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GroupBuys for Homeschool Curriculum |
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What's New at the Co-op
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In this issue:
- It's SUMMER FUN MONTH at the Co-op!
- Summer Fun Reading Program
- Group Buy Roundup
- Coming Soon
- More Free Curriculum Discoveries by Diane Flynn Keith
- Just for Fun
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Please join us in giving a hearty Co-op "Welcome!" to 397 new families in the last week!
This week we update SUMMER FUN MONTH, give you a status report the second week of our popular Summer Fun Reading Program, launch some new Group Buys issue LAST CALL for some popular Group Buys, an exciting Coming Soon line-up, and more. (Keep reading...) |
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"THANKS!" to the 8,898 members who "Like" us on Facebook. Here's our community update, both Facebook and on our website: |
On Tuesday, we did our SECOND weekly drawing. Congrats to Logan A. (age 7) of Rosamond, CA, Daniel P. (age 12) of Marysville, CA, and Destiny G. (10) of Plano, IL! You'll find them listed on our Weekly Winners page.
To date, Co-op kids have filed 3,157 reading records, for a mind-boggling total of 7,201 hours read. We had reading records filed by over 450 families. Remember -- participation is FREE, and all members are invited to participate! What's more, 50 prizes contributed by members -- WOW! And THANKS!!! The more prizes we have, the more likely participating kids will have a chance to win. (As last year, we urge all parents to have a prize or two up their sleeve for later in the summer in the event that your kid doesn't win a prize.) For our new members, here's a recap of our SUMMER FUN READING PROGRAM: Our Summer Fun Reading Program provides lots of reading encouragement for Co-op kids. This program is FREE for all members and has lots of fun and goodies for the kids. Here's what you need to do, and what to expect: - EVERY DAY, head on over to our Daily Reading Record with your children and record their books and hours read. Within minutes, they'll be thrilled when they see their name, books, comments, and hours read published at the top of our Reading Champions page!
- EVERY TUESDAY AT NOON, Pacific in June, July, and August, the Co-op will do THREE drawings for prizes to be donated by the Co-op, by our suppliers, and by members. That's 39 drawings, and 39 chances for yours kids to win over the course of the summer! The winners will be published on our Weekly Winners page by 1:00 PM Pacific, and their parents notified by email. The winners can then skedaddle over to our Treasure Chest page and claim their prize, first-come, first-served!
Note: At each drawing, your child gets one chance to win for each hour she or he has read from June 1 up to noon on the day of the drawing. (Hours spent reading to your child or listening to books on tape also qualify.) For example, if she has read (or listened to) 30 hours by June 8, she'll have 30 chances to win. If she has read another 20 hours by our second drawing on June 15, she'll have 50 chances to win, and so on.
- AUGUST 31 AT 1:00 PM Pacific, we'll open our Treasure Chest to ALL our Summer Fun Reading Program participants for one mad and happy GOLD RUSH TREASURE GRAB on a first-come, first-served basis -- one prize per child. Some new prizes will show up on the very last day, and we hope to have several hundred prizes in the Treasure Chest by then.
- AUGUST 31 AT 3:00 PM, Pacific, we'll do a drawing for our GRAND PRIZE WINNER of an Apple iPad2 (the 16 GB Wi-Fi Model)!!
- FINALLY, every participating child gets a Reading Champion Certificate, (below) proudly stating how many hours he or she read during the summer. (The certificate is a professionally designed PDF form that we will publish for FREE in your Co-op account for you to download, to fill in and print.)
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Reading Champion Certificate |
This will be a wonderful keepsake for you to enjoy for years to come!
We hope you enjoy our Summer Fun Reading Program as much as we do!
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~~ It's SUMMER FUN MONTH at the Co-op! ~~~
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It's SUMMER FUN MONTH at the Co-op, and this month we shining a spotlight on educational Co-op products that KIDS LOVE and might even use on their own, so that you can take a well-deserved break and not feel guilty that they are watching TV or playing mindless video games. AND, to make it even more fun, we are throwing in some bonuses, including:
Place an order for any of the qualifying SUMMER FUN products listed below before midnight on June 30, and we'll give you a special bonus of
500 SmartPoints!
What's more, buy any of the qualifying SUMMER FUN products, and you'll get a chance to win:
20,000 SmartPoints!
