FREE 2012 Electoral College Map and Lesson Plans

C-SPAN is sponsoring another giveway to social studies teachers, including homeschoolers.  They are giving away one free Electoral College Map poster to any teacher in the continental US who requests one (at least until supplies run out).  I haven't received mine yet, but the previous ones I've gotten have been BIG and printed on thick, high-quality paper.  So it should last you through the 2012 elections, which is its intended use.

The map reflects the 2010 census figures, and also includes some Election 2012 dates as well as some historic results.  So it should generate a good deal of discussion on its own.

However, C-SPAN has also developed some free lesson plans to accompany the map.  On their website, you can download such resources as Electoral College Map Poster Activities, and lesson plans on The Electoral College and the Constitution and Pros/Cons and Alternatives.  The lessons include video clips of current political figures debating the issue, which helps makes the topic current.

I plan to do a lot of education around the 2012 elections in the coming year, so this is a great resource for us.  I hope it may be helpful to you as well.

Assisting A Local Homeschool Family

Our local homeschool group has a family who is in need.  Hope and Luke McMullan are a really cool local couple who are homeschooling their two children and running a landscape design firm that focuses on sustainable agriculture/gardening, low environmental-impact landscaping, and permaculture.

Last month, the family went to visit extended family who were living on the other side of the country.  Hope, who was 21 weeks pregnant, went into labor and delivered twin baby girls (qualified as micro-preemies because of their short gestation period).  One, Abigail, unfortunately, was stillborn, but the other, Zaria, went immediately into the Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICO) to fight for her life.

The family stayed with their new baby girl, eventually breaking their lease in NC, having friends put all their stuff into storage, and putting their pets and animals (such as a flock of chickens) into foster care.  However, about five weeks after she had been born, Zaria died on Sunday morning, August 28.

Now the family is dealing with their grief and trying to put their lives together.  Because they deal with local North Carolina vegetation, they have not been able to work through this ordeal because they were so far away.  They have medical costs and visiting costs and don't have a home to come "home" to in North Carolina.

So one of their friends is holding a fundraiser to try to raise some money to help them get back on their feet.  In this fundraiser, for a donation of only $5 or more, you get a chance to win some wonderful prices at her website.  For more information, click the button below:





If you can help, even by donating a few dollars, please do.  This is a family that could use some assistance in getting back on their feet after an intense emotional roller coaster.  But once back, they will return to their work at helping people plant vegetation that will work with the earth and local environment, rather than against it and thus requiring lots of water, pesticides, fertilizers, and how knows what all else.

Thanks in advance for any donations and for helping getting the word out about this deserving family.

Free History Book for Teachers

The History Channel is running a nice give-away for teachers.  They are offering a FREE copy of the 412-page, companion book to their 12-part American history series, America:  The Story of US, to teachers.   While there is no cost for the book, which normally retails for $29.95, recipients must pay $3.95 for shipping (like I said, it's a 412 page book).


If you are eligible for this deal, you can receive your copy by calling 1-800-344-6336 during regular business hours.


The History Channel also has extensive teacher support materials available online, including teacher's guides, episode guides, and video clips.  Click here to visit the Story of US website.

FREE Summer Bowling for Kids

The national AFM bowling chain is offering any child 16 and under two free games of bowling for each week of the summer.  You sign up your child(ren), and each week receive a coupon via email giving your free admission to two games.  However, you still have to either have your own bowling shoes, or rent the ones at the bowling alley (which in our case were about $4.25 for the day).  And, of course, there is always the lure of the snack bar....

But it is a lovely offer for a way to get your children some exercise while avoiding the summer heat.  They also have special activities and competitions and such each week.

To sign up, click here.

Have fun!

FREE Online Spanish Curriculum for Middle School Teachers

Language Treks has a special gift for budget-crunched middle school teachers.  They are offering any public or private school 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th grade Spanish teacher a FREE school edition of their online Spanish curriculum, Discover Spanish (which normally costs $229.95/year).  The curriculum consists of 36  interactive lessons, each with a cartoon-based everyday scenario that are spoken and written out in Spanish and/or English.  Students can practice their pronunciation of the words and phrases for that lesson, then test their recall with a game.

You can check out the program with a sample lesson here, or request your free subscription here.  If you aren't eligible for the free program, you can buy an individual 12-month subscription for only $54.95 here.

Earth Day Book Giveaway Winner!

