both win!)

Read Jimmie's Kindle experience here!  Of course you already knew she would go and make a VERY helpful Kindle squidoo lens... of course!  Go and check it out!!

Notice that the screen isn't lit... it looks like a piece of paper.  This is supposed to be easier on the eyes. I don't have much of an opinion on that. I use a flashlight to read my books in bed anyway, so no built in light doesn't bother me at all. I do really like the search feature (search for any word within any book on the entire thing!), and the built in dictionary... mmm.hhmmm. yes. I am a happy girl :)