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Giveaway: $500 Worth of Science amBooks to TEN Winners! (closed)

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Update:  The winners were selected and announced and we were given an exclusive 50% off discount for you.  Find out more here. Thank you to those who entered! 

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We were recenty introduced to something fascinating: active media books, or amBooks.  An amBook is an interactive science textbook.  Each amBook chapter is downloaded separately to your computer, where your student can work through it independently.  amBooks are also frequently used in schools (or homeschool co-ops!) with interactive whiteboard software.  Here’s a peek at an amBook:

Ambook2

Our Experience:  Our 11 year old son was given a Biology amBook (13 chapters) to review.  As I’m writing this, our son is working through his amBook another room, and keeps messaging me with information he is learning about ants.  “Did you know ants can…” his IM chats begin.  I love happy learning!

Within his amBook chapter, he watched a video, chose from multiple choice, and selected pictures when asked.  He finished the chapter in less than an hour, so I would suggest the amBooks are supplemental rather than a full curriculum.  We will use them for our 11yo’s student-led learning.  I love student-led learning, too!

A Review:  

amBooks won a 2011 BESSIE Award from CompuED Gazette .  The review includes:

“Science doesn’t always have to be dry and amBook proves it.  Nearly every ‘page’ of this software is packed with videos, animations (many of which are interactive) and fun ‘stuff’ for students to do on their own, or for teachers to use in classroom instruction. amBook comprehensively covers each topic with highly engaging content, illustrations and demonstrations.”

Currently, amBooks are available in these sciences:  biology, physical science, chemistry, general science, and earth science.  The books are created especially for middle school students, but could be used for both upper elementary or high school students.

Cost:  While other computer-based curriculum companies charge steep membership fees, amBooks can be purchased for just $3.99 per chapter.  They are an excellent supplement to science textbooks.

How to Learn More:  Go to Mining Gems LLC to learn more about amBooks. They have many helpful, short videos to view on each subject and on amBooks in general.

The Giveaway!

We want to give away $50 worth of amBooks to ten of you!

Each winner will be able to choose up to thirteen single chapter amBooks of his or her choice, out of the 33 available.  Each amBook sells for $3.99, so the total value for each winner is over $50.  

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Mandatory Entry:  Just leave a comment, below.  Say you want one, say hey, or say what’s frustrating about teaching science.  Say anything you like!

Additional Entries: You’ll receive an additional entry for any or each of these.  Remember to comment separately per entry.

  1. First, did you just simply comment?  That’s the mandatory entry.  Do that first.  Then, choose any or all of these:
  2. ‘Like’ the Mining Gems LLC Facebook page.  Come back here to let us know you did.  (It would be encouraging to them if you left a comment there, too!)  
  3. Watch the one-minute video on the home page of the Mining Gems website
  4. Blog about this giveaway on your blog or website with a link back to http://FreelyEducate.com, then come back here to leave a link to the blog post so we can visit you.
  5. Share this giveaway on your Facebook feed.  Come back to let us know you did that.
  6. Tweet about this giveaway.  Come back to let us know you tweeted!

6 ways enter!  Remember, leave a comment  for each entry method.

Entries are open to everyone, everywhere!  Random.org will select the ten winners.  The winning entries will be verified and the winners notified by me via email.

Entry deadline: Tuesday, October 11th, at noon CST.

I hope you win!

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p.s. Any entry problems?  Email me, Lori,  at freelyeducate@gmail.com and I’ll do a manual entry for you.  No missing out!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  13. Science is the one subject that I feel is lacking in good materials.I’m always looking for good supplements.
    PS- I also liked them on facebook

  17. I love happy, student led learning too! And I appreciate you for all the freely educating stuff you make known to the home schooling community.

  21. Watched the video and love the fact that there is voice over for the text. Trying hard to find science material for my science loving, dyslexic boy to learn with.

  30. I watched the video. Interesting! I just came home from a Mom’s Science Retreat where we did some density experiments (plus dissections and much more).

  35. The most frustrating thing about teaching science is finding fresh, lively, and updated materials. So, here’s entry #1

  36. Have been looking for online Physical Science for Middle School. Would love to try this for free.

  39. Hi. I would love to win this prize. It really frustrates me the lack of scientific equipment available for home educators – this would be a great win.

  50. I love teaching science, but there can be an awful lot of materials to find space for. Thanks for the giveaway!

  59. entry #1 comment: Over the last 10 years of HS I have found science the most difficult subject to teach. I would love to win these for my High Schoolers. Thanks Cecile

  62. Just so you know…voice over is only for selected text (such as long narrative). We are working on providing voice over for more of the text as well. Please suggest any alteration that you think would be helpful. The great thing about amBook is that it is digital and updates can be made (without you needing to purchase new ones). A feedback button is at the bottom of every page and it sends it directly to the developers.

