Free paper from Staples

My wonderful ES Terry just sent me this email:

I have attached a coupon for a free ream of multipurpose paper from Staples. $5.99 with a rebate of the entire amount. Their rebates can be applied for on line and the check arrives in the mail about 6 weeks later.  It is easy, and I saved over  $100 using their rebates at the beginning of the school year.

I will try to put a link to the coupon here, but if it does not work, just leave a comment that you want me to pass it along to you via email!

Two resources I thought I would mention--multiplication and US history

Hello moms!

I just thought I would mention a couple of things we have been using in our homeschooling that our kids have really enjoyed:

1) Timez Attacks

http://www.bigbrainz.com/

Multiplication game you can download, in which your kid battles big ogres in underground tunnels (his character uses his multiplication skills to defeat them ; ).   The basic download is completely free, although you can pay for different "levels"--basically different scenery, maybe different characters to battle.  My kids are happy with the free version.

2) Liberty's Kids

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Liberty_s_Kids_The_Complete_Series/70106132?trkid=2361637

Basically Saturday morning cartoons that teach kids about US history, specifically the American Revolution.  I like how they try to get a broad range of perspectives in the episodes, like showing how the British soldiers might feel, and what was going on with Benedict Arnold to make him a traitor.  At the moment they are instant downloads available via Netflix, which makes them really convenient. 

(If you have been holding off on getting Netflix, they have changed their plans, so now it is even more affordable.  We do the plan that is $8 a month, for which we get unlimited instant downloads and one DVD out at a time.  If you have the internet connection to support it, it is a fantastic educational support--so many excellent documentaries.) 

Please do share your favorite resources here too!

Blog of sweet coloring pages

Another homeschool Mom just shared this in an email:

http://malbogen.blogspot.com/2011/03/mond-moon.html

It looks like a site where illustrators post black and white illustrations so that kids can color them in themselves. : )


*above image I assume is copywrited--the link takes you to its page.

Free Admission to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

free fun friday

Visit Happy Hollow Park & Zoo for Free!!! On Friday January 28, 2011, Happy Hollow is offering free admission (6 tickets maximum per household) between 9:00am – 10:00am and free parking for arrivals before 8:45am. Come out early and play ‘til 3pm. Reservations required and other requirements apply, see their website for details.

National Parks Free Fee Days

FREE FEE DAYS
January 15-17
(Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend)
April 16-24
(National Park Week)
June 21
(First day of summer)
September 24
(Public Lands Day)
November 11-13
(Veterans Day weekend)

The free admission days this year are January 15-17 (the weekend around Martin Luther King Jr. Day), April 16-24 (National Park Week), June 21 (the first day of summer), Sep. 24 (National Public Lands Day) and Nov. 11-13 (Veterans Day weekend). In total, that's 17 days when you can enjoy some of the country's greatest attractions free of charge. Normally, the participating parks charge entrance fees of anywhere between $3 and $25. In addition to the free admission, several national parks are planning special events and discounts on these days. For example, Glacier National Park in Montana will trim $5 off the cost of horseback riding for kids (17 and under) on June 21, and Yosemite's Curry Village in California has an interesting deal where the price of lodging matches the previous day's temperature, starting tomorrow through March 19.
http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm

About Swagbucks, with which you need to get on board

Hello all you homeschool moms!

Ok, I have been having this conversation with some of you, but figure it is time to actual post about it, so everyone is in the loop.

Swagbucks.  A search engine, like google, that rewards your use with "swagbucks" that you can then redeem for prizes.  Like amazon.com.  Which means that just for using the search engine like you would any other, you get stuff.  I have cashed in my accumulated swagbucks for FORTY DOLLARS worth of books on amazon.  I already have another $5 waiting to be spent next time I place an order.

You can now also use it for PayPal.  Which means you can have PayPal credit waiting to be used for almost anything you can buy online.

This is serious, ladies.  Now, I am not advocating anyone get sucked into the special marketing things you can do with SB, because I am sure it would be easy to waste time (and even money, on some of their special offers) with too little compensation.  BUT I am telling you that ALL homeschool moms should be in on the search engine use--NO GIMMICKS, just FREE STUFF for doing what you already spend time doing every day.

I posted previously about SB on my personal blog here and here, in case any of you want to find out more about it.  I have also put a Swagbucks widget on this blog's sidebar, so if you want to check out SB, please do so through that link and I will get some SB as rewards. Becky and Sara Crompton already use SB, so if you two want to put your own widgets on the sidebar, we can all share! : ) Same goes for anyone who signs up now.

One final note--if any of you are thinking about trying Netflix (they have a 2 week trial period) do so through Swagbucks, because then you get a little SB kickback. : )

lisa c.

FREE passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Nov. 15!

Hello everyone!

