by Jeffrey Paul Oakar

Imagine this scene: It’s a rainy day. Kids are in the living room watching TV and a father gets bored. He decides to go up to the attic to rummage thought some boxes and as he is going through them, he finds his old high school yearbook. He blows off the dust and opens it up to find his photograph. There he is…skinnier and more youthful, but he thinks to himself, “I still look like that!” When that fleeting rush of vanity fades, his mind wanders back to his youthful days in high school. What fun it was! There is Charlie Tanner, and Louis White…and there is Marsha Martinez, his old sweetheart. What memories. He hurriedly runs down the creaky wooden steps and announces to the family that he wants to show them what their daddy was like when he was their age. They gather round the kitchen table, laugh together, snicker at their father’s jokes and finally one of his daughters asks, “Dad, are we going to have a yearbook too?” See, the problem is, Dad’s kids are being homeschooled.

What would you say to your kids if they asked the same question? The answer now should be to call Elmer Harper at Harper’s Printing in San Bernadino, California or visit his website, and find out about the wonderful services he is making available to homeschoolers. Harper’s Printing has been in the business since 1982 and has been providing yearbook-printing services nationwide for the past four years. Currently, they are providing yearbooks to more than 5000 high school students nationwide. Besides providing high quality printing and binding, Harper’s will also do so at a very reasonable cost and at any quantity you deem fit. Obviously, homeschoolers do not attend high school, but there are hundreds if not thousands of homeschooling groups and associations where the children actively participate in one form of activity or another for many years. When the kids reach the age where they are ready to move on, they too have formed a similar bond together that high school seniors have with their classmates. Why not let them share that bond with each other with a homeschooling group yearbook? Ordering homeschooling yearbooks for your children’s group is cheap and easy, and can be done through their web page (www.harpersprinting.com) or by phone order (see contact information below). You can choose from a variety of covers and styles, and make it about as fancy as you want. Photos can be accepted in a number of formats, and can be done via the web page or sent on a disc via regular mail. Photos can be sent via the web page. There is no limitation on the quantity of yearbooks you can order, but the price does fall with higher numbers.

Now let’s look at another scenario: Your child is a gifted writer. You’ve seen it all along from the very beginning, and as good homeschooling parents you’ve nurtured it. As your child gets older, the stories get better, more sophisticated, they raise eyebrows and they get the neighbors and relatives to sing praises. They even make you cry or keep you on the edge of your seat, they are that good. He or she is easily the most gifted writer in the homeschooling writers group. The time comes where you want to get the stories published and distributed. The avenues of publication and distribution are beyond the scope of this article, but what about presentation? There is no doubt that your child’s work must be presented as elegantly as the stories are told.

Once again, Harper’s Printing has the answer. Today, Elmer Harper is helping more than 50 high school programs with his Student Authors Program where writers get their books bound and printed so that they can present their work to their writing class competitions or to actual publishers. He takes great pride in the fact that he knows that his business gives young writers a chance to feel great about the way their work is presented, and while he didn’t set out to develop something specifically for homeschoolers, the idea itself lands right into our ballpark. There is absolutely no reason for homeschooled writers or homeschooling writing groups not to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to present their work in an elegantly bound and printed book. Like the yearbooks, parents can have as many copies printed out as they see fit. Binding can be soft or hard cover and Harper’s will help with cover art for a fee. Besides the fact that the cover protects the written pages inside, the fact that your child writer will see their words printed in such an elegant setting will further their sense of accomplishment. The plain fact for young writers today is that many are doing their own publishing and distribution via the Internet but the costs can be enormous. Imagine being able to keep expenses down by not having any limits on quantity. Print as many as one book! As I mentioned above, you can consult the web page to see the different pricing and printing options available.

(Contact information: Harper’s Printing, 1956 North E Street, San Bernadino, CA 92405-3920, (909) 882-1234 or (877) 882-9912, www.harpersprinting.com, 4harpers@verizon.net) ■