Terms & Conditions: Your SmartPoints bonus is per order (not per product) placed June 1-30 for the qualifying products listed below. The SmartPoints will be awarded in early July unless otherwise noted below and you'll be notified by email when that happens. You get one chance to win for EACH qualifying order. Buy one qualifying product and get one chance to win; buy two qualifying products and get two chances to win, and so on. Our 20,000 SP winner will be drawn in early July and announced on Facebook and in the newsletter. |
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~~~~~~~~~~~ Qualifying SUMMER FUN MONTH Products ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purchase any of the following products during the month of June, and you get a chance to win. Buy two qualifying products and get two chances to win!
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Bentley uses cartoon characters and large type as a way to draw reluctant readers -- typical of visual learners -- into the study of history. Sit back and enjoy the fun as hat-wearing Chester the Crab takes your child on a colorful and witty romp through U.S. history in these graphic novels from the creative pen of Bentley Boyd. Then, use the extensive Teacher Guides to amplify the learning. Written for kids of all ages!  NEW! We are pleased to announce that Bentley recently completed a NEW comix, George Washington Leads the Way. Bentley wrote this new comix with assistance from leading historians, and it is the only graphic biography of George Washington to be authorized by the Mount Vernon folks. This new book has been added to our Chester Comix Superbundle for no additional charge! WOW!If you already purchased the Superbundle, and want to add this new classic to your collection, no worries! We have a deal for you too! This book retails for $6.95, but is available to members for $4.95!
Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July.
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Mark Kistler - Save 60% and Get 500 Bonus SmartPoints* 
Mark Kistler's Online Drawing Lessons have drawn more member raves than any other product in our line-up. Members tell us time and again that everyone in the family loves the lessons, and sees almost immediate improvement. We are pleased to include Mark Kistler in our Summer Fun Month line-up.
Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July. |
BrainWare Safari - Save 68% + Get 500 SmartPoints
 Many of us are ambivalent about our kids playing computer games. Here's the exception! This is one game you'll love to have them play. That's because as they play, they develop the cognitive skills needed to excel academically -attention, visual processing, auditory processing, sensory integration, memory, and thinking -- can be exercised and thereby improved. Most importantly, improved cognitive skills will improve a child's self-confidence and academic achievement across the board. Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July. |
Type To Learn 4 - Save The World + Save 56% + Get 500 SmartPoints
 Type To Learn 4's creators have gone to extraordinary lengths to make typing instruction FUN, as well as pedagogically sound.
Students become "secret agents" who are tasked with saving the world's information (hence the extended product name "Type to Learn 4: Agents of Information"). The must start their training immediately to move up the 7 ranks from Recruit to accurate, fast-typing Master Agents.
Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July. |
Zometool's STEM+ Educator Kit - Save 30% and Get 500 SmartPoints If you missed out on last month's Group Buy, it's not too late to get the BEST DEAL EVER for for STEM+ Educator Kit from the award-winning Zometool.
When we were planning SUMMER FUN MONTH, we couldn't think of any product that would give your children more summer fun than this mother of all building kits, so we asked Zometool for permission to extend our Group Buy at the deepest discount reached -- 30% - at least through the end of this month, and they agreed!
Designed for kids yet praised by scientists and artists alike, Zometool is a 3D modeling system for building and exploring structures from simple to profound. Zometool's color and shape-coded parts can lead to startling discoveries about the nature of space in 2, 3 and even higher dimensions.
The New STEM+ Educator Kit comes with almost 1,900 building parts and all the support materials needed to provide hours of education and discovery. It can be used to build any model from the Zometool Project Kit Series, and much more! What's more, you will get the Zometool Lesson Plan booklet -- a $19.95 value -- absolutely free with your order, along with 300 SmartPoints!
Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July. |
Simply Music - Save 35% + Get 500 SmartPoints
 Without a doubt, Simply Music is simply one of the most popular products offered by the Co-op!
The ability to play the piano can give one a lifetime of pleasure, but it is one of the most difficult instruments to learn and traditional teaching methods typically require years to gain proficiency. According to the company, students are typically playing, within a few months, music that traditional students would not usually be playing after two or three years of lessons.
Note: The 500 SmartPoints will be awarded in early July. |
iKnowThat.com Home- Save 42% and Get 500 SmartPoints
 iKnowthat-Home is an ad-free version of the immensely popular educational children's website, iKnowthat.com. It features a huge selection of educational activities and games in a kid-safe environment. Each activity is designed to give your child the experiences and access to content needed to meet standards and benchmarks in each subject area, including Math, Language Arts, Science, and more.
Here's a guilt-free way for you to let your kids enjoy their computer time! This purchase comes with 500 Bonus SmatPoints! They are awarded at the time of purchase. |
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 ~~~ Group Buy Roundup ~~~
Here's our recap of what's happening with Group Buys at the Co-op.