I hope everyone has been enjoying all the Earth Day activities and blog posts.  It has been a busy couple of days for us.

The winner of the Energy book by Kathleen Reilly is JONI!  Joni, please contact me at ccross@mindspring.com with your contact information so that we can send you the book.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and hope you will enter one of our other upcoming giveaways.

Joni gets a free copy of this wonderful book!

Reminder: Webinar Tonight on Teaching Hands-on Science

Just a reminder that tonight is our Earth Day webinar with author Kathleen Reilly about Teaching Science through Hands-on Projects.  For complete details, see the original post.  To participate, follow this link at: http://tinyurl.com/math20event to connect to the free Learn Central webinar room provided by Elluminate.  It starts at 7:30 PM Eastern Time (GMT -5:00), but it takes a while to connect to the webinar room, so I suggest trying to get on 10 or 15 minutes before the event.

Also, you have through tomorrow to enter to win Kate's book:

Win a free copy of Kathleen Reilly's book on Energy

UPDATE:  The webinar is over, but you can access the recording at: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2011-04-21.1635.M.B41FC4AB0A3565F8BCAE1B600D6595.vcr&sid=2008350

Earth Day Webinar with Author Kathleen Reilly on Thursday, April 21

As I announced in my April 1st post (but it isn't a joke), our book giveaway this month, in honor of Earth Day, will be:

Energy:  25 Projects Investigate Why We Need Power and How We Get It by Kathleen M. Reilly.

We will combine the giveaway with a FREE webinar with author Kathleen Reilly, who will speak on "Teaching Environmental Science Through Hands-On Projects."  Kate is a great person to speak on this topic because besides being an award-winning professional writer, she is homeschooling her two sons who are of middle schoolish age (on whom I am sure she has tested all of these projects).  Kate will be drawing on information not only from her Energy book, but from at least a couple others among the six books she has had published so far:

The webinar will be held the evening before Earth Day 2011 on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT -05:00).  Our technical host will be Elluminate's Learn Central, which you can access that evening at: http://tinyurl.com/math20event .

UPDATE:  The webinar is over, but you can access the recording at: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2011-04-21.1635.M.B41FC4AB0A3565F8BCAE1B600D6595.vcr&sid=2008350

April Giveaway: Energy-25 Projects Investigate Why We Need Power and How We Get It

A new month, a new giveaway!  This month, our book to be given away relates to one of my favorite April holidays--Earth Day.  And I am particularly excited because the book that you may get--IF you are the lucky winner--is a book written by a friend of mine who is in our local homeschool group!

Our special Earth Day giveaway book is entitled Energy:  25 Projects Investigate Why We Need Power and How We Get It, by Kathleen M. Reilly.

In this book, students nine years old and up learn about both nonrenewable fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas, etc.) and renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind power) through hands-on projects that encourage active learning about the science behind ecology.  Projects include such kid-friendly activities as creating music out of wind, experiencing the difficulty in cleaning up after an oil spill, cooking cupcakes that relate to geothermal energy, and making your own coal candy.  The book won a Silver Medal in the 2009 Moonbeam Children's Book Award, and inspired Dan Kammen, Professor of Energy at the University of California at Berkeley and Founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory to say:

This book is great fun, with energy education and visualization projects that will inspire middle-school to high school students and adults alike.

My friend Kate is an award-winning author who has written for such popular magazines as Family Fun, National Geographic Kids, Parents, Family Circle, and the like.  She has a great knack for explaining scientific topics in clear terms, along with demonstrating abstract concepts through experiential learning.  On top of all of that, she is homeschooling two wonderful sons who are around the middle school age range.

So, obviously, you want to win this book.  How do you enter?  Enter by posting a comment below.  I would love it if you would add a favorite Earth Day-related book--some book that celebrates Nature or that talks about ways we can help save the planet.  I will also give anyone who posts this contest on their blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed five additional entries; just send me an email with the information or a webpage link.  (Last month's winner was selected from her five extra entries for passing on the information, so it does work!)  The winner will be chosen by Random.com on Saturday, April 23 (the day after Earth Day).

So add your comments, spread the word through your social network, and check back on April 23 to see if you've won.

Also like last month, we will be having a webinar to discuss educational issues related to this book.  Look for an upcoming post to find out more about that.

