❤️ Angelicscalliwags Homeschool ❤️
Welcome to Blogging my Heart #2. You are very welcome
Slowly, Slowly?
Over the last few weeks I have been updating old posts. I began blogging in September 2012. Thus far, I have updated all the posts from September to half way through November 2012. It is slowly, slowly. I’m enjoying it thus far though, because I am getting to relive all my memories of Viking unit studies and making models of human cells from jelly and sweets.
But it is slllooooowwww going.
And I find myself asking many times, is it really worth it?
My blog stats, which had plummeted to just a little over 150 views a day whilst I wasn’t posting, are now starting to creep up. Again, slowly, slowly.
I oscillate between being ridiculously proud of myself and worryingly unsure of myself. Is this really the best use of my time?
My family seem to think so. My mum has encouraged me to throw everything at my website for the next year.
I am currently designing my perfect homeschool planner (you can get the free smaller version by signing up to my monthly newsletter – yes, shameless plug!), which I hope to sell once it is finished. I am also hoping to finish my first book during NANOWRIMO this year, which again will be up on my blog to sell. And the girls and I have an exciting collaboration in the pipeline.
Maybe this year is the year?
Blogging Schedule.
I’ve been fairly good at keeping up my blogging schedule, posting five times a week. I really, really (really, really) want to start my YouTube channel. I think my plans for this are being consolidated inside my head as I procrastinate actually carrying them out.
Being very camera shy, the thought of being on video fills me with horror! Yet, the skills required to film and edit appeal to me more than I can say.
I know I need to take a deep breath and just bite the bullet and just. do. it.
Circling back to my blogging schedule, I’d like to post a video every Saturday and write a short post to go along with it. I’m thinking short instructional videos about history based activities I have done with the children in the past might be fun to shoot.
What do you think? Do you think homeschoolers would watch videos instructing them how to (for example) make a Mesopotamian signature seal? Or mummify a chicken?
Pinterest.
Ever since January, I have been scheduling pins of my blog posts to go out, three per day, seven days per week. Those in the know say that consistent pinning should bear fruit somewhere between six and twelve months. I have yet to see any fruit regarding my blog!
Pinterest tells me I have I have over 160000 monthly views, which sound amazing and is considered a lot. However, the number of people coming from my pins to my blog is only 700 or so in the last month. This is a slight increase of 11% from the month before, but is tiny compared to the 160000 views.
That said, TailWind (the company I use to schedule my pins), helps me to create beautiful pins! I may not be seeing many results from my work but I am having a lot of fun learning the new skills required to create pins, which I did not have this time last year.
I am considering increasing the number of pins to five per day to see if this makes a difference. I’ll let you know how that goes next month…
Podcasts.
Every morning I take our black lab for a walk. It gives him and me a quick airing out in the sun and some much needed exercise. I always listen to a podcast at the same time. My morning podcast is one from Gillian Perkins.
At night, I have a bath and I listen to a second podcast. My evening podcast is Pat Flynn. Both are about earning a living online. I’m learning lots ❤️
My Monthly Newsletter.
I have started to write a monthly newsletter (literally, I’ve written two 👍). I have created a pop up for anyone to sign up, and I will perhaps leave an option to sign up at the end of each post. I don’t want to advertise it too much at the moment, because I’m still learning how to actually run everything newslettery!
I’m hoping my monthly news letter will contain snippets of homeschool news across the world; freebie note pages and (second-hand) book giveaways, opportunities to write for me and/or be interviewed for my blog, and behind the scenes stuff that won’t go on my blog. I have also created a homeschool planner (it’s not available yet as I’m still tweaking) which will be available for all newsletter subscribers.
Do the video series. I used so much of your content when I was homeschooling. Mine are in college now. I would have loved to have a video series to go with your posts.
I especially loved mummifying the chicken. We still have him-King Cluck-he is 7/8 years old. My daughter is going to use him for her two truths and a lie introduction at one of her classes. No one would ever believe she has a mummified chicken in her garage.
Best of luck.
I can’t believe you have a ‘King Cluck’ tucked away in your garage!! I couldn’t wait to get rid of ours because it smelled a bit nasty…you were obviously a bit more successful than us at the actual mummification process!
Oooh, yes please, do the video posts! I absolutely *love* your inspirations and your book recommendations, ideas to make history lessons come alive, and I always wish you would post pictures of yourself with your kids as they do these amazing things with the wings you’ve given them. I love your blog posts and look forward to each one! (One thing I would beg you, as you learn to make money online, is please please please try to avoid ads all over your posts. Your posts are always so wonderfully illustrated! Recently I have noticed that my old favorite blogs have become so clogged with ads that I have a hard time finding the content.) And I cannot wait to read your NANOWRIMO book!
Aww, thank you Carah ❤️ I can 100% promise you that I will never have any ads on my blog. In fact, I pay a monthly amount to WordPress to specifically NOT have ads on my site. I agree with you, they are terribly distracting.
Thank you for your encouragement ❤️
I spent the past year culling through and updating old posts too; it seems so tedious and time consuming and I’m still not 100% sure it was worth it but I liked knowing that all my blog posts were up to snuff (or as up to snuff as they could be since I couldn’t really go back in time and update/ take photos to go along with them).