Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Great sale at The Teaching Company

If you're familiar with the Teaching Company (www.teach12.com), then you know that they often have sales. (Don't ever pay full price for their titles!) But right now they're having the most amazing sale I've ever seen there--most of their titles are 50% off their "sale prices." This means that many of their 24-lecture DVD sets are now $35! There's also free shipping.

The code is: 36855

Once I put the code and one item in my cart, everything else started listing the sale price on the main (not cart) part of the website.

I bought over $250 worth of stuff and I wasn't even planning to shop. But $35 per course is WAY too good to pass up!

Happy shopping!

Thanks for introducing me to this site Kriston. You know the more time I spend on here and investigate what is available to me at home the more I find seriously lacking in the public school. I want to find a way to afford to stay home and homeschool.

Thanks Kriston!
I loved looking at the website, I did not know about the Teaching company before.
I would be interested to order some of the courses for my DS (almost 6). Do you use these to supplement your homeschooling curriculum or is it more geared for grownups?
My son loves the history channel DVD series on presidents, we borrow them from the library over and over again. Would you think these would compare as far as the difficulty goes?
I am really not familiar with these courses and would like to compile some material for next school year, as it looks that we may end up homeschooling. Which ones would you recommend, I was looking at some history ones and science and math...
I really appreciate your help. thanks.

It's high school- and college-level material. I haven't used any of it with my DS8 yet, but he is very visual, so I'm hoping to crack out some of the math to supplement/reinforce what we're doing.

Frankly, I have a hard time not buying from TTC for *me*! I don't mean to sound like a commercial, but their course descriptions are so intriguing. The "I want to major in everything" college student that I once was gets all excited!

Oh and Niki, I can't recommend specific titles since we are just dipping a toe in. But their stuff comes well-recommended by many HG+ families I know.

I have seen Arthur Benjamin speak, and I can vouch for his stuff in general, if not his TTC courses specifically. He's the "Mathmagician," and he makes math fun.

Thanks, Kriston. They seem to have a sale everyday - but I'll definitely take a look.

What does everyone recommend?

I've heard good things about geology and good things about the high school history classes, although some don't like the lecturer's silly antics (he dresses up as someone from the period of history he's describing - a positive for us).

Unfortunately, they don't offer video samples, but they do have reviews. Also, the course descriptions detail how many graphics and whether the course is good for audio and/or video. My DS doesn't care for the straight lectures w/o visuals.

Also, we once checked the prehistory out of the library. It was very slow and we returned it. The lecturer definitely subscribed to the school of tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them again. The first lecture was entirely about what he was going to talk about in the rest of the course. Then the second lecture talked about what he was going to get to in that lecture, etc. It went on and on and on. Not for us, although I'm sure others enjoyed it.

You mean The Presidents? I had to purchase that one for DS7 last year or I would have ended up with TiVo full of documentaries about presidents and no space to tape anything else.

I don't know if this one is on sale but Joy of Mathematics by Arthur T. Benjamin is a popular one among math kids.

Kriston, that is so great that you buy them for your self. The course descriptions do sound so interesting, it is like a candy store for the brain.
I have an easier time justifying the expense if it is tied to DS's education. LOL But in secrete I am looking forward to watch some of these as well.
I think DS would love the one on Abraham Lincoln, the astronomy and math....hm, what else...

Lmom, yes that is the one. DS had the president obsession for a while. One time we went on a long driving trip, and that was his choice for the car ride. Needless to say, it was very educational even for the driver.
We don't have cable, so we depend lot on PBS and local libraries. I will check the Mathematics by A.T. Benjamin.

Thanks again Kriston for pointing out such resource.

Here's a little something to help y'all feed the habit:

$20 off Coupon ($100+ order)
Code: CVSC

(If you don't have www.RetailMeNot.com bookmarked, do so now... it's a fantastic clearinghouse of discount codes. Don't buy anything online without checking this site first.)

Thank you both for the coupon codes. I got dd#1 an intro biology course for just under $90 and dh an economics course for around $35. Since that got me over $100, I got the $20 off and free shipping.

Oh, wow ... Kriston, I can't thank you enough!

Of course, now I need to retire so I have time to watch/hear all of the wonderful courses I bought!

I'm not sure if I should say "You're welcome" or "I'm sorry."

Kriston - do you know when the sale ends? I got both of the music DVDs I wanted for only $120!!! WOW! Well, I haven't hit the buy button yet .... wondering if I have a few days or if I should commit now.

Dazey

I need a $50 course to get free shipping. Any recs?

Dazey

You should be able to apply the code (code: 36855) Kriston gave and get free shipping on any order.

That's what I did. Plus the $20 off coupon.

I used both those codes (THANKS!) but it says I only get free shipping over $150. With the codes I'm down to $104.

Dazey

This happened to me, too, the first time I tried.

I had to empty my shopping cart, log out, log back in, select one item, go to cart, add free shipping coupon, update cart, continue shopping, add another item, then add the $20 coupon.

May work in other combos, but this is what worked for me.

I've worked with their cust support on a similar problem in the past. They just pulled up my cart and applied the coupon that wouldn't work for me on-line.

Hope this helps!

No clue, Dazey. Sorry. Maybe call and ask?

Thank you! I just geeked out and bought 3 sets of holiday presents. I think everybody and particularly my DH will love them. How did you get the coupon code? I thought that the sale was no longer running until I put that coupon code in?

