What This Homeschool Mom Wants for Christmas

Kristen, over at Teaching Stars, is holding a really neat homeschool wishlist link-up called Dear Santa.  What is on your wishlist (related to homeschool!) this year?  Just write up a post about it and link it up to Dear Santa.  Then hop over and see what everyone else is wishing for!   Here's what I'm wishing for...

Ever since I got my hands on the Young Reader's curriculum from Heritage History, I've been debating in my head whether I want an e-reader or not.  I really don't love the idea of reading on-screen (though I know many of you do!) but it is definitely an easy solution.  I just can't convince myself that I want one badly enough to spend the money on it.

Then Kristen linked up a post to Trivium Tuesdays (a classical homeschooling link-up here at Living and Learning at Home!) about book-binding and I was hooked on the idea! 

Kristen has the book binder from Binding Books Beautifully.  It is a completely manual method that harkens back to the way books used to be bound.  I love it!  The only thing I do not like about this is having to make the covers (cover board with fabric).  If I'm missing something and there is another way to do a sturdy cover with this method, please let me know!

But then I started thinking..."Is this the best way to bind books for my purposes?"  I want to balance cost, efficiency, longevity, and the ease of doing this.  Also, it has to be a machine that I won't tire of using.  Heritage History has hundreds of books just ready to be printed and bound (or read on your e-readers for you fancy folks ;) so I'm envisioning a bookshelf full of bound books for my family to read for many years to come.

Zutter Bind-It-All

So I started browsing on amazon.com and found this nifty gadget that seems to be marketed at scrapbookers, but the end result is the same as fancier book binders I've seen, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for me!  It is called the Zutter Bind-It-All.  It punches holes into papers and then fits them with an "O-wire."  I like that it looks like the puncher can go through chip-board to make the covers. The negative here is that you have to keep buying the O-wires to actually bind the book.  At about 37 cents a piece (when you buy in bulk), it's more expensive than the string used for manual binding, but it's really not that bad.

Carl Brands Spiral Binder

Another Heritage History fan, Jodi from Granola Mom 4God, uses a Comb Binding Machine to bind her books.  Her post, Binding Books: Why and How, is fantastic so check if out if you have any interest in this process! 

I like the way that Spiral Binding looks, but the machines are pretty pricy.  Would a cheap one like this Carl Brands one do the trick?

So many options!  If you have any experience with book binding PLEASE help me out!  Are any of these options worthwhile?   Do you have any favorite methods or machines that I didn't mention?  Are any of these specific machines terrible?  And most importantly, who's buying me a book binding machine for Christmas???  I'm really not picky.  I'd be more than happy with any of these!  =)

Remember to stop by Teaching Stars to find out what great items other homeschool moms are wishing for this Christmas!