tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6888282.post8385004184468588971..comments2024-03-07T00:03:12.584-07:00Comments on John's Corner of the World: iPad as the Kindle (and print books)-killerJohn Holzmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14849211055450293089noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6888282.post-69682996793700196902010-05-07T09:04:55.517-06:002010-05-07T09:04:55.517-06:00John,
This is a very interesting topic and I alwa...John,<br /><br />This is a very interesting topic and I always appreciate the balance you bring when discussing various topics. It's nice to see thoughts from "the other side". <br /><br />We own an e-reader called BeBook. I chose it because of it's many different supported file formats. We recently purchased an iPad as well. About 80% of our reason to buy the iPad was for the ebook reader and access to the iBookstore. <br /><br />Let me back up a bit and give you the reason that a device that allows us to read e-books on was attractive to our family:<br /><br />1) Gutenberg Press contains a plethora of classics that we want our children to read. (Aside from Sonlight, we have found it a challenge to keep our voracious readers in wholesome books)<br />2) I don't have to come up with the shelf space to store all of these wonderful books.<br />3) We can take a huge amount of literature wherever we want.<br />4) The opportunity to have many of these classics for FREE really helps our budget while still affording us the opportunity to have access to great literature. (Even our library doesn't have many of the books we would like our children to read)<br />5) My children LOVE reading on the electronic readers.<br />6) When I read in bed at night my husband doesn't have to deal with a book-light or the noise of turning pages. (My BeBook is not backlit so the iPad has enabled me to lose the book-light. iPad also has a dimming feature which really helps with reducing eye strain and ambient light.<br /><br />My children are not allowed to do anything BUT read on the iPad. When we go on our family vacation this summer we will likely allow them to watch movies on it however. <br /><br />I have no idea what the cost would be to make Sonlight books available in electronic format but I would be interested in trying it out. I wonder if I had BOTH the print and electronic formats which one I would prefer at the end of the year? I sincerely don't know! <br /><br />One of the positives I can see for an electronic version right off the bat would be the ability to just sit down and have access to all the books in both Cores we are using. The IG in electronic format would be really neat! Especially if there was an option to check the boxes and make notes! <br /><br />Another is that the two children currently in the same core can both be reading their readers at the same time. <br /><br />Also, it would be VERY easy to find books we love from previous cores as well! We love to re-read books from previous Cores, but I simply don't have room to have them all available!<br /><br />In summary, I love print books and I love so many things about e-books. I have only been reading e-books for 6 months so I sincerely don't know which is my preference. Right now though, I'm leaning toward e-books because of the reasons listed above. I don't know if you could affordably pull off an e-version of your curriculum to test it out... maybe convert one Core level for research purposes... <br /><br />While it would be a very different experience from how we do Sonlight now, I would be very interested in trying it out for an entire school year to see what I really think of the whole e-book revolution. <br /><br />Take care. Thank you fro all you do. We love school and we love Sonlight.<br /><br />Our prayers are with you in the passing of your little Gracie. I can't even type it without tears so I can't really imagine what YOUR family is enduring in these days and the ones ahead. I pray that Gracie's life will bring you all closer to our Lord. <br /><br />Love in Christ,<br />JanelleJanelle Chillenoreply@blogger.com