Deals and Discounts for Homeschoolers
By no means comprehensive, this list includes those items found by our Board and members. Links and references to other websites are provided by ERCHA members for your convenience only; listing shall not be taken as endorsement of any kind. ERCHA is not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them.
If you hear of a good deal that should be shared, please pass it on to the Webmaster.
Shortcuts:
Free - Audio Books, Classes, Curriculum/Tools, e-Libraries, Old Time Radio Shows, Educational & Fun Videos, Movies, Museums
Cheap - Under $10 Businesses, Educator Discounts, Museums, Restaurant Deals, Swimming Lessons, Teacher Appreciation Events, Theater Productions/Plays
This list is only provided as a helpful resource to you and is not sponsored by any of the listed organizations. Just the same, accurate and up-to-date information can only be guaranteed by contacting the organization or company itself. While ERCHA is not responsible for misinformation we graciously welcome corrections and suggestions anytime!
Eagle River (Cheap or Free) Fun
Chugiak/Eagle River Branch Library.
For events/activities and more locations, please pick up a copy of the current month's Activity Calendar at any branch or download the PDF version from the library's website.
Office Depot, Michaels, Office Max, Borders and Barnes and Noble generally offer Educator Appreciation events in the Fall during the month of August. Call the stores individually for more information.
Book Store/Office Supply Educator Discounts
ERCHA members receive the added benefit of an Educator's Discount with several businesses in the Anchorage/Eagle River area. These discounts typically apply to items used for homeschooling. Please ask when in doubt.
In order to get your discount, bring in your ERCHA Membership Card (contact our Membership Chairmom if you have joined and paid but not received yours). Each business may have a separate application or registration process. HSLDA membership cards should work as well or cards from any other homeschool organization to which you belong.
- Barnes & Noble, 279-7323
15% discount on purchase of educational books
Homeschool organization members - show your card or ERCHA newsletter (showing address label)
Non-members - bring copies of your lesson plans
- Book Shelf (Eagle River), 694-4660
ERCHA/Homeschool discount is 50% off used books; 20% off new (not applicable for scrapbooking supplies). Some exceptions do apply to new and ordered books. Use your ERCHA Newsletter and envelope for membership documentation. - JoAnn Fabrics, 277-3620 (Northway Mall, Anchorage), 357-3600 (Creekside Mall, Wasilla)
Present ERCHA Membership card to store management to receive Teacher Rewards card good for 15% off every purchase.
Side Note: Can also sign up to get their regular ad (or from the newspaper) which usually contains a 40% off one item coupon and other sale items. - Office Depot, 562-3993 (Tudor), 277-7470 (5th Ave) - Receive 5% discount on office/school supplies as well as points back each quarter as credit toward purchases, 15% discount on copy/print center services.
Ask about the "Star Teacher Program". Fill out their form. - Office Max, 522-3080
Pick up a Retail Connect Program bar code sticker from an ERCHA Meeting to save money on copies and some products.
- Staples, 1 800 3STAPLE - Teacher Rewards Card
If you know of any other business who extends discounts to homeschoolers, please email our Webmaster so we can list the information for all ERCHA members.
CurrClick: Curriculum in a Click. A free weekly Curriculum eBook download is offered on their website just by registering. These are not partial samples, but full products that they normally sell. There is no obligation (other than registration) to obtain the free weekly offers (note: you can select or deselect 3rd party publishers through "My Account").
Homeschool Freebie of the Day. Every weekday, Monday through Friday, they post a new homeschooling “freebie” to this site. What kind of “freebies”? Stuff like: Unit Studies… Ebooks… Audio Programs… Games… Samples… Lesson Plans… classic books… and other quality resources! This is the REAL THING. Many of these will be products that you would normally pay for on their regular websites… but on the Homeschool Freebie of the Day site, they’re 100% free… at least for that one day! Just download your copy and enjoy! It’s as simple as that!
Homeschool Radio Shows. A weekly "Living Books for the Ears" newsletter brings you outstanding "old time radio" adaptations of great books and historic stories absolutely free. These fully dramatized half hour audio programs from the 1930s and 40s are a terrific way to introduce your kids to these classic tales. But everyone, young or old, will enjoy listening to these excellent, wholesome radio adaptations (in great sound quality).
The Internet Archive. IA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in its collections.