We signed up for the Homeschool Day at the Aquarium on Nov. 15, and now we can't go, because our girls have a play performance that night!  (This is what happens when you are asked to sign up before the Fall semester even begins)  ALSO, we got tickets for the McNabbs, but then they realized they would not be back in CA quite that soon.  Bummer!  The good news for you is that we now have two families worth of tickets available for anyone who had not signed up previously!  PLEASE let me know if you are interested ASAP.  Otherwise I will post this on another homeschool forum that is county wide, or worst case will just let the aquarium know we can't come. 

The program sounds GREAT too. : (  Hope someone out there can take our place!

Lisa C.

FREE screening of new documentary!

Hi All,

The Rio Theatre will be showing the new, award-winning documentary Race to Nowhere on Nov. 4 and it sounds like you can reserve free tickets! 

Here is the link to the theatre:  http://www.racetonowhere.com/screenings/rio-theater

Here is the link to info about the movie: http://www.racetonowhere.com/

(too lazy to make it look all nice with html tonight ; )

Out of towners--check the second link to see if there is a free screening near you!

Local history FREE field trip

From a homeschool email group:

I have a confirmed fieldtrip to the Scotts Valley Scott House. The website is http://www.svchamber.org/svhistory/ Virginia Hooper will be our guide as we tour the house, find out about Hiram D. Scott and his family, Scotts Valley, and the archaeological find on the property.


3 PM, Friday, October 22, 2010
Civic Center Drive, Scotts Valley 95066

This tour will be directed toward early elementary aged children. Anyone interested in joining our group for this free fieldtrip should contact me at cat_on_2_wheels @ yahoo.com by this Thursday.

Thanks,

Julie Moore

FREE Science Fun!

**My out of town readers--there are other locations for these science events all over the US, so please click on the last link to get to the national site, and look at the "satellite" section to see if there is anything taking place near you.

Cal Science & Engineering Festival


A community celebration of Science@Cal!

Explore the wonders of science with activities for the whole family at the first-ever Cal Science & Engineering Festival.

This free event will take place at UC Berkeley, on Spieker Plaza (located next to Haas Pavilion) http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/DE23.html on *Saturday, October 23 *from 10am to 2pm.

It's all about science in action! You'll put solar power to the test, get hands-on with ancient fossils, discover the "science" of unicycling and basketball, make your own earthquake, journey to the stars—and more!

The Cal festival is hosted by Science@Cal, an initiative of the UC BerkeleyOffice of the Vice Chancellor for Research, and is presented in conjunction with the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival http://usasciencefestival.org/

It sounds GREAT--hope we can go. : )

Free online textbooks!

From an email I received earlier from one of our local homeschool groups:

This group won an award from TheTech: They have open source textbooks. Free. Wow. http://www.ck12.org/flexr/

free piano!

another one that came to my inbox today:
-----------------------------------------------
I am helping my friend, Ingrid, to find a home for their old piano. It is a Con console upright piano (I understand it is a lower height) that is in good condition but will probably need to be tuned. Her ideal situation is to find a good home to loan it to for a up to a year or longer, but if no one wants it as a loan, she is willing to give it away. She just needs to have it out of their old home soon. It is currently in Aptos but we might be able to move it to to be picked up in Santa Cruz.

Interested families should contact me: Nancy Winans at whynansy@yahoo.com and I will let Ingrid know. Let me know if you have any other questions. If you want it, please tell me your name, phone number and when you would be able to pick it up or receive it.

Thanks! - Nancy

swagbucks--getting a little something for what you do all the time!

Hey Moms, I wrote something on my personal blog the other day that I realized most of you would not have seen, so I'll link it here so you can check it out if you want.  Basically, I just got $30 of books for free on Amazon.com by routinely using the Swagbucks search engine.  So little by little I am earning free stuff just for doing the kinds of searches us homeschool moms do all the time!  Just thought you all might like to know! : )

I am all about the free.
lisa

FREE teacher membership at the San Jse Tech Museum!

Lisa C. here!  I am still trying to figure out what this means, exacly--what the concrete benefits would be for our family and our homeschool studies--but look what I just came across on the Tech Museum of San Jose website:

Free Teacher Membership Program for California Educators!



Use us as your year-round 2nd Classroom!

Teacher memberships are available to all K-12 public, private, home school teachers, principals, district and county certificated employees, currently working in a California school district.


We invite you to become a member of our learning community and find a professional "home" here at The Tech Museum. Ultimately, we hope you join us in promoting learning through design and innovation as part of your professional practice.


Here is the page that gives the details.  Does anyone else already know about this?  Please comment if you have any insight or experience with this program!

Free Open House at Discovery Learning Center in S.C.

