DIY Homeschooler

One way to keep your child writing is to provide him with interesting media to write in.  This is where booklet making comes in.  The easiest way to make a booklet is to simply take several 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets of paper, fold them in half, and bind with a long-arm stapler. But if you are looking for something more original and inspiring, try this interactive stapleless booklet maker from ReadWriteThink.

Begin by creating a title page, listing title and author.  Then for each of the six pages of the booklet, choose one of the seven page templates.  The templates allow room for bullet points, headlines, and photo placeholders.  Type in the information you want to convey on each page.  If using a photo placeholder, you can also illustrate the information after printing.

After completing your booklet press “finished.”  Then you can print the document — six pages plus title page and back page with credits. Folding directions are available and the printed booklet has a dotted line marking the one place you snip.

The folding can be a bit tricky, but worth the trouble!  We found it best to first create a prototype with “Page 1,” “Page 2,” etc. typed on each page.  After printing the prototype, we were able to follow the folding directions just fine.

When you are writing every day, it is nice to have a change of pace.  Create a stapleless booklet!

Suggestions for use:

• A 6-step process or how-to.
• Short story.
• Character study with six different attributes (see this bio form).
• An adjective booklet.
• Six different types of knots and how to tie them.
• Copywork.
• The five oceans with an extra page for ocean facts.
• Six works of art by Millet (or any other artist).
• Six favorite inventors.
• Six favorite composers.
• Six favorite…anything!

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Additional Resources

Make a Mini Book
Non-interactive version, but same idea.