Today I am interviewing Dana Hanley. Dana graduated from college and planned to have no more than one child while she pursued her goal of a career in journalism or political science. She is now a homeschooling mom to four precious children. Dana currently blogs at Principled Discovery. She also writes a column titled, “Homeschool in the News” over at Heart of the Matter Online.

Tell us a little bit about your family.
My husband and I met as exchange students in Germany. He from Australia and I from the US. So it’s a good thing I wanted to go to Germany and he was passed over for the spot to Sweden. Else we never would have met, never would have married, and four lovely children just wouldn’t be.

The one thing that amazes me most is how different each of our children are. Despite sharing in the same gene pool and the same parenting, they are truly unique individuals. Each day I am challenged to encourage them, to challenge them and to educate them.

What does a typical day look like in your home?
The typical day starts later than I planned and is filled with the typical distractions of a curious one year old and a three year old who wants to do everything with us. I have learned to be ready to involve her, but sometimes I still get frustrated that we cannot “just get things done.” I am very goal-oriented, and sitting back and just enjoying the process, regardless of the mess and the extra time involved, is something I am working on.

We do more formal, school-like lessons for math and spelling and I try a more tutorial approach for everything else. This is rather intensive because it involves a great deal of planning to make myself more of a “living text book.” It is worth the effort…but I do not always commit the time to do it well. And then things can be somewhat more chaotic. That isn’t exactly typical, but it happens way more than I would like and is a good preface for the day I share for the next question!

What does a perfect day look like for you?
The nearest thing we experienced to a “perfect” day was our lesson on Jesus as the Bread of Life. We still have those moments, but it is rare that my children are that engaged for that length of time. It was a very rewarding time for all of us and we all learned from the lesson.

Do you have a separate room where you homeschool?
No. We do the formal part of our day in the front room with the baby and the toddler in my lap, the five year old at my feet playing with his train track and my nine year old seated next to me. When she needs quiet to read or write, she will usually retire to her desk in her room.

Would you like to share any advice for a new homeschooler?
I am just finishing my fourth year so I really am still a beginner myself. I still remember the insecurity of beginning something completely new that I had never really considered very deeply, the desire for affirmation and the fear of what would happen to my children should I fail.

If I were to give advice, it would be to take the time to really develop a philosophy of education and to write it down. This is really just a statement of what you believe about education, the role you play as a teacher and what you want your children to accomplish. Use this as your guide in purchasing decisions and the decisions you make regarding your children;s education rather than the “latest and greatest” program everyone is buzzing about.

It is easy to project our ideals on those around us and imagine that all of these “superwomen” we meet in homeschool groups and at conventions greet their eager children every morning with a smile, a prayer and lessons completely planned which are pulled off without a hitch. Real life rarely looks as good as it is portrayed in books and in speeches, however. Don’t set the bar so high it is unattainable or you will likely give up in defeat.

And remember to relax and have try to have fun with your children every day.

Dana, how long have your been blogging?
Three years.

What motivated you to begin blogging?
I posted a summary of my first day of first grade to a forum and several people emailed me and encouraged me to start a blog to record our days, both as an encouragement to others and as a record of our accomplishments. I didn’t know what a blog was, didn’t know why anyone would want to read my ramblings about our school day and figured I’d keep it up for about a week. But I started one anyway, because I’m always game for something new. Especially if it involves writing.

I enjoyed it much more than I would have imagined (kind of like my tentative start into homeschooling, actually) and do not really see myself stopping anytime soon. My blog has moved twice now, and changed focus at least as many times. Or perhaps I should say it has developed a focus beyond whatever I am thinking about for the day.

You blog deals a lot with current events, so I’ll assume these are the issues you most like to blog about. What are some of your favorite sources for staying current?
I mostly get my news from Google Alerts. It is easy to set up an account and news stories relevant to different keywords are delivered to my email account. This allows me to skim several stories without having to actively search for them. I also subscribe to a number of blogs and am active in a few forums. While I actually prefer the stories which develop out of these conversations, this is also the most time consuming way to stay current and find something to blog about.

How much time would you guess you spend on blogging during a typical week?
That is a difficult question to answer because so much of what I blog about has to do with projects I am already working on. My best guess would be ten hours just because it generally takes me an an hour to write a decent post.

What are some good things that blogging has brought into your life?
Mostly it has given me a voice and connections to people as passionate about their beliefs as I am. It has given me an outlet for my writing and an ability to speak with adults about adult things throughout the day rather than being so focused on the children all day. I actually dealt with this quite a bit in a recent entry: How online communication has affected me.

Have there been pitfalls?
The biggest struggle for me has been the tension between the time I spend on my blog and the desire to write for publication. Blogging satisfies most of my “drive” to write, and I enjoy the conversation. But opportunities I used to pursue have remained neglected. On the other hand, however, my blog has been the doorway into all of the writing I have done for other publications. I never pursued blogging for that reason, but perhaps someday it will help with my other goals.

Overall would you say blogging has been a positive experience? What advice do you have for others just starting to blog?
I love blogging. It is a wonderful way to share your ideas and make connections with others with similar world views. It is also a great way to be challenged in your beliefs about the world, and refine what you believe and why you believe it as you will almost inevitably be confronted with people you disagree with. Some people enjoy this part of blogging more than others. (I happen to be one who enjoys that aspect!)

Getting started, however, I would suggest really deciding why it is you want to blog. To connect with family and friends? To converse about a specific topic? To share your knowledge? For traffic and attention? How to go about getting started will depend a lot on the answers to those kinds of questions. As time goes on, it is easy to get distracted by traffic and lose focus because of a desire to get more traffic. On the other hand, it can also seem like a pointless endeavor to continue sharing your thoughts to an audience of three.

I can really only answer that question for those who have similar goals as I do, but I love talking about blogging, so am more than willing to answer any questions!

Can we see a photo of your desk where you blog?

Sure! On it you will notice the night time resting place of Kit Kat, the family gerbil. She stays up there at night for fear of what the dog might do while we are asleep and what curious young ones might do should they awaken before mom. The stack of papers in my cubby is my “to do” stack. And you may notice the calendar. Technically, it is my blogging/writing calendar. At the moment, it looks as if I have no deadlines or things to worry myself over. But that is just because, at over two weeks into May, I haven’t taken the time to transfer things from my email box and scrap sheets of paper.

Are there other spots on the web where our readers can find your writings?
Yes, I also write a monthly column, “Homeschool in the News,” for Heart of the Matter. And my first feature article is still archived over at Crosswalk.com.

Do you have any passions besides blogging that you’d like to share with us?

Reading, writing, teaching my children and becoming more like Christ. Not necessarily in that order.Come July, I will be slipping a new endeavor into that list as I launch Home School Talk, a radio talk show broadcast over the internet.

Thanks for taking the time to give us a glimpse into you, your family, homeschool and blog. I’ll be waiting with anticipation for the roll out of your new radio show. I plan to sign up with Google Alerts before the week is over.