From their website:

Open HouseSeptember 8th 1-4pm. Come celebrate the Discovery Learning Center at our Open House. We'll be offering games and crafts for the kids while parents learn about our lending library, classes, clubs and parent activities. Come find out how your family will benefit from this new community resource.

Address, etc. on website too.  Also at the site you can sign up for their newsletter, which I assume will give info on classes to be held, etc.

If any of you were familiar with the recently closed Educational Resource Center, this is where its inventory has relocated.

Discover Your Child's Learning Style--FREE Teleconference!

(Lisa here--Becky just sent this to me, which someone had sent to her. . . and it sounds great, so we are passing it along to you!)

DISCOVER YOUR CHILD's LEARNING STYLE. Authors and Learning Success Coaches Mariaemma Pellulo-Willis & Victoria Kindle Hodson will be featured in a FREE Teleconference on 8/26. Info about how to register and take part is below!

For those of you who are not familiar with Mariaemma Pellulo-Willis and Victoria Kindle-Hodson, their work combines all the learning styles work (Armstrong, Briggs & Myers, Dunn, etc) into one super robust, indespensible and accessible model which you can put to work today -- no matter what your homeschooling philosophy/style. Not only do they dispense with the one-size fits all educational model, but their book and the included assessments will help you to customize an annual plan individualized for you and your child(ren)that will BEST suit the needs of the student(s) and parent.

Hope you find this info helpful ....

_______________________________________________________________________________
Dear ClickScholar,

Please join me THURSDAY, August 26th, for this FREE Teleconference. ..

"DISCOVER YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING STYLE"

with Special Guests...
Mariaemma Pellulo-Willis and Victoria Kindle-Hodson
Authors of Discover Your Child's Learning Style

4-5 PM (PDT), 6-7 PM (central), 7-8 PM (EST)

In this teleconference discover why students (and adults) sometimes just don't "get it" and why a one-size-fits- all model doesn't work.

Find out the 5 aspects of learning - and how knowing what they are can forever change the way you homeschool your child.

Get an understanding of how having a blueprint of your child's unique learning style will ensure success!

The live teleconference is free and registration is required. Once you have registered, please submit your questions for Mariaemma and Victoria by email to: dianeflynnkeith@ homefires. com

Register today at: http://www.homefire%20s.com/Teleconfer%20ence

Diane Flynn Keith
for ClickSchooling

New local science vendors!

My Ocan Grove E.S. just sent out a list of new approved vendors, and on it are two I have been hoping for:

1) The Mad Molecule science store here in Aptos, in the Rio Del Mar shopping center (where Safeway is).

2) Science classes at Quail Hollow Ranch!  Whoo-hoo!

And speaking of Quail Hollow, I just now realized that they offer FREE field trips, if we schedule them in advance!  Check out this brochure for the possibilities--I think this year we are going to have to schedule a few for Vintage Homeschool Adventures. : )

EDUCATION DAYS AT SANTA CRUZ COUNTY FAIR

From the Coast & Valley homeschool newsletter:

As homeschoolers, you can get into the fair free on Wednesday, Sep 15 & Thursday, Sep 16th. You have to apply and get special tickets. See http://www.santacruzcountyfair.com/ for general info about the fair. Go to http://santacruzcountyfair.com/pdf/2010/education_dept/app_education_days.pdf to download the application for your tickets.

Be sure to check out the Harvest Building Youth Department and the Livestock area for the many homeschoolers in 4-H that have projects displayed. Many Coast & Valley members also have items in the Crosetti Building (home arts) as well as the Fine Arts building.

FYI: Free photos!

Just in case any of you have photos from your summer adventures you would like to develop, or any your kids want to use to "illustrate" a homeschool book, Shutterfly is offering a great deal:

We’ve got 101 great reasons for you to come back to Shutterfly: 101 free 4x6 prints.

You’ve got just ONE MORE WEEK to get them.


Promo code: PTSF822
Offer ends August 22, 2010

From my past experience, you just pay for shipping and tax.

Act quickly--FREE entrance to the Impressionist Exhibit in SF

Hi everybody: I set up a free fieldtrip to the Impressionists exhibit at the deYoung in San Francisco for next week for Ocean Alternative families, and we still have 4 or 5 tickets available. (I'm waiting to hear on one person's headcount.) If you would like to come, please e-mail me directly. First come, first served. Let me know how many people. Here's the info:
Thursday, August 12
Promptly at 10:30 (if you're not there you don't get in!)


There are oodles of don'ts and don'ts for this exhibit (what you can bring in, wear, etc.) so make sure to look that up if you're going (with us or separately). No backpacks, pencils, food, strollers………………………


Suki
Susana (Suki) Wessling
Blog: sukiwessling.parentclickblogs.com
Suki's Parenting and Education Facebook Page on Facebook