5 January 2016

Big Blogging Plans for 2016!

4AFewBloggingIdeasfor2016-2

I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas. Perhaps you’re still celebrating. We are.

Our Christmas tree is still in the corner of the family room. Cards are dangling from strings looped across our living room window. And we haven’t finished working our way through the Christmas food. Oh my! It seems to be never-ending. It’s just as well, I’m doing lots of exercise. If I weren’t running and working out, I’d probably be as round as a Christmas pudding by now. This reminds me: I wonder if there’s another Christmas pudding in the pantry. I do love pudding!

Over the past several weeks, we’ve all had lots of relaxing days. Except my husband, Andy. He hasn’t had time to rest. He’s been repainting our bathrooms and carting rubbish to the recycling and resource recovery centre. But the rest of us have had plenty of time to do whatever we want.I’ve been reading, listening to podcasts, colouring in, eating and  exercising. And while I’ve been doing all of this, ideas have been brewing up in the back of my mind. Every now and then, I reach for my notebook and scribble down the latest ‘fabulous’ idea. I’ve been busy making plans for the coming year.

 

I think we’ve all needed some quiet time. It’s been lovely doing nothing in particular. Sitting quietly and letting our minds run free has been good. But now I’m just about ready to jump back into action. Yes, I want to work on some of the ideas I’ve captured in my notebook.So here I am, writing a blog post after a two-week break, the very first post of 2016. By the way:

Happy New Year!

 

 Here are a few things I’m going to be working on this year:

 

  • Of course, I’ll be writing lots of new blog posts. Readers have suggested the following topics: Evernote tips, parenting adult children, socialisation, how to podcast, typical unschooling days and weeks, helping children find their passions, handling panic moments and exercise. (Panic moments and exercise are two separate topics. Or maybe not!) I’ve also got some ideas of my own. Lots to write about!
  • I’ll be putting together a ‘Start Here’ page that will point readers in the right direction to find certain types of posts. Perhaps I’ll gather a list of links for ‘starting unschooling’, ‘unschooling primary-aged children’, and ‘unschooling high school’. Any other categories?
  • When I’ve got all my posts organised into ‘chapters’, I’m going to put together an unschooling book, adding some extra material.
  • I’ll be recording some new podcast episodes very soon.
  • I’m going to transcribe parts of my podcasts and make them into blog posts. If you find it difficult to listen to podcasts, maybe this is one way I can share some of what I talk about with you. I discovered a software program called Transcribe which might make the task of transcribing fairly easy.
  • I’d also like to make an index of my podcast topics to make it easier for readers to find episodes on particular topics.
  • I want to make some more videos this year. My daughter Sophie and I have ordered a new camera. (Perhaps it’ll arrive in the mail today!) It’s a mirrorless one. It’s small and light with image stabilisation, perfect for capturing video on the go, or so we hope!
  • I’ve already put the next idea into action. Have you seen my Archive button on the menu at the top of this blog? Sophie found me this nifty bit of HTML that creates a list of all my posts, complete with labels. If you hover over the blog title, you can read the first few sentences of the post.
READ  Latin Books and Website

I’m also working on a lot of other ideas. I won’t tell you about all of them today. Maybe I can just share this one:

  • With Sophie’s help, I have redesigned and updated my grief blog. It’s now called The Baby Loss Club. I’m going to be adding new posts as well as podcasts. Yes, I’m about to create The Baby Loss Club podcast. If you are interested, please watch out for it.
Re-reading this post, I realise Sophie’s name has cropped up a number of times. We’ve been working together a lot recently, swapping ideas and helping each other.

 

Yesterday, when Sophie came to say goodnight to me, she said, “I’ve made a list of things I want to accomplish this year, things I want to work on.” Doesn’t she sound just like me? Yes, my 14-year-old daughter has her own big plans for 2016. Perhaps I can tell you about some of them in future posts.So what do you think? Will it be an interesting blogging year? Will I actually put all these ideas into action? I’m getting myself organised, so I hope I do.

 

 I also hope you’ll follow along as I continue to share our unschooling adventures. If you haven’t subscribed to my blog, but would like to, please do!

 

Maybe you also have big plans for 2016. Do they include exercise? Have you had any panic moments? Perhaps you’ve made some New Year’s Resolutions? Or maybe not!

 

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

16 Comments

  1. I'm glad you've had time to lounge around and recharge a bit. We've been doing quite a bit of that too!

    Mirrorless camera! I find them very interesting, perhaps when you've had a good fiddle Sophie might do a blog review to share her thoughts on it?