Pi Day Celebrations

Man, yesterday was a red letter day here with all the interdisciplinary math we had going on during Pi Day 2011!  In the morning, my son and I worked with Maria Droujkova of Natural Math on a one-page book showing division of fractions that I am writing and my son is illustrating (both of us with Maria's wise counsel, of course).

In the afternoon, we did some of our other work, but then we kicked off the evening with our traditional (well, at least we've done it for the past couple of years since Maria has introduced us to Pi Day) Pi Day dinner of Pizza Pi(e)s.  Each one of us had our own pies with varying degrees of pi-ness.

My husband's pizza was pretty typical, with pi mostly being represented by rounds of sausage:

Mine was more of a celebration of circles.  I began with a circle of ricotta cheese (an idea I took from a recent Cooking Light magazine), then a circle of organic basil, then a circle of feta cheese, then another circle of basil.

I then layered that with circles of onion, then layered tri-circles red and green pepper on top of that.

My son had the most Pi pie, though.  He cut his pepperoni and mushrooms into the shape of pi.

It was a fun and delicious way to mark Pi Day.

Then, after dinner, we had a wonderful discussion with author Joe D'Agnese about ways to use his book Blockhead:  The Life of Fibonacci in exposing students to a variety of math ideas, but also in relating math to both history and real life.  Thanks to those who joined us for the talk.  If you missed it (or want to review it), you can access the recording of the discussion through this link.

Finally, after midnight, we had the Random.org number generator pick for the winner of the Blockhead book giveaway.  The lucky winner is Ann Murphy!  Ann, please email me at ccross@mindspring.com and let me know what dedication you would like on your autographed book (if any) and the address to which to send it.  It is kind of fitting that Ann won, because she got an extra five entries because she posted the information about the contest and webinar through her social network.  So I kind of like the fact that someone with a statistic advantage actually won the Pi Day giveway--although, as I said, I left it up to the random number generator to pick the winning number.

Congratulations to Ann--let us know how you use the book once you get it.  And I will be posting the list of suggested books in a forthcoming blog post.

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day, Everyone!

This is a special day for me, and not just because we celebrate every holiday we can at our house.  This blog has two special events organized for Pi Day:

1. Today is the deadline for entering to win an autographed copy of the book Blockhead:  The Life of Fibonacci (see this post for details on entering); and
2. Tonight at 8:00 PM US Eastern Time (GMT -5.00), we will have a webinar with the author of Blockhead to discuss how to use this excellent picture book to teach not only the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, but many other math concepts (see this post for more information).

This webinar is being offered as part of the Math 2.0 series organized by Maria Droujkova of Natural Math, who wrote up these simple instructions about how to connect to the webinar:

How to join the webinar

• Follow this link at the time of the event: http://tinyurl.com/math20event
• Monday, March 14th (Pi Day!) 2011 we will meet in the LearnCentral online room at 5:00 pm Pacific, 8:00pm Eastern time.  (Check the WorldClock for your time zone.)
• Click "OK" and "Accept" several times as your browser installs the software. When you see Elluminate Session Log-In, enter your name and click the "Login" button
• If this is your first time, come a few minutes earlier to check out the technology. The room opens half an hour before the event.

Check the blog tomorrow to see if you were the big winner, and also to access a link to hear a recording of the session if you happen to miss it.

Good luck to all, and have fun today investigating all things Pi!

March Giveaway: Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci

Another month, another book giveaway.  This month's book is in honor of a March holiday that I went for WAY too many years without celebrating until I was informed of it a couple years ago by Maria Droujkova of Natural Math.  That holiday is Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14 in recognition of the Pi number of 3.14159265.....well, click here for the first million digits of Pi.

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised that the book I'm giving away this month is Blockhead:  The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese.  I love this book, as I've attested in my review on my blog; we've used it not only for math, but for a variety of subjects ranging from cooking to poetry.  As I explained on my blog post, Picture Books for Middle Schoolers, that while the book is written for an elementary school audience, I think middle schoolers--and perhaps older--can find deeper levels in the books than the younger students, making it appropriate for a wide age range of readers.  But you can make your own judgement for your children by viewing parts of the book at its own website.

However, as wonderful as the book is itself, the copy we will give away will be extra special because it will be signed by the author himself!  So you want to be sure to enter.  To become eligible for the drawing, you need to add your name to the comments below.  Although it is not a requirement, I would love you to also include in your comment the title of a math-related picture book that you and/or your family recommends.  This will allow us to create a list of other math picture books to share with readers of this blog.

