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Teach Them Diligently Convention: To purchase curriculum there or not?
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I am excited to be going to the Teach Them Diligently Convention in Atlanta, GA in May! I was planning on purchasing all of my curriculum there. Now I am wondering if there are any advantages or disadvantages to this. Do they have a good supply of everything there? I know everything I want to do. Perhaps I should consider ordering before hand. I am really looking forward to this convention. Is anyone else going to the Teach Them Diligently Convention? What do you do?
Regan
While I’ve never been to a THD convention in particular, I have been to our very large, state convention numerous times. If you are planning on purchasing brand new products, then buying them at convention will save you shipping costs.
However, I have learned to only make preplanned purchases, for the most part, as there are so many vendors and speakers there trying to sell their particular product and you can end up wasting a lot of money on impulse purchases. There are some really neat things that I might pick up on the spot, like games that help with critical thinking skills, or art supplies but I never buy curriculum on impulse as I have always come to regret it later.
My strategy is to research and plan out purchases before convention and to hold off on anything that is new to me and looks interesting until I can get home and really research it and pray about it before buying.
Yep, no major impulse buying for me. I am pretty good about that! Well, once upon a time in the days of my youth, I was quite impulsive in my purchases. Oh how much we learn (hopefully) when we become mothers and how much responsibility rides on our choices. Now, I have 6 reasons (kids) to be responsible with my resources 🙂 I have a little extra money budgeted for a few extra things that I come across, if it is beneficial, like a book or cd’s of classes I can’t attend. I am planning on buying new, only because I have 6 kiddos and they will get plenty of use! I already know almost everything I am going to do. I know shipping is free on orders over $75 and my order will definitely be over $75 so shipping isn’t an issue. We are doing Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation. I am waiting until the Visits to series is updated for that time period. I would love to order everything ahead of time. That would help with planning, but I was considering waiting until the convention to see if the updated Visits to would be out by then. I wonder if they offer any additional discounts at convention???
I would consider making pre-planned purchases at the convention simply to avoid shipping costs. However, if you find a vendor is out of something you want, don’t be afraid to ask them to give you the convention price (if it’s discounted) and cover your shipping costs if you order it within a few days online. A lot of vendors will email convention discount prices to those who attend a convention and sign up at their booth. You can always unsubscribe later if you don’t want to be in their marketing loop.
Now, then…..
5 REASONS TO PURCHASE SCM CURRICULUM AT A CONVENTION:
5. Again, you’ll save on shipping. And, besides–they hauled everything to the convention, so let’s not make them pack it all up to drive back home.
4. You get to physically fully browse through the materials instead of just viewing a small sample.
3. You get to talk with some of the people who actually wrote/compiled/edited many of the SCM materials and ask any questions you might have.
2. If you do something silly, such as….oh, I don’t know, maybe pull a package of SPAM out of your bag at their booth, you’ll make them laugh. (Now, who would do that?)
1. Chances are, you’ll get to meet one or more of the Shafers and Smiths in person, and they’re awesome people!
I feel I should explain #2 in my list above since there are a lot of new people here on the forum….
A few years back, before SCM made some major upgrades to the discussion forum, it was not unusual for a few spam posts to sneak through the system late at night here in the Eastern time zone. Some of us would report these to technical support, and as soon as they checked the website again in the morning, the spam posts would be removed.
Since I was up late planning the next day’s schoolwork and reading through the forum after the kids were in bed, I would run across these spam posts. They were usually very long, contained very poor grammar due to poor translation skills, and just begged for a comical reply. Before I reported these posts, I would often post a reply that was typically chastising the poster in an amusing way. Knowing full well that the OP would never see my reply, it was intended simply for the entertainment of the SCM Team and anyone who might happen to read it before the thread was deleted.
Since I was known as the Spam Bounty Hunter on the forum at that time, when I went to my first TTD convention two years ago, I approached the SCM booth, pulled out my single-serve packet of SPAM lunchmeat, and asked them something along the lines of whether they knew of a place I could eat lunch without making a mess, or something like that. I made Doug & Karen laugh, so it was well worth the two bucks spent on a lunchmeat I later donated to a food pantry….LOL!
Sue, you certainly have a way of making us laugh! Reading through your posts brought back the memories of when we first met you at a convention, and the memory of that made me smile.
Regan, the Visits to series is completed as we released the final book in the series, Visits to Asia, recently. We also just released The Stuff They Left Behind packs for Middles Ages, Early Modern, and Modern. We are still working on the new history guides that will have the new Stuff packs and Visits to scheduled in the lessons. They are in the final stages of proof reading, but we don’t have release dates yet. We always announce when new products are ready on our weekly email list.
Sue, you certainly made me laugh! Thank you for sharing that story and good advice. I do like the idea of buying everything at convention. I did meet Sonya at the convention in Birmingham, AL a few years ago. Charlotte Mason wasn’t even on my radar, but after that convention, I was convinced this was how I wanted to educate my children! It has been a breath of fresh air in our home. I am so thankful I found it while my children were young. After leaving the convention, I went home and came up with a plan and ordered what I needed. That was 2 years ago. I am looking forward to Teach Them Diligently and more classes with Sonya!
Karen, thank you. I look forward to getting my hands on all the new curriculum! Thank you all for your diligence and hard work. Do you know if the new history spine will be available around the same time as the new history guide for Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation? I am very much looking forward to that!!!
Regan
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