Library Book Sales (which I still refer to as book fairs for some reason) are like the floating craps games of the literary world – except everyone’s a winner.  Despite my arguments against coercive funding of public libraries in general and my problems with my local President of the Morgan Hill Friends of the Library I’ve been haunting library book sales since I was old enough to leave the house on my own.  And I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of a single one without new reading material under my arm.

This afternoon I stopped by the Friends of the Milpitas Library Fall Book Sale and walked out with my wallet $25 lighter, but my bookshelf 13.2 pounds heavier (and those were all paperbacks!)  At a price of $1.50/inch I managed to find 25 new books for my personal library.  Everything from the 1977 In Search of Myths and Monsters by Alan Landsburg (with a foreward by Leonard Nimoy!), to The Analects of Confucius as translated and annoted by Arthur Waley, and from Look and Learn French by Anna Balakian  to help Zaira withe her French lessons which are entirely online) to What’s the Number for 911? America’s Wackiest 911 Calls by Leland H. Gregory III (because Z’s mom used to be a 911 dispatcher).  Not to mention more than a dozen “classics” including To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which is required reading for Z’s English class this year, but we’ve been unable to find in a half dozen rips to vaious used book stores.

Speaking of used bookstores… I still have that fetish as well, and since I’m home schooling Zaira now we’ve been making more trips then ever.  But the last time we visited Book Buyers in Mountian View we picked up 10 books for  $65.  We regularly have the same experience at my favorite local used book store: Recycle Books in downtown San Jose. As much as I love them, they just can’t even come close to the bargains available at library book sales.

I just today discovered a great new resource for book sale lovers such as myself.  It’s called, simply enough, Book Sale Finder.  They list literally thousands of library and private book sales around the country all organized by location and date.  Best of all is their Sale Mail feature which will send you an email whenever a book sale is coming up in your area (defined by the number of miles from your zip code you’re willing to travel).  I just discovered the site today so can’t provide any feedback on how well Sale Mail works, but the site’s been around for more than 15 years now and was written up in Woman’s Day magazine a few years back so I’m guessing it works pretty well.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Why I Love Library Book Sales!

• Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas - September 23, 2009 - 4 common tags
• Who Knew I Could SAVE Money By Homeschooling? - December 21, 2007 - 2 common tags
• ForumFinder Blog Carnival – Premiere Edition - September 29, 2008 - 2 common tags
• Drug War Insanity Comes To Morgan Hill - November 9, 2007 - 2 common tags
• Brightstorm Offers Online Video Classes - December 9, 2008 - 2 common tags

The biggest challenges thus far in home schooling Zaira have been P.E. and meeting other CAVA students.  In hopes of achieving both in one step we headed up to Milpitas yesterday for a few hours of dodgeball at Great Jump Sports, billed as “the ultimate trampoline party experience”.

Essentially, the entire building is occupied with two very large sections of trampoline (enough trampoline space for more than 100 simultaneous jumpers!) with one dedicated to “general jumping” and the other set aside for dodgeball games.  At this CAVA event about 20 kids and adults competed in about a dozen matches over a two hour period.

Zaira (who hates anything resembling physical activity, much less actual exercise) had more fun then she’s had in ages and worked up a huge sweat in the process as well.  So it seems we knocked the “physical education” half of our challenge out, but unfortunately, the other half remain s daunting.

There was a 14 year old from Santa Cruz there, but she wasn’t playing dodgeball and was there seeking other high school students.  There was also a 13 year old boy and a 12 year old girl, but with the intensely competitive dodgeball games Z didn’t get a chance to grab any numbers or email addresses.

Still, the outing was successful overall and I highly recommend Great Jump to anyone looking for a unique and interesting workout method.  Personally, I can’t wait until the promised dodge ball tournaments and/or leagues materialize.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Exercise Trampoline: How Much Fun Can You Have? (fitnesstipsforlife.com)

Post from: Philaahzophy

Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas

• Why I Love Library Book Sales! - September 26, 2009 - 4 common tags
• Brightstorm Offers Online Video Classes - December 9, 2008 - 4 common tags
• Why Are You On The Road To College? - May 3, 2008 - 2 common tags
• Who Knew I Could SAVE Money By Homeschooling? - December 21, 2007 - 2 common tags
• University Doesn’t Mean What It Use To - November 4, 2007 - 2 common tags

As my regular readers know I spend an inordinate amount of time and effort stressing out over Zaira’s education (or lack thereof) in the public school system. Since my custody agreement gives me little control over where she attends school I’m always looking for alternative ways to increase her learning opportunities. So, when Brightstorm asked me to review their offerings for middle and high school students I jumped straight to the head of the line.

