About 18 years ago, I read Unplug the Christmas Machine by Jo Robinson and Jean Staeheli.

It changed the way I see and celebrate Christmas.

I created a mini ebook to share what I learned about having a happier, debt free Christmas.

Carol Topp’s Plan for a Debt Free Christmas (click to download)

I include tips, a funny poem and a recipe that eliminates holiday baking.

• Give yourself permission to break old habits and discover new traditions.
• Eliminate or greatly reduce Christmas baking. This will save time, money and gym fees in January! I quit baking
  Christmas cookies several years ago. I now bake a less fattening Christmas bread from my grandmother’s native country of Finland called pulla (recipe in the ebook). I will bake cookies only if I know they will be given to someone else or taken to a party within one day of baking. I keep less than one dozen for my family.
• Don’t kid yourself that homemade cards or gifts are less expensive. They cost in time, frustration, supplies, etc.

I hope you enjoy the mini ebook Carol Topp’s Plan For A Debt-Free Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Carol Topp, CPA

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1. Ultimate Homeschool Expo: Fall 2010

Two places that support the group leader are:
The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) magazine Leadership Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TOSHSN_Leadership_Group/join

and the I am A Homeschool Group Leader Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/72534255742

Both are great places for you to ask questions, get tips and share advice in running your homeschool support group or co-op!

Carol Topp, CPA

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1. A Homeschool Leader Gathering
2. Tragic loss
3. Ten Ways to Torture a Tired Leader

I’m looking forward to seeing some of you this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 31-April 2, 2011 at the Midwest Homeschool Conference at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (my hometown!)

I’ll be doing two workshops this weekend. The one for leaders is a support group meeting for leaders. I will briefly discuss Homeschool Leader: Are You Burnt Out? and then we circle the chairs and just share our questions and support each other as leaders. (the picture is me in the blue shirt meeting with homeschool leaders in Memphis, TN at a convention)

Here’s the handout: Burnout Handout

This session is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 am in the MILLENNIUM
Hotel Pavilion room (you’ll have to walk to the hotel connected to
the convention center)

I am also leading a workshop on Saturday at 11:30 in the MILLENNIUM
Hotel Pavilion room on Micro Business for Teens. This is a great
class for your co-op to consider teaching.

Download a complete schedule of all the workshops offered  or visit
the convention website.
http://www.cincinnatihomeschoolconvention.com

In my workshops, I always try to leave a little time for questions,
and you’re welcome to come back to Booth 1118 to ask more
questions, sit for a while, and see what resources I have for
homeschool leaders.

Hope to see some of you there!

Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com

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I’ll be speaking at the following homeschool conventions in 2011:

• Mid South Homeschool Convention March 3-5, 2011 in Memphis, TN

Topics:

Homeschool Leader: Are You Burnt Out?

Micro Business for Teens

• Midwest Homeschool Convention March 31-April 2, 2011 in Cincinnati, OH

Topics:

Homeschool Leader: Are You Burnt Out?

Micro Business for Teens

• Ultimate Homeschool Expo (online) May 2-6, 2011

Topics:

How a Homeschool Co-op Can Bless Your Child

What Your Child Can Learn from Starting a Micro Business

Career Exploration for Homeschool High School Students

• Schoolhouse Expo (online) May 16-20, 2011.

Topic: Micro Business for Teens

• Home Educators of Virginia, June 9-11, 2011 in Richmond, VA

Topics:

Micro Business for Teens: Starting and Running a Micro Business (2 parts)

Budget is a Dirty Word

Help! My Homeschool Group is Growing

How to Teach Your Kids About Managing Money (When You’re Not Doing So Great Yourself)

I hope to meet you in person or on-line at one of these wonderful conventions.

Carol Topp, CPA

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2. Off to Home Educators Assoc of Virginia (HEAV) Convention
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Who knew that geese could tell us so much about leadership?

Geese fly in a V formation to create uplift. They fly 71% farther when flying together than if they flew alone.
Application for homeschool leaders: Don’t run your group alone. Gather other people to help you and you’ll go farther and avoid burnout.

When the lead bird gets tired, he drops out of the head spot and flies in the back to recover and take advantage of the lift from the other birds.
Application for homeschool leaders: Rotate leadership. Bring in fresh, new people. Set term limits for board members.

Geese honk to offer encouragement to each other, sort of an “Atta boy!” or “You can do it! Keep going!” to each other and their leader.
Application for homeschool leaders: Encourage your leaders. Offer appreciation gifts and thank you cards.

Thanks to :

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-s/2007/4tri07/popeeng.htm

Carol Topp, CPA

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A lot of leaders think, “What?! I hate dealing with the numbers. I am a people person.”

But what those numbers on a budget do is help you plan, sit down and look to the future. That can do a lot to reduce stress.

