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I think you have gotten some really good feedback, but I just wanted to add mine in too. This is our first year with HOD, and I don't have any toddlers to tear up books (yet ). I have left mine in it's original format and binding. It's super durable! The other curriculum I used before HOD had the TM bound with the comb-binding. I much prefer the binding that HOD has used! Anyway, HTH! It's a very durable book!

edsnyder wrote:How do you keep track of all the books that go with each guide? How do you label them or mark them?

I have a colored dot that I taped to the spine of each book to go with a corresponding guide since I have 3 guides going right now. My Beyond has green frogs, Preparing had orange dots, CTC has pink, Rev2Rev has green and the DITHOR books have different stickers as well. That way if I find a stray book lying around I can get it to the right child/box.

For $5 Fed Ex/ Kinkos will thickly laminate both covers and coil bond them. I do this with all my guides. SO WORTH IT!!

I've only had problems with one guide so far, and that's my new Preparing guide. It's not coming apart per se, but the cover part on the spine has come away from the binded pages. It's more just annoying than a functional problem. I don't write in my guides unless it's a typo or something like that that I will need to remember. We are using Beyond for the 3rd time and LHFHG for the 2nd time and both look great. All the books that go with it look good too just because they are used for a short amount of time.

For keeping books together, I get rubbermaid tubs and label them with masking tape. All books from each guide go in there. It's working so far. I have the Emerging readers separate and DITHOR will be in its own box when we get out of a level. Things like that only need a shoebox size box.

I have used my guides with two kids so far and one more coming up behind. I mark off each box with a different mark for each kid, checks for the oldest, stars for the middle kiddo and the youngest will get hearts. My manuals don't look brand new but are in excellent shape however the 2yo is starting to scribble in them if I leave them out.

I unbound my guide and put all the pages in page protectors. I love it because they are protected, and I use a dry erase marker to check off what we have done and because my dd does somethings on her own I mark those for her. At the end of the unit I go back through and erase our marks. I plan on doing this with all our subsequent guides.

I've had mine in a 3 ring with page protectors and as is, I prefer it as is. It lays flat and is easy to use. All my books are color coded by guide. Extras are grouped by subject.

I've had 4 of our guides separated and put into 3 ring binders. I love it. I use page dividers to separate math extensions, poetry, etc. It makes it so much easier for us to remove a page or two when needed then put it back into the binder. Since I'll use the guides with all 3 kiddos, I don't plan to resell our guides so we write in them. My daughter or I check off each box as it's completed and I sometimes write notes along the side of the box when activities have been great or didn't work too well.

Since I like our books to be available to the kiddos to read any time, completed books are put on our bookshelf. Books we haven't read yet get placed in a closet until needed. I store the used guides along with the coordinating history spines in a rubbermaid tub.

HTH,
JoAnna

davisfam7 wrote:I unbind all my guides. I am not reselling any of them as I have more kiddos who will use them. I place my Guide in a large binder and put every page in a page protector. Each week I take out only the unit we are currently working on and place it in a smaller binder along with the dictation, extension or math schedule if needed. This was each child has everything they need for the week without having to carry the large binder with them. They also use dry erase markers to check off each box as they complete it so at a glance I know where they are. At rhe end of the week they clean all the dry erase marker off and I place it into the large binder and get the next weeks out and so on. As for labeling the books, I use a label maker and mark the books on the lower part of the spine. I code them: Bigger Hearts-BH, Creation to Christ-CtC, Resurrection to Reformation-RtR, Revival to Revolution-R2R, etc. Hope this helps!

Love love love this idea!

LAB wrote:I found round labels that are white with a colored band on the edge. I write what I want in the center so it shows on the spine. All the books have the same color that matches the manual. Then I laminate the books.

The label is nice to see from a distance that its a school book and then I can put them on the shelf so they are easy to find. We haven't lost a book this yr!

This is a fabulous idea too! I plan to be running 3 guides so this will really help!

mrsrandolph wrote:I take mine to Fed Ex/Kinkos and they Coil Bind it with the Covers thickly laminated for $5. It is great.

Also, any marks I make, I do in pencil.

My Best,
Shannon

I've thought about this too, is this the good binding or just the cheap stuff that can come unbound easily?

Well I unbound them and put the in sheet protectors and into three ring binders - I love this! except that it makes the book 3 inches big - lol but I pull out the current week in all guides and place in my working binder and I also did the same with DITHOR and I pull out the genre that we are reading and that seems to help me alot with this - I am still having a time figuring out that program we are not using it at its full capacity and I am hoping that this will change that.

I also did the same with the math textbooks that way we can do the work in them with dry erase markers and I can still use them with my others not doing this with the workbook they are writing in those so we can put them up and have them in their completed stuff.

On the reading books I am having a hard time putting a sticker on them or any type of label - for whatever weird reason I don't know lol - but I am working on it getting up the nerve to stick a sticker on it or some type of label that is.


Thank You all for your suggestions and recommendations!!!