Fifty States: Illinois (Printed Books)

Why some love digital:

Most of our units are available in both digital and print format. Some larger families prefer digital because they plan on recycling the units and using them over and over again or passing them down to younger siblings.

Digital:

Single Student Bundle: These bundles include one student notebook level of your choice and the Teacher's Guide. If you only have one student, select the digital format and then the level that best suits your student.

All (full family bundle): If you have more than one student, the full family bundle is your cheaper option. This bundle includes all levels of student notebooks as well as the Teacher's Guide . . . everything you need to get started.

*Digital is licensed for individual use only and cannot be shared outside your immediate family. Lessons can be taught only to students whom you are the legal parent or guardian of. If you want to do this unit with a group, it's easy! For small groups (such as friends or family), all we require is that each family own their own materials. For larger groups or groups that have money exchanged (such as co-ops, hybrids, or schools), we require printed materials—but we do offer a discount!

How your files are delivered: Your files will be available immediately after your purchase in your account right here on the website. They are in PDF format and locked to restrict editing in order to protect the integrity of the content. We recommend downloading and storing your files on your computer or a cloud storage service such as Google Drive or Dropbox for long-term access. You can use these digital files over and over again for your students, allowing you to redo units down the road in an older level!

Why some love print:

Most of our units are available in both digital and print format. Many of our families try print and never turn back for a few reasons:

1. Print is usually cheaper than buying digital and printing through a printing service. Even if you print at home using the cheapest ink, it is often cheaper once you consider paper, ink, and binders. None of this accounts for the time of setting it all up for all your kids on a monthly basis, and time is money, right?
   
2. Our print is also high quality and beautiful. We print on 32 pound paper. Our larger books (such as Teacher's Guides and full units) are coil bound with plastic (not wire) on the left and our smaller books are often printed as stapled booklets. We have an industrial printing press named Ivan that prints using ink—spraying over 1,000 dots per inch for vibrant color that is true to what you see on your screen!
   

What you need:

If you choose print, you will need to purchase a Teacher's Guide as well as one student notebook for each child.

In a nutshell

Gather 'Round is designed to be minimalistic, open-and-go, beautiful, and contextual so that learning is purposeful. It is Charlotte Mason inspired which means we focus on "less is more" and providing a feast of education.

How does this cover all subjects?

Our full units cover all your subjects but math. They are 20 lessons long and the Student Notebooks have 5 pages per day. We use contextual learning in Gather 'Round. This means that learning actually sticks! It might look like reading about a birds migration patters in the Teacher's Guide and then turning to an art lesson in the Student Notebook, a geography page, or even a Social Studies page about the difference between migration and immigration.

Mini units are less intensive. They usually only have 2 or 3 pages in the Student Notebooks and are more focused on that particular topic. Many families mix up full units and mini units to break up the year, reach certain topical focuses, or even add mini units on top of their regular units!

Math is covered through our Modular Math program, which goes from K-grade 9.

How long does it take?

Each lesson will take 30-60 minutes to read from the Teacher's Guide and then 1-2 hours to complete in student notebooks. Some families use the free video resources we have for our units to extend the lessons, while others move through it quicker so that they can add in their math or other electives. The time it takes can depend on the age of your students, the unit you are doing, and how many conversations you have or "rabbit trails" you take.