“12 Hours of Christmas” Giveaway Coming up December 1!

Our 2nd Annual “12 Hours Of Christmas” Giveaway on our Facebook group page is coming up December 1, from 9am until 9pm (Mountain Time)! If you are one of our (currently) 4,421 members, you are invited! This is a high energy, much-anticipated event. I try to plug in all my giveaway sleuthing savvy for this. 😉

Want to have a sneak peek at some of the prizes that will be offered (and, as always, you need only to comment on the postings you like in order to enter…I don’t make my people jump through a bunch of hoops)? I’ve got a nice mix of some homeschool-y stuff and some fun-and-pampering stuff. 🙂 Here is what I have thus far:

Winners choice between two lovely items from Spark of Amber jewelry
$15 Usborne Gift Certificate
From Little Giant Steps, a copy of Rapid Recall Addition
A copy of “A Victorian Christmas” from NIA Unit Studies
A $25 Gift Certificate from 31 Gifts
A copy of “The HomeScholar Guide to College Admission and Scholarships”
5 Demme Digital Packs from Math U See
The Slimy Squishy Polymer Bucket of Fun from Educents
Comprehension Quickies Binder from Remedia Publications
10 Yearly subscriptions from Mobicip
$20 Gift Certificate and a discount from Lilla Rose
Art kit from Art Kits
Two Truth Quest History Guides (winner’s choice)
Gift pack of Black and Latte coffees from Organo Gold
Copy of “Behavior Charts and Beyond“
$30 Gift Certificate from Scentsy
Copy of “Hoodwinked” by Karen Ehman
Hand crocheted head band from Chronicles of Yarnia
1-year subscription to DrawSpace
Mommy Wellness Basket from Healthier Living With Hillary
Christmas Fleece Blanket and a Copy of the book the Jolly Christmas Postman from EDL Joy Books
Essential Oil trio from doTERRA
4 Christmas Solitude piano CDs from Steve Sensenig
$25 Gift Certificate from Paparazzi Accessories
Homeschool Curriculum Kit from Auto Upkeep
Lifetime membership (plus a DEEP discount at the end of the event) from Lessontrek
A dozen delicious truffles from Bittersweets Chocolate
Homeschool Mega Basket from Order Out Of Chaos, including:An Academic Planner, copy of “What’s the Deal with Teens and Time Management” Book, one hard DVD of “It’s 10:00PM; Have You Done Your Homework Yet?-Tips and Tools for Organizing Your Student”, one ream of reinforced filler paper — wide ruled, one package of Wrist Notes-The to-do list you wear”,and assorted student organizing products from SMEAD.
From our delightfully oily friends at Plant Therapy, we’ll have a kid-friendly set of essential oils and synergies.
As a nice Christmasy addition, we have a hardbound copy of “Christmas With Anne” from the wonderful folks at Sullivan Productions!

Hopefully, I have a few more items coming, but this is already shaping up to be a great event! Come on over and join Schoolin’ Swag to enter for these goodies. Don’t forget to mark your calendars!

Fabulous, Free "Not Back to School Summit" at HECOA (with Awesome Giveaways!)

Posting from HECOA Director, Dianne McLean:

GIVEAWAYS!!! Hey everyone, just wanted to remind you that we have weekly giveaways that end every Friday at noon at Home Education Council of America. This is part of our summer Not Back to School celebration!

This week, Unlock Math is giving away a full year membership ($349 value!), Order out of Chaos is giving away student planners ($50 package), PlanitWisely is another planner being given away (full year at $49 value), Homeschool Tracker is giving away a membership ($59 value), Mystery of History is offering their full Volume 1 on mp3 audio ($40 value), Times Tales is giving away some DVD’s, and ABC Mouse a $95 subscription.

How do you enter?? Super easy. Register for Not Back to School (our upcoming FREE online conference with 30 speakers and more than 50 live presentations), and then head to the Celebration Page. All of the giveaways are there on the page!! Enter as many as you would like (it’s all about the “share”), but ENTER. Because someone has to win, it might be you!

If you are familiar with the great giveaway events I’ve had at Schoolin’ Swag, you can look forward to the same quality products and services to be offered as giveaways for this event! I’ve contacted some of my favorite folks to jump on board and join us in offering terrific encouragement and incentives. Click here to get your free ticket for the Summit, and join the fun in the Celebration Room!

Homeschool Product Review: Order Out of Chaos Academic Planner

My sweet friend Leslie Josel, sent me a couple of her beautiful Academic Planners to take for a test drive this school year. I was going to wait until we were actually using them to post a review; but I’m so excited about them that I wanted to jump right on it and get the word out, so folks could get theirs ordered before August rolls around!

The planner is available in four different styles, to suit your taste. I loved the blue kaleidoscope design! The front and back are beautifully colored vinyl…very durable! I love the size of this planner, too…a generous 7″ x 11″ which gives plenty of space to write, as compared to impractical “pocket” planners. It is also 3-hole punched to fit into a binder, if you so wish!

I’ll post some photos here to show you the inside (click to enlarge). This is a great, intuitive organizational tool that is easy to use, without a lot of flipping around…and it teaches the student how to own their school planning!

If you need help, Leslie will hold your hand a little bit!

Write in your subjects and activities once on the left, and they line up with each day's pages! — Write in your subjects and activities once on the left…

Here is a nifty video, explaining the perks of this great tool:

As a perfect accompaniment to the planners, Leslie was gracious enough to include her new book, “What’s the Deal With Teens and Time Management?” What a great pairing! The handy little book covers everything from procrastination (oh boy!) to homework strategies. These are important life skills for your teen! Click here to preview!

Speaking of teens managing their time, while you’re at it, sign up for the FREE Back to School Webinar (Monday, August 17, 8pm EST), targeted specifically for middle and high schoolers, titled “Have You Done Your Homework Yet?”–click here!