by Katie Julius

With the growing number of homeschoolers, many companies that have traditionally offered educational or teacher discounts also extend these perks to parent-teachers who educate their children at home. Some require a teacher ID, but often a photo ID and your CHEA membership card will qualify you for these discounts. You can download your CHEA membership card from www.cheaofca.org when you login with your member account.

Adobe Systems offers an educational discount on its monthly subscription of programs in their Creative Cloud. Discounted rates are available for individual app subscriptions as well as the full suite of apps for graphic design, video editing, web development, and photography.

Looking for a new laptop or iPad? Apple Store offers varying discounts on its products and accessories through the Apple Education Store. Be mindful of the limit on the number of products you can purchase in a given time frame.

Joann Fabrics and Michaels Craft Store both have a teacher discount program, that, with registration, gives participants a 15% discount on all eligible products (usually anything not already on sale). This is a great place to get your art and craft supplies for your learning activities all year long.

We all know homeschoolers love their books. Barnes & Noble includes homeschoolers in their Educator’s Discount program that offers 20% off select purchases and 25% off during Education Appreciation Days. Homeschool students must register at their local Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Most of the major office supply stores offer a rewards program and special discounts for teachers including Office Depot/Office Max and Staples. If you are a member of HSLDA, there are also additional discounts available on products and print services at Office Depot (2.5-cents for a black-and-white copy!).

Check with your local museums, zoos, and aquariums for free or discounted homeschool days or teacher admission days. Some will include homeschool teachers as part of their promotion.

During Teacher Appreciation Week in May, several places offer free or BOGO deals to teachers. This past year, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Raising Cane’s are just some of the restaurants who rewarded home educators with free or discounted meals.

This summer, Target announced a week-long program from July 13-20, 2019 when teachers can receive a 15% discount on all schools supplies as well as men’s and women’s clothing purchases. You do need to sign up in advance to receive the discount.

While not a program for teachers, your kids can earn a free child-sized pizza as part of the Pizza Hut BOOKIT! Program. You register each of your children to earn six vouchers, one per month. As the teacher, you determine what the requirement is to earn them each month once you receive them in the mail.

Do you know of any additional teacher discount programs that include home educators? Have you taken advantage of any of these discounts? Share in the comments below.

CHEA does not endorse any of the companies listed above. We are providing this list as resources to our readers. We leave the decision of whether or not to use them to each family. Information is correct and accurate at the time of publication. Confirm availability and details of each discount with each vendor.