Kiddie Records Weekly began in 2005 as a one year project devoted to the golden age of children's records. This period spanned from the mid forties through the early fifties and produced a wealth of all-time classics. Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers. Over the years, these forgotten treasures slipped off the radar and it became our mission to give them a new lease on life by sharing them with today's generation of online listeners. Each week throughout the year we'll add a new recording. We took a break in 2008, returning in 2009 for one final year.
Chronicles of Narnia Series. Now available only on Ancient Faith Radio—the complete Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Read by Dr. Chrissi Hart with permission from C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd., this is the complete Narnia series, from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to The Last Battle. More about Ancient Faith Radio and what they offer.
Internet Archive. This library contains over a hundred thousand free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users. Many of these audios and MP3s are available for free download.
Learn Out Loud. A one-stop destination for audio and video learning. Browse over 20,000 educational audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts and videos.
Lit2Go. A free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format, a service of Florida's Educational Techonology Clearinghouse.
StoryNory. Storynory is an online treasure-trove of free audio stories. Here you will find a mixture of original stories, fairytales, and specially adapted myths and histories. They also provide a sprinkling of verse. All stories are beautifully read by professional actors and recorded in broadcast quality sound. And yes, they are absolutely free. If you are looking for the catch – there isn’t one.
You Need a Story (out of service until further notice). A weekly free audio book read by a Mississippi homeschool Dad, Robert Green. Occasionally he even tries his hand at writing one. He's just a dad with an incurable Southern accent who loves a good story. But more to the point, he loves his children with all his heart and wants to see their minds trained and their lives filled with living books, great literature, and wonderful stories that not only entertain, but inspire and instruct them in wisdom and virtue and decency. He's happy to share their reading time with others. http://www.youneedastory.com/
Great Homeschool Videos. A family-safe version of YouTube. A viewing place for some of the best family-friendly, educational and just plain fun videos you can find online. Brought to you by the Old Time Radio homeschooling family two sections up.
BOOK IT! Program
Read books; get rewards! This is a national reading incentive program sponsored by Pizza Hut. Programs available for Preschool through Pre-K and K through 6
Information about the program: http://www.bookitprogram.com/parents/about.asp
Enrollment forms: http://www.bookitprogram.com/enrollment/
Municipality of Anchorage. Swim lessons are available at many of the high schools in Anchorage/Chugiak/Eagle River. Multiple times/days to fit your child's schedule and abilities. See Muni website for details and price information.
Swim Information Line: 343-4402.
Swim Like a Fish. Private swim lessons in Anchorage for infants, kids and adults. Pool has a salt-water system.
Information: 563-3473
H2Oasis. Six - 40 minute swim lessons that meet twice a week. The Parent/Toddler session includes six - 30 minute swim lessons.
Alaska Pacific University. Saline-based swimming pool (separate adult classes also offered). Red Cross certified instructors teach swimming with a focus on fun and safety. They offer lessons based on Red Cross Levels 1-6 for children ages 3 and up (6 children per class max). Class levels are limited to 6 children each. They also offer parent/child water adjustment classes for ages 8 months and up. Classes are 30 minutes long and are offered in sessions of 10 on Monday & Wednesday nights (3 sets from 6:30-8:00p). See the APU website for prices and details.
Contact: Moseley Sports Center, 564-8314
H2Oasis "Parent/Toddler Pass"
For children 5 years old and under. Generally begins in August and continues through the school year on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Phone: 522-4420
Discount Theater Productions / School Performances
~Alaska Theater of Youth - Sydney Laurence Theater, Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
Shows: 10:30am. Email: alaskatheatreofyouth@yahoo.com. Phone: 338-4902.
~Alaska Junior Theater - Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
Shows: 10am & 11:45am/Noon. Phone: 272-7546
~Anchorage Concert Association - Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
Shows: 10:30am. Payment due two weeks prior to the event.
Contact: Education and Outreach Director. Phone: 272-1471
~Alaska Pacific University - Plays at E.R. Brown auditorium in Grant Hall on the APU campus
They offer classes and workshops at their studio.
~UAA Theater for Young People - Wendy Williamson Auditorium
From the Theater Dept's web page:
"We are sorry, but our UAA Theatre for Young People program has been suspended due to budget constraints."
Shows: 10:00am and Noon, Thursdays and Fridays. Tickets: $5 (discounts available with the purchase of two or more shows or save $1 per ticket by paying balance two weeks before the performance).