You can also earn additional entries by helping me to spread the word about this contest.  So if you post an announcement about this on your blog, your Facebook page, or your Twitter account, email me at ccross@mindspring.com to let me know, and I will give you an additional five entries to the one you get by entering a comment.

To get an idea about the beautiful graphics in this book, please watch the following two-minute trailer:


Good luck to all applicatants.  The winner will be chosen after midnight on Pi Day by Random.org through a random number simulation process.  Be sure to check back here on March 15 to find out if you are the lucky winner!

UPDATE:  We have now scheduled a free webinar with the author!  Check this blog post for details.

Donate to New Zealand Earthquake Relief and Get Free Curriculum from CurrClick

I've written previously about CurrClick, a prime electronic source for downloadable curriculum.  They, and some of the curriculum developers they represent, are running a new giveaway to raise money for relief efforts for the recent earthquake in New Zealand.  For a donation of $20  (100% of which goes to the New Zealand Red Cross), they will allow you to download a bundle of curricula that normally sells for $230.  Or if you don't want that, you can make a $5 donation through their site, with, again, all money going to the victims in New Zealand.


There are 27 different curricula in the bundle.  Of course, not all are at the middle school level, but many of you teaching middle schoolers also have other children of different ages.  There is a lapbook about New Zealand Flags and Symbols, which could be useful for discussing this disaster with children of any age.  There are some generic tools, like field trip notebooks pages and a meal planner, along with some interesting-looking resources on Shakespeare and Da Vinci.  But one resource I can recommend specifically for middle school students is the Bite-Size Physics book by Science Jim.  This 271-page ebook, which by itself normally sells for $35, contains 25 lesson plans and over 70 experiments on such topics as mechanics, energy, thermal dynamics, and static electricity.  We own this book, and have been fortunate enough to have taken both online and face-to-face classes with Science Jim (Mueller), and I can tell you that he is fantastic!  So if all you download from your donation is this book, you've already gotten a deal on a great educational resource and helped some people in distress.  What can be better than that?


Click here to see the details on the $20 New Zealand Charity bundle.


Or, click here to donate $5.00 to the New Zealand Red Cross via CurrClick.

February Giveaway: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

I had so much fun with the HOAC giveaway we had at the end of the year, I've decided I would just do some giveaways on my own.  I thought that the best way I could show my support for some of the books that my son and I just love and think should be better recognized is to buy another copy and give it away to one of the readers of my blog.  I hope it will send a little income towards some wonderful writers and raise some awareness of their books.

So in honor of Valentine's Day, my February giveaway will be the humorous, yet thoughtful, book by Tom Angleberger, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  I've written about this book before, and included it in my Newbery 2011 Top 5 List.  But here is my Valentine's Day description of the book:

If you are in 6th grade, and just starting to tip your toes in the murky waters of relationships with the opposite sex, would you take dating advice from....Yoda?  And not real Yoda, but a Yoda finger puppet made out of paper through origami?  A finger puppet that sits on the finger of Dwight, the weirdest kid in school?  

But as more and more of Origami Yoda's predictions come true, Dwight's classmates start to wonder what the deal is.  They work together, writing down their separate experiences in a shared notebook, trying to figure out what is going on.  Could Origami Yoda possible be the real deal?  Is the Force actually with him?  Or could they, maybe, have underestimated the unusual students who voices Yoda's predictions?

This book is a funny and easy read, and it is easy for students who are around the middle school age range to relate to the characters.  It's a great book for boys--who love solving mysteries and Star Wars--as well as for girls--since it deals with relationships and even--GASP--emotions.  It has a satisfying ending, a great message, AND--instructions for making your own Origami Yoda.  What 10-14 year old can't find something in that combination to love?

So, for a chance to win this FABULOUS book, you just have to enter your name in the comments section below.  If you can, I would love it if you would also recommend a book relating to love (for Valentine's Day) that is appropriate for this age group.  It doesn't have to be romantic love (or really, like--mostly, people aren't truly falling in love until the YA novels, but tend to have crushes and such in the early adolescent books)...it can be familial love, platonic love of a friend, love of a pet or animal, whatever.  But only your name is required.

