We'd like to offer a special thank you  to our friends at A Journey Through Learning. The folks at A Journey Through Learning are the creators and publishers of lapbooks for nearly every topic imaginable. They have general topic lapbooks for holidays, literature, history, math, science and much more. In addition to their general topic lapbooks, A Journey Through Learning also offers lapbooks that correspond to many popular homeschool curriculum titles, including many of our geography courses and our Trail Guide to Learning series. For our Facebook party giveaway, A Journey Through Learning is giving one winner a $30 gift certificate for digital downloads! That means you can shop their digital titles for whatever strikes your fancy. To enter, leave a comment telling us which A Journey Through Learning lapbook you're most excited about using. You can earn extra entries by following A Journey Through Learning on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Art, history, cuisine, and geography are all interwoven and tell us much about the people groups of past and present. That's why we're so excited that See the Light is hosting a giveaway for our Facebook party. See the Light offers instructional art DVDs for kids in elementary through high school. Their Art Class set focuses on the basics of art, such as shape and space; value and color; color blending and perspective. Students can also enjoy their Art Projects series, in which each DVD takes a student through the creation of a particular art project from start to finish. Projects include: Tiffany Window, Sunflowers, Paper Jungle, and more. The See the Light team is dedicated to bringing scripture and biblical principles to students in a fresh, engaging way while teaching them the fundamental of art. For our Facebook party,  See the Light is giving 5 winners a copy of their Art Class Volume 1 DVD. To enter, just leave us a comment telling us which See the Light Art Project you'd most like to try. You can earn extra entries by following See the Light on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5 and is open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's that time of year when the  winter doldrums strike and everyone seems afflicted with cabin fever. Homeschooling Today magazine can help! In addition to offering information and encouragement from a Christian worldview, the magazine offers ready-to-use lessons and activities, which is perfect for fighting the effects of cabin fever. You can enter to win one of five 1-year subscriptions to Homeschooling Today - encouragement sent right to your mailbox four times a year! And, don't worry! If you don't win, you can still get $10 off a 1-year subscription using coupon code gmspecial. To enter, leave us a comment telling us your favorite indoor activity for those cabin fever days. Earn an extra entries by liking Homeschooling Today magazine on Facebook or joining their email list. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

We were saddened to learn of Ruth Beechick's death in late 2013. Ruth was a lifelong teacher, both in the classroom and as a curriculum writer. She was a mentor to the late Debbie Strayer, author of our Trail Guide to Learning series. Ruth's teaching philosophies heavily influenced Debbie's and helped shape the Trail Guide to Learning series. Ruth will be greatly missed. To honor Ruth and her contributions to homeschooling, we are giving away a copy of three of her books: The Three R's, You Can Teach Your Child Successfully, and Dr. Beechick's Homeschool Answer Book.   To enter, leave a comment telling us how Ruth's teaching philosophies have impacted your homeschool. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know that you’ve commented. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5 and is open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Olympics provide a great springboard for studying geography. We've created a Sochi bundle to help you make the most of the 2014 Winter Olympics. To celebrate our Facebook party, we're giving away one Sochi bundle. Have you ever thought that geography was a boring subject? Then you've never used these books! Eat Your Way Around the World is a taste buds-on approach to geography. Each country has its unique geographical features and agricultural products. These influence both the ingredients that go into a recipe and the way food is prepared. Why stop with only your taste-buds? Let's involve all the senses by adding Geography Through Art! This hand-son approach will supplement any study of geography, history, or social studies. Add in a map, and you've got it all covered! Geography Matters is adding to the celebration, with a HUGE blowout sale! Now is the time to make those purchases you've been thinking about with 10% off all bundles. This includes the already discounted Learning Series packages and everything on our specials page! That's not all, every other product is 25% off. Simply use the following coupon codes upon checkout and take advantage of this monumental sale today! Discounts expire on February 15th. For an extra 10% OFF already discounted bundles use coupon code: BUNDLE2014 For 25% OFF everything else use coupon code: BLOWOUT2014 To enter the Sochi bundle giveaway, leave a comment telling us which winter Olympics sport is your favorite. You can earn extra entries by following Geography Matters on Twitter and Trail Guide to Learning on Facebook. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5 and is open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

We're so excited to offer you our Facebook party grand prize drawing! One winner will receive the Trail Guide to Learning complete package of their choice and the corresponding lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning! The winner can choose either Paths of Exploration, Paths of Settlement, or Paths of Progress!

