| Question: |
I was wondering if the alphabet flashcards that come with the Little Stories for Little Folks are available separately. As many of your customers come from large families, it would be helpful if such an item were available for purchase. Since the beginning of the program asks children to color in a few flashcards each day, while learning the letter sounds, the cards are "consumed" by the first child using it. My son, for example, will have cards passed on to him that are now scribbled, wrinkled, and generally mutilated through much use! *grin* The program is so amazingly effective and wonderful in all aspects but this one. Please consider selling "booster packs" of the alphabet flashcards to "renew" a family's program. Thank you. |
| Answer: |
AMDG+
Dear Parent;
I am so glad to hear of your success with Little Stories for Little Folks: Catholic Phonics Readers.
You ask a great question.
CHC is a small business, run by a homeschooling family, marketing to a pretty exclusive bunch: Catholic homeschoolers! In the grand scheme of schooling, your family and ours are part of a tiny--but blessed!--minority.
Because CHC publishes on a small scale, the printing cost per unit is stunningly high compared to materials printed for large publishers that market to public schools around the country.
But by including Alphabet Flashcards, Pre-Reading Word Family Cards, Silly Willy Sentence cards, Parents' Guide, and the 45 story booklets themselves all in one packet at printing time, the cost of the program is kept at a reasonable level. If those components were printed as individual units so that they could be sold separately, the printing cost for the total program would skyrocket. As much as CHC would like to provide 'pieces' of the program [some families have asked for additional copies of one or two stories] CHC could not afford the printing cost, and homeschooling families could not afford the individual pieces to put together a full program.
It is possible to economize further by sharing a single copy of the program within a family. Some families laminate the flashcards, and keep the stories in an album, but then there is the added cost of lamination and buying the album, so I'm not sure how much that saves.
However, since Little Stories for Little Folks takes children all the way from the very basic level of alphabet flashcards to reading at approximately third grade level or higher at the program's completion, the cost is quite affordable compared to other programs which cover fewer levels. Hence, many families simply purchase a copy for each child.
In any event, we appreciate your dilemma, and would love some day to be able to print in such quantity that 'pieces' of programs could be made available. Let us both pray that, if it is God's will, this will come to pass.
Thank you so much for your welcome letter.
May our good Jesus bless and prosper your homeschooling days,
Nancy Nicholson |
