I have used the Circa system for personal notebooks (including Marcia's Garden Tryst Sheets which are fabulous!) for a few years now and like it very much. What's Circa? It's a unique notebooking system by Levenger. I'm having trouble linking for some reason, sorry, you'll need to cut and paste:
http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/STATIC/Generic.asp?Params=category=326-888|level=2-3
Be sure to check out the video on the link provided.
This year I decided to use Circa for my TOG workbooks because many documents that I normally put in the spiral bound workbooks will not be ready in time.
There are really only two items that you must have, the Circa punch:
And the rings or discs. You need 11 rings per 8 1/2 by 11 workbook:
Circa uses regular paper. Print off your notebook documents as you normally would:
Using the punch, punch about 8 pages at a time. I get 24 lb paper from Costco:
Here's a close-up of the punched paper:
After you have finished punching all your pages, begin to put them on the rings. I have found since I am right-handed working from the back pages to the front works well. I add about a dozen pages at a time, one ring at a time.
When I have all my pages on the rings I add clear front and back cover. I use the Levenger covers which are very sturdy:
Finished Book:
Adding pages is very easy, simply punch your new pages:
Open the book to the appropriate spot, and add them in, one ring at a time:
These notebooks hold up very well. Pages do not rip out like they do in binders. I am using 1" rings with Ben, rhetoric and 1/2" rings with Zack & Ethan (D & LG.) 1" rings hold 160 sheets of paper, 1/2 inch rings hold 80 sheets. There are also 3/4" which hold, I think you may be able to guess, 120 sheets.
I just gave it a try Monique, looks like you can re-punch paper that's already 3 hole punched. The middle hole looks like it could give a little trouble, it's they only hole that lines up with a circa punch and there is only about 1/8 inch of paper between the two. Worse case scenario is it rips, but there are 10 other rings holding the page in so it should be no problem.
Thanks so much for your ideas! Earlier this summer I gave the workbooks a try, we loved them, but I went right ahead with the Circa system before you did. I never tried the spiral binding. It turned out my kids had a little trouble with the pages turning on the discs. Have you had any experience with this yet?
Right. I used some other brand, not sure if they were Rollabind, for the kids' notebooks because they came in a smaller size. (I maybe could have mentioned, too, that *I* punched a few of the pages a little 'funny' and that could have contributed a bit to the problem!)
This blog is a look into our homeschooling journey as we use Tapestry of Grace. You'll also find stories from various books I have collected that are now in the public domain and real life slipping in occasionally. Most posts from the public domain books have a pdf that you may download and print. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
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Aug. 3, 2008 - Levenger Link
~Audrey~
http://IAmAud.blogspot.com