DIY Yearbook!

We had an amazing year this year and I wanted my little Rosalinda to have something to remind her of all the wonderful things we did and people we spent time with this year.

This project had a lot of headaches, but I'm hoping it is because I was newbie and not because it is the nature of the product.

When I decided to do a showcase, I figured it would help to have a theme to help inspire the invite and yearbook.  I played with the idea of peacocks, owls, monsters, stars, dots, and a lot more.  I found an invite using monster graphics on walgreens.com or walmart.com, which was my original plan.  I wanted to be able to order nice quality, but economical invites that I could hand and mail out.  Yeah, didn't happen.  I couldn't change the "birthday" wording and couldn't find any other pre-made invites that would work.

So I ended up making my own and ordering them as photos from Walgreens.com.  It took two orders due to their network resizing it and cutting off part of the invite, but we finally got it done.

I made this invite in Microsoft Publisher, saved it as a jpg, and loaded it into my walgreens.com account.

Sticking with this theme I went to work on her yearbook, about six weeks before the showcase.  I made it all in publisher.  Originally I looked at picture books, like Walgreens and Shutterfly, but for the number of pages that I wanted, I couldn't find anything in my budget.  

I finally printed it out on my Epson printer (which did take A LOT of ink because I wanted it to be high quality) front and back on cardstock.  I decided to take it to our local education store to be laminated and bound, but that was a fiasco.  Their laminater completely ruined my pages and the laminate didn't stick to the page, creating huge bubbles.  The bubbles made the images and words almost impossible to make out.  It wasn't good. :(  However, the owner of the educational supply store is amazing!  She had me send her the files and she printed them herself, so that I didn't have to pay another $20 in ink, took it to an office supply store and had it laminated in really think laminate and bound.  I didn't pay a cent!  She took great care of us!

Here are my pages, so you can see how I organized it all.

Cover

Table of Contents

All the places we did school this year: library, in a tent, on the porch swing, in a hospital waiting room,
and other fun places!

My family was listed as the faculty...I could've added other people as well that had contributed, but I thought it would mean more to my daughter if it was her family only.

I've decided that even though we home educate, I'm still going to try and do a September school photo.  I know you could get packages as low as $6 at Walmart's Studio...so even if I had to go somewhere else and had to track down some coupons, I think I could budget for a single pose on a traditional blue background.  The picture I used for Fourth Grade is Rosalinda's first day of school photo.  One of our traditions is to buy a new pair of pjs for the first day of school, rather than an outfit. :)

Had to get some favorites so she can see how cool/dorky she was when she was 10, lol.  :)

These were some of Rosalinda's best buds.  One of them doesn't live in the same state, but I had the others sign their pages.

Our sweet pup Jules, kitty Twinkles, and a special project of mine.
Last December I did our own version of Elf on the Shelf with a polar bear named Snowflake.
Rosalinda got a package in the mail with Snowflake and a request from the Inuit Teacher's Association.  They had been overrun with cubs and didn't have enough teachers to instruct them all.  So Rosalinda was asked to teach mischievous Snowflake about the true meaning of Christmas.  We had a lot of fun with it. ;)


















We do a lot at our public library!  We have three branches that take turns hosting, tween, teen, and family events.


This is the awesome educational supply store that ultimately helped me get the yearbook made!


These pages were set aside for people to sign.  This same "paper" was on the back of the cover and the very back of the book to provide extra space for signing.  I asked for people to sign anywhere they wanted EXCEPT for the front cover.

Total Cost: $28

I did have to buy extra ink because I wanted a colorful yearbook, used cardstock I had on hand (printing front and back) and I didn't have to pay for the lamination and binding.  

My original idea would have cost me less than $7 to laminate and bind.

What I Would Or Would Not Do Next Time

• Do a border and not a full color background on each page
• More signature pages (some people had trouble finding enough space to say all that they wanted to say)
• Possibly look at formatting it to fit a photo book and keep my eyes open for coupons...that way it gets a hard cover and everything prints directly on glossy paper and I don't have to worry about laminating
• Because of the order of events leading to the final publishing of this book, the signature pages were laminated before being signed.  From my research everything I found said that sharpies is the best to use, but I'm finding that they still will rub off weeks after, so I'm trying to figure out what to do to preserve the wishes for years to come.
• If I laminate, I may leave those pages unlaminated and add them later.  That way I can still have it bound and available to view at the showcase.  
• Or leave it all unlaminated...undecided at this point.  
• This is what makes the photo books seem like a good idea.