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The American Heritage Series - Save 52% and Get 500 Bonus SmartPoints  We are pleased to announce a special offer for the immensely popular The American Heritage Series from Wall Builders.
As a Co-op member, you can expect the BEST DEAL ON THE PLANET, which in this case is 52% savings on this American history title.
In honor of the founding of the United States, and to help you celebrate the Fourth of July, we are throwing in 500 Bonus SmartPoints if you place your order by July 4th at midnight. Presented by historian David Barton, The American Heritage Series includes 26 episodes on 10 DVDs that trace America's true Christian foundations, discuss the secularization of history today, and recount how God was the root of America's birth as a free nation. Note: Your SmartPoints bonus will be awarded within minutes of receiving your order. |
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Typing Pal - Save up to 46%
We are pleased to announce a new Group Buy for Typing Pal Online, a popular web-based typing keyboard tutor.
This brand new Group Buy offers online access for UP TO FIVE STUDENTS and ONE teacher for each subscription! That gives you a full year of typing instruction for as little as $7.59 per student!
This program is for ALL AGES, and the teacher account can control what grade levels to choose for her five students within the account. We only need 34 more Co-op member participants, and we ALL GET THE DEEPEST DISCOUNT. We have lots of members that have placed "conditional" orders, so jump in today and spread the word!
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Always Icecream - Save 56%  We've rustled up some GREAT savings for more Summer Fun learning here at the Co-op! You may recall that this supplier was here around the holiday season. Well, they have returned just in time for you to take advantage of a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP to a play-n-learn educational social website for girls aged 7-12! You save 56% on this LIFETIME membership AND you also get access within 24 hours of joining this group buy. That's right! We've arranged with Always Icecream for members to get access right away, so your daughter(s) can begin connected online with other girls in a safe and ad-free atmosphere. She'll also be learning tons of stuff in subjects like Math, Geography, Language Arts, Science, the Arts & Music, Keyboarding, and MORE! Jump in today and get an extra large "scoop" of savings for your pocketbook! |
Discovering Music - Save 40%  HOORAY!! It's gravy time on this one, folks! We have hit the deepest discount tier of 40%! Members can now save over $70 on this unique curriculum that teaches Music, History, the Arts, and Culture in a multi-media format. The program utilizes video instruction on DVDs, audio CDs, and a printed curriculum book. Professor Carol has been teaching Music History for over 20 years at the university level and now she has collected all that wisdom and infused it into this unique program that has her taking your middle-to-high school students around the globe with location footage, interviews with experts, and even live performances. Co-op veteran homeschool staffers are in agreement that they've never seen a program that combines learning Music, History, the Arts, and Culture all in one. |
Computer Programming for Kids and Teens - Save 40% We are pleased to announce that Homeschool Programming has agreed to reopen and extend their recently concluded Group Buy -- at the 40% discount tier -- at least through June!
Choose from KidCoder or TeenCoder Windows and Games Programming Courses --- OR, choose a bundle!
Homeschool Programming teaches Windows and Game Programming to students who like computers! The authors are homeschoolers themeselves, and believe strongly that you don't need a big computer lab or parental expertise to provide quality computer science education for your student. Students can learn to write their very own computer programs at their own pace, on their own computer. No teacher expertise required! |
R.E.A.L. Homeschool Spanish - Save up to 40%  We are now only 35 orders shy of reaching the deepest discount tier of 40%. Your choice of either printed materials or digitally delivered. Created by a Homeschooling mom for ages 4 all the way thru high school. Homeschool Spanish is a curriculum designed to cater specifically to the Homeschool environment. This new Foreign Language curriculum was developed by a Language Professor AND Homeschooling Mom. This curriculum is ultra-affordable and we are pleased to offer you these deep savings. Jump in before they're gone!
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 WOW!!! Rosetta Stone has just dropped their prices DRAMATICALLY. From now until August 11, you can get the BEST PRICES EVER for Rosetta Stone -- as low as 47% off their traditional pricing, depending on the product. We don't know if they will extend these new low prices beyond August 11 -- they aren't saying -- but one thing is very likely: the prices won't get any better than this between now and the next school year, so if you know you want Rosetta Stone for your homeschool NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY.As always, by purchasing through the Co-op members get the BEST DEAL ON THE PLANET for Rosetta Stone, including: - The best price anywhere!
- FREE Shipping!
- A pile of BONUS SmartPoints that you can use to purchase other award-winning curriculum through the Co-op!