  The Trail Guide to Learning series combines real books, purposeful reading and writing, hands-on learning, and cross-curricular connections all based on the proven educational philosophies of Dr. Ruth Beechick. Trail Guide to Learning engages students and helps them develop thinking skills as they make connections between reading, writing, spelling, history, science, and more. With minimal prep time, parents can go through the clearly organized lessons with students of multiple grade levels. Each level of Trail Guide to Learning spans three grade levels, beginning with 3-5 in Paths of Exploration, 4-6 in Paths of Settlement, and 5-7 in Paths of Progress. Each volume can be adjusted to include both younger and older students with optional lapbooks and a middle school supplement. In addition to winning a Trail Guide to Learning complete pacakge, the winner will also receive digital copies of the corresponding lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning. You can enter to win by leaving a comment letting us know which Trail Guide to Learning set you'd choose. Earn extra entries by following Geography Matters and A Journey Through Learning on Twitter or liking Trail Guide to Learning and A Journey Through Learning on Facebook. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5 and is open to U.S. residents only. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to our friends at Common Sense for sponsoring this giveaway for our Facebook party! Common Sense Press is the publisher of such well-known homeschool curriculum as: Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Word Smith and Great Science Adventures.Their goal is to offer easy-to-use curricula for homeschoolers, traditional schools, and parents who want to enrich their children's education. For our Facebook party giveaway, Common Sense Press is giving away five coupons worth up to $19 in free ebooks! To enter, just leave us a comment telling us which Common Sense Press products you've used in your homeschool. If you haven't used their products yet, let us know which you're most excited to try. You can earn a bonus entry by liking Common Sense Press on Facebook. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 5. Winners will be notified by February 7, 2014. a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's that time of year. It doesn't matter if you call it cabin fever or winter doldrums or just plain ol' homeschool mom burnout. Whatever it is, it can leave you feeling inadequate, guilty, isolated, and alone. So, we hope you'll join us on our Facebook page on Thursday, January 30, to recharge, rejuvenate, and rediscover your passion as a homeschool mom (or dad). We're going to be talking about learning together, as a family, and instilling a love of learning in our kids. In traditional school settings, kids are segmented by age and grade level. Subjects are broken up into 50 minute increments for each topic - history, science, literature. At Geography Matters, we believe that the best learning takes place when we bring it all together - families, grade levels, and subjects. Join us as we talk about how to create a love of learning as a whole and complete family unit. We'll be joined by Cindy Wiggers, Ashley, Wiggers, Kay Chance, and a special guest to be announced. Cindy Wiggers, author and founder of Geography Matters, says, "Time spent watching the Olympics provides natural connections for students to learn geography, about other cultures, and more. We'll share ideas and tips to help you make those connections with your family." She'll also cover the basics about using an atlas and the benefits of including outline map activities in your school plan. Ashley Wiggers is the Editor-in-Chief of Homeschooling Today magazine, Public Relations Director for Geography Matters and the author of the Profiles from History series. She says, "The gray days of winter can be a difficult season to keep a love of learning alive, for you and your kiddos! Let's talk about some practical ways to do just that." Kay Chance is the author of the Trail Guide to Learning Middle School Supplements and High School Extension. She'll be offering practical tips on how to learn together as a family, even if you aren't using a curriculum such as Trail Guide to Learning that spans multiple grade levels. And, of course, what's a party without party favors? We're offering a special gift for everyone in attendance. In addition, we'll be doing drawings to win prizes from our friends at:

 

 

 

  Of course, we're going to have some fun geography giveaways and we'll be offering one really exciting grand prize giveaway! Our grand prize winner will win their choice of a complete package from our Trail Guide to Learning Series! The winner can select their choice of Paths of Exploration, Paths of Settlement, or Paths of Progress! The complete set includes both hardcover volumes, access to the printable student and teacher resources, all of the readers, maps, and resource books! Here are the details that you need to know: When: Thursday, January 30 Where: The Geography Matters Facebook page What time: 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. (ET) Who: You and your friends - be sure to tell them about the party, so they can join us, too!

It's a Facebook party with our friends at Home Educating Family! Join us this Monday, March 4, from 8:30-10:00 PM (ET) on Home Educating Family's Facebook page. There are going to be lots of great prizes from some of the your favorite homeschooling companies! Check out what one winner will be receiving from Geography Matters:

Looking for a geography course that includes mapping activities, atlas usage, research, notebooking and culture with very little teacher preparation? Look no further than the Trail Guide to World Geography. Assign as much or as little as you decide. Daily drills are offered at 3 different levels for versatility and multi-year usage. Use Geography Through Art for added culture through hands-on art from throughout the world. Spice things up by cooking a meal from the country you are studying right out of Eat Your Way Around the World, our fun and educational world cookbook.  And you can pack up to go exploring with this roomy backpack/tote. Use this world geography package to bring your family together for a hands-on learning experience that fits each child perfectly! In addition, two winners will each receive the Trail Guide to World Geography digital download and the accompanying student workbook (also a digital download):   Join us Monday night for all the fun with Home Educating Family! You can enter to win by leaving a comment letting us know which country you'd most like to visit. Earn extra entries by following Geography Matters on Twitter or liking Trail Guide to Learning and Geography Matters on Facebook. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 12:00 AM on March 10. Winners will be notified by March 13, 2013. a Rafflecopter giveaway

We'd like to thank the folks at Common Sense for sponsoring our next giveaway tonight. They are the publishers of such well-known homeschool curriculum as: Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Word Smith and Great Science Adventures. Tonight, they're offering 10 different winners one e-book of your choice! To enter, just leave us a comment telling us which Common Sense Press products you've either tried or would like to try. You can earn a bonus entry by liking Common Sense Press on Facebook. Be sure to use the Rafflecopter widget below to let us know which tasks you’ve completed. Contest ends at 12:00 AM on January 31. Winners will be notified by February 1, 2013. a Rafflecopter giveaway