I got to spend my birthday {the 38th one} with one of my very best friends {Shannon, who writes the Calendar Connections cards} at the Teach Them Diligently Marketplace! It was a wonderful day, but I had no clue it was going to be so great!
Teach Them Diligently is a blog sponsor and has been for awhile now, which is part of the reason I was so curious. I also have several friends who attended their conventions this past spring and loved them.
Side note ~ Although they are a blog sponsor, they had no idea I was writing this post {until I emailed them to tell them} nor did they ask me to, this is a personal bonus post reflecting an awesome sponsor simply because I want to share with you what a fabulous day I had!
I had never been to a Teach Them Diligently Convention and had no clue what to expect. I didn’t go to my local homeschool convention this year or last, so I was wanting to attend for that reason, but wasn’t sure how impressed I would be. I am a bit un-impressed most places. I am a homebody and for me to actually enjoy being in a large crowd is a small miracle.
From the moment I walked in, I knew I was in the right place. I immediately met David and Leslie Nunnery, and was welcomed so graciously! Ken Ham was speaking when we got there so we snuck in to hear his talk, what a blessing to be able to hear both of his sessions! It wasn’t overly crowded with people, but packed with resources and fabulous speakers. It honestly was such a refreshing day!
I was thrilled to finally get my hands on some Answers in Genesis resources I had wanted to look at up close. AIG was one of the publishers I was very curious about but hadn’t gotten to browse in real life. It was awesome, I got just what I needed {and a bit more of what I wanted}. I will share later in my curriculum post how we will be using some of these.
What Did I Buy?
- Tower of Babel
- Evolution The Grand Experiment
- Building Blocks in Life Science
- Building Blocks in Science
- Answers for Kids Books 1-4
- The True Account of Adam and Eve
- Subscription to Answers Magazine {got 3 years so I could get 3 free DVDs, I chose: Dinosaurs, Kids Questions and Noah’s Ark}
I was NOT expecting to actual find great deals, I am a firm believer that Amazon has the best prices in most situations. But, the prices were as good as Amazon or better. I actually looked up several items while there from my phone to check! It was awesome to browse through so many great resources all in one place.
I highly recommend attending the Marketplace event in Little Rock this weekend if possible. Sadly this will be the last event as they have prayerfully decided to cancel the remaining events. Here is the statement they have written and shared publicly…
Teach Them Diligently and the presenting sponsors of the Marketplace events have elected to postpone the rest of this summer’s Marketplace events in Dallas, TX; Colorado Springs, CO; Tacoma, WA; and Tuscon, AZ in favor of larger regional events in the coming years. This weekend’s event in Little Rock, AR (July 19th & 20th) will go on as scheduled, but it will be the last one. The pre-registration numbers for several of the events were very low. Therefore, Teach Them Diligently and the sponsors decided to cancel and then return with an even larger event in the upcoming years when we could reach and encourage more families.
In 2014, Teach Them Diligently Convention will be returning to Dallas, TX for a large regional event in June at the Sheraton Downtown. It is our hope that in the coming years, we will be returning to the other cities previously scheduled on the Marketplace tour as well.
Those who had pre-registered for events in Dallas, TX; Colorado Springs, CO; Tacoma, WA; and Tuscon, AZ, will have their registration fees fully refunded in the methods they were received. We would also like to extend to you a discount similar to what you would have received at the events through our store at shop.teachthemdiligently.net. When you make your purchase please enter the code 10OFF100 to receive $10 off your first $100 purchase.This was not an easy decision or one that we came to lightly. We would like to extend a heart felt apology to those of you that were looking forward to these events and pray that you will forgive us for not moving forward with the events after Little Rock.
Thank you again for your support and prayers for Teach Them Diligently Convention. We look forward to seeing your family at an event in the near future and are sorry for any inconvenience the cancellations may have caused. We are deeply disappointed that we will not be able to spend this summer with many of you. However, we are confident that in the coming years we will be able to bring an even larger event to your communities. Please stay tuned for some very exciting announcements for 2014.
For the sake of His name,
David Nunnery
While I am sad they needed to cancel the remaining marketplace events, I am thrilled to see the full blown Teach Them Diligently Convention will be in 4 cities in 2014! Check your calendars and start planning to hit one of these next spring, I just might see you there!
PS ~ another perk of these events, meeting in real life! It was fabulous to meet Becky Marie from For This Season and her adorable family. I also got to reconnect with Toni from The Happy Housewife and Michelle from Apologia!