Now that it was time to take down our leaf-filled Thankful Tree, we were eager to make the trek to unearth our Reading Tree… the trek into the belly of the barn’s attic. It was dim and cold, and the smell of hay made my nose itch. I tripped over a few field hockey sticks, stubbed my boot on a steel bucket, and rammed my head into a low, hand-hewn beam before we finally found what we were looking for: an artificial tree and an unassuming black plastic storage box, with a gray lid labeled “Reading Tree” in elementary-school penmanship.

I should explain, the Reading Tree is our family’s first step into Christmas each year–starting with one little corner and branching out from there. It is not our “real” tree. We will go to pick that out in a few days, and that one will smell of evergreen and MOOOOve into “center stage” in our home.

(Like how I snuck in that allusion to our newest member on the homestead? But more about Scout in another post… )

Yes, our Christmas trees and even our cows offer literary references. I am, after all, a Language-Arts-kinda gal, and–thankfully!–all my daughters have followed suit.

Today I’m sharing over on Proverbial Homemaker all about our Family Reading Tree, the memorable ornaments that little hands made over the years, and the family tradition I UDDERly cherish. (Whoops, I did it again.) Take a second to read how the “wasted” hours, which stretched over many years, turned into one of the most memorable, productive, still-on-going projects in which we ever invested our time. Honestly. Check it out…

The post Unique Yuletide Book Reports… yes, book reports first appeared on Souly Rested.

You’ll love this post too–> Secrets to encouraging your child as an entrepreneur

On hot summer afternoons when I was 11, I would read a minimum of one book a day, usually curled up on the plaid couch in the cool basement family room. Miss Elisabeth, my local librarian, expected to see me amble into the Kirkwood Highway Library every third or fourth day, checking out a new stack of  paperback adventures.

When shadows started to creep over my backyard, giving some respite from the day’s humidity, Jane Stewart and I would meet under my Maple tree and act out our current favorite Pop song while bellowing it out at top volume. Our favorite that summer was “Play That Funky Music White Boy.” But I was still unaware of bigotry, so I convinced Jane it was “Play the funky music RIGHT boy,” because why on earth would it matter what color his skin was?

On cool mornings, when accompanied by a faint breeze, I’d ride in the feet-on-the-handle-bars solo olympic event up and down my street. Jane wasn’t an early riser, so I’d be the imaginary gold medal winner every time, zooming across the finish line on my snazzy, purple-sparkle banana seat.

There’s No Room for Boredom

I am glad my daughters still get to widdle away sluggish summer days in similar fashions, and I’m glad that they–like I–almost never complain of being bored. (Yes, I did add the qualifier, “almost.”) Who can be bored after all with the countless good reads awaiting and numerous songs ready to be memorized and crazily crooned?

On top of that, my ladies are blessed beyond measure with woods, rivers, and a lake to explore…

veggie gardens to plant and tend…

insects to ponder…

farm animals to love…

and of course a swing that, like a pendulum, ticks away some glorious blocks of time…

Read here if you’d like to truly encourage a child to pursue a heart-felt interest.

Read here if you’d like to know why I only have 2 goals for my daughters’ education.

And “Summer” Today Has So Many Possibilities

But, unlike I at 11, they have the boundless resources of the internet at their fingertips as well. If we guard their time, if we set limits, if we are diligent parents to remind them of all those other wonderful ways to spend a summer hour, well, one great way to fritter away some time is building a website. If you’d like to help a child start a blog this summer (or anytime), I have some great resources for you.

My 11 year old loves WordPress. It’s a very small learning curve and so user friendly.

After quickly learning the ins and outs herself, she spent an hour Skyping with a friend who was 400 miles away but wanted a website tutorial. So my daughter asked me to help her arrange the computers just right, and had a wonderfully successful summer afternoon meeting with a friend. 21st century style.

DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links.

After they chose a theme, wrote content for their American Girl DIY sites, and uploaded pictures, she said goodbye and went back to her rather 1970s kind of afternoon… minus the white boy playing funky music.

Help Your Child Pursue FUN Writing for a Change

If your child wants to dive in to blogging or website design and you’re not sure where to start, I highly recommend wordpress.com for all your free, website-building-kind-of summer afternoons. And I personally use Hostgator for my own and my daughter’s website hosting. I’ve had nothing but the best experiences with their services and highly recommend them. And, crazy enough, they were the most competitive pricing I found.

On the other hand, I also hear very good things about hosting through iPage, if you’d like to compare the two I’m certain both services would do you well.

Or, if your child is serious about SEO and you do set up their site as a wordpress site (which, again, I highly recommend), you both should really read up on WP Engine hosting options. WP Engine is amazing, with their high-ranking SEO and conversion rates for sites, big or small. (Don’t worry if that’s all Greek to you. Read on for more info on a free class from Kelly, over on Sticky Blogging. She will do a fantastic job explaining all the ins and outs to your teen in simple easy to understand ways.)

I also highly recommend that you and your child complete this free, 3-lesson eCourse together and learn the amazing ins and outs of Search Engine Optimization (a very important skill in today’s tech world!). If your child loves it, Kelly does offer another more in depth class that will have your child working as an expert in no time, if they want to continue learning through the Sticky SEO self-paced class. (Bonus, if you homeschool, you can even add credits for “Communications and Search Engine Optimization” to their transcript. Impressive.)

The Nitty Gritty

So, to sum that all up… mainly cause I like lists… Here’s the nitty gritty technical stuff.

1. Set up a FREE website with WordPress.com.

2. Sign up for hosting of that site through a service like iPage.

3. Or compare that to Hostgator, and see what works best for your needs.

4. Try out the FREE 3-lesson eCourse for inspiration on writing great content.

But as for those 3 simple tips I promised you…

3 Simple Tips to Help Your Child Start a Blog

Looks matter.

So this first point is my daughter’s advice. Bloggers should take all their pictures outside, in natural light, unless they have access to professional lighting equipment. The right lighting in photographs makes a post look so much better. Feel free to skim some posts I’ve shared about photography for kids, starting with this photography challenge.

Followers matter.

I mean, after all, no one stays motivated to keep on working hard if no one notices their efforts. So my daughter’s friend’s advice? A new blogger should think of a fun contest to get all their friends and family interested in following their blog, so they can enjoy a nice following right away.

Quality matters.

Finally, advice from this homeschool mom of 16 years, 4 children, and innumerable ploys to make learning fun: Use this experience as a great way to teach writing. Don’t let the kids be lazy about their writing. Honestly, I’ve found no better way to sneak in some grammar and spelling lessons that truly “stick.” And they don’t even mind (too much) correcting their writing before publishing it. Because, well, what’s more fun than instantly publishing your writing and having your friends read and follow it?

Okay, maybe one thing tops all childhood accomplishments: olympic gold medals earned by early risers on purple-sparkle banana seats. Here’s me, curly pigtails and all, with my favorite purple sparkle bike ever and Mom, my #1 supporter behind my daily olympic medals. Mom, of course, was an expert at wearing a polyester pant suit in style.

As for advice from a techie? All the details you could want on setting up a wordpress blog can be found here.

What if Your Child Wants to be an Entrepreneur?

There are lots of ways to monetize a blog if you have a business-minded child who wants to do so.

The second season of my podcast discusses this topic and takes you behind the scenes of content creation. The most important details from that season are itemized right here.

However many years [or summers] anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. Ecclesiastes 11:8

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Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post Help your child improve her writing and learn amazing skills by starting a blog first appeared on Souly Rested.