How I Became a Blogging Homeschool Mom {guest post}

August 1, 2012 by 6 Comments
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A few years ago, I was homeschooling my six children and trying to devise a way that I could bring in some extra income. I had been a teacher for many years, and had earned several college degrees. It wasn’t easy maintaining the decision to stay at home, but looking back now I would never trade it for anything. Yet, over the years I have been able to be involved in several ways to earn additional income.

When I began I didn’t know a thing about blogging. I started working for www.Time4Learning.com. We were using Time4Learning as our homeschool curriculum and I responded to one of the ads about working with them. They actually sent me to school to learn about blogging, and had me begin a blog for them. I learned so much, and even though I had been to college for many years writing for blogs is so different than the type of writing that you use in educational research. That has now been over four years ago, and I am still working with them. Yet, through their teaching and training I have been able to go on and begin blogging for myself.

A few basic principles of blogging must be understood before you begin. You can just jump in and learn as you go (pretty difficult), or find a free online course that will help you learn the basics. There is a great free blog writing course( http://blogwritingcourse.com/learn-more-about-intro-to-blogging/) that I used before I did a more formal course. You can use this to get your feet wet, and to see if you’d even enjoy doing something like blogging.

If you do decide to begin a blog, you must first determine your purpose. Without a purpose a blog is simply drifting. Once you nail down your purpose, then think about the niche or audience that you would like to reach. When you’ve determined these two major things you can move on to the fun stuff like finding a catchy title, a cute theme (try Cutest Blog on the Block for free cutesy), and even making lists of topics you’d like to touch on.

Whether you begin to blog for income, or if you are just doing it for personal reasons… blogging is a great way to express yourself, reach out to other homeschooling mothers, and even chronicle your daily homeschooling. With all that aside… blogging can really be just plain fun!

Jamie Gaddy, B.S., M.Ed., Ed.D. has been an education professor for over 17 years. A pastor’s wife, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who now homeschools her six children (ages 5-16) in a sweet tea sippin’, wrap around porch sittin’, sweet southern Georgia town. You can find her blog at www.momschool.net.

photo credit

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  • http://getalonghome.com Cindy

    Well, there I go, breaking all the rules again. ;-) I still haven’t nailed down my blog’s purpose, and I don’t worry much about who it reaches. I am my audience. My blog is there because I want it to be, and that’s about it. I also learned how to blog a different way–I read a lot of blogs and noticed what works and what doesn’t. It took, oh, about 8 years of blog reading before I was ready to start my own. I’m thinking taking a class might have been faster, but I’m not sure I’d have been as satisfied with that route. There’s a great deal to be said for blogging just for the love of the format, without any preconceptions about where you’re headed. Of course, that won’t work if you’re all about the money side of it, and need to get started in a hurry, will it?

    • Homeschool Blogging

      It never crossed my mind for YEARS that there was a WAY to blog that was perhaps more effective than what I was doing. It fascinates me that there are classes on the subject!

  • http://homeschoolheartandmind.blogspot.com/ Susan @Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

    I have to agree with Cindy. I can see, I guess, how following certain guidelines might make your blog more marketable more quickly(maybe? Cindy has a whole lot of readers, though, who came to love her over time and stay because of who she is not the rules she followed ;0), but I’m not content to categorize myself in real life (or follow all the rules), nor will I do so on my blog.

    Part of that is about temperament and personality. I’m a big picture kinda gal who learns by doing and who has a ton of interests. I don’t thrive on schedules, neat little increments, or checklists (don’t ask me for a blog calendar). I can’t limit myself to just 500 words or only talk about sliver of what’s going on in my mind. I just throw up the contents of my brain (and heart) periodically and my few dozen or so readers either accept me as I am or don’t. I’m ok with that. But I’m not trying to be a money-maker, and that’s ok, too. ;0)

  • http://www.gentleshepherd.biz Diane Hurst

    Thanks for telling about the class, Jamie! I’m one of those people who actually likes to read instruction manuals before trying out a new gadget . . . so this will be a great help!

  • http://dinkerandgiggles.com Alaina Frederick

    I’ve been blogging for 7 years now and I’m just starting to *get it* but of course the second I start to get something the rules change again!

  • Selena Jacob

    Thanks for the post Jamie. This post is greatly explained on how to begin blogging for homeschool. I would like to be a homeschool blogger and soon I will be following your way blogging for homeschool curriculum. At http://www.comprehensiverecordsolution.com/you can also find some helpful homeschooling information similar to yours.