    I've made a new video and am about to upload, it's my longest one yet! I'm really surprised that I'm getting new subscribers to my channel every day without any effort on my part, usually it's the opposite! I'm happy that so many people are interested in weaving, it brings me great joy to be able to share knowledge with people all over the world.
    I'm really looking forward to your podcasts this year, yes, I have missed them!
    Ari, my 15 year old has also talked about making a list of things he wants to achieve this year, I think it's great to have motivated kids.
    I don't really make resolutions just for the New Year, but I am focusing on healthy eating and exercise when I can. It used to be in the back of my mind that I wanted to lose my excess weight before I turned 40. It's now very much in the front of my mind as I turn 40 this year. I'm trying, so we'll see 🙂

    • Kelly,

      We're still waiting (impatiently!) for our new canera to arrive. I'm sure Sophie would love to do a review on the camera once we've played around with it, and worked out what it can do. Sophie has decided to focus her blog on photography and photo stories. This is one of her great plans for the year!

      I was looking at your Youtube channel. Oh my, your videos are popular! Congratulations. Obviously your videos are very helpful. Oh yes, there's great joy in sharing. I understand that. It's why I blog!

      I'll get back to recording podcasts when I get my bedroom back. Andy is painting the ensuite bathroom and this means he comes in and out of the bedroom. It's not a quiet place at the moment! It's good to hear you're looking forward to a new episode.

      I love having motivated kids too. So different from those days, years ago, when I spent a lot of time and energy trying to push them to do what I thought was important. I love unschooling!

      How are you getting on with Fitness Blender? I hope you reach your goals before your birthday!

      Lovely to chat!

    • Fitness Blender has been on hold – my back hasn't been as good as it was, I haven't been able to go walking much either. It seems to be settling now, so I'm sure I'll get back into it. Thanks for asking 🙂

  2. I'm looking forward to reading and listening, Sue. It all sounds very interesting and useful.

    I've been working on interests, as well. I downloaded an app to organise my time and help me get into a rhythm with hobbies and prayer times. So far, it's working quite well – I'm getting more done than I was.

    Happy New Year to you, too! xx

    • Vicky,

      I'm glad to hear you found something to help you get organised. I hadn't thought about using an app. Which one are you using? I'm getting more done because I'm turning off my computer earlier, so I have my evenings free from the distraction of the Internet. I'd love to hear what you're working on at the moment.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  3. This sounds exciting Sue! Maybe you could add a category for learning resources / strewing ideas? I know I tend to search your blog looking for ideas and resources I've previously read on a post. You are a wealth of ideas and wisdom 🙂 xx

    • Natalie,

      A category for learning resources is an excellent idea. I will put together a resources page. Perhaps I can add my Pinterest boards to it. That's where I usually add all the links to interesting things I find, especially those I discover on the Internet. Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm really pleased you stopped by to say hello!

  4. Great to see you're up to so many things with such enthusiasm ! My big plans for 2016 ? Exercising and walking in the moutains; starting my raw chocolate business; translating a book about Jesus in french…lots of things to fill up the year ! And plenty of silence, calm and nothing to do days as well (I hope so) !

    • Dominique,

      Walking in the mountains? Oh, that sounds wonderful! I'll look out in case you post some photos on Facebook. I love seeing where other people live. It's good to have lots of projects to get excited about, isn't it? I love the sound of your raw chocolate business. My daughter Sophie wants to try making her own chocolate. And translating? That sounds very clever to this one-language-only blogger!

      Thank you for your comment on an earlier post about transcribing my podcasts. I thought at first, it would be too much work, but after discovering the program Transcribe, I think I might be able to do it!

      I hope you're having plenty of nothing-to-do days! Thank you for stopping by.

    • Yes Sue, I didn't take time to answer your comment on transcriving podcasts, but I'm delighted to see that I will soon be able to read your podcasts ! Actually I'm also interested in your experience on Transcribe, as such a software would really help me in some of my various tasks including some translation ! I support from the other side of the planet your daughter in making her own chocolate, it's not difficult. The tricky part is the tempering, especially because chocolate is so sensitive to humidity and room temperature. But miracles happen ! If she wants to share about the topic via email, I'll be happy to give her my email adress !

    • Dominique,

      I haven't spent much time using Transcribe yet. I do know its punctuation skills are very limited when it comes to dictation. I will have to edit my posts after transcribing them, adding paragraphs etc. But that's okay. As long as I have the right words, I can fix everything else up. When I have done some more experimenting with the software, I'll give you some better feedback.

      You are so kind offering to help Sophie with her chocolate making. She was delighted when I read that part of your comment to her. Thank you! We'll certainly contact you when she gets around to this project. It sounds like your advice will help immensely!

Leave a Reply to Kelly CasanovaCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Previous Story

Making a Music Video in the Australian Bush

Next Story

One-on-One Times: Are They Important?

Go toTop