Because my goal is to get more people to hear of these lovely books that I think are under-acknowledged, I would also love for you to send out this information through your networks.  So anyone who announces this giveaway through their blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed, email loop, or other social network will get an additional five (5) entries under their name.  You can just email me at ccross@mindspring.com to let me know that you are helping to spread the work, and I will give your name five more chances (but you need to sign up through the comments as well).

The winning entry will be selected by the random number generator at Random.com on--when else?--Monday, February 14.  Be sure to check back then to find out if you won!

But even if you don't win--look for this book at your local library, or go buy your own copy.  It's a fun, uplifting book for this age group.

Win a FREE Summer Camp from Museum of Life and Science in Durham

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham has announced its 2011 summer camp schedule, and it has several great options for middle school students.  Even better, the Museum is running a giveway where  one family will win a week-long camp at the Museum, and another will win a week-long camp at the Museum's new Chapel Hill camp location at Rashkis Elemetary School (which isn't running middle school programs, but may still be good if you have younger children as well).

To enter for the free camp, you need to submit your name on a form on the website that you can find here.  Complete your form by April 30, 2011 in order to be eligible.  If you have already enrolled in the camp (JUST in case you didn't win), they will reimburse your tuition.

Or you can sign up the old-fashioned way--by paying.  They begin accepting camp registrations from Museum members on February 1, and from the general public on February 22.

Here are the descriptions of the middle school camps:

Animal Husbandry

Thinking of becoming a veterinarian, or just like working with animals?  Join us for an abbreviated version of Vet School and learn about animal anatomy, physiology, nutrition and behavior.  Find out how the Museum designs habitats, prepares meals and otherwise cares for our animals, and meet some of them up-close!

Grades 6–8
June 13, July 25, Aug. 15 

LEGO® Robotics

Spend a week using LEGO® building elements, motors, and sensors to build robots and program them to complete a challenge. Go head to head with other groups to see what your robot can really do!

Grades 6–8
June 27
July 11
August 8

Congo Conservation

Do you know what Bongos and Bonobos are?  Learn about many of the unique plants, animals and people that live in the Congo.   We’ll explore some of the threats facing the Congo today as well as the efforts to conserve it. 

Grades 6–8
June 20
July 4

Wayfinding and Geocaching

Using the outdoor classroom at the Museum as base camp, we’ll use longitudinal and latitudinal directions to figure out where we are and where we are going. We’ll even create a “cache” or treasure box at the Museum for visitors to find while geocaching!

Grades 6–8
July 18, August 1

I've never done any of their camps, but their general education programs are excellent, so I'm sure these are fun and valuable learning opportunities.

FREE and Half-Priced Curricula at CurrClick Secret Sale

Shhhhhh CurrClick has a secret...
CurrClick, one of the largest providers of e-book and other online curricula for all levels and disciplines of undergraduate study, is having a Winter Whisper sale.  The deal is that they have a "secret" page of FREE and half-price curricula that you can't find just by going to their normal website (like the links above), but only by having access to the special sale links.  However, they encourage those who have access to the links to share them with their networks....it's kind of a "word of social networks" kind of sale.

The good news is that for those of you who didn't win the Hands of A Child give-away I had on my blog at the end of the year, you can get a free HOAC lapbook unit on Snakes by going to this page.  There is another free lapbook unit on Amphibians from A Journey Through Learning, so you can combine them into a nice herpetology lesson.  But my favorite on the Freebie page is a comprehensive set of forms that you can use for homeschooling record keeping....attendance, book lists, lesson plans, even high school transcript forms!  Once again, click here to get to the special Freebies page.

There are also HUNDREDS of other curricular packages that are discounted to half price or so on this special sale page.  For example, one that I just purchased was by A Journey Through Learning called "An Overview of the 19th Century (A Unit Study with Correlating Copy Work and Games)."  Geared for upper elementary through middle school, it is the spine of American history in the 1800's.  While I think it needs some supplementing for the middle school level, it has some great visuals and timelines and such that help the students link together the various aspects of this busy time in American history.  This is exactly the kind of curriculum that I wouldn't necessarily buy at the full price of $17.00, but since we are studying 19th century history this year, it is worth the sale price of $8.50 to me not to have to go find all these timeline images and such on my own.  But you have to go through the  sale page to get it for this price (which I why I can't give you a link to go directly to this particular package).

Anyway, there is lots of good curricula at a really good price, so go check it out.  But the sale is only running until January 19, 2011, so you only have about one week to download the freebies or buy the others at a discount.  And feel free to forward this information to your friends, colleagues, or other networks.  I know we can all use some bargains at this time of the year!