- 6-month return policy -- NEW!
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Safe Eyes parental control software - Save up to 40% - Expires 6-16
It's LAST CALL for the award-winning Safe Eyes parental control software from security expert McAfee, alone or in combination with McAfee Antivirus 2001
What caught our eye is that it has been endorsed by Dave Ramsey, another popular Co-op supplier.
The Internet is playing a larger and larger role in all our lives, but it brings with it lots of challenges, especially for those of us with children. Safe Eyes is leading parental software control software that lets you, the parent, determine the type of Internet usage that is appropriate for your children. It gives you the ability to control what types of websites you children access, control the amount of time spent online, limits access to harmful programs, and more.
As we write this, we are only 4 orders shy of hitting the 30% discount tier, so please tell your friends and homeschool groups, and maybe we'll get the full 40%! |
Little Passports - Save up to 25% - Expires 6-18  It's LAST CALL for our encore Group Buy for the award-winning Little Passports, a widely acclaimed world geography homeschool curriculum. By ordering through the Co-op, you can save up to 25% off the purchase price. Traveling the world is not in your homeschool budget? No worries! Bring the world to your homeschool classroom with Little Passports! Every month, Little Passports' fictional characters Sofia and Sam travel to a different country and send your child an exciting package of educational souvenirs that teach your child about a country. Examples items include: music CDs, traditional country toys, arts and crafts projects, puzzles, pencils/erasers, photos, stickers, and postcards. |
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ExploreLearning - Save 35% - Expires 6-19
A subscription to the award-winning ExploreLearning will give you and your student 365/24/7 access online to hundreds of math (and science) gizmos -- online, interactive simulations -- that make hard-to-grasp concepts easy to understand. For grades 3-12.
Browse the Gizmo catalog to find out whether Gizmos are the resources you've been looking for to add to YOUR Homeschool classroom!. $97.00 (new subscribers only!) |
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 ~~~ Coming Soon ~~~These Group Buys and Special Offers are "in the bag", but there are a few more details to be worked out before we can go live. We hope to take these Group Buys live in the few weeks. Stay tuned! |
- Dallas School of Music's Discover, Learn, Play
IT'S OFFICIAL! We have an agreement with the Dallas School of Music to offer their innovative Discover Learn Play online curriculum for learning up to 39 different instruments from the Dallas School of Music. What's unique about this curriculum is the combination of a comprehensive online curriculum with access to the Dallas School of Music's instructors.
If your child wants to learn an instrument but you aren't ready yet to spring for a private teacher, this could be a great way to get started. What's more, we can probably get members an annual subscription for less than the cost of a single lesson with a private teacher (50% off the Family Membership), good for the entire family. This is definitely worth checking out.
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Atelier Homeschool Art Program
We don't have all our i's dotted and t's crossed, but we have agreement in principle to proceed with a Group Buy for Atelier by Arts Attack. We'll try to nail down the final agreement next week, and are hoping to get this launched in July.
This appears to be a high quality, easy-to-teach, DVD-based visual art lessons for children. Used extensively by homeschool parents and co-op art-teachers, Atelier is known for its process oriented and experiential approach to teaching - which teaches to the right side of the brain, developing learning and creative skills that enhance student performance in all areas and throughout life.
We can probably get members a pretty good discount with sufficient participation.
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Word Voyage (formerly Spell Doctor)
Word Voyage is an online study tool that offers individualized instruction in academic vocabulary, sentence structure, Greek and Latin roots, etymology, and a variety of other English fundamentals. Word Voyage creates custom "virtual workbooks" that meet students at their own skill levels. Parents monitor the lessons over the Web and easily make adjustments to keep progress on track. Word Voyage fosters word consciousness, improves reading comprehension, and saves parents time! Word Voyage is designed to be the core vocabulary and grammar component of a Language Arts curriculum. SAT/ACT prep also supported. Product Info PDFs:
Word Voyage Builds Word Curiosity
Word Voyage Builds Skills for SAT
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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 Negotiating and sponsoring a Group Buy is an expensive and time-consuming proposition, but we love doing it, especially when there is strong member interest. This section of the newsletter is your opportunity to see -- and influence -- what Group Buys we bring to our membership. Please take a look, and let us hear from you. What do you think? |
- Bethlehem Books
Bethlehem Books is dedicated to putting good literature into children's hands by re-printing quality books from the earlier part of the 20th century. They publish tried and true historical fiction, adventure tales, biographies, and family stories which help children and young adults expand their imagination and understand the past.
