Discounts for Educators/Homeschoolers

Last night while I was supposed to be returning pants to Old Navy, I ventured down the mall. Naturally I wandered into Books-a-Million to check out the clearance section. I picked out 5 awesome Thanksgiving books for my preschoolers and went to the checkout. It happened to be a day that I wore my staff shirt and the Manager asked if I new about their educator program. As frugal as I am you would think I would have knew that educators INCLUDING homeschool parents save 20% on books they are using for their classroom. Of course I signed up! I also decided to investigate the other places I can save money. Here is my list:

Books-a-Million- 20% off includes homeschool parents!

Michael's-15% off for teachers with an ID card

Joann's-Sign up here for 15% off every purchase as well as bonus coupons

Office Depot-Star Teacher Program off ink, toner, and paper Register here

The Container Store-Register Here for the Organized Teacher Program to get 15% off purchases

The Limited and NY & Co- 15% off with ID or Pay stub

Halloween 2011

There are some things you do to make your children happy that make you look back and think "Wow, I am a dork" This is one of those moments. We were in El Paso for the past week spending much needed time with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and sweet nephew. We are so lucky to have other people in our family who share our nerdiness.

Telephone Addiction

D has a definate telephone addiction. I will admit to picking up a phone or two in the checkout to quiet him down. Of course, I could never admit this to my friends.

He cries when he sees phones, if someone answers one, if we don't let him say hello to the person on the line, or if anyone grabs one of his. It is a huge problem in out house. It only adds to the problem that technology is so advanced everyone always has a cell phone.

We are actually missing 2 phones in the picture. He has the blackberry in the van and left a Cinderella one at Uncle Casey's. As you can see, he is not picky.

Painting Turkeys

I know some Early Childhood people are against cutouts to paint, but occasionally we do them. Today I had large turkey cut-outs to go along with our theme. We used brown paint and stuck feathers to them while they were wet. It was interesting to watch the children. Some dabbed paint and added feathers one at a time and others painted the whole turkey and sprinkled feathets on. They turned out cute so I needed to post a picture for myself.

5 Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys standing at the door,
One waddled off, and then there were four.

Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,
One waddled off, and then there were three.

Three little turkeys with nothing left to do,
One waddled off, and then there were two.

Two little turkeys in the morning sun,
One waddled off, and then there was one.

One little turkey had better run away,
For very, very, soon it will be Thanksgiving Day!


I used precut turkeys and hotglued them to popsicle sticks for this story. As with most flannelboard stories or fingerplays, after I am done with them during circle, I leave them out for the children to use. This is why I make most of my things with cheap or recycled goods.

Fall Sensory Table

I bought a small bale of hay from Hobby Lobby and added few bags of pumpkins and squash from Dollar Tree, a few turkey Feathers and rakes. This is messy, but the children have loved it

Recycled Juice Box Blocks

My boys love CapriSun and I have always thought about the boxes being nice and sturdy. I found some sturdy wrapping paper at Michael's for $1 and covered them using packing tape at the ends. They are awesome for jumbo blocks and the children can use markers or stamps to decorate them!