Welcome to the May & June 2008 HSBA Saturday Swap!

We had 8 sets of swappers last time. Here below are some swap gift links that were sent in to showcase from the swap. Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten your present yet - but let us know if you think your swap buddy forgot you! This time we had an international swap and it may be a little late getting in. If you haven’t gotten your swap gift, feel free to drop us a line - we’d like to know of any problems you have. As fun as the swap is, we have had a few ladies who haven’t gotten their present after they signed up and mailed one out. We hate to be the bad girls, but if you don’t mail a swap present, you won’t be able to swap in the future. If you need a little extra time, that is understandable - but please just email your swap buddy or let us know so the experience is fun for all.

We hope we will have some past swappers and some new swappers join us for the next swap.

Here’s the schedule:

SIGN UP: By May 18th (Sat.)
PAIRED UP: By May 22nd (Wednesday)
MAIL SWAP: By June 21st (Saturday)
POST PHOTOS: By June 28th (Saturday)
EMAIL LINKS TO ME: By July 5th (Saturday)
NEXT SWAP: July 12th (Saturday)

This sign up is for one swap gift and you have two months to get it out, get it posted, and email us the link! Our next swap won’t be until JULY. Be SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS with these dates!

MARCH & APRIL SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Dawn and Cindy swapped.

Nerdmom and Amy swapped.

JoAnn and Cocoa swapped.

Beckie and Heidi swapped.

Amanda and Lori swapped.

Sprittibee and Jacque swapped.

Judy and Jaynee swapped.

Judy and Dianne swapped.

I know you already know what a SWAP is… but in case you need a refresher…

Check out our past SWAP Posts here at HSBA. Chances are they will answer all of your questions and more. Oh, and if you swapped in the past and forgot to send in your link, it isn’t too late! We would love to add your post showcasing your swap gift to our past posts. People still like to click back and see all the gifts, so by all means - share!

PAST SWAPS:

October 2007 Swap (Intro)
November 2007 Swap (October Highlights)
December 2007 Swap (November Highlights)
January 2008 Swap (December Highlights)
February 2008 Swap (January Highlights)
March & April 2008 Swap (February Highlights)

We hope you’ll join in the fun! Spread the news and ask your homeschool friends to join. You have until Saturday the 18th to leave a comment here with your email. I’ll contact you and send you a questionnaire!

Here are some basic rules for every swap:

1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift in the mail on time. Now that we are giving you 2 months, this shouldn’t be too hard!
2. Don’t spend more than 5-10$ on your swap gift (not including postage). You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy. Pray for them! Send them a Bible verse! Email them! Etc.!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.
5. Make sure you post a photo and ‘Thank You’ for your swap sister - thanking her and linking to her blog.
6. Email me a copy of your swap post link so I can showcase it for the following month!

Suggestion: Please make sure you take extra care when packaging your gifts if they are breakable or fragile. Two or three times now we have had swap gifts damaged by UPS and the Postal Service!

Who’s in???

~ This swap post is now CLOSED ~

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Swappers should have already mailed their gifts by the end of April… and we are hoping that if you got your package, you can post your photos on your blog and send us a link! You can leave the link in the comments section on this post or email it directly to the HSBA through our contact form above. We will be posting the May and June swap with March and April highlights very soon! We want your links on the post and are hoping to get lots of new sign-ups for the next swap! Be sure to tune in next Saturday so you don’t miss the chance to get in on the fun!

In Him,

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Welcome to the March & April HSBA Saturday Swap!

We had only 3 sets of swappers last month. This time we don’t have any links to showcase, so I figured it was time for a change in the procedures for the swap. I know how busy you all are (because I am just as busy). So my new idea going forward is to make the swap EVERY OTHER MONTH to give us all the time we need to get our swap gifts in the mail. The extra time can also be used to get to know our swap buddies better. What do you all think about this new change?

Here’s the schedule:

SIGN UP: By March 15th (Sat.)
PAIRED UP: By March 20th (Wednesday)
MAIL SWAP: By April 17th (Thursday)
POST PHOTOS: By April 30th (Wednesday)
EMAIL LINKS TO ME: By May 7th (Wednesday)
NEXT SWAP: May 10th (Saturday)

So this time, the sign up will be for March AND April. Our next swap won’t be until MAY. Be SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS with these dates!

FEBRUARY SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Judy and Amanda Swapped.

Heidi and Trina Swapped.

Cate and Lori Swapped.