We have been talking with them for a while, and we think we can get members a SPECTACULAR deal of 45%-50% savings IF you are willing to buy 10 or more books at a time. If not, perhaps you can join with other homeschoolers in your area to meet the target quantities? Over 80 titles to choose from!
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Brainology
Brainology from Mindset is a unique curriculum developed by brain scientists at Stanford University that teaches students in grades 5-9 about the human brain and how they can take advantage of that knowledge to improve their own brain function.
We had a great conversation with Mindset Works, the publisher of Brainology, and can get members up to 60% off with sufficient participation, so please:
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Fat Brain Toys
Fat Brain Toys is a leading etailer of safe, educational toys that aim to challenge your child's intellect and stretch his/her imagination.
It's tough to get discounts on toys these days, but we had a great conversation early this week with their management team, and we may be able to get members up to 25% off on FatBrain Toy's proprietary selection of toys (one's they created, as opposed to toys from other manufacturers), AND get FREE shipping on orders of over $100, if there is sufficient member interest.
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Voyages In English
We're pleased to announce that Loyola Press is interested in a repeat visit to the Co-op to offer members the BEST DEAL ON THE PLANET for their award-winning Voyages In English grammar and writing curriculum for grades 3-8.
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Reading Eggs
We have had numerous member requests for a Group Buy for Reading Eggs, but struggled to connect with this Australian company. But we finally learned that they are distributed exclusively in the U.S. by a company called Study Island, and we were finally able to work out a possible deal.
Here's the scoop. We can get members an awesome discount, but to that we'll have to buy a school license and bring members in under that. You'll get the same program that you would if you bought it on your own for $69/year, but by purchasing through the Co-op, we'll be able to get this for you for less than $20. The catch is that they will only allows to buy TWO school licenses a year, and everyone has to end on the same date. So, we're thinking about starting a Group Buy soon and running our first school license from August 15, 2011 through August 14, 2012, and our second license from January 15, 2012 through January 14, 2013.
This is a BIG project, so if you are interested, we need LOTS of encouragement!
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- Sherston Online
This is one you probably haven't heard about, but we think it's well worth the look.
We had a great conversation with this organization last week and they are interested in offering a few of their programs to you at some great discounts. We were able to take a tour through all of their product offerings and were impressed by the user-friendliness and all the extremely fun learning going on inside these online programs!
There are THREE programs that we are considering and would like your feedback before going forward:
- Crystal has tons of interactive Science and Rain Forest studies.
- The Big Bus has interactive learning for Reading, Writing, Math, and Science for PreK through 5th Grades.
- Gogglebox covers the Humanities, and it really strikes us as though it would be an excellent source for UNIT STUDY learning in the homeschool classroom.
We requested a special GUEST LOGIN PASS EXCLUSIVELY FOR CO-OP MEMBERS! That's right! You can login to any of the above three programs using the Co-op's guest access info:
Username = HSBC
Password = HSBC
Gather up the kids and let them jump into FUN online interactive learning completely free (for a limited time)! After you take one (or all) for a spin, let us know what you think!
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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- NBC Learn
NBC Learn is the education arm of NBC News. They have an award-winning educational video subscription featuring thousands of video clips and historic film from the NBC video archive.
This subscription is currently not available to homeschoolers. It is sold only to traditional schools. However, NBC has agreed to sell a school license to the Co-op and let us manage it on behalf of our members, which we are prepared to do if there is sufficient interest. We believe we could get the price for a 1-year subscription down to less than $50 with adequate member participation. Watch a video about NBC Learn, see some samples, and sign up for a free trial on their home page.
Take a look and let us know: What do you think?
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NOTE: Please understand that Group Buys work best for software or online curriculum with retail values over $100. We would love to do Group Buys for books or computers, as many of you have requested, but our experience is that in most cases these companies can't offer significant discounts.
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Our Field Trips database is bigger and better than ever!
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~~~ Free Curriculum ~~~
Please let us know if YOU find any great educational websites! |
 | FREEBIES! |  |
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Homeschool ID Card | FREE!
Quick Start Guide to Carschooling | FREE!
Quick Start Computer Programming
Guides | FREE!
Microsoft developer and design software | | | | | |
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~~~ Just For Fun ~~~
Do you have any videos, games, jokes, quotes or other light-hearted Internet discoveries that you would like to share with us? Tell us about it. |
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We appreciate you at the Co-op!
Brett Walter
President
Homeschool Buyers Co-op
Contact Information:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: news@homeschoolbuyersco-op.org
phone: 650-648-0808
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