Thanks again!

A friend on another list posted it. I'm not sure where she got it.

I just received my package... Yay!

I got the $20 Off code from www.RetailMeNot.com.

If you don't have that site bookmarked, do so now... it's a fantastic clearinghouse of discount codes.

You can have the site email you automatically with new coupons for any site(s) you choose. Very handy service.

I've saved small chunks of $$ on purchases from florists, auto parts, computer parts, office supplies... so it's definitely worth a few seconds to check before placing your order.

You need to get on their email list!

I got an email for the current four day sale. Couldn't resist classes for $19.95 to $39.95.

We have recently been watching "The Joy of Mathematics" (http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1411) that a friend loaned us.

It has been exactly what I needed! I highly recommend it!

My 8 year old son has recently "exploded" in his math abilities, going from 5th grade math in 2nd grade to halfway done with Algebra I in 3rd grade. I'm not exactly a math person, and I have really struggled with how to keep him stimulated. This DVD lecture series has been a god-send. We watch it in short increments on our car DVD player while we're driving. The course has really helped him learn to "think like a mathematician", and has really inspired him.

I've learned a lot too! My literary 13 year old daughter acts like we're torturing her whenever we watch it, but surprisingly, my 11 year old son that struggles with math enjoys it very much. I'm surprised at how well my 11 year old grasps the complex math concepts even though he makes poor grades in math and is very challenged by computation.

Okay... since "The Joy of Mathematics" has worked so well for us, I decided to get two more: "Highschool Level Geometry" (to work on as soon as DS8 finishes Algebra 1) and "Joy of Science". WIth the sale and two coupon codes I got from this thread (thanks everyone!!) the purchase will be $94.90 instead of $870.

I'm especially excited about the science DVDs, as I am wondering if I can accelerate DS8's science to catch up to his math level. Although he jumped up to highschool math easily, I'm not sure if he's ready at this point to jump up from 3rd grade science to highschool science. I'm hoping these DVDs will get him ready for for highschool science in 4th grade.

The code they sent me for the current four day sale isn't working for me, but the one posted at the top of this thread still is. Does anyone know when the two coupons here expire?

I had to post a follow-up. I bought this course back in December and have watched most of it... I loved it and have been waiting to "share" it with my son.

Unfortunately, he's been so torqued off about math this quarter that I haven't even mentioned it. Things have calmed down a bit so I decided to set my trap.

Because we rarely turn on the TV during the week, I immediately captured his attention when I powered it up tonight.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh... thought I'd fold some laundry and watch some math."

"Do I have to help fold if I watch?"
(Normally, this is the LAW in our house -- if someone wants to watch TV, they must fold laundry.)

"No... you can just watch if you want. It's just math stuff."
(Really trying to play it down... he just might take the bait.)

So he picks up the DVD case & scans the chapter titles.

"Oooohhh!!! The Joy of PI! I wanna watch that!"

-- -- --

The kid was positively riveted for the entire 30-minute lecture... it was amazing. And as tempted as I was to let him stay up late for a 2nd lecture, I decided to follow the show-biz adage of "always leave them wanting more" and sent him to bed.

Tomorrow night he wants to watch the lecture on "the imaginary number i"... and then "the number 9" ... and then "infinity." And several more.

Ha -- I got him right where I want him!
(It worked so well, I almost feel guilty... almost.)

Well done :-) I should watch that while DS is around - I bought it a while back along with several other courses and we haven't got to it so far. (We all enjoyed the particle physics ["for non-physicists: a tour of the microcosmos"] one enormously, and then started Maths from the Visual World which is stylistically a little bit of a let down after the physics - clear, but with a relatively low-energy presentation style, and DS was not immediately hooked, so we didn't carry on.)

Has your son watched the Dimensions videos? I bet he'd love them.

"Dimensions?"

I'd have to say, "no." Not sure what those are. Linky?

Thank you!

The joy of thinking [videorecording] : the beauty and power of classical mathematical ideas / Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird ; the Teaching Company ; a production of Alvin H. Perlmutter, Inc.

I just ordered the above from my library on your inspiration. I was wondering if anyone has tried this? Age?

I looked for the Benjamin one but our library does not have it. This one is from the teaching company too. $250 to buy. wow. How lucky my library has something like this.

What about something like this for enrichment at school? If he could watch on the computer with a head set that might be cool.

I haven't tried that one, but I wanted to say that a key thing to know about the Teaching Company is that you don't buy full-price from them! They have a rolling sale - everything comes round at around 25% of the headline prices at least once per year, and they even advertise the fact! Not sure why they do it this way - maybe libraries do buy full price, or maybe it gets them some accounting or tax benefit?

Whether a school would go for it as enrichment, I don't know! They might be worried about the relatively passive nature of it, but maybe for just 30 mins at a time that would be OK, and some of the courses have places to stop for exercises, too (the Chemistry one does for example).

HA I LOVE it!

Ed Burger does many of the Thinkwell math programs. He's another engaging teacher. Can't beat the price from the library, that's for sure!

To echo some of the other sentiment... don't pay full price for one of the Teaching Company tapes or videos. Instead, get yourself on their email list and be patient. Also check the retailmenot.com website before ordering, as you'll often find another coupon that you can combine with your purchase.

Dandy

oooh, yeah, thank you!