I know you already know what a SWAP is… but in case you need a refresher…

Check out our past SWAP Posts here at HSBA. Chances are they will answer all of your questions and more. Oh, and if you swapped in the past and forgot to send in your link, it isn’t too late! We would love to add your post showcasing your swap gift to our past posts. People still like to click back and see all the gifts, so by all means - share!

PAST SWAPS:

October 2007 Swap (Intro)
November 2007 Swap (October Highlights)
December 2007 Swap (November Highlights)
January 2008 Swap (December Highlights)
February 2008 Swap (January Highlights)

We hope you’ll join in the fun! Spread the news and ask your homeschool friends to join. You have until Wednesday the 14th to leave a comment here with your email. I’ll contact you and send you a questionnaire!

Here are some basic rules for every swap:

1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift in the mail on time. Now that we are giving you 2 months, this shouldn’t be too hard!
2. Don’t spend more than 5-10$ on your swap gift (not including postage). You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy. Pray for them! Send them a Bible verse! Email them! Etc.!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.
5. Make sure you post a photo and ‘Thank You’ for your swap sister - thanking her and linking to her blog.
6. Email me a copy of your swap post link so I can showcase it for the following month!

Suggestion (new): Please make sure you take extra care when packaging your gifts if they are breakable or fragile. Two or three times now we have had swap gifts damaged by UPS and the Postal Service!

Who’s in???

In Him,

~ This swap post is now Closed ~

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Welcome to the January HSBA Saturday Swap!

We had 5 sets of swappers last month. The ladies below were paired up, and the clickable links are the ones that were sent in on time:

DECEMBER SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Jacque and Dianne swapped

Jacque’s SWAP Post
Dianne’s SWAP Post

Cindy and Jocelyn swapped

Jocelyn’s SWAP Post
Cindy’s SWAP Post

Tamara and Deanna swapped

Tamara’s SWAP Post
Deanna’s SWAP Post

Heather and Amy swapped

Heather’s SWAP Post
Amy’s SWAP Post

Lisa and Lori swapped

Lori’s SWAP Post
Lisa’s SWAP Post

I know you already know what a SWAP is… but in case you need a refresher…

Check out our past SWAP Posts here at HSBA. Chances are they will answer all of your questions and more. Oh, and if you swapped in the past and forgot to send in your link, it isn’t too late! We would love to add your post showcasing your swap gift to our past posts. People still like to click back and see all the gifts, so by all means - share!

PAST SWAPS:

October 2007 Swap (Intro)
November 2007 Swap (October Highlights)
December 2007 Swap (November Highlights)

We hope you’ll join in the fun! Spread the news and ask your homeschool friends to join. You have until Wednesday the 16th to leave a comment here with your email. I’ll contact you and send you a questionnaire!

Here are some basic rules for every swap:

1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift in the mail by the last day of the month.
2. Don’t spend more than 5$ on your swap gift (not including postage). You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy. Pray for them! Send them a Bible verse! Email them! Etc.!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.
5. Make sure you post a photo and ‘Thank You’ for your swap sister - thanking her and linking to her blog.
6. Email me a copy of your swap post link so I can showcase it for the following month!

Who’s in???

~ This swap post is closed ~

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Time for another Saturday Swap… below are some past details to help you in case you are just tuning in and aren’t sure what a SWAP is.

I realize that November was busy with the Thanksgiving Holidays and that some of you were a little late with getting the gifts in the mail. Please email me when you get a post up highlighting your SWAP present and I’ll add you to this post! Please send your gifts by the last day of the month for December! Leave a comment if you want to join for December. The SWAP will close next Thursday and you’ll be sent your swap buddy’s info next weekend.

We had quite a few swappers last month, but we only have ONE post to highlight so far… Below is the only link we have gotten in yet…

NOVEMBER SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Trish and Amy swapped

Trish’s SWAP Post
Amy’s SWAP Post

Becky and BChsMamaof3 swapped

Becky’s SWAP Post
BChsMamaof3’s SWAP Post

Dianne, Heather and Dawn swapped

Dawn’s SWAP Post
Sprittibee’s SWAP Post

HERE’s THE INFO FROM LAST MONTH’S POST THAT YOU MIGHT NEED:

“What is a swap?” you say.

