Resources for homeschool families

Bookbinding for Homeschooling
By Dr. Bette Klein

1. Cut poster board to one-eighth inch larger than your paper
   on all sides for the cover.
2. Measure the thickness of your book pages (ex. .5 inch, .25 inch, etc.). Use masking (2 ") wide masking tape and tape the length of your book spine together leaving .25 inch more space than your book pages' thickness.
3. Tape spine on both sides folding tape in on the inside of the spine.
4. Face book cover inside down and tape along all outside edges at half the width of the wide tape, then cut corners at a 45° angle so that you can fold the tape inside the cover and mate the edges at a closed chevron (make an inside corner).
5. Take your book pages and square them up. Then place them into the book cover with the inside snugly against the spine. Use clothespins or spring clamps to hold pages and book cover snugly together.
6. Either use heavy duty staples and staple along spine at .5 inch spacing, or place book on a disposable surface (such as scrap wood) and drill holes .5 inch apart, .25 to .5 inches from spine edge with a drill bit large enough to accommodate your needle and binding cord.
7. After drilling the holes, start with needle and binding cord at one end of book spine and go through first hole. Tie a tight knot and pull knot towards hole, leaving about 3 inches of dangle. Thread cord in and out of each hole as a child would do a lacing card.
   
   At the end of the spine, loop cord over spine edge and go back through holes in the other direction so that each hole has been corded two times. When you get to the dangle cord, tie a tight knot and cut towards the hole edge.
8. With a ruler, print the name of the book on the cover and down the spine so that it can be read while on a bookshelf.
9. This method works wicked well. It is way cheap, and even workbooks last a loooooooong time using this method. Of course you can decorate the covers with contact paper (or other product) before taping and be creative.

Check Out