When e-readers first came out, I thought people were crazy for purchasing them. My mom was talking about how she really wanted one and we were having a really good year so I did buy one for her as a Christmas gift after doing some research to verify that she wasn't going to run herself into debt purchasing new books for it.
Fast forward a year, and I was looking at home school curriculum for my kids and all the books that we were not only going to have to purchase but also fit in our already cluttered house. I do start my kids reading in regular books until they comfortably reading chapter books I am not a huge fan of tablets but e-readers, using e-ink technology have some great benefits.
1. They reduce clutter. As we are looking at ways to fit a 6th family member into our current house, I really appreciate that there is no reason to add books to our house.
2. There are lots of great sites that offer free books. They aren't perfect but they are very readable. My favorite site is Project Gutenberg . It is hard to navigate the site and find exactly what you want without
knowing a title. For elementary aged kids, I recommend looking up
various home school reading lists by grade level (even if you don't home school) to get an idea of what might be age appropriate for your kids. For yourself, you will want to look up classics you have missed out on reading. I read the entire Ann of Green Gables series for just the cost of the e-reader. Don't forget to keep looking for promotional freebies from the store in which you purchased your e-reader.
3. It can make homeschooling cheap by providing quality books for free. As I've mentioned, we use the Robinson Curriculum and we don't have to print or store any of these books due to having an e-reader. Another reputable site for free online curriculum is Ambleside Online .
4. You can check out books from the library without leaving home. Many libraries give free access to an online e-book library with your library card. If your library doesn't, it may be worth it to check out other libraries. I've seen other libraries charge between $5 and $20 for nonresidents.
5. If you are suffering from insomnia, you can get an instant book. You can either purchase a book, download a book from a free web site, or check one out from the online library even at 2am.ader
Do you use an e-reader? What's your favorite benefit to an e-reader? Post below to share some tips.
Posts
Weekend links
-
100 People: A World Portrait Why I can’t #FitchTheHomeless :: Life
Rearranged I’m still here: Back online after a year without the Internet ::
The Verge 12...
11 hours ago
You know far more about eReaders than I do. I just got my first one, a Kindle Paperwhite, for Chirstmas. The only tip I've discovered is that on Amazon you can do a search and then click sort: price, low to high so that the free eBooks come up first.
ReplyDeleteThank you SO MUCH for reminding me about Project Gutenberg. I can't wait to check out their stuff as well as Ambleside Online! I'm disappointed I didn't think of P.G. before I bought my Anne of Green Gables set. Granted, it was only $1.99 for 11 books (there were some bonus books) but still, free is always better. :-D I'm a bit nervous about whether I will be able to utilize P.G., though. Each time I've tried using the "experimental browser" it has locked up my Kindle and I've had to power it down and restart it.
Michelle, a lot of times when I've used project Gutenberg both on our Kindle and Nook, I've side loaded which means that I've connected it to my computer with the USB cable. I then slide the files from my computer into the appropriate folder on the E-reader.
DeleteThanks Laura,
ReplyDeleteI got it figured out and have already started enjoying Project Gutenberg. :-)