Swaps are like having a secret sister that isn’t secret… and having a new secret sister each month. You fill out a questionnaire about yourself, get paired up with a secret sister, and spend about 5$ plus postage each month sending a personalized gift to your monthly swap buddy. The great thing is, you get a 5$ gift back… customized for you. Even better is the fact that you are swapping with another homeschool mom… and the thing about swapping with homeschoolers is that you are swapping with someone who knows how hard it is to have an extra hat on at home. We can get just as excited about swapping school supplies as we can about swapping other more usual things (like postcards, pretty papers, scrapbook items, personalized things, nail polish, etc.).

“What do we send?” you say.

Want to get ideas about what kind of gifts are being sent in swaps? There are lots of people swapping… here are a few links for you to check out about swaps and photos of swap gifts:

lots of swaps
stationary swap
sock swap
flickr swap shots
soup swap
art swap
button swap
handmade holiday swap
dishtowel swap

You know you could really go crazy with this. We have done a ton of swapping projects in homeschool before. We did postcard swaps and rock swaps… and once we got lighthouse postcards from all over America from homeschoolers for a mapping project we did when my kids were little. The possibilities are only as limited as the interests and creativity of the members of the swap group!

“What happens when we get our gift?” you say.

The way you say thanks to your swap partner for your super gift is to #1 SEND YOUR GIFT ON TIME… and #2 blog a photo of it on your blog when you get your gift and tell the whole world how great your swap-buddy is!

Interested in learning more?

Here are some basic rules…
1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift to the mail box by the assigned swap deadline.
2. Don’t spend more than 5$ on your swap gift. You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy and make sure to ask them if they need prayers. If you pray for them, send them a bible verse in your swap present!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.

To get started…
Comment here and let us know if you want to participate in the homeschool swap. Please leave your email address! I’ll send you a questionnaire to fill out about yourself so that we can match up some homeschool moms. I’ll send you back your swap buddy’s email address. You guys can make contact and talk from now until the swap postal deadline. We’ll post a note in here each month to tell you what the swap theme will be (for this first swap, we won’t have a theme… we’ll just let you get creative and get used to swapping first). Don’t tell your swap buddy what you are getting for them. Let the gift be a total surprise. Mail your gift on time and be sure to get your thank-you post up on your blog as soon as you get your swap gift.

So… now that you know what a swap is… who’s in?

~This swap is now Closed ~

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Time for another Saturday Swap… This Month’s Swap will be themed for Thanksgiving. Of course, you don’t HAVE to send stuff relating to Thanksgiving, but in case you are having mental block - the theme is there to give you ideas. Some of you already did some Thanksgiving themed items in last month’s SWAP. Good for you! You are ahead of the game.

Last month we had some SWAP Buddies that DID NOT GET GIFTS even though they sent them. That’s just not fair. Please send your gifts or don’t sign up for Saturday SWAP! We also had some swappers who didn’t email us with links to their posts that they did about their SWAP gifts. Or maybe they didn’t post about it… we don’t know yet. Email us when you get your posts up so we have them to showcase when we post the SWAP for next month!

We had 20 sign up for the SWAP last month, so we had 10 pairs of swappers. Below are the links we got in…

OCTOBER SWAP HIGHLIGHTS:

Sarah and Regina swapped

Sarah’s SWAP Post
Regina’s SWAP Post

Lori and Amy swapped

Lori’s SWAP Post
Amy’s SWAP Post

Rosina and Cheryl swapped

Rosina’s SWAP Post
Cheryl’s SWAP Post

Tiany and Sallie swapped

Tiany’s SWAP Post
Sallie’s SWAP Post

Heather and Heather (Sprittibee) swapped

Heather hasn’t posted about her SWAP yet…
Heather’s (Sprittibee’s) SWAP Post

HERE’s THE INFO FROM LAST MONTH’S POST THAT YOU MIGHT NEED:

“What is a swap?” you say.

Swaps are like having a secret sister that isn’t secret… and having a new secret sister each month. You fill out a questionnaire about yourself, get paired up with a secret sister, and spend about 5$ plus postage each month sending a personalized gift to your monthly swap buddy. The great thing is, you get a 5$ gift back… customized for you. Even better is the fact that you are swapping with another homeschool mom… and the thing about swapping with homeschoolers is that you are swapping with someone who knows how hard it is to have an extra hat on at home. We can get just as excited about swapping school supplies as we can about swapping other more usual things (like postcards, pretty papers, scrapbook items, personalized things, nail polish, etc.).

“What do we send?” you say.