The courses in Algebra II, Geometry, SAT skills, and AP History or Government all seemed a little too advanced for Z, so I let her choose a course from either the Writing or U.S. History sections. She was torn between The Foundation of Your Rights with Eric Shed and Decadent Devices in Rich Writing with Jennifer Strickland, but leaning towards the writing course to hel pher with her blogging.  After reading the individual course descriptions which contain “episode guides” to each of the lessons her choice was clear:”The writing class with the cooking lady”.

Our first step, of course, was to sign up for a free Brightstorm acocunt, which was as painless as any sign-up process elsewhere on the web. Then I purchased the class ($49 for 16 videos ranging in length from 5 to 15 minutes each) and off we went…

The first video is a class introduction in which Ms. Strickland introduced us to her family and regularly emphasized the last syllable in her name: “Welcome to Strickland”.  Rather pointless, though occaisionally (inadvertently) humorous.We then watched the first lesson: Capers with Strickland which gives an overview of the writing process.  Although I write for a living I don’t really give the process much thought anymore and was pleased to discover that I still follow the recommended procedure (more or less).  Zaira, more importantly, felt wiser for the watching and is looking forward to the remaining lessons.  We both very much got the impression that Ms. Strickland speaks more like a kindergarten or elementary school teacher, but the lesson was clearly intended for older students.  She was definitely trying to make the lesson a fun experience and succeeded at some level because Z enjoyed herself while learning.  I can’t really judge the value of the courses for us until Z views a few more episodes and starts to apply the lessons learned, but I have a feeling it will be well worth the $49 price tag when all is said and done.

The only ‘problem’ we had was that I purchased the class for Zaira and informed the site of that, even providing her email address.  They sent her an “Aahz invited you to Brightstorm, click here to Sign up for a free account” email, but when she clicked through and filled out the form was told “Based on the information provided you are not eligible to create a Brightstorm account.” No actual reason was given, though so we’re a bit confused as to why. Until that gets sorted she’ll just watch the videos through my account.

Overall, I think Brightstorm is certainly an option to consider if you (or your student) is concerned about the education they’re receiving at their primary place of learning.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Brightstorm Offers Online Video Classes

• Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas - September 23, 2009 - 4 common tags
• Why Are You On The Road To College? - May 3, 2008 - 3 common tags
• Talkin’ Turkey - November 26, 2008 - 3 common tags
• Live Blogging Thanksgiving 2008 at The Caverns - November 26, 2008 - 3 common tags
• Is It Time To Return To School? - September 17, 2007 - 3 common tags

As I get further and further along the path to homeschooling Z I’ve been researching different areas. The latest has been the actual cost of schooling her myself (considering I’ll still be paying taxes to the useless public schools). It turns out that, thanks to www.CostCaptain.com I can actually save money on a bunch of computer software when I start home schooling her. For example, the Standard Edition of Microsoft Office 2007 usually costs around $210, with the (limited) student edition costing around $140. But, at Cost Captain you can get the full Standard edition for only $129.99! They even offer gift certificates, so if you’ve still got a home schoole, teacher, or college student on your Christmas list, or you’re looking for another stocking stuffer for ‘em, then this just may be what you’ve been looking for.

Post from: Philaahzophy

Who Knew I Could SAVE Money By Homeschooling?

• Cost Captain Comes Through With Academic Discounts - July 10, 2008 - 3 common tags
• Why I Love Library Book Sales! - September 26, 2009 - 2 common tags
• Trampoline Dodgeball at Great Jumps Milpitas - September 23, 2009 - 2 common tags
• The Manhattan Project Of Computer Clocks - September 29, 2007 - 2 common tags
• Pretty Good Privacy Is An Understatement With PGP - December 17, 2008 - 2 common tags