Discounts for Teachers

We've talked about a lot of resources in this lesson and you'll find more and more as you need them. I was already a teacher so I had several teacher discount cards, but until I began home schooling I had no idea how many are available!

Most book stores will offer a discount to educators. You are an educator if you are home schooling your children. Some places have varied policies on what the discount applies to, but every little discount is most welcome!

For example, Borders and Waldenbooks offer 20% off to teachers when buying materials for their classrooms. Anything you buy used for home schooling qualifies. Barnes and Noble offers 20% off anything teachers buy. Check with your local store to see what their policies are, but defintely ask for the application for the teacher's discount card.

You'll also want to get on their e-mail mailing lists. I receive a coupon via e-mail for 25% or more off one book regularly from Borders. I save those for the more expensive encyclopedias of science or quality novels. Or sometimes, I use them as a prize for reading so many pages and let my son choose a book.

Don't forget the office supply stores! Office Max and Staples offer a teacher's discount as well and it comes in quite handy. Craft stores like Michael's and Jo-Ann's offers reductions, too. There are more than we can mention here, but always ask and you'll be surprised more often than not, at what you find. I recently stumbled onto the fact that Coldwater Creek, a woman's clothing store, offers teachers a 10% discount, so you just never know...

Here's a site that has lots of discounts and opportunities for home scchoolers:

If you're looking for software, check out Academic Software prices. You can often save quite a bit! Here's one Web site that offers great prices to home school students as well as teachers:

Yes, there are home school magazines! I enjoy them while I'm waiting in the car or at a doctor's office because the ads are as informative as the articles. It's nice to be able to page through something, fold down the corners and check out the Web sites later when it's convenient. The articles come from experienced home schoolers and I always find something new.

As with any publication, some will appeal to you more than others, but here is a list of a few to consider. You will usually find some of these at the big bookstores, school supply stores, and, of course, online.

• The Old Schoolhouse
• Homeschooling Today
• Family Reformation
• Practical Homeschooling Magazine
• Home Education Magazine
• Home School Enrichment Magazine

More Home Schooling Magazines...

Summary

This will conclude Lesson 5. If you're feeling a little overwhelmed, then we've achieved our goal--there's a lot of help out there!

In review, you should be comfortable with the following:

• The Internet is a wealth of information for home schooling families.
• Your local library is a gateway to many of the resources you need, for free!
• There are many resources and contacts available if you're home schooling special needs children.
• National programs are often open to home schooled students.
• Discounts abound for teachers and students--take advantage of them!