Overall, I was pleased with it and am planning on doing one each year moving forward! :)

Can a Single-Parent Homeschool? Part 2 (Finances)

Before I started homeschooling, there were soooo many obstacles that made it seem impossible.  

• How will I pay our bills?
• Will I do a good enough job to prepare her for life?
• Am I even qualified?
• Can we handle being around each other that much?
• What are the rules/laws?

I want to address the number one concern: Finances.

I live in a 2 bedroom house with just my child and I.  I do not have a significant other that takes any financial responsibility for me or my child.  I do receive lawful support from my child's biological father that is ordered through the Office of the Attorney General.  This is our only "consistent" income.  I am not on any government programs for food, housing, etc, although I do not see why you couldn't use these programs if need be.

As a believer in Christ, our homeschool venture has been mightily blessed by God.  I have money coming in all the time, unsolicited.  I tutor for no charge, but am often gifted money or items that make life a little easier.  I have had people that I don't know very well walk up and put $40-$100 in my hand for no reason and with no expectation of a return favor.  I also will pick up odd jobs that I can take my child with me.  We once spent a few days placing flyers on doors for a landscaping/Christmas light company.  She was able to go with me and we talked and walked the whole day.  Not only did we get to enjoy one another, but she also was being taught work ethic.  I made sure to give her some of our earnings for her to spend how she saw fit as payment for her hard work.  If your child is old enough to be left alone, or you have someone that can watch them, you could always find work through a temp agency a few days a week as well.

I do also have family support.  I grew up in a very dysfunctional home with all kinds of craziness.  But God has done so much with us!  My parents are divorced and my mom remarried when I was ten.  Both sets of parents have supported my decision to homeschool.  At first, their support was more in silence and not offering criticism.  But it has grown into so much more.  My mom may even be getting involved and giving my child cooking classes.  I could do it, but according to my daughter it is soooo much more fun with Mimi. :)  

They have began even financially contributing to homeschooling.  For Christmas, I just asked for supplies.  We were getting low and it would save me from having to budget for them out of our grocery money. I was overwhelmed by all that they gave.  We were blessed with a wireless printer, laminator, art supplies, construction paper, pens, pencils, dry erase markers, and so much more!  As I'm getting ready for my daughter's fifth grade I am hoping to make enough from our garage sale this weekend to pay for our trip and put some towards her curriculum.  My mom is going with me on our trip and is helping contribute to the garage sale.  She has already said that all left overs, including her money is for curriculum!  How amazing is that?!?! They also have hijacked my grocery list more than once and surprised me with a kitchen full of groceries.

For the record Miss Rosalinda has the best Mimi and Pawpaw and Grandpa ever!  

And I have the best parents ever!

Remember that where there is a will, there is a way!  Plus, with internet and a printer, you can do homeschool virtually free with all of the great stuff that other homeschool parents have posted and made available!

If you're thinking about homeschooling, my first piece of advice would be to pray!  Tell God what your desires are and ask him to permission it!  He knows the desires of your heart and loves to express His love!

Also, start seeking out Facebook or Google groups for single-homeschooling parents.  They have found creative ways that don't involve sifting through "work-at-home" programs trying to find the one that isn't a scam.

So to answer the big question...Can Single-Parents Homeschool?  Can they find ways to homeschool and support their families?

YES!

Tomorrow I'll talk about where to start, once you've decided that homeschool is best for your family!

Try Number 3?!?!

I don't have any idea how many times I've attempted blogging, but here goes, I think #3 for this particular blog.  Now, in the blogs defense, I haven't advertised to any of the blogs that I follow and solicited anyone to follow.  So no surprise that I'm the single reader. *insert awkward laugh*

So where are we with the amazing Rosalinda today?  We're wrapping up our fourth grade year of homeschooling.  Year 2 of homeschooling for our family.  She's currently reading her final book study for English, we have our last math lesson tomorrow, before her final test and investigation, and we're trying to cram the remainder of science, history, virtue, and art in the newly released time slots.

This month is half over and I still have a ton to do!  We are having a garage sale this weekend to raise funds to go to her dad's wedding.  He lives six hours away and want Miss Rosalinda at the rehearsal dinner and wedding, which creates a need for two nights in a hotel.  I'm also creating a yearbook for her year of school to present at her showcase June 8th.  I'm really excited about the showcase because I always feel bad that she doesn't get to bring her work home and get additional accolades outside of her "classroom" environment.  Now, she'll be able to show our support community of friends and family all the hard work she's done.  We may even have some family make the 1,600 mile trip from Wisconsin!  *fingers crossed*

Hope everyone's May is progressing nicely!