Free Books!!!!

Everyone loves a freebie...and if you love books as much as we do its always nice to find some that are made available to the public for free. Over the last few months I have either stumbled upon on been directed to these great websites for literary lovers!

Heritage History: This is a website established by one of the families I have recently met who are real history buffs. It contains scanned copies of history books published prior to 1923. The copyright has expired on these books and cannot be renewed. This allows them to be made available free without breaching any copyright laws.

Authorama: These are books in the public domain and are free online by arrangement with the author or under the same copyright release.

Google Books also offers some free books that you can preview online

If you and your family are going green here are a couple of ideas for book lovers that are also eco-conscious. At Swaptree and Bookins you can trade your used books with other booklovers for free. All you pay for is postage. Thanks to Dina for sharing her tip about bookins!

Free books

We spend a lot on money on books...all sorts of books and so I am always surprised and delighted to find books that are available for free. Now I know what you are going to say...."That is what a library is for!"...but I LOVE to own books. To take my time reading them. To come back and reread them. I have my parents to thank for that habit by the way. They were book lovers and in fact one of my brothers has made books a bit of an obsession. He is a collector of rare and first edition books.

Anyway...so there are a couple of websites I have stumbled upon or been directed to which offer free online versions of books. I know there are plenty more out there and I'll post them as I come across them...but here are just a few to start with......

Heritage History: This is a website established by one of the families from my co-op. It contains scanned copies of history books published prior to 1923. The copyright has expired on these books and cannot be renewed. This allows them to be made available free without breaching any copyright laws.

Authorama: These are books in the public domain and are free online

Google Books also offers some free books that you can preview online

If you and your family are going green here are a couple of ideas for book lovers that are also eco-conscious. At Swaptree and Bookins you can trade your used books with other booklovers for free. all you pay for is postage.

When Will It End???

As a woman I reserve the right to change my mind.
Now having come from a country where snow is rare I have always delighted in seeing those little flakes floating from the sky...in fact I can say that the very first snow fall of the year makes me giddy with delight...(yes...I'm pretty easy to please) but after months on end of the fluffy stuff I'm ready for a change. This morning we woke up to more snow...now COME ON...this is supposed to be spring break. But no spring in sight here. These pictures were taken this morning on my front lawn. The kids had a ball, out there playing in it...making snow men and snow forts....it doesn't seem to worry them too much. But I'm ready for the sun...SO READY!

Oh, and I thought I'd better mention that my super sophisticated random number drawing system has selected a winner of my giveaway...the lovely Kyla at The Kreative Life . Thanks for all your wonderful comments!

Learning & Teaching Styles

I have just finished reading Cathy Duffy's Homeschool Top Picks book. This has to be a must read for the first time HSer. It has been a great leaping off point for me in selecting programs and texts that are best suited to my kids. It talks about the different way kids learn (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) and is helpful in picking curriculum that is going to work best for the different learning styles.
Cathy duffy also has a great website here which has extra reviews and articles on just about any HS subject you can think of.