8 Reasons Why You Should Use Ebooks for Homeschooling
It feels a bit normal as a homeschooler to have shelves upon shelves of books. We even added additional bookshelves to hold all of our homeschool books until we finally ran out of space. It’s just a habit you fall into as a homeschooler to buy all the books and unfortunately, I have yet to find a Book Buyers Annonymous. So I’ve started utilizing ebooks for homeschooling.
I’m all for spending money on fun, engaging homeschool resources, and tools. On the flip side, homeschooling can be costly. The necessities can add up quickly. As a homeschool family, we know that cutting costs anywhere we can is important. This frees up funds to splurge on the fun stuff (you know, like slime-making materials, LEGO sets, and dog anatomy toys!) To cut costs we utilize homeschool ebooks anytime they are available.
Not only do ebooks save a ton of money, but they also help cut my prep time and help keep our homeschool area organized. They’re one of the best-kept secrets in my homeschool toolbox.
Here is some info on ebooks, 8 reasons you should use ebooks for homeschooling, and tips on how to use them successfully!
What Are Ebooks?
Ebooks are simply electronic versions of books. They can be workbooks, textbooks, reading books, or pretty much any other type of publication. They come in a few different types of file formats but mostly are PDF versions of a book.
Ebooks are available in most places that sell books and curriculum. If you check your favorite homeschool publishers, you’ll find that many offer some or all of their titles in e-book form. For example, homeschool publisher Evan-Moor offers many of their popular titles in e-book format.
You can read or access ebooks from many different devices. E-readers, like a Kindle, are specifically designed for reading digital works. Smartphones and tablets also have the capability to access electronic documents and books.
You’ll find that you can access the PDF or e-book files from your desktop or laptop computer in most cases as well. This makes it very easy to transition from physical books to ebooks for homeschooling.
Why You Should Use Ebooks for Homeschooling
Ebooks Are Convenient
Ebooks are great for homeschooling parents because e-readers, tablets, and phone apps allow you to load up all your ebooks with just a few clicks.
You don’t have to worry about carrying around heavy textbooks or lugging them in the car when you go on field trips or are traveling. Having an e-reader or device loaded with ebooks means that everything is right at your fingertips!
They’re also great for families who like to take their homeschooling to the outdoors – like to the garden or on camping trips.
Plus, e-readers make it easy to search through books – so if there’s a topic that you want more information about, it won’t take long to find what you’re looking for using a search function.
Ebooks Save Money
E-versions of textbooks and ebooks usually cost less than physical copies. This is a great way to save money in your homeschool budget.
Always check with publishers to see if they offer an ebook version of the book you are looking at purchasing.
If you don’t have a device or an e-reader, you will have to figure the cost of acquiring a device. But even with the added cost of purchasing a tablet or device to read the ebooks, you’ll find that it’s easy to still save money with ebooks.
Save on Shipping Costs
Downloading the ebook version also means you’re not paying those dreaded shipping costs. This can save you tons of money because shipping heavy books can be expensive.
Print More Than One Copy
Homeschooling multiple kids can get pricey. It’s also super annoying when I have to purchase multiple copies of the exact same text or workbook when we are working together.
Using ebooks is great for homeschooling multiple kids because I can simply print more than one copy if needed.
Save on Paper and Ink Costs
We find there are some sections, chapters, or parts of books that we skip completely. By using the e-book version, we can completely jump over those pages without printing them.
This will save you lots of money on paper and ink.
Ebooks Save Lots of Space & Waste
Ebooks are great because they save so much space.
If you’re like us, then your home is already filled with bookshelves and stacks of textbooks. Although I love seeing the shelves and shelves of books, at some point we have to make sacrifices and think about space constraints. With e-versions, we don’t have that problem!
Ebooks are also much more eco-friendly as they aren’t using hundreds of pieces of paper like regular books.
Even if you decide to print your digital copy, you can print multiple pages to a sheet of paper or choose which pages you want to print and skip the others.
