The American Bonsai Society is proud to offer a mentor monitored correspondence course for all who wish to learn the art of bonsai. This course was written by bonsai artists Tom Zane and is offered through the ABS Book Service. Each bonsai student has the opportunity to learn the art of bonsai at his or her own pace in the comfort of his or her home.

When you enroll, you will receive a handbook, a course manual, and DVD. The handbook includes student inquiry forms, mail-in assignment sheets, and general information about the course, the author, and the American Bonsai Society. Click here for more
information.

The 170-page course manual consists of eleven chapters that are divided into six lessons that guide you step-by-step through basic bonsai material.

This 23 page Guide is bound with its companion publication, "A Guide for Successful Bonsai Workshops".

A Guide for Successful Bonsai Workshops

This 12 page Guide is bound with its companion publication, "A Guide for Successful Bonsai Presentations".

During 15 years of teaching beginning bonsai with some success and, of course, some failures, Tom Zane assembled notes, used various audio visuals, did various demonstrations and had the students participate in sundry exercises. Most of this ended up in the teaching copy of the Syllabus. This Instructor's Manual is the result.

The Instructor's Manual is designed to make your preparation for teaching Basic Bonsai as easy and as thorough as possible. It is intended to be used with the student's resource book, Introduction to Bonsai - A Course Syllabus . The Manual provides a complete lesson plan based on the text of the Syllabus. It includes suggestions for teaching the basic materials and incorporates supplemental classroom exercises and enrichment resources beyond the basic material in the Syllabus. Most of this is inserted into the text at the point where it seems to be the most applicable.

Chapter materials in the Manual provide the basic lesson plan as well as additional resources to support your presentation for each chapter in the Syllabus. The topics in the chapter materials portion of the Manual use a similar organization throughout to help you locate the information which you need quickly.

For each chapter of the Syllabus, the Instructor's Manual supplies a detailed lesson plan, pointers and considerations, suggests primary and optional activities, lists equipment and supplies and where appropriate, offers related material beyond the basics. In short, it provides you, the teacher a detailed step-by-step guide. Over 150 pages in a 3-ring binder.

An Appendix lists sources of audio visuals
Another Appendix describes many items of print material about bonsai.

The Syllabus is an 8 1/2" x 11", 99 page student syllabus designed for the beginning bonsai student.

The text includes the history of bonsai, design styles, tools, pruning techniques, wiring procedures, styling considerations, pot selection, potting technique, after care of the newly created bonsai and much more. In addition to the text, it includes 64 illustrations, index, glossary, and styling flow chart.

This classic manual presents a method of grouping bonsai into categories or classifications to aid in their evaluation, describes the guidelines used in this evaluation, and lists some of the horticultural and bonsai training practices which should be evaluated when judging, buying or evaluating your own bonsai.

The manual is a 6.75” x 8.50”, 74 page guide which covers the positive and negatives – including a point system - that can be used for evaluating bonsai.