It's an Amazon.com $100 Giveaway! Ends Soon so Hurry!

Not here on The Homeschooling Blog, but just a mouse click away at Mama Chocolate Blog! Enter using the RC form below. 

This giveaway ends in just 14 hours from the time I'm posting... not necessarily 14 hours from the time my subscribers found the giveaway notification in their inbox.

a Rafflecopter giveawayGiveaway brought to you by MROStop Industrial Products. Visit the giveaway page here.

Wendy Lindsey

Wendy is the blessed mom to a 10 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome, a beautiful 9 year old daughter, & 6 children (miscarried) in heaven. She's temporarily given up homeschooling to give her son the peer modeling he was missing at home, essential for proper development in a child with autism. Currently she works full-time with special needs children as a para-educator.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Bloggers Wanted for $500 Christmas Cash Giveaway Event... and it's FREE!

Christmas Cash Event hosted by Mom Powered Media

Prize: $500 Visa Gift Card OR $500 Paypal Cash OR $500 Amazon Gift Card {winner’s choice}

Event dates: 12/5 - 12/26

Free Blog Event! Sign-up here, BLOGGERS WANTED

Either pay $3 to participate in this Christmas Cash Giveaway or participate for free in return for soliciting bloggers! Learn more by following the link above. 

Participation in blogging giveaways is a GREAT way to INCREASE blog TRAFFIC! 

Be sure to tell them Wendy with The Homeschooling Blog sent you!!! 

If you're not a blogger, but could use some cash, be sure to return to The Homeschooling Blog on December 5th to start collecting your entries! Follow us and we'll send you a reminder!

Wendy Lindsey

Wendy is the blessed mom to a 10 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome, a beautiful 9 year old daughter, & 6 children (miscarried) in heaven. She's temporarily given up homeschooling to give her son the peer modeling he was missing at home, essential for proper development in a child with autism. Currently she works full-time with special needs children as a para-educator.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Extreme Flash Giveaway! 3 Winners, 3 Days Collect Entries!

Welcome to the Extreme Flash Giveaway!
We will be giving away:

(3) $60 Amazon gift certificates

 and

(1) $50 Live Nation gift code!

Be sure to bookmark this page and keep your fingers crossed when we announce the winners on March 3rd. One winner might just be you!

If you don't have time to complete the Rafflecopter form below... no worries! You can select as few as 1 entry method, or as many as the widget is long. What's more, if you start completing entries today, you can finish tomorrow! Up until the deadline that is! lol

 Giveaway starts on Feb. 29th and ends on Mar. 2nd at 11:59 PM EST. Good luck! 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wendy Lindsey
Wendy is the blessed mom to a 10 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome, a beautiful 9 year old daughter, & 6 children (miscarried) in heaven. She's temporarily given up homeschooling to give her son the peer modeling he was missing at home, essential for proper development in a child with autism. Currently she works full-time with special needs children as a para-educator.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Nomad Press $250 Giveaway! Homeschoolers Eligible!

I'm a bit of a giveaway nut as of late. You may have taken note of this if you've been following my blog. Not only do I like to participate as a blog sponsor/host, but I also love to enter any giveaway I can find!
Today I found Nomad Press running a $250 cash giveaway for teachers... homeschoolers included! Who couldn't use a couple hundred dollars to enhance her or his classroom?

Here's the scoop... this giveaway is not a random drawing as are so many you find online. Rather, this particular giveaway requires you submit a 200 word essay sharing how you'd use the money to better your classroom. You'll then need to recruit friends and family to vote for you! So, it's more of a contest than giveaway. Sounds like a great project doesn't it? Think of it as an advertising campaign. Your kiddos can even help recruit votes. Follow the link below for complete contest rules and entry information!

Nomad Press Classroom Cash Giveaway
Open to US and Canada residents 18+
Must like Nomad Press on Facebook
Essay must be no more than 200 words
Contest runs Feb. 9th through March 9, 2012

Wendy Lindsey
Wendy is the blessed mom to a 10 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome, a beautiful 9 year old daughter, & 6 children (miscarried) in heaven. She's temporarily given up homeschooling to give her son the peer modeling he was missing at home, essential for proper development in a child with autism. Currently she works full-time with special needs children as a para-educator.
Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Win $100 to Amazon! A New Day & a New Giveaway!

