I’d like to take a moment today to say THANK YOU!
Thank you to all of my faithful subscribers and readers. And a special thank you to those of you who have chosen to use my curriculum in your homeschools. My family has been greatly blessed by your generosity and encouragement. I whole heartedly pray that my printables have blessed your family and your homeschooling endeavor.
Thank you!
To those of you who have gotten caught up in the popular groups that condone illegal file sharing, today my prayers go out to you.
Unfortunately there are groups of homeschoolers who are choosing to come together and “share” files they are not permitted to share. It greatly saddens my heart to think that homeschoolers would do something like this. Maybe you simply aren’t aware, but hosting and sharing files (paid or free) that were not made by you is illegal without the express written consent of the author. Downloading these files is also illegal. What you are doing is called “stealing” in the online world.
You may have even justified your actions due to your budgetary constraints, or simply out of the desire to “get a good deal.” I wonder how many of you would be able to walk up to your child and say “Honey, I really wanted this curriculum, but wanted to save money, so mommy stole it.” Conversely what would you say if your child did something similar? I hope you can understand there are no excuses for this type of behavior.
Homeschooling isn’t just about academics, but instead it is our way of imparting our character, values, morals, ethics, spiritual beliefs, and life skills onto our children. Today my prayer is that you would be encouraged to check your ways and think twice before participating in these “sharing” groups. What you are doing is not only illegal and unethical, but you are also taking advantage of all of the bloggers and homeschooling companies that have put their valuable time and energy into creating products to help your homeschooling be more successful.
My pastor has always said that “compromise always leads to more compromise.” I pray diligently that you do not allow this small compromise to creep into other areas of your life. And most importantly I pray you are not passing down these values to your children.
Instead I encourage you to trust God to provide for you as He has lead you into this homeschooling journey. He will provide for your needs and make your paths straight. ~ Proverbs 3:6
Now may the God of peace…make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
It greatly saddens me to hear that people are abusing the system;To take so freely of what people like yourself have worked so hard to make. It is a great blessing for me to be able to purchase your products. I get blessed by the amazing product and knowing that my purchasing it is in turn blessing you. Abiding by the simple rules you lay out is not a hard thing to do and I am so sorry to hear people are not willing to follow them. I pray that what has been stolen from you will come back ten fold! God bless!
So good! Thank you!
Thank your for taking the time to say what so others have wanted to say! I’ve shared this and think you did a wonderful job with all that you said.
Nicely said! a good and timely reminder. Appreciate all your hard work. Many thanks.
Thank you! Perfectly said – something I try to say often & don’t know how to say it, or say it appropriately, or say it without practically tearing up & screaming. I too, offer printables, projects, & recipes I’ve designed & it infuriates me to no end that something will just cut & paste stuff that we’ve worked (in our spare time – ha) so hard creating for THEM. Thank you for everything you do – and many prayers to those that feel the need to do something that is not morally right and teach your children the same. And praise to those that follow the rules and instill these characteristics in your children to do the same.
What a lovely post – I’m sure a lot of prayer went into it before you started typing! Your LOTW was a lifesaver for my little guy.
I do have a question and please forgive me if it sounds dumb. Once a child has completed and mastered a curriculum, what do you do with the leftover reuseable items? I don’t have any more kiddos to homeschool. Is it illegal to “sell” it to recoup a bit of the paper, ink, and laminating cost?
Hi Carol,
Vendors vary on how they prefer you use their products. But in regards to my products I have no problem with you selling or better yet giving your used items away to bless another family when you are done with them. It is my mission to provide free or very cheap products to bless other homeschoolers and I love to see when others do the same.
Ok so I am now confused…Erica can you then explain what is hosting files. Is it that they take your curriculum, the purchasable ones and share them for free? This whole internet thing is such a devil sometimes. My husband’s website got stolen from him by a former employee…stealing his clients. So even though I don’t understand a whole lot anything that takes food out of your families mouth is just wrong…supporting you all the way, You have been such a blessing.
So sad to hear this is happening! I also have enjoyed your site and ideas and have gained tremendously from them. I appreciate that you keep your prices very reasonable and look forward to using the items I recently purchased during your generous sale! Blessings!
I love your site and your materials! Like others have said, I think it’s so sad that this even has to be written. It should be a common sense thing! Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Erica for all you do. You have blessed me on this homeschooling journey! Your blog and all your materials have helped our family so much. It is so unfortunate that you had to write about those that are taking from others. But, you handled it beautifully, as always!
I want to start a blog for personal use. It would be to organize my homeschool planning. If I list a link to something, whether it be a freebie or a purchase item, that is not file sharing, correct? If I alter a planning sheet, I would link to the original as inspiration to avoid stealing it?
You’re curriculum is amazing! Thank you for boldly addressing wrong.
Hi Angie,
Most bloggers are fine with you linking to their POST that contains the download. However it is best NOT to link directly to the actual pdf file. That way you are helping send your readers to other blog sites where they might find encouragement and help as well. I hope that makes sense :o)