Why I post what I post.
Mostly, the stuff I write on facebook (here, and on my own personal wall) falls into the category of You Are Not Alone™.
I write most things so that people know they aren’t alone in their struggles, so they can find a Homeschool Bestie™, or their Homeschool Tribe™.
But that’s not the only reason I post here.
I post here about homeschooling — the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s why Homeschooling in the News™ isn’t always about prodigies, but also includes homeschooling’s detractors.
Sometimes, I write and post things to amuse you.
I post Emails of the Day™ because you wouldn’t believe the amount of work it saves me answering it once in email and posting it here. You guys ask the same questions at the same time of year, every year. That’s why you think I’m prescient when I post about you sitting on the fence, your kid’s late spring mental breakdown in school, your waffling in the face of the obvious choice of homeschooling, your deepest fears regarding homeschooling. These all fall, like clockwork, on the calendar, and they come in cycles.
Sometimes, I write and post things because they amuse me.
I also post the Email of the Day™ because I want to empower you. I want you to see the same question and answer over and over again, until you can give the right answer to a local newbie yourself. I’m on a few local lists, and I’ve been invited onto some not-so-local lists, and it’s working: more and more of you are doing this work downstream, and I want to encourage it.
I do it so you can take what I’ve written, make it your own, and fight this battle alongside, or without me.
Sometimes I write and post things because they’re interesting and deserve a broader audience.
I have a lot of institutional knowledge up here in my brain. I started answering WA homeschool questions going on 14 years ago, and I started doing it in earnest here more than 5,300 people ago.
Sometimes, I write and post hard things, because they need to be said.
I write here so you can see that the Great and Powerful Oz is just another homeschool parent, helping others get good, accurate, timely information about homeschooling in WA. I do it so you know that you’ve been wearing the ruby (or silver, if you read the books) slippers the whole time, and you have always had the power.
Sometimes I post with trepidation. Sometimes I’m surprised at the response. Sometimes I post and then walk away from the electronics for hours and am blown away with where the thread went.
Most of the time I’m writing to empower you. To pass on what I’ve learned. To make you think and act and reach out to others.
You Are Not Al one™.
~Jen