Everyone loves Amazon.com (or at least they should)! If you'd like to win $100 to Amazon, visit me on Wendy's Cake Space tomorrow, January 15th and fill out the Raffelcopter widget! For every blog you follow on Twitter, you'll gain 1 additional entry into this exciting giveaway.

No time to click "follow" on 100 blogs? With Raffelcopter it's incredibly simple to do, but if you find yourself interupted by children, a phone call, or a work schedule you can come back another day to finish. Rafflecopter keeps track of your progress for you! How sweet is that? Simply bookmark the post, which you'll find by clicking on the button in this post, and return to finish before the giveaway deadline!

Blessings & Good Luck!  



Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Free Online Piano Academy and a Giveaway! ~ CLOSED~

Recently I was approached by FreePianoLessons4Kids.com with a FREE online music academy for teaching children 5-10 to play piano. Talk about exciting! I've shared piano learning programs on The Homeschooling Blog before, but never a program like this one. I think "free" is what really caught my attention.

From the creator's own words: I provide "online video piano instruction for free. Every single video lesson on the website is free (there is a charge to download supplemental activity pages and an mp3 listening album which corresponds to the lessons, but the lessons work fine without these supplemental materials). I now have 36 lessons live, and I add a new one each week. The lessons are geared for ages 5 to 10, but I've also heard from many adults who have been enjoying using my lessons. The lessons are simple and fun, yet also thorough, covering all aspects of a solid musical training, including fluency in note and rhythm reading, technique, and music theory." ~Joseph Hoffman

If you've ever paid for piano lessons you know how expensive they are. There's nothing wrong with paying someone to teach you or your children how to play the piano... it's just that not all of us can afford the expense. I LOVE that there's a solution for those of us without the means to afford traditional piano lessons!

I've watched a few of Joseph's lessons and they are clear, professional, and easy to follow. I think you'll agree this academy is worth further examination. I've also had the pleasure of examining his supplemental downloads and activity pages which sell for just $14 (and like he stated above, they're completely optional and not mandatory for following his lesson plans).

The Giveaway!

FreePianoLessons4Kids.com is offering 10 random reader's from The Homeschooling Blog the supplemental materials for lessons 1-20 absolutely free! 

These supplemental materials, while not required, are awesome if you're looking for worksheets, games, and activities for furthering your child's understanding of how to read musical notes and understand rhythm. The lesson plans retail for $14 and are provided as convenient downloads to your computer. The $14 download also includes an mp3 album which cooresponds to these initial lessons. There are 33 songs for your child to listen to as they learn how the songs should sound when appropriately mastered. Very cool!

If you're not one of the fortunate 10 to win these downloads, remember you can purchase them together for only $14. In my opinion they're well worth the price. I was given the downloads free to examine and was impressed with the quality of everything I received.

How to Enter:

You're odds of winning are high and I'm going to make this giveaway as easy as pie to enter. All you have to do is use Rafflecopter. If you don't see it below... it's still loading, so be patient! Rafflecopter makes hosting a giveaway painless for you and for me! lol When the giveaway concludes, Rafflecopter will even randomly select the winners. I'll then notify each winner via email and you'll have 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected.

Giveaway begins tonight: December 23, 2011 and will conclude on January 6th at 12:01 AM.

Choose any or all entry methods below (to increase your odds of winning). Good luck!

If you don't see the Rafflecopter giveaway widget just below.... try clicking HERE. 

