School yearbooks are wonderful sources of memories for what happened with an entire class over the school year but they rarely give a good record or an individual child. This year, create a school memory book for your child, or your own homeschool yearbook if you homeschool. There are so many options for personalizing your school memory book with family trips and milestones along with school related activities. Some books will be long and others short, but they will all be filled with memories.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 2 Hours (time will vary)
Here's How:
- Gather Your Photos: Gather all the photos you have of events over the last school year. Select several photos from each event. An easy way to do this is to start a new folder on your computer for the memory book and copy all the photos you want to use in this folder.
- Organize Your Photos: Put the photo sets in chronological order so that your yearbook/memory book will have a logical progression.
- Decide on What Type of Book: Now that you have an idea of how many photos you will be using, decide on what type of book to make. There are many options for photo books. Standard 8 1/2" x 11" books, mini 5" x 5" books, even magazines can be easily made. If you print the book yourself you'll most likely want to stay with a standard 8 1/2" x 11" that can be easily bound later.
- Pick a Book Maker: If you will not be printing the book yourself, you need to choose a book printer now. Some book printers use their own software for arranging the books and have many templates available. Others let you use digital scrapbooking techniques to completely customize your own design. MagCloud, DotPhoto's Eurobook, FamilyMemories.com, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Blurb, and SmileBooks.com are just a few of the printers out there for you to choose from. I highly recommend comparing multiple book makers before making a final decision to find the one that fits your needs and price range best.
- Design Your Book: Using the software provided by the book maker or your own software, design your book. This does not have to be fancy and don't be afraid to change a design once if you don't like it. Use 2 or 3 photos per page with a few one page photos scattered through the book on important events or photos you really love. Add some text telling what event the photo sets are from. Think of your yearbook/memory book as a scrapbook and match it to your child's personality.
- Finalize Your Book and Place Order/Print: Finalize your yearbook by reviewing the finished draft for spelling errors or misaligned photos. Then order the book, or print it if you are printing it at home. Enjoy the memories!
Tips:
- Resize your photos as you add them into the book. This will let you save file size of the book and also optimize the photos for their use. Remember that print quality photos need to be at least 300dpi.
What You Need
- Camera
- Photo Editing Program
- Color Printer or Internet Connection
