Gmail and Homeschooling - aka Love Letter to Gmail

Okay so I am not prone to advertising but here is one I simply can not resist - gmail is great! I was hesitant in the beginning but I have become a true believer and I am almost ready to commit to one email address - besides my usual spam filters (these are the addresses I use for anything online especially shopping) for those who have scratched out over 25+ email addresses for me in the past 12 years you will be happy! To be fair I have lived at over 14 different addresses during that same time period and in 6 states! But I digress. Back to the wonders of gmail.

Here is a copy of the letter I just wrote to them thanking them and praising them for their service.

As a homeschooling mom gmail has helped me organize my curriculum, weblinks, listservs,lesson plans, reading schedule, even my blog and just about everything in my life. It works so seamlessly with google and having all that storage allows me to keep everything in one place that I can access from anywhere with an internet connection - even when I am not on my own computer.

Keeping the emails in conversation threads has made it easier for me to keep my daily, weekly and monthly activities more in order.. It also helps me see if I have answered a particular email and the stars let me know what I still need to do. Filters keep my inbox clean and organized. The type ahead contacts makes my life easier and saves me time. I find myself doing as much as I can through email because it is so easy to keep track of and have everything all together in one place.

Now I can finally send those video clips to the grandparents - they have gmail accounts now too - as do the kids - reaching 3 generations already! They can show off pictures and videos of their grandkids to all their friends anywhere they can connect.

You truly are providing an outstanding service. Keep up the great work!

I would not say it if I did not believe it. They really have made my life easier and my homeschooling more simple or atleast more organized. For those not familiar with gmail yet - it is the free web based email service being beta tested by google right now. Bloggers and others invited by invitation only have been using it for a few months now. They offer each account 1000 free MB of storage! Yes you read me right. In addition to that very wonderful advantage instead of folders you use a labeling system and each mail can have more than one label or category. So when I get that awesome link that fits into math, science, unit studies and holidays I can label it all those things. Then I can find it again quickly - either by using the built in google search engine that scans my email or pulling up any one of those labels.

Your emails are also kept in "conversation threads" rather than individual emails. For instance my bible study email correspondence is up to 15 responses in one conversation - I can easily see all the responses and it is kept together and easy to see if I have replied and what I said as it automatically includes anything I send.

Okay I think you get the idea now. The good news? I have a few more free accounts to give away if you want one. I do not profit from this in any way - but you sure will. Let me know if you are interested - leave a comment or email. I will send them to the first bunch that respond - but I often get more so feel free to let me know and I will get to you as I receive more.

Peace,
Tenn