If you make a plan and know what might be coming, it will help you set priorities. What is important to us in our group? Is it important that we keep the cost extremely low? That is going to be a very different budget than saying our priority is top quality. It helps you focus, plan and set your group’s priorities.

So, believe it or not–having a budget might sound like it is a limiting thing, and some people don’t like budgets. But instead a budget can bring great freedom and relief from a lot of stress.

If you need help establishing a budget, start with my article  Budgeting basics

Then consider ordering my ebook, Money Management for Homeschool Organizations.
Price $7.00. Available for immediate download.  Read more here.

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Several years ago I read a book called Unplug the Christmas Machine and I learned how to celebrate the holidays without stress or more debt! Hear what I learned during the Ultimate Homeschool Expo preview chat on

Thursday October 14 10:00 am EST/ 9 CST.

The Ultimate Homeschool Expo is an on-line homeschool convention that offers special seminar presentations from leaders in the homeschool community who share their expertise with you. The speakers were carefully selected to bring an unforgettable conference experience to the listener.

Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2010 Fall!

Live: November 11-12-13, 2010

Theme: Keeping Christ in the Midst of the Holiday Celebrations

There is no charge for listening to the events live. But we’d love to have you purchase a membership ticket for the full Expo and all the door prizes, freebies and seminars. The ticket price is $19.95.

My preview session called “Unplug the Christmas Machine: Tips for decreasing the stress and debt of Christmas” will be held live on Thursday October 14 at 10:00 am.

Here’s how you can listen in: Go to this website: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/89293

Or dial this telephone number and enter the Call ID when prompted:
Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 89293

Here’s a handout to follow along: Unplug the Christmas Machine_UHSE_2010

Listen to my session  Unplug the Christmas Machine on Thursday Oct 14 at 10:00 am for free or buy a ticket and receive all the sessions, ebooks, vendor hall pass and door prizes offered.

Carol Topp, CPA

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As a guest blogger at The Homeschool Classroom, I wrote a blog entry about leader burnout.

Here’s an excerpt:

It is important to distinguish between temporary “busy-ness” or fatigue and full fledged burn out, which is accumulated strain and stress that affects other areas of your life. After nearly every co-op day, I feel exhausted. One fellow board member takes a nap after co-op, but she is only temporarily fatigued. We joke that we love when co-op starts, but we also love when it ends!

A symptom of burn out would be the loss of the initial enjoyment and anticipation that co-op day should bring. I know that I am tired at the end of a long co-op day because I have invested so much into my students. I really enjoy teaching and I experience a “good” type of fatigue.

To read the entire post, go here: Leader Burnout

Need help avoiding burnout? Read Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them , Run Them and Not Burn Out.

Available as an ebook or in print here.

Carol Topp

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1. Are You Burning Out?
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There are lots of times when a leader may have to step down. Maybe because she is burned out, but also it could be that her family moves out of town. We’ve had that happen. Or maybe she becomes ill or someone in the house becomes ill, and she has to step down from her responsibilities for a while. Every group out there and every leader out there ought to be saying, “If one of us had to leave, could we keep going?” Who could step in—always have that in the back of your mind.

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So many wonderful people have influenced my daughters by teaching at our homeschool co-op.  I will be forever grateful to them!

When Amy Puetz announced she was looking for stories form homeschool graduates, I asked my daughter, Emily, to write something.

Here is an excerpt:

When I was in fifth grade, my mother enrolled me in a homeschool co-op because she thought it would be “good for me.” Unfortunately, I was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of trying something new and facing “real teachers.” In hindsight, however, I can see that the co-op was one of the greatest blessings of those years of homeschooling!

The volunteer instructor for my public speaking class was a veteran homeschool mother, Mrs. Hill. In her class, I learned how to follow a syllabus, complete weekly assignments, and learn from a teacher other than my own parents. I also benefited from Mrs. Hill’s patient encouragement and instruction, as she shared her passion for communicating for Christ with my class. Because each of my co-op teachers led a class in her area of expertise, their passion developed my love for learning beyond what I would have experienced working with just my mom and sister at home. Although I did not particularly enjoy speaking in public, I appreciated Mrs. Hill’s encouragement. Specifically, her praise—from a source other than my parents—reinforced my self confidence and motivated me to work diligently even in my least favorite subjects. On the car ride home from co-op, I would frequently say to my mother, “Guess what I learned from Mrs. Hill today!” The co-op provided a unique opportunity to learn from other adults, without sacrificing the integral element of family from my homeschool experience.

Read my daughter’s thank you to co-op teachers in Thank You! 20 Homeschool Grads Tip Their Hats to Homeschooling Parents Compiled by Amy Puetz

Amy is offering this as a fee ebook at her website.

If you as a homeschool parent, leader or co-op teacher need a bit of encouragement, read Amy’s Thank You book. It will be the “shot in the arm” you need!

Thank You! 20 Homeschool Grads Tip Their Hats to Homeschooling Parents

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