Want to get ideas about what kind of gifts are being sent in swaps? There are lots of people swapping… here are a few links for you to check out about swaps and photos of swap gifts:

lots of swaps
stationary swap
sock swap
flickr swap shots
soup swap
art swap
button swap
handmade holiday swap
dishtowel swap

You know you could really go crazy with this. We have done a ton of swapping projects in homeschool before. We did postcard swaps and rock swaps… and once we got lighthouse postcards from all over America from homeschoolers for a mapping project we did when my kids were little. The possibilities are only as limited as the interests and creativity of the members of the swap group!

“What happens when we get our gift?” you say.

The way you say thanks to your swap partner for your super gift is to #1 SEND YOUR GIFT ON TIME… and #2 blog a photo of it on your blog when you get your gift and tell the whole world how great your swap-buddy is!

Interested in learning more?

Here are some basic rules…
1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift to the mail box by the assigned swap deadline.
2. Don’t spend more than 5$ on your swap gift. You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy and make sure to ask them if they need prayers. If you pray for them, send them a bible verse in your swap present!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.

To get started…
Comment here and let us know if you want to participate in the homeschool swap. Please leave your email address! I’ll send you a questionnaire to fill out about yourself so that we can match up some homeschool moms. I’ll send you back your swap buddy’s email address. You guys can make contact and talk from now until the swap postal deadline. We’ll post a note in here each month to tell you what the swap theme will be (for this first swap, we won’t have a theme… we’ll just let you get creative and get used to swapping first). Don’t tell your swap buddy what you are getting for them. Let the gift be a total surprise. Mail your gift on time and be sure to get your thank-you post up on your blog as soon as you get your swap gift.

So… now that you know what a swap is… who’s in?

~This swap is now closed~

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Now it’s time for something different here at the HSB. Something we plan to do every month, once a month, on the second Saturday of the month… A Homeschool Swap!

“What is a swap?” you say.

Swaps are like having a secret sister that isn’t secret… and having a new secret sister each month. You fill out a questionnaire about yourself, get paired up with a secret sister, and spend about 5$ plus postage each month sending a personalized gift to your monthly swap buddy. The great thing is, you get a 5$ gift back… customized for you. Even better is the fact that you are swapping with another homeschool mom… and the thing about swapping with homeschoolers is that you are swapping with someone who knows how hard it is to have an extra hat on at home. We can get just as excited about swapping school supplies as we can about swapping other more usual things (like postcards, pretty papers, scrapbook items, personalized things, nail polish, etc.).

“What do we send?” you say.

Want to get ideas about what kind of gifts are being sent in swaps? There are lots of people swapping… here are a few links for you to check out about swaps and photos of swap gifts:

lots of swaps
stationary swap
sock swap
flickr swap shots
soup swap
art swap
button swap
handmade holiday swap
dishtowel swap

You know you could really go crazy with this. We have done a ton of swapping projects in homeschool before. We did postcard swaps and rock swaps… and once we got lighthouse postcards from all over America from homeschoolers for a mapping project we did when my kids were little. The possibilities are only as limited as the interests and creativity of the members of the swap group!

“What happens when we get our gift?” you say.

The way you say thanks to your swap partner for your super gift is to #1 SEND YOUR GIFT ON TIME… and #2 blog a photo of it on your blog and tell the whole world how great your swap-buddy is!

Interested in learning more?

Here are some basic rules…
1. Don’t offer to participate and sign up if you can’t get the gift to the mail box by the assigned swap deadline.
2. Don’t spend more than 5$ on your swap gift. You will end up making your buddy feel like they didn’t give enough to you.
3. Get to know your swap buddy and make sure to ask them if they need prayers. If you pray for them, send them a bible verse in your swap present!
4. Do NOT share your swap buddies’ personal information (last names or addresses) with anyone else.

To get started…
Comment here and let us know if you want to participate in our first homeschool swap. Please leave your email address! I’ll send you a questionnaire to fill out about yourself so that we can match up some homeschool moms. I’ll send you back your swap buddy’s email address. You guys can make contact and talk from now until the swap postal deadline. We’ll post a note in here each month to tell you what the swap theme will be (for this first swap, we won’t have a theme… we’ll just let you get creative and get used to swapping first). Don’t tell your swap buddy what you are getting for them. Let the gift be a total surprise. Mail your gift on time and be sure to get your thank-you post up on your blog as soon as you get your swap gift.

So… now that you know what a swap is… who’s in?

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