“Flourish Enrichment”

http://www.flourishenrichment.com/blog

Why do I write?

I started writing this blog because:

1) I am very involved with my kids while running my business, and I find that many people I talk to find the choices I have made to put my kids first inspirational. I have realized over the past few years that this doesn’t come easy to all parents and I would like to help more parents get involved with their kiddos.

2) I am extremely creative and while I write visual art curriculum for a living, I cannot possibly get all of my ideas to fit nicely into a 90 minute curriculum, so I would like a creative outlet to share my ideas and give other people fun projects to do with their kids.

3) I am very passionate about art education, and I find that the more people know, they more they will be willing to figure out a way to keep it in kids’ lives and advocate on behalf of their kids to school administrators and policy makers.

4) I like to share the latest research and news about art education.

5) I am bursting with ideas and would like to provide insights on how I work, what I am working on and how adults can stay inspired and creative in their lives.

I originally started blogging in 2008 when Flourish was still an after school art class provider in Denver,CO. Now, the blog has morphed into so much more.

Visual art news, research, advocacy, and policy issues

· Creative ways to get involved in your kids’ lives, from participation in school activities to talking about the day’s events at the dinner table

· Ways to inspire creativity in adults

· One “mini” art project each month (for enewsletter subscribers only)

1) The Mogul Mom
2) AONC Chris Guillebeau
3) Seth Godin
4) The Sartorialist

I think Chris Guillebeau had great advice when he recommended in his 279 days to overnight successmanifesto:

Create a Compelling Story and Build Flagship Content
If you want people to pay attention to you, the first step is to establish a compelling story. You should start telling your story when you feel like you have something important to say. I thought about it for at least two years, and when I kept waking up at night with ideas I wanted to share, I decided the time had come to start sharing.

I love to! I encourage comments, as we grow I hope we will get more!

Yes! I think my family reads it to be nice, but I have a lot of friends that are genuinely interested in what we are doing.

No. I am busy with 2 kids and my business, so I am very picky with what I read, where I spend my miniscule amount of time and so one. Priorities are 1)Family 2) Business 3) Gym. We don’t even have a TV because we are so busy. I am on Facebookfor about 5 minutes every morning, does that count?

I blog at Flourish Enrichment and I post every Wednesday. Additionally, I add a free art project every month.

I spend about 1 hour reading blogs and 1 hour writing my blog post. If the blog post includes a video, it takes longer, but usually the video is a small part of a bigger art project so I kill two birds with one stone.

Not yet, but I plan to. It looks really cool and helpful. Since we are just launching our site, we are always looking for blogs that review homeschool art curriculum and blogs for teachers so that we can invite them to review our products, possibly donate our products to them, help with our philanthropic efforts and more.

I can’t remember, but I am glad I jumped in, its fun!

The Sartorialist My brother, Aaron, who lives in SoHo introduced me to this blog. It is SO fun and inspirational. It really helps me when I am thinking of experimenting with a new fashion or style.

Everything, anything. I am an artist so I get inspiration from everywhere. Sometimes, I think of an idea for a project while I am out with my kids, sometimes its talking to a parent. I have even thought of ideas while reading a book to my kids. I try to always be thinking of creative ways to teach children.

No, just focused on the one for now

I have learned a TON from other blogs, especially The Mogul Mom & Seth Godin. As far as writing goes, I am not a technical person when I write, I tend to cut corners and it gets me burned. Therefore, I need to be extra careful, slow down and double check my work. It has helped a lot to commit to posting a blog every week, it makes me stop and write something that is apropos to our business but also gives a lot of useful content for our readers.