Homeschooling Giveways from Across the Blogosphere

Here are my latest finds for homeschooling giveaways from the worldwide web! I've listed giveaways directly related to homeschooling along with a few that would benefit anyone... homeschooler or not! Some have deadlines approaching within the next day or two, so be sure to pay attention to the entry deadlines before submitting your entry. These are all random giveaways, hosted by other bloggers/websites and are in no way affiliated with or sponsored by The Homeschooling Blog:

• The Old Schoolhouse Planner Giveaway, retail value $39, deadline for entry is July 1, 2011, hosted by Hip Homeschool Moms
• Totally Tailored Reading Package (36 week personalized reading package for a child kindergarten through high school age), retail value $40, enter by July 1, 2011, winner drawn on July 2nd, found on: Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies
• Both Sides of the Barn Giveaway (includes planner, magazine subscription, and two books), retail value $70, deadline for entry is June 30, 2011, hosted by Home Educating Family Publishing 
• Already Compromised (a book about the state of Christian colleges), winner to be drawn June 29th (so hurry!), hosted by Homeschool Circus
• The Well Planned Day (homeschooling planner), retail value $24.95, deadline for entry July 15, 2011, hosted by My 2 Cents
• Imagination Station book giveaway, deadline for entry July 4th, 2011 (noon CDT), hosted by Guiding Light
• $50 Amazon.com, entry deadline July 11, 2011 (1 PM, PST), Sponsored by Southern Cali Saver
• $400 PayPal Cash (1 winner $300, runner-up $100), deadline for entry July 3, 2011 (12 PM EST), multiple sponsors, visit Family Friend Frugality

Have fun!

  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been hijacked. Please let me know by following this link and leaving me a comment. Thanks in advance! 

Joyful Homeschool Planner Giveaway

I just discovered brand new homeschooling blog sporting an awesome giveaway any homeschooling family would appreciate.

If you could use a homeschooling planner, visit Joyful Homeschool and get yourself entered!

This blog is exceptionally cute by the way! I wish I had the skill to make my blog pop like hers does!

Have fun & good luck!

  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been hijacked. Please let me know by following this link and leaving me a comment. Thanks in advance! 

New Edition of... Giveaways Across the Blogosphere (of interest to homeschoolers)

Welcome to The Homeschooling Blog!
I've become quite the giveaway groupie lately, meaning I follow closely blogs who frequently offer goodies to random readers. Why? Because I'm broke and love to get things in the mail! teehee If I find a giveaway offering gift cards all the sweeter... who doesn't love to shop on someone else's dime?

Since March when all my giveaway silliness began, I've earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 in gift cards, cash, and products I needed anyway! Add that to the nearly $20 I've earned from using Swagbucks as my search engine of choice, and I've been able to purchase my son a few essentials for his new gluten free, dairy free diet. Talk about expensive! Not only does his food cost more than ours, but I had to buy him his own can opener, skillet, and cooking utensils to avoid the risk of cross contamination in the kitchen. One little grain of gluten could set us back

We still have more yet to buy, so I'll be continuing to hunt down those awesome bloggers who are eager to increase blog traffic via giveaways and those who've been approached by sponsors wishing to get the word out about a great product or service. The web can be such a sweet sweet place! 

In the spirit of giving, I've done a bit of digging and found a handful of giveaways I imagine might be of interest to the homeschooling community:

Homeschooling Planner Giveaway
Educating Layton is giving one lucky winner a free homeschooling planner, valued at $20. The winner will be announced tomorrow... Friday, May 6th... so enter now! All you have to do is leave her a comment and an email addy, should your name be randomly drawn. :)

The Mystery of History Volume III Special Pkg
Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies is offering this great history package from Bright Ideas Press, retailed at $110. Once again... enter NOW! Winner will be drawn this Saturday, May 7th.


$25 Hearts at Home Gift Certificate (to their online store)
Winner will be drawn from Facebook comments on May 9th!

JCPenny $25 Gift Card
Ok... so not exclusively homeschool, but this giveaway is being offered by a homeschooler and who couldn't use $25 to put towards some clothes for the kids, or a pair of much needed shoes for you? This giveaway is being offered my Molding Minds Homeschool who will randomly choose their winner on May 20th.

ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy 3 Boys and a Dog is offering a free membership to the ABCmouse.com early learning site, with a retail value of $95.40. This giveaway ends May 17th.

That should keep you busy for awhile. :) I'll post more giveaways soon, as I find them across the blogsphere! If you'd like to share a homeschooling giveaway on my blog, please let me know via email (see my contact information). I also welcome the opportunity to host giveaways, should you have a product or service of interest to homeschoolers.