We like to print only the pages that we will be working on and writing on. All other pages stay in digital form to save paper and ink.
The HP EcoTank Printers are a great series of inkjet printers that are extremely efficient and cost-friendly.
Staying Organized is Easier with Ebooks
This is especially helpful when you homeschool multiple children, as it can be difficult to constantly keep up with all the books they need for different subjects.
When each child has their books on their own devices, there’s no scrambling to get their books or fighting over who gets the “good bookshelf”.
I also love that I can easily drop content to their Kindles ahead of time so we are ready to roll during our lessons.
Text-to-Speech Software
Ebooks are also great because many e-readers have text-to-speech software. This is a feature that can be really helpful for homeschooling parents with kids who are learning English as a second language. This way they can read along and hear how words sound while practicing pronunciation too.
Young or struggling readers may also benefit from using ebooks and using the text-to-speech feature. Allowing the device to read to them while they follow along will help build confidence and fluency.
Ebook readers with text-to-speech capabilities include: Kindle readers (both old and new), Kobo readers, Barnes & Noble Nook readers, Sony eReader Touch Edition Readers, Apple iPad/iBooks app on
Ebooks Can Be Projected or Marked Up
Ebooks are great when you need to project them onto a big screen for the whole family. They can also be marked up and highlighted during lessons, which is possible with physical copies of the book also but causes that book to be harder to resell or reuse.
The Apple TV is a great companion for homeschooling in general but works wonders when used with ebooks. We can simply screen mirror our ebooks onto the big screen TV in our family room for reading aloud, discussing passages or introducing lessons.
Ebooks Provide Instant Access
Using ebooks has helped us save more time because we don’t have to wait for books to ship to us. Even ordering books on Amazon Prime isn’t as appealing when we can download them instantly.
Plus, we live about 45 minutes away from our nearest bookstore so this has cut down on trips to run out and grab a book that’s needed last minute.
Ebooks Can Be Used For Multiple Children
When homeschooling multiple children, ebooks can be extremely valuable. Ebooks give you the opportunity to print multiple copies as needed (be sure to check the publisher’s guidelines on printing multiple copies first!) This means one e-version textbook can be shared between two or more students, which saves time and space!
You can also save ebooks for use for the next school year without sacrificing valuable shelf or storage space.
If you are looking for a cost-effective and convenient way to homeschool your children, then ebooks may be the answer.
Evan-Moor offers many of its popular titles in digital format. We love using their titles like History Pockets, Reading Comprehension Fundamentals, and lots of others in ebook format to save space and money.
Tips for Using Ebooks for Homeschooling
It can be a bit confusing to start using a new format for your homeschool curriculum and materials. Ebooks are fairly simple to use and understand though.
How To Access Your Ebooks
Once you find the desired book in digital format, simply download the file to your computer, tablet, or device you’ll be reading with. Most retailers and websites include directions on how to download and access you books for your specific device.
If you’re using a Kindle format, you’ll download the book and you can assign it to the specific Kindle from your Amazon account. I’ve created a video showing how I download Kindle books from our library system and upload them to the girls’ Kindles which may be helpful to you.
Keep A Log of Ebooks Purchased
If you’re like me, then you sometimes forget all the amazing resources you’ve purchased or collected over the years. This becomes very apparent with ebooks as you aren’t seeing those physical books sitting on your shelf. I’ve created a simple document to help keep track of the titles we own as ebooks so I don’t accidentally buy the same book twice.
You can grab this free ebook log printable in our Subscriber Printable & Resource Library! Just subscribe below for access!
Homeschool Support Ebooks
I personally own a Kindle for reading and keep it loaded up with a handful of homeschool support books in ebook or Kindle format. Then when I’m sitting in the car waiting on the kids or watching practice, I can grab it from my bag and read.
There are dozens of great homeschool support and encouragement books for parents that I have shared and recommend.
