My Why: Choosing to Become a Homeschool Blogger

Why does a mom with three kids at home all day homeschooling decide that she’s going to start blog and begin a whole new career?  Why would blogging be the choice for that career?  Why start another homeschool blog?  Well, I’ll tell you about it!

My reasons for blogging:

1. I will always be a homeschool mom, but I won’t always be homeschooling my children.  My years of homeschooling our crew will always have an impact on the rest of my life.  However, I won’t always be in the thick of lessons and adventures with these little people.  There will come a time when they graduate and spread their wings, and I don’t want to end up educating three people just to have walls to stare at when they move on.  I’m gaining skills and experience through this vehicle that can be translated to many different career opportunities once I’m no longer needed at home full time.
2. I’ve been supported in many ways by other moms through my early years as a parent, and I want to give back by being a positive voice for homeschool families.  There is so much misinformation floating around about homeschoolers and our lifestyles.  I want to be one of the voices that says, “You’re doing the right things for your kids.  They are going to be ok!’
3. I’ve got an amazing life because of the choices we’ve made, and I want to share them!  We’ve made some choices along the way that have greatly improved our lives and our children’s lives.  We’ve researched the daylights out of some issues, and if I have the chance to tell people about how a certain choice has made my life better, why not do so?
4. I’m a very goal oriented person, and I need something other than my children’s accomplishments to define me.  It’s soooo incredibly easy to slip into the parenting trap of “Suzie did this!” or “Nathan accomplished this goal!” and find my self worth there.  That attitude is not healthy for anyone.  My personality is such that I need something to work towards, and by working towards business goals, I’m able to separate my children’s accomplishments from my own.

My reasons for choosing blogging over other jobs:

1. I can blog from anywhere, any time. We live a crazy life!  One week we are in NC with family, the next in AL on a field trip.  I also have a husband who travels, and my Mother-in-Law lives with us, but also travels frequently.  We are new to our state and at this point have no local babysitters.  I cannot rely on having the steady childcare I would need for an out of the home job, but with blogging I can write at 1 pm or 1 am depending on the day.
2. This business is totally mine.  I’ve had several different businesses from home but they all had one thing in common.  I was working to build someone else’s company.  Either I had to pay a membership to keep building the business I was working, or I had to place a certain order to maintain my position every month.  There was no downtime or grace because it was all someone else’s company.  With this blog, it’s mine.  I’ve already had to deal with extraordinary circumstances (concussion two weeks after launching!!), but because the business was mine I was able to tweak my goals without losing my business.
3. There is always room for improvement.  By choosing to be in a profession that is only 10ish years old, there’s always going to be room for improvement and growth.  10 years from now, I’ll be an expert in some aspects of this profession, and still learning in others.  That is exciting to me and opens up the whole world in terms of potential.

How blogging helps my family:

1. My children see a mom who is working hard to accomplish goals and make connections with people and companies.  They are learning multiple life lessons from seeing me work everyday.
2. My kids are learning the ins and outs of entrepreneurship.  They celebrate my accomplishments with me, and are great for hugs when things are tough. They help me with post ideas and word choices.  Many times, they are sitting right next to me picking out the photos for the post graphics.  My oldest is chomping at the bit to design graphics for me, and is also asking regularly when she can start her own business.  They are learning business strategies from their living room, in a way that I could never teach them.
3. I am contributing financially to our future. Like most other homeschool families, we took a hit when we chose for me to stay home and parent/teach full time.  Not only did we give up my income, but we also gave up my retirement savings, any job perks, insurance and Social Security credits.  We are ok financially, but looking at the next 25-30 years we’ve got some big life events to save for and parents that will need support.  This blog is contributing to our stability for decades to come.

This is the why and how blogging is something I’ve chosen to put my time and effort into.  This is a good fit for me and a good choice for my family.  It’s worth the effort to us.

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