Blessings!


  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been hijacked. Say it isn't so! Oh, it be so.

Winner of the Read and Share Bible

After much delay, I'm finally announcing the winner of the Read and Share Bible Giveaway. Soooo sorry for keeping the handful of entrants waiting. We've had sick kiddos to the point I may not have a job this Fall. I've been missing too much work. Life with kids! lol

On a happier note, the winner of this giveaway is lucky entrant number 2. Congrats to Project Life Blog Queen. I'll be emailing you tonight with instructions on claiming your prize.

You'll notice the comments below total 9 in all, but one comment was a follow up by Project Life Blog Queen sharing her email... I deleted that particular comment since she provided it in one of her valid comment entries. Also... we had one comment that didn't qualify. Always be sure you read the rules! :) So... that left us with 7 valid comments and a randomly generated number of 2!

Thanks again to Thomas Nelson Publishers for gifting this book towards our giveaway!


  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been hijacked. Please let me know by following this link and leaving me a comment. Thanks in advance! 

The Read and Share Bible Giveaway! *CLOSED*

This giveaway has ended. A winner will be selected soon!

Historically speaking, book giveaways haven't drawn what I'd categorize as an overly-impressive response here on The Homeschooling Blog. Having said that, I sincerely hope you'll find the inspiration to enter this particular giveaway which I've intentionally kept simple... the worth of this amazingly children's Bible is well worth the 60 seconds it will take you to enter.

Before we get started, I'd like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for kindly sponsoring this giveaway in exchange for my review. Mind you, I'm not an expert book reviewer, but I am a Christian mom to 2 children who loves studying and sharing God's Word.

As you may know, there are countless versions of children's Bibles on the market... we have around 8 in our own collection. Each offers something special and since we're trusted to inspire a love for reading God's word in our children, I happen to be of the opinion that even if you already own a children's Bible, having an extra around isn't such a bad idea. After all, you may want to pick up another translation, or have your children consider the word expressed in different artistic renderings. I love the artwork in the Read and Share Bible for instance... it's alive with color and emotion. I'm convinced your children will respond appropriately to the stories as they study the illustrations that accompany the readings.

I'll share with you too that the very first book my son ever read was the Bible that accompanies My Father's World homeschooling curriculum. It became his favorite book and he read it more than once! However, there came a time when he felt like he had it down and didn't need to read it again. Ever been there? Upon purchasing other publisher's children's Bibles, he regained an interest. The stories remained fresh in his heart and mind too! 

Each story in the Read and Share Bible includes discussion questions... so you'll have a bit of help getting a good healthy conversation going. Don't you just love discussing the things of God with young children? Their perspective is so light and innocent. They're little teachers for sure. Who says iron sharpening iron is only accomplished in adult conversation?

Check out this excerpt from the Read and Share Children's Bible (shared with permission from Thomas Nelson)
The Story of Noah from the Read and Share Children's Bible

Mandatory Entry:

To enter this giveaway simply leave me a comment telling me what you think you'd like most about the Read and Share Bible or tell me who you plan on sharing it with, should you win! Please be sure you include your email in your response so I'll be able to contact you should your name be selected using Random.org's random number generator! In order to keep the spambots off your back, I recommend leaving your email in this format youremail (at) yahoo (dot) com

Extra Entries (optional):

• Follow The Homeschooling Blog publicly on Google Friend Connect (see my right sidebar) and leave me a separate comment letting me know who you are!
• Follow us on Twitter! Again, check out the left sidebar, leave me a separate comment sharing your Twitter name so I can verify your follow. My name on Twitter is CakesAlive.
• Visit TommyNelson.com and tell me something you found there... can be anything at all! Leave me a separate comment telling me about it. :)
• Visit TommyNelson on Facebook. You can "like" them if you wish. Share your visit with me in a separate post.

One last thing... the book I received was damaged ever so slightly in shipping, but I did want to make mention of this. The damage will in no way effect the quality of your Bible lessons! Hope it won't detour you from entering!