  63. Cara – a Mom’s Science Retreat? That sounds wonderful. You should try the Measuring Volume, Mass, Density and Volume amBook. I love doing density experiments in my workshops with teachers, parents, or students. I’d love to hear more about the retreat. Is there any place that I can read about it?

  64. This is exactly one reason why amBooks were developed. Dry science textbooks should be used sparingly or, like I did with my students, only as a reference book. Otherwise, we always did hands-on stuff. By the way, a hands-on activity book to go along with the amBooks is being developed. Though there are a handful of hands-on activities (instructions/recipes) included in the amBooks overall.

  66. If there are specific items that you need for science, then end a suggestion to us. I recently found a great deal on handheld weigh balances that measure grams to the hundreth. If there is significant interest in them, then I can order a bunch and make them available on our website. Also, within the amBooks there are plenty of videos and images of actual equipment used in a lab.

  86. Hey! My daughter loves self-guided, interactive computer-based learning. Enter us in the giveaway!

  87. My son is into media and would benefit from this type of science program. Regular textbooks don’t hold his interest like this would.

  90. I watched the video. I shared it on Twitter and emailed this page to family and friends. This would be great for my kids. Please enter us in the giveaway!

  93. Love science that is interactive and visual for our visual spatial learner. Thanks for the giveaway !

  94. I was watching the video and, as if a homing pigeon, my DS appeared because he could hear science . Looks like a great learning tool !

  99. We love science here and are excited about a chance to expand our way of getting info in (entry #1)

  103. My 9 year old boy Evan loves science but I am frustrated with the current science curriculum
    Thanks!
    Olga

  106. How exciting, especially since our school does not have science books, yet we have a state science test.. So This is definitely my 1st entry!

  115. I love science and I’m always trying to find fun and interesting ways to teach it to my kids. This looks great!

  130. Thse sound very intriging way to learn and I am quote interested in them for my 12 year old also my 14 year old who both delight in new ways of learning

  163. we live in Costa Rica, it is so hard to find books in English, we would LOVE LOVE LOVE these books!!!!

  164. Just went on Facebook liked them, and now I will be sharing this with all my Costa Rican Expat Home schoolers that are underground, because it is illegal here to home school…

  170. I don’t think I’ve ever clicked a Twitter link as fast as I clicked through this one!
    I am very science oriented & science is the passion in our homeschool, so I’m a little surprised I haven’t heard of this company before. Our issue in science is that sometimes I just need something for one child to do while I give individual attention to the other child. This looks like it would be perfect for that. Thanks for the heads up!

  173. We are a small company that has partnered with Amdon, the maker of amBook, to develop products that place the learning in the hands of the student. We want to empower students to mine those gems within and make this world a better place. amBook is the first step in this process. Amdon is a successful and well known company in Singapore that has been a maker of award winning software and textbooks there. Their tag line is “Rethinking Pedagogy” and ours is “Mining the Gems Within”. If you’d like to get to know us more, then feel free to contact us. We enjoy learning more from teachers, parents, and students.

  176. This would be a great addition to what we currently use for science. Thanks for offering this!

  184. I’m trying to homeschool and go to law school, so I’m always on the lookout for the best curriculum I can find!! Books that teach well = more time for me to study!! These look wonderful!
    Entry #1 🙂

  188. Okay, as a teacher that beleives in subject intergration,who says you can only use the am books in science. I smell some awesome Economics Lessons brewing. You can utilize these books in many areas. As much as i like the sciences, I always tell my students: Scienists can think it, they can beleive it. But, without the economist, they can’t achieve it…you control the money :). Ambooks, Great products for use in all areas!

  202. I watched the video! By the way. I could not see the first entry show up in the comments and I think I have done the Entry #1 twice. Sorry!

  203. I would really love to win this. I hs 5 kids in grades 11 to kindergarten. This would be perfect for my 7th grader!

  231. Thank you for the opportunity to few your program. Unfortunately I don’t have a blog or Tweet.

  232. I would love to have this. My sons LOVE science and this will allow them to dig in even more!

  237. I’m very happy to find your material which brings science to life. Textbooks can be great but the expense of purchasing equipment makes science education in homeschooling difficult, especially for people living overseas or in remote areas. The experiment videos and the interactive work are educational, entertaining and time-saving. Kudos.

  239. We watched your video on the website yesterday and went over most of your website. We are looking for material for our junior high school-aged daughter. It would be a pleasant surprise to win. We live far from major cities and have to find educational content on the internet. Thanks for the chance.

  240. BTW, I put you on my Facebook page and I will tell our friends who are homeschooling about this.

  258. I love science, and love to teach science to my kids. However, it’s nice to have additional resources to help out. And I can speak from personal experience in my own college-level science courses that interactive lessons can really help drive a subject home.

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