In light of a recent article in The Washington Post concerning the ethics of Mommy Bloggers, I want to take a moment to really inform my readers about my relationship with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew.
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine put out a call to interested homeschoolers to try out for The Crew by submitting some example reviews and telling them a bit about our blog demographics. The idea is that approximately 100 families are part of a focus group to review homeschool products and share what we think about them through our blogs. We are independent contractors with The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and do not receive any compensation other than the products we review. Some we keep and some we use for a short time only- in the case of an online subscription service or magazine subscription. The participating vendors pay for the service of having The Crew review their product.
Prior to joining The Crew, any review of a product on my blog was a solid endorsement of what works well for us and I have always been able to speak from the heart about what we use in our school.
The products I review for The Crew are sent my way because a vendor has requested that we review the product and many of the products are not ones I would necessarily seek out ordinarily. Some of them have been fun or useful. Some are a good fit and some are not. I will do my best to share with you the pros and cons of a product and to share honestly my opinion of the item based on our philosophy of homeschooling- something which I know is important to my readers. Each product I review for The Crew will be marked as such with a banner at the bottom of the post and most times I've been putting TOS Review in the title.
The integrity of my blog is very important to me and speaking from the heart of our homeschool is the real purpose of Blog, She Wrote. I will do my best to speak from the heart as I continue on this journey with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew.
Thanks for reading!
4 comments:
Thanks Heather. I saw that article and have to admit I have felt a little jaded reading some of the blogs. I can honestly say I haven't felt that with yours so much. But I do have in the back of mind reading most of them "are they just saying that because they can't negatively review a product that was given to them??"
Some blogs are getting that feeling of "let me tell you what I got free this week."
So I really do appreciate you addressing this.
Thanks Heather. Your integrity shines through. You have a great blog and I enjoy reading it.
Hi Heather ,
This is a message to let you know that your blog is the feature of the Daily Blog Review today.
You can check out the review at my blog: All That and a Box of Rocks at http://www.lisaschaffer.blogspot.com.
Have a great day!
Lisa
Direct link: http://lisaschaffer.blogspot.com/2009/08/daily-blog-review-day-3.html
Hi Heather. First I want to thank you for your honest opinions on the products you are reviewing for the TOS Crew. I considered trying to be a Crew member last year but life was too busy and I knew I couldn't devote the time to do a good job. You, however, are an excellent choice for this as your honest writing will truly give homeschoolers the picture they need for these various homeschooling products. I look forward to reading more reviews from you!
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