Giveaway ends Friday April 15th at 11:59 (central time) and is only open to residents of the USA or Canada.

Thanks and good luck!


  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been lifted from it's source (without permission). Please let me know by following this link and leaving me a comment. Thanks in advance! 

Safe Place... Put an End to Sexual and Domestic Violence and Maybe Win an iPad?

This post is a short and sweet invitation to register your email with Moby (newsletters from a safety expert) who will in return donate $1 to Safe Place (safeplace.org).

Who is Moby? In their own words... "We are leaders in GPS and location-based services for asset tracking, fleet management, and life safety applications". In short... Moby is simply a Smart Phone application that allows you to track and be tracked. Anyone with kids like the sound of that?

Not only will your registration with Moby guarantee $1 to Safe Place, but you'll also be automatically entered into a random drawing for a $100 Amazon.com gift card (so long as you tweet your entry and invite). If you can get 3 friends to register their emails (via your tweet), you'll additionally be in the running for an iPad.

I think they'd call this a win/win/win situation. Those winners being Moby, Safe Place, and potentially you!

Good luck!

  If you're not reading this post on The Homeschooling Blog... the content has been hijacked. Please let me know by following this link and leaving me a comment. Thanks in advance! 

Enter the $229Table Pad Giveaway at GoTablePads.com!

Attention Blogger and Facebook users!

Do you have a dining room table you know you should be protecting... but don't? Wholesale Furniture Brokers is giving away a free table pad manufactured by Ohio Table Pad Company during the Table Pad Giveaway at GoTablePads.com. What a great opportunity to learn more about custom table pads and possibly secure one of your own absolutely free!

Entering to win this giveaway is as simple as posting about it on your blog or sharing it on Facebook. You'll find full contest rules on winning a $229 Gift Certificate to put towards your table pad at GoTablePads.com.

A friend of mine uses dining table pads and I've always wanted one for our dining room table, which happens to be fairly small. It's the same table my husband had in a small apartment back in his bachelor days. Still, it's made from teak and is beautiful... or was. haha.... it's showing some wear after 2 kids and a whole lot of use!

When we move into a larger house (someday) we have his grandmother's beautiful dining room set promised to us and we'll definitely want to protect it from our little monkeys! lol Table pads are a must for protecting fine dining room tables from spills and dings of dinnerware. Especially when you have young children or grandchildren. I'm also thinking of all the crafting and cake decorating projects that poor little table has endured. We should have invested in a table pad a long time ago!

Deadline for entry is February 28th, 2011.... so if you're planning on entering do it today. Be sure to share this with friends and family, after you enter of course. Good luck!

$40 CSN Stores Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to the winner of our CSN Stores giveaway! Random.org has generated the number 85, meaning our winner is McKim! I'm currently sending McKim an email and she'll have 48 hours to respond before a runner up is selected.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway and thanks to CSN Stores for sponsoring! I hope you found something you couldn't live without from the 200+ CSN Stores. :)

Continue following The Homeschooling Blog for new and exciting giveaways yet to come!

CSN Stores $40 Giveaway! (Giveaway Closed)

We love CSN and have ordered countless items for our home over the past year. I've been collecting Rachel Ray skillets (love em!) and a variety of kitchen gadgets (I just love cooking tools!). I've also ordered printer cartridges, a broom and dustpan combo, an electric pencil sharpener and flashlights.

What I haven't done thus far is order items to beautify our home, and uh we could use some beauty over here.. I'm hoping to make that my next project. Check out just a few of the thousands of awesome finds in CSN's Modern Furniture store. They have everything you might imagine for every room of your home. Furniture, room accents, kitchen gadgets,  appliances,  photo frames, vases, wall art, and so much more!

Here are just a few of the items that caught my eye today...

I've always wanted one of these for my daughter's bedroom. It's such a simple way to loosely post photos to a wall.

Turn any room of your home into an instant classroom with this vinyl peel and stick chalkboard. CSN offers a variety of vinyl chalkboards and room decorations.

So cool... I love blue. Don't you just feel the stress of life slip away when you eye this artful vase? I can almost smell the daisies.

CSN offers countless ways bring about a beautiful bedroom. I'm such a girlie girl these days. Can't imagine what it would have been like as a child to sleep in a room like this one.

Now for the giveaway!! Up for grabs is $40 to any one of CSN's 200+ stores. 

Thank you CSN!

Who May Enter? 

• This giveaway is open to non-homeschoolers and homeschoolers alike! We won't even ask. That's just how we roll.

• Open to residents of the USA and Canada.

How to Enter:

• Entries must be received no later than Tuesday, February 22nd at 11:59 PM, CST.
• Follow The Homeschooling Blog on Google Friend Connect and leave a comment on this post letting me know you did so. You'll find Google Friend Connect in my right sidebar. If you're already a follower of The Homeschooling Blog via GFC, just let me know in your comment.
• In a separate comment, share something from CSN's Modern Furniture Store that catches your eye and let me feel the excitement when you do!  Remember... this will be shared in a second comment.
  

Both above entries are required, so everyone who participates is technically given 2 entries. Be sure to leave 2 separate comments, and please be sure to leave me your email.  BTW, I recommend protect yourself from the spambots by sharing your email in this manner: yourname (at) gmail (dot) com.   

How We'll Select Our Winner

The winner will be selected using Random.org's automatic number generator.

The winner will then be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. Upon successfully notifying our winner, he/she will be announced here in a separate post on The Homeschooling Blog.

Homeschooling Giveaways from Across the Blogosphere for February

I'm here sharing the good news of multiple homeschooling giveaways, or giveaways of interest to homeschoolers.

The following giveaways offer a variety of cool products, have different requirements for entry, and are presented with varying deadlines, so be sure to read each giveaway posting carefully:

• Everything is Edible: Offering a $50 value Pilot B2P gel pen package. These refillable pens are eco-friendly and are made from recycled PET bottles. She has 3 packages of pens up for grabs too! Winners will be selected February 6th, 2011.
• HomeschoolerLiterature.com: Offering a copy of "Henley and the Book Of Heroes”, retail value $22.99, to 1 winner. Deadline for entry is February 28th, 2011 at 5:00 PM EST. You must become a registered user of this site to enter, but it appears to be free to do so and looks like an awesome resource!
• My So Called Homeschool Life: Offering a Bambino Zip (baby garment) valued at $49.95 (Canadian dollars), open to US and Canada, entry deadline February 11th.
• Homeschool Blessings: Offering a winter edition of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Deadline to enter is this coming Friday, February 4th, 2011.
• Guiding Light Homeschooling: Offering DVD "A Journey Home", an inspiring story of a family leaving everything behind to join an Amish community and follow the Lord. Deadline for this giveaway is actually March 4th, 2011.
• MaMa B: Offering a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com (this isn't a homeschooling site, but who cares!), open to US and Canada, expires February 15, 2011.

Have fun and good luck!

Our Book Winners... Announced!

Congratulations to Susan S. from Philadelphia and Sarah T. from Titusville... both of whom will be receiving the ValueTales Treasury book courtesy of The Homeschooling Blog. We chose our winners using Random.org's free number generator.

If you didn't win, no worries! We have another exciting giveaway coming soon... this time we'll have more than 1 item up for grabs. I'm collecting an assortment of goodies for some fortunate reader... so be sure to stay tuned, since book giveaways alone don't generate a lot of interest. Lesson learned! lol


Blessings,
~Wendy

CSN Giveaway on It's All About Baby!

I have blogged about CSN and their 200+ stores many times over, so if you're a regular reader of The Homeschooling Blog, you're familiar with how spectacular they are!

If you're just a lurker and have never made a purchase, you've just 3 days to enter a giveaway hosted by It's All About Baby for a cool $35 shopping experience with CSN!

Entering is super simple and only takes a few minutes.  Last time I checked there weren't an overwhelming number of entries. We need to help this awesome blogger out by joining her in her quest for an impressive number of entrants... it's what I like to call blogging love... so go show her some love and perhaps reap the rewards of an excellent shopping experience (on the house) to CSN!