FYI: General Admission prices for "public shows": $7-adults, $5-children/students/seniors. Please note that, without large group participation some school performances may be cancelled. Call ahead if requesting tickets for individuals or small groups. Phone: 786-6883
Free Family Film Festival at Regal Cinemas (Summer)
When school's out, kids around the country come to selected Regal Entertainment Group theatres for our Free Family Film Festival. It's a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and their parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it's FREE!
Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer.
- Chuck E. Cheese
Printable coupons. Look under "savings" menu (although, they do change the links often)
Tokens for Grades: Show them your most recent report card and get free tokens (not showing now; maybe check back after school starts?)
- Alaska Public Lands Information Center
Admission is free. Exhibits, movies, daily 2pm program, interpretive walks all for no charge. Open 9a-5p daily through Sept 17, 9a-5p weekdays during the winter. More info, click here.
Location: Downtown Anchorage in the Old Federal Building. Phone: 271-2737 - Alaska Museum of Natural History
Admission: $3 children, $5 adults. Look for a free admission day during the summer. The non-profit Alaska Museum of Natural History fills a special need for science education in Alaska. No other organization in the state educates exclusively on Alaska's unique geological, cultural, and ecological history. For a list of education exhibits, click here.
Location: 201 N. Bragaw (Mountain View). Phone: 274-2400. - Alaska Native Heritage Center
Free for children 0-6 (Ages 7-16, Alaska resident: $6.95)
Look for a free admission day during the spring. For education information, click here.
Location: Exit at Muldoon Road NORTH, off the Glenn Highway. Phone: 330-8000 - Anchorage Museum of History and Art
Admission: Free to children 0–17 ($2 donation suggested for those 6-17). Look for a free admission day during the spring. Educators information here. For exhibits, games and projects for kids, see their "Kids Corner".
Location: Corner of 7th Avenue and C Street. Phone: 343-4326 - The Imaginarium
Check out The Imaginarium for FREE in September during their Homeschool Open House, 3:00-5:00 pm. This is your first chance to sign up for workshops. Homeschool classes are offered monthly from October through May for a fee.
Location: 737 West 5th Ave. #G (as you would go into the Brewhouse). Phone: 343-0625.
The Baldwin Project. Named in honor of James Baldwin (1841-1925), it seeks to make available online a comprehensive collection of resources for parents and teachers of children. Their focus, initially, is on literature for children that is in the public domain in the United States. This includes all works first published before 1923. The resources are offered at no charge and permission is granted to individuals to print copies for personal and educational uses. The texts are formatted so that attractive copies can be printed easily, in larger type for younger readers and smaller type for older ones, with illustrations included where possible. Teachers and parents can make use of the readers that are already available, or they can construct their own readers by selecting stories from the existing pool. To guide parents and teachers in their selection of stories for particular children, suggested age ranges for each of the stories are included, both the age at which children first enjoy hearing the story read to them and the age when they can typically read the story to themselves. In addition we look forward to compiling anthologies of stories and lists of books suitable for each age.
The Online Books Page. This is a website that facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet. It also aims to encourage the development of such online books, for the benefit and edification of all. Major parts of the site include an index of thousands of online books freely readable on the Internet, pointers to significant directories and archives of online texts, special exhibits of particularly interesting classes of online books, Information on how readers can help support the growth of online books. The Online Books Page was founded, and is edited, by John Mark Ockerbloom. He is a digital library planner and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and is solely responsible for the content of the site.
Bartleby. The concluding line of Herman Melville’s classic American short story Bartleby, the Scrivener reads "Ah Bartleby, Ah Humanity!" And so, Bartleby.com—after the humble character of its namesake scrivener, or copyist—publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge for the home, classroom, and desktop of each and every Internet participant. Bartleby.com began as a personal research experiment in 1993 and within one year published the first classic book on the Web (Whitman’s Leaves of Grass). Since its incorporation in 1999 and the release of preeminent contemporary reference works, Bartleby.com becomes the most comprehensive reference publisher on the web, meeting the needs of students, educators, and the intellectually curious.
Accelerated Schools (Kansas). ERCHA Disclaimer: This is a difficult and cumbersome to navigate site (in the webmistress's opinion), but it claims to offer 5000 free audio books. Some are read by humans (although I did get an unrecognizable "playlist format" error message for the audio, I was able to see the text). I found some books in dowloadable mp3 format, but it appears that most are digitally "read". Bottom line: Good luck in your search.
The Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections.