I haven’t told family or most friends about this blog. I’ve told a few other bloggers but we’re all in the doing less mode and quite frankly, I wouldn’t add my blog to my list of “must reads”. As a result….it’s pretty quiet here but that’s ok. I’m still learning about all of it. Learning what I like and don’t like about other blogs I read.

I realized that I don’t like giveaways. I usually don’t even read the post. I honestly don’t want free stuff and certainly don’t want to figure out how I have to click around and comment in order to enter. I understand it’s a way for bloggers to increase traffic or get sponsors or whatever. I also understand I’m likely in the minority not liking them and maybe someday this blog will be so wildly popular that I’ll change my mind and rake in big bucks from tons of sponsors. I’m not holding my breath, though.

I do love beautiful photography on blogs-since I’m not gifted visually, I’m not hopeful that beautiful photos will ever be what attracts readers to my pages.

I love tutorials. They take a lot of time, though so I may or may not ever get around to a few of those.

Love good recipes but most of the ones I find are from other blogs so I’ll probably just link.

I love reading about brain research and the ideal conditions for learning so I’ll likely refer to those articles and studies.

I enjoy reading about learning successes on other homeschool blogs. This one’s tricky because as the kids get older, there’s an element of privacy. I learned very early that it was an invasion of privacy to share Hannah’s writing with close family and hardly ever do it-but I think I could be general-maybe.

I think sharing failures is just as important. I’m referring to parenting failures here. I think it’s good to see that we all make the same mistakes and none of us is perfect.

Finally, I love good stories about faith or answered prayers. One of the best ones I’ve ever read was this one on Elizabeth Foss’ blog. Hers is one I read just about every day. She’s a great writer and clearly anyone raising and educating 9 children has lots of wisdom and faith to share.

So, why haven’t I told most friends and family about the blog? Not sure, I think because it’s sort of a unilateral exposure. I’m not comfortable putting myself out there with no way to respond if someone in my family forms an opinion and isn’t as open about it. Hannah and I have talked a lot about this.  I’m drawn to certain blogs, blogs about  being home with the kids, homeschooling, saving money and practicing our faith. Consequently, I’m more likely to write about those types of things and I don’t think those things are necessarily interesting to most of my family. For one thing, I’m certain that writing openly about my faith and writing about certain devotions or novenas will freak some of my family members out (maybe some friends). Anonymity makes it easier to be candid.

Before I took the plunge, I was emailing Sarah from Clover Lane about blogging and safety. Since she posts photos and the real names of her kids, I wondered if she’s ever had an issue. She hasn’t but does take some precautions related to not revealing their specific location. I realized during the exchange that I was as concerned about being open to ridicule or contempt by people that I knew by writing openly about my life. Again, that could be one-sided. She agreed but said at 40 years old, she finally had to get over worrying about what other people think. She also has a big family and I thought it was hilarious that some of her sisters-in-law read her blog but don’t admit it but sometimes they’ll slip refer to something she’s written about.

I do worry about what people think but maybe it’s time I get over it.