Have a Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the New Year!

Hello friends,

I hope that you have gotten all of your Christmas shopping out of the way and are able to spend time with your friends and family. I will be spending the next few weeks making wonderful memories with my family. I look forward to sharing more information with you in the new year. Be sure to check out great holiday activities that you can do with your kids during the break at The Homeschooling Mom's website and also at TOS Magazine's Schoolhouse Store. Merry Christmas and may God bless you all abundantly more than you can imagine in the new year!

In Him,
Jan Archer and Family

Black Friday/Cyber Monday for Homeschoolers!

I just found a terrific site that is offering tons of free stuff for today only. But, even if you don't make it there by the end of the day, you can still join their mailing list and get a freebies every week. They have some really great items and offer great deals all year long. Check 'em out! You'll be glad you did! Click here to get to CurrClick - Curriculum in a Click!

The Old School House Magazine is offering their one-year, print (U.S.) subscriptions for $7.95 during their Black Friday sale which runs through Sunday. All those subscribing before December 7 will receive their Winter issue. (Subscriptions received after that will begin with the Spring Issue.) PLUS, you can select 10 gifts of your choice—there are 19 gifts from which to choose. There are only 1500 of these gift packs available so you'll want to hurry!

 

Shop Smart!

Eat Better America has a ton of coupons! Save money by eating better at Eat Better America

CVS allows you to get a $5 eGift Card for every $25 gift card that you purchase. We're talking FREE MONEY here!!!

Want to see more great deals like these? Check out My DFW Mommy for great savings everyday!

 

Featured Friend

At least once a month I like to feature a friend who is helping others successfully homeschool their children. This first Featured Friend is actually the person that inspired me to start this blog. After seeing The Frugal Homeschooling Mom Blog,I thought that it looked like so much fun and, Deana really made it look easier than it is...some folks are just naturally talented and Deana from The Frugal Homeschooling Mom blog is one of those folks.

The Frugal Homeschooling Mom is a blog for frugal mothers of preschoolers who are interested in homeschooling, now and/or in the future elementary/middle/high school years. The author, Deana, is a stay-at-home mom to a 3 year-old named Laynie Grace. She has a unique perspective on homeschooling because she used to be a Master-level teacher in the North Carolina public school system. Deana provides tips for living abundantly on a small budget, including how to homeschool free or as cheaply as possible, free stuff, giveaways, product reviews, field trip reviews, and good deals. She also provides information for those who are figuring out why to homeschool. She invites readers to join her on her journey as she shares all she’s learning about homeschooling and living the frugal life.

Click on the button below to check out her blog and learn something new. I know I have learned as well as saved a lot thanks to The Frugal Homeshooling Blog!

Click here for online shopping from a huge selection of kids and family games, hardware, and accessories for Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox

Customer #128,000 Takes All!

Hey everyone~

Have you heard about the Win Big promotion at the one of my favorite sites The Schoolhouse Store? Customer #128,000 gets $499 worth of gifts to include: Biology 101, The Richest Christian Game, Homestead Blessings DVD’s, music CD’s, a $45.00 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store, and much more! But hurry, the store is already on customer #127,257!

Here is the link for more details on the Win Big opportunity:

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschooling/You-Could-Win.htm

New Work At Home Job Lead for Teachers

I just got an newsletter from Veritas press and saw that there was a job opening for Online Teachers. I thought some of you might be interested so check it out!

Future Job Openings with Veritas Press Scholars Academy
Online Teachers-We are hiring now for next year! With the rapid growth of our online courses we continue to seek more teachers for the future. Experienced teachers can work from home, the beach, or anywhere high-speed internet is available. Send résumé to bruce@veritaspress.com.

Money Savers

Education isn't cheap; even when it's done at home If you choose to buy a complete curriculum for your kids it can cost anywhere from $200.00 to over $1000.00. That doesn't even include the school supplies you'll need like paper, pencils, crayons, map pencils, pens and the list goes on and on. There are some things that you can do to save some money though.

One of my favorite places for free materials is the public library. We go once a week to the library and pick up award winning books, educational videos and listen to free concerts given by local musicians. The library in my town is a great resource but it's not the only one. I am fortunate enough to live right between two large cities and am able to go those larger libraries as well.

A great way to save on curriculum is to buy used. There are a couple of great homeschooling stores in my area that offer used curriculum for much lower prices. A lot of families will buy an entire year of curriculum and find out that they don't like it and then need to sell it to these stores in order to buy a curriculum that they like. This is a great opportunity for you to get workbooks that were hardly used.

I love the E-books that I find at The Homeschool Magazine  They offer several freebies and the E-books that aren't free are very reasonable. You can find E-books all over the internet and most of them are a lot cheaper than books you can buy. If you prefer to read something on paper, you can always print the book out on recycled paper. I use the backs of bills, letters, etc. for printing E-books as well as worksheets.

Speaking of worksheets, you can find great educational products at Teacher Created Resources. They have several free templates for fun worksheets. Education.com is another great resource for free worksheets. You can search the web and find all sorts of free worksheets and helpful, free sites for your homeschool. Education doesn't have to cost a fortune. Stick around and we'll discover new ways of keeping the costs down together :-)

Handwriting Program

My boys had THE worst handwriting and working on their writing was like pulling teeth from a tiger. UGH! Then a friend from church suggested that I use Handwriting Without Tears. So, I looked them up online at www.hwtears.com and ordered their suggested products. I want  you to know that I am AMAZED at the difference in, not only my children's handwriting, but in their attitude as well. They are able to write better, without any letter-reversal and they have a great time writing in the journals that they once hated. Jan Olsen offers plenty of products from pencils, paper, and workbooks to a very special puppet, chalkboards and music. Once you get on the website you will see that this is a very different handwriting course. It is good for older kids learning how to write in cursive too. Both teachers and parents can benefit from the products as well as the workshops that are offered on the website. When it comes to handwriting, you will want to get a hold of Handwriting Without Tears.

Great Resources

I am going to start where I started and that was with the Love To Learn Website. This website is an awesome place to find anything you could possibly want to help you with your homeschooling endeavors. Diane Hopkins and her family have been homeschooling and helping others home school their children for years. There are books to help you become a better homeschooling parent as well as supplies that you might want to use in educating your kids. Love To Learn is a website you will not want to miss!

Another fantastic website that I have found is The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. There are a ton of E-books, both free and for purchase, as well as free newsletters that you can have emailed to you. My favorite is "Home school Freebie Fridays"  So, make sure to check out The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Finally, there is a great site where your children can actually do schoolwork on-line for a very reasonable charge. Time for Learning is a wonderful computer based curriculum that you can either use as your main curriculum or you can use it to supplement your current curriculum, like we do. The kids really enjoy learning Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts online and Ed Mouse is a lot of fun too. Plus, there is an online "playground" full of educational games and fun things to do for the kids when they have done their work. Give Time 4 Learning a try. You'll be glad that you did!