Lapbook Curriculum Give-Away: Only Four More Days to Enter

I'm heading up to Washington DC today to see my father and other members of the Cross family, so I don't have time for a long post.  But I did want to remind people that the last day to enter the drawing for a FREE lapbook curriculum package from In the Hands of a Child is Friday, December 31.  To enter, read my earlier blog post announcing the give-away.  To see the MANY different subjects that HOAC has prepared lapbook or notebook curricular packages on, visit their website.

Finally, if you aren't familiar with lapbooks, Squidoo has a wonderfully visual resource on lapbooking.  A homeschooling mom who goes by the name of Jamin also has a good list of links about lapbooks.  (Actually, if you are homeschooling, she has a lot of good links on a bunch of topics, including an America Girl Club, a Boys Reading Club, and Mad Science, so I recommend you check her blog out.)

Christmas 2010 Blog: Win a Free Curriculum Package!

While, of course, I always try to emphasize the spiritual qualities of Hanukkah and Christmas, I have to admit that I like the presents as well.  And now I have the opportunity to pass on a present to one lucky reader to this blog, thanks to a blogging giveaway program being offered by In the Hands of a Child, a renowned lapbook curriculum developer.  HOAC will give a free bundle pack* (which includes a printed project pack, kit pack, and answer key if available, and is valued at $40) to a randomly-selected person who enters their HOAC wish list below.


In the Hands of a Child is a partnership between a few homeschooling families who have turned unit studies they developed for their own children or homeschooling communities into complete lapbook curriculum packages.  If you are not familiar with lapbooks, they are a hands-on way to record information on any topic.  Students complete "mini-books" on various aspects of that topic and paste them all into a framework made by pasting two or more file folders together.  It usually depicts information in a visual way, with space for students to write relevant information, in small chunks on papers that fold or flap or open up or are enclosed in a small envelope, etc.  This makes it a great tool for visual and/or kinesthetic learners, as well as for students who get overwhelmed by a large topic and prefer working on manageable bits within the larger subject matter.


I have used a number of their packages, and can attest to their high quality.  To be honest, we usually don't do the entire lapbook, but I often use some of their mini-books for a hands-on activity to accompany a topic we are studying.  So while they are designed to be stand-alone studies, they can also be useful for supplemental materials to accompany another curriculum you might be using.  And, particularly for older students, they also offer much of their curriculum in a notebooking (that is, doing a lot of guided writing on designated notebook pages for specific items within the topic) format as well as for creating a lapbook.  Finally, their prices are reasonable, their customer service is good, and they are generous to the educational community.  They are often giving things away (like this promotion), and always have at least one unit on their site available for free download (right now it is "Study Any Great Painter") at: http://dev.handsofachild.com/index.phpoption=com_jdownloads&Itemid=3&task=viewcategory&catid=3  Finally, their materials cover the gamut of disciplines and age ranges.  While they have hundreds of units at the elementary level, they have 250 items that are suitable for middle schoolers, 128 for early high school, and 80 for upper high school.


So for a chance to win a free printed lapbook/notebook package* (NOT just a downloadable ebook, which is what I usually get), what you have to do is to visit the website of In the Hands of a Child and/or to download their 2010 catalog at  http://dev.handsofachild.com/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=3&task=view.download&cid=2  .  


Then chose five HOAC units for your wishlist and enter them using the link below by December 31, 2010.  I will randomly select one name and forward it to HOAC, who will mail that person their bundle pack* the first week of January.


HOAC is having this giveway in honor of the fast-approaching release of their 400th curriculum package in early 2011.   There will be even more prizes during that event, so you might want to get on their email list to catch all the buzz at that time.


Enter your wishlist and contact information below by December 31, 2010, and good luck to all contestants!


*Fine print--Due to the high postage costs, if my randomly-selected winner lives outside the United States, HOAC will instead give them a free download of one of their ebook packages (which is still a good deal, because that is what I usually buy).  But I love my many international readers, so please enter as well, and I'm sure you will enjoy the ebook if you win.


Also, entering your contact information is only for the purpose of contacting the winner.  I will not be giving the other email addresses to HOAC, nor will I be using them.  So entering the contest will not get you on any email list or anything else that will be generating even more spam for you to deal with.