Update on December's Simon and Schuster Giveaway

I want to apologize for leaving my readers hanging (for a month now) with the results of  December's Simon and Schuster giveaway a Value Tales Treasury book. As you may remember, we LOVED the book and provided a brief review along with the announcement of Simon and Schuster's desire to offer a copy to 2 random entrants.

For whatever reason, I'm not able to get a response from the contact with Simon and Schuster who approached me with this giveaway opportunity. At this point, I'm going to offer my two winners the book (as promised) out of my own pocket. No hard feelings towards Simon and Schuster, but I wish I knew what happened. Money is tight and getting tighter, but I can't hold a giveaway and not make good on it.

With that said, we do have 2 winners!  I'll be notifying you both this weekend. Upon hearing back from each of you, I'll share your names on The Homeschooling Blog!

My next book giveaway will be coming in the next couple of weeks and the good news there is that I already have both books in my possession! Be sure to continue following The Homeschooling Blog for my review of the Read and Share Bible published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. : )

Blessings!

Book Review of "A ValueTales Treasury"... and a Giveaway!

Book Title: A ValueTales Treasury... Stories for Growing Good People
Author: Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Illustrator: Dan Andreasen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Yesterday I received a complimentary copy of A ValueTales Treasury from the "good people" at Simon and Schuster. My family LOVES books, and as a mom I naturally melt when I find a great read encouraging my children to be virtuous, giving people... while at the same time displaying the confidence and drive to succeed in whatever they do.

Multiple lessons of virtue are presented in this wonderfully-written and beautifully-illustrated 80 page book featuring such exemplary figures as Louis Pasteur (a lesson on believing in yourself), Harriet Tubman (a lesson on the value of helping others), Confucius (a lesson on honesty), Helen Keller (the value of determination), and Will Rogers (a lesson on the value of humor).

New York Times best selling author Spensor Johnson M.D. (Who Moved My Cheese) begins his journey into encouragement and positive influence with an introduction written directly to his young readers, sharing the idea of "Imaginography", described by Johnson as a story reading like a biography (in that it's based on real people), but shared in a more lively and imaginative fashion. Johnson does a fantastic job of sharing how a handful of notable individuals, grew from children who knew how to dream, into adults who exemplified the character and strength that brought them success in life. In listening to their "true voice", described by Johnson as that inner voice that drives each of us to be and give our very best, these individuals changed the world around them.

This book is secular, but a real asset to any family's library. You'll enjoy exploring the positive messages shared in this book with your little ones, and your intermediate reader's will likely take to it all on their own.  A ValueTales Treasury offers you the tools to build your child's own "imaginography" as they dream about the type of person they wish to become!

If you'd like to learn more about the author and illustrator or find story-related activities for your children, be sure to visit KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com.

~~The Giveaway!~~

Simon and Schuster has graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway on The Homeschooling Blog! In order to qualify for this giveaway, simply leave me a comment on this post sharing who'd you share this book with! Could be your son or daughter, niece or nephew, neighborhood child... anyone you expect you'd read this book to or with. Although there are opportunities for extra entries (see below), you must leave this initial comment to qualify.

The Skinny:

• Deadline for entry is Friday, December 24th at 11:59 PM (Central Time). Winner will be announced December 26th right here on THB. If you're a winner, we'll contact you via email and you'll have 7 days to respond before another winner is selected in your place.
• Open only to those with addresses within the 48 Contingent States (USA)
• Only 1 winner per name/address
• A total of 2 winners will be selected using the random number generator at Random.org
• We must have your email addy within the context of your post in order to contact you should you be a winner. Your email should be shared in such a way that spambots cannot pick it up. Example of which would be: youremail (at) yahoo (dot) com

Extra Entries (each requiring an additional comment in order to be correctly counted):

• Share this giveaway on your blog (or on Facebook), linking directly to this post. (2 extra entries). Let me know in a SEPARATE comment that you've done this and if possible, leave me a link for verification purposes.
• Subscribe to our feed (1 extra entry), and leave me a comment on this post letting me know you did!
• Follow us with Google Friend Connect (2 entries), and leave me that ever so important comment letting me know so I can check!

That's it! Hope to have oooodles of responses!

Blessings,