At the beginning of this year, I put myself on a spending freeze because I am saving to buy a new piano – hopefully this summer. And basically, a spending freeze for me means not buying any new books or tech-gear. But I have to confess that I finally caved when I saw this deal from Vision Forum that was too good to pass up.

Seven authors will be conducting live webinars discussing one of their books. The line-up of authors and books looks fabulous! The webinar series is $55 per family, but you can get a package deal with the webinar series and all seven books for just $116! This definitely necessitates a brief exception to the afore-mentioned spending freeze, don’t you think? Our whole family is eagerly looking forward to joining in on these sessions beginning on April 15. (Guess that means I’ll have to get my taxes done a day early this year…)

If you happen to catch this post before midnight, you can even enter a drawing to win a free family registration for the Great Authors Webinar Series over at the Coughlan family’s Life In A Shoe blog!

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ve been asked to speak at the 2010 Heart of the Matter Online Conference. The conference will be February 22-24, 2010, and you can enjoy the whole thing from the comfort of your own home! Here’s a tid bit from their website:

Are your feet dragging? Do you need a little pick-me-up? Winter is wrapping up and we are anxious for spring — for green, for sunshine, for life, for a little oomph in our homeschool day. It’s easy to get bogged down and for things to turn hum-drum.

A Woman Inspired and Heart of the Matter Online are excited to bring you a Homeschool Refresher conference that is sure to give you a boost.

This conference will feature some speakers chosen specifically for their ability to revive, rejuvenate, and renew the hearts and minds of their audience. You are sure to walk away motivated and inspired to achieve great things!

Incredibly, the full price for the conference is only $12.95, but HOTM has allocated five free tickets to give away on my blog! All you have to do is leave a comment below to enter the giveaway drawing. And…if you want to earn extra entries in the drawing, just post about it on your blog, twitter, or facebook with a link back to this post and leave another comment letting me know about the additional postings. I’ll give you one additional entry for each place that you post!Thanks for helping spread the word!

(BTW, you can click here to view the page for my workshop: Everything Your Child Needs to Know and How to Teach it to Them.

After months of planning and preparing, we have entered the final week leading up to our annual TPA homeschool convention. Chris Klicka and James and Stacy McDonald are our keynote speakers for the weekend. We also have an excellent slate of workshops lined up. I can’t wait to get the recordings from the sessions and listen to all of them. I won’t have a chance to hear them live because I’ll be in Adventures in Character where we are taking a trip deep into the jungle!

This will be the first convention ever where I’ve been a vendor, and my Mom has graciously agreed to run the Pajama School booth for me. I will be doing a book signing at 6:30 on Friday evening, so if you’re in the area and are attending the convention, please stop by and say hi! I’m excited to get a little taste of exhibiting at a convention in preparation for my trip next month to exhibit at the Colorado State Conference!