Leaping From The Box

I was recently contacted by an Alabama homeschool mom who wished to let homeschoolers in Alabama and Georgia know of this great offer! She wrote:

I homeschool in Alabama and recently learned that homeschoolers in Alabama & Georgia can receive, for FREE, the Discovery Education UnitedStreaming videos. Currently, through the end of March, the Homeschool Buyers Co-op is doing a group buy on this product. The annual subscription is normally $265, but the co-op has the price down to $129/year, but residents of Alabama & Georgia can have it for FREE any time by contacting their local public television station. I contacted APTV in Birmingham and they happily gave me a login to access the Discovery Education UnitedStreaming videos. This was all through their APTPlus program, which provides access to other things as well, all paid for by the state of Alabama.

She received this reply from APT (Alabama Public Television):

For home-schoolers to enroll in APTPLUS, please instruct the home-schooler to log on to the APTPLUS Web site at the URL listed below and click on “Contact APTPLUS.” Tell them to include their full name, address, phone number, their preferred e-mail address, the name of their Cover Group, the school district in which their children are registered, and the number and age of their children. APT staff will enroll them in the service and return their Username and Password to their e-mail address.

APTPLUS^TM is a free, online, video-on-demand, multimedia resource from Alabama Public Television (APT). It provides pre-K through adult education curriculum content, professional development, national and local video libraries, links to Alabama Learning Exchange, Alabama Virtual Library, Annenberg Media, e-Learning for Educators, the Library of Congress and PBS educational Web sites. Two password-protected databases designed specifically to serve the needs of educators, childcare professionals and parents are available upon enrollment. A single sign-on federated search enables enrolled users to search multiple databases simultaneously to access over 100,000 multimedia assets.

Discovery Education streaming (unitedstreaming) is a password-protected database of K-12 core curriculum content and professional development, aligned to Alabama state curriculum standards, that is available to educators and pre-service teachers free through APTPLUS.

PowerMediaPlus is a password-protected database of pre-K-12 core curriculum content and professional development, aligned to Alabama state curriculum standards, Alabama High School Graduation Exam and the Stanford Achievement Test, which is available to educators, pre-service teachers, childcare professionals, and parents free through APTPLUS.

Local Video Libraries offer access to “Discovering Alabama” episodes, the McWane Science Center Library (Einstein and Planet H₂O Key Concepts), What’s Up In Factories key concepts, and Alabama Reading Initiative.

Adult Education Video Libraries offer GED Connection, Workplace Essential Skills, TV411, and Going to School to APTPLUS users.

National Video Libraries provide “Frontline,” “National Geographic” and “Newshour” programming.

Additional Resources available to APTPLUS users are Thinkfinity (MarcoPolo) and Encyclopedia Britannica content.

I located this information from the Homeschool Buyers Coop website, where they are having a special promotion on the Discovery Education streaming videos through the end of March:

“Georgia and Alabama are considered “Free States” for the unitedstreaming™ Homeschool subscription. This means that if you are a homeschool parent in any of these states and you want to purchase unitedstreaming™, your local PBS station has already paid for the subscription. Contact your local PBS station for details.”

If you live in Georgia, visit the Georgia Public Broadcasting website or email their Education Program Department to request enrollment.

If so, you have come to the right place! Ask your question and I will do my best to answer it! Don’t worry, I won’t post your name and/or email address, just your question!

Email me today with your question!

The following two events were planned by an Alabama church school but are open to all homeschoolers, even those outside of Alabama. For more information, please visit Everest Academy.

• Dec 1 thru 5, 2008 – Disney World – Everest Academy will be going to Disney World in Orlando again this year. We went last year and had a blast. The trip will include a 5-day hopper pass to all four parks plus four visits to either Typhoon Lagoon and/or Disney Quest. We visited Disney Quest last year and had an absolute blast. These tickets will also include one Y.E.S. program for the students. These are absolutely wonderful programs, and my kids are still talking about the one they attended last year. The rest of the time is your’s to spend as a family. For more information, please look here: Disney Trip. This trip is open to all homeschoolers regardless of cover school, so please spread the word.
• April 25 thru 29, 2009 – Everest Academy 5 Day Cruise!!! Yes, 2009! That gives you plenty of time to plan for saving money, making plans, and getting a passport. This is going to be an awesome trip. I would love to see our group book the whole cruise! This is a phenomenal time to go as the cruise will not be that crowded, and the weather is beautiful! Everest Academy is going on an awesome five day Western Caribbean Cruise April 25 – 29, 2009 aboard the Carnival Fun Ship “Holiday”. We will have two port stops; one in Yucatan, Mexico and the other in Cozumel, Mexico. On board, we will have available to our group swimming, shows, more food than you could ever eat, Camp Carnival, art shows, etc… You can stay busy or just laze around. The choice is yours. I have arranged for us to be seated together for meals; however, this is optional depending on your family plans. For full details, please look here: Cruise.

For more information, please contact Deb Spradlin