You Can Win Free Copies of My Books!

If you've been waiting to order copies of my books, this week, you have a chance to win them, absolutely free!

The company blog of The Old Schoolhouse magazine is holding a contest, and the prizes they are offering are three sets of my two books-

Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler’s Guide to High School Paperwork and

Get a Jump Start on College! A Practical Guide for Teens

It’s easy to enter– all you have to do is leave a comment on on the contest page. Of course, if you already have my books, you may share the link with others!

If you've been struggling with teaching writing to teens, my most recent blog post offers the best hint I have for gaining writing expertise, as well as an easy Charlotte Mason way to get started. You can read it today, along with articles on high school requirements, homeschool transcripts, and more at my primary blog.

Enjoy!

Remember- I'm posting at my permanant blog!

"Where are you?" inquired a recent e-mail. One of my feed subscribers had missed the note about my blog move, and was wondering where all my posts had gone.

So this is a reminder that I'm posting regularly at my permanent blog, www.Janice-Campbell.com-- Taking Time For Things That Matter. You'll find plenty of posts and comments to read on literature, homeschooling, and 'taking time for things that matter.'

One of my recent posts, "Socialization... Again" was included the 82nd Carnival of Homeschooling, where you'll also find many other terrific articles and resources. Tami, the host, chose a very pretty state flower theme for the carnival. Thanks, Tami, for hosting!

I'll see you at the new blog!

Playtime with SketchUp

You can sometimes have an incredible amount of fun for free! Have you tried Google SketchUp? Like most of Google's other products, this is incredibly powerful, intuitive, and yes, fun.

SketchUp is a 3-D modeling program that's very easy to learn-- my 17-year-old discovered it, and was very shortly creating elaborate 3-D buildings, then cities, and all sorts of interesting things. Almost everything is done by clicking and dragging, and there are video tutorials to get you started.

What I like about SketchUp is that it's far more than just a fun drawing exercise. You can create scale models of projects, including houses, kitchens, famous landmarks (Eiffel Tower, anyone?) and most anything else you can visualize in 3-D.

Imagine being able to create a model of your house and try out different ways of adding new space. What would it look like with a second story? Just drag your model to make it taller! How about wings off each end? Simple! A higher roof pitch? Click and drag...

I haven't even scratched the surface of this terrific program, but it's well worth the free download. It'll let your imagination soar!