Something that has saved us a ton of money (and has been a wonderful family activity, too!) came about completely by accident. Our oldest son was taking karate lessons. The instructors invited our then 2-year-old son to join the class if a parent helped with crowd control during class. One thing led to another and now my husband and I both are junior instructors. We were allowed to take karate classes for FREE! I know that other parents at our karate school have earned discounts for their kids by volunteering to help at the reception desk by accepting membership dues during regular class time when all the instructors were busy. It's something to consider, especially if you are sitting at the karate school, dance studio, etc. during classtime anyway. It never hurts to ask!

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Homeschooling Mom to Daniel (12 Years), Andrew (9 Years), Stephen (7 Years) and Emily (3 Years)

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This is a great idea! We do something similar but a bit different. We barter for piano lessons. Dd gets free lessons and I baby-sit one day a week for the teacher's very sweet and easy to care for daughter. It's a win win situation.

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I knew a family where the mom offered to play the piano to accompany the ballet classes and then her girls took lessons for free. So this can work!!

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