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Homeschool Help ~ Resource Pages
November 18, 2013
In the spring I re-launched my blog. One of the things I wanted to do with that re-launch was create better resource pages for readers.
I have written many, many posts over 9 years of blogging.
Some of those posts are better than others (smile) and over the past few years I curated that content into Resource Pages that highlighted the most helpful content I've written around themes of homeschooling, soapmaking, vegan eating, adventure living, crafting, etc.
When I re-launched the blog I totally cleaned the front page. It was like re-decorating a home. The links to those resource pages disappeared, even though the pages are still there. I am keeping them "behind the scenes" because I am in the process of upgrading them.
My goal is to create better resource pages that are automatically updated when I publish posts. Fellow bloggers will appreciate the beauty of this. Instead of manually curating and creating a page, the content is tagged a certain way and it happens automatically.
Of course, nothing happens on a blog automatically. It has to be set up, often painstakingly at first.
I'm happy to say my Homeschool Help Resource Page is done and is now accessible again from the front page. Look around, you'll see the links, one in the menu bar, one in sidebar graphic (which will not always be there but is for now).
The Homeschool Help Resource Page is nice and all but it's really just the portal, or access point, to the pages I am most pleased with.
I have spent the last six months dividing my best homeschool content by topic. These topics are found on the Homeschool Help page immediately after the introduction. They look like this:
If you click on one of these links (on the page, not in the image above) you are taken to a page of FIMBY related posts and supporting books, curriculum, and resources for that subject or topic. For example, Reading & Books.
This allows you to see, at a glance, what curricula I've used to teach my kids, and other products or books I recommend. You can also scroll through related posts and read those that look interesting to you, based on your needs.
I have read, re-formatted, and fixed the code on hundreds of posts to create these pages.(Applause from the peanut gallery.)
I love that these pages allow me to feature helpful homeschool products.
There are so many wonderful resources I want to share with FIMBY homeschoolers but I don't want to clutter up my front page with a bunch of banners. FIMBY is not a homeschool blog, per se, and banner clutter annoys me.
I want FIMBY to be a beautiful, helpful, and encouraging place for readers and myself. Curating resource pages is one way to create the kind of blog I want to read and write.
I'm not completely done, there is no done in life or on a blog. There is good enough for now. I have a few more resources to add to some of the pages, which I plan to do this week.
This week I will be posting a few of the topic pages to the FIMBY's front page. Turns out I can't do that. Bummer.
These pages do not allow comments so if you wish to chat about the contents you can come back to this post to leave a comment, e-mail me, tweet me, or find me at Facebook.
If you notice dead links or weird stuff please let me know.
One resource page down, five to go. (Sigh...)
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Sandi on Nov. 18, 2013, 4:22 p.m.
Thank you for this. I feel a bit like a kid in a candy store. I am looking forward to hanging out here for some ideas and just some like minded encouragement. I have been homeschooling from the get-go.....9 years now. This last year found me burnt out for various reasons. I have also been trying to move over to a more project based interest lead learning style in our home. The exciting part is my youngest started K this year so he will learn this way from the start. My middle guy (10) is a very young ten and have some learning challenges that have been very hard. Then my older self driven learner (13) who has done project based learning by request. She has done much on her own due to having a struggling younger sibling. I for a seaon felt bad about it and now realize it has been a blessing in disguise.
So looking forward to exploring.
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Sarah Mast on Nov. 18, 2013, 11:16 p.m.
Applause from the peanut gallery, indeed!~ What a huge "invisible" job. Well, invisible until it's not, and it's worked out. I love that your entire site is all FIMBY. I hate banner clutter, too. It looks nice! Now, to go and discover while my kids are having quiet time... :) Sarah M
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Rana on Nov. 19, 2013, 2:20 p.m.
Ilove it. I checked out the Homeschool Help link and it is AMAZIING!! I love the way you set this up and all the little extras of what your family is using or is interested in. This is going to be so helpful. Thank you!!
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Alaina on Nov. 19, 2013, 4:32 p.m.
This is great news! I often want to find something and find it hard to figure out which word to type into a search. Thank you!!! I will be using this a lot.
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Mama on Nov. 20, 2013, 12:22 a.m.
Yay! from the peanut gallery!! Hehe. It looks great Renee. I can certainly appreciate all the work, and I know it will benefit your readers (including me!). So thank you :)
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Marianne on Nov. 18, 2013, 3:31 p.m.
Renee, I am so thrilled by this bounty of information. Michael is in a traditional private school that we love but I have long been planning to homeschool him come high school. Well, you know better than most the unexpected changes life brings. We have decided to make the switch a bit earlier - next year (5th grade) hopefully. I have been talking with all my homeschooling friends and generally beginning the gathering of knowledge to prepare a curriculum. Thank you for this - it will be so very helpful.