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)
Can I get a WOOT WOOT?
Your talent and work has blessed my family. Thanks for all you do!! Sorry this had to be addressed.
Well written, anointed post.
May God, as your provider, always bless your ministry and your diligence. As well as, restore anything to you that ever has been lost or stollen 100 fold.
XO
Erica – it is awful that some of the groups – but not all groups are created equal – I am in a group but only your site is shared or people are directed to your site – you are an amazing resourse! You have made me a much better teacher. I work for a church oureach preschool. I have some of your things that I have laminated and can use with my kiddos – we do not have much of any kind of budget so I truly truly appreciate all the work you have done!!! Thank you sooo soo much from the bottom of my heart! I also understand – I have some clipart that I bought and have made some things to share with a group I am in those things have been posted all over the place and there were not supposed to – apparently people even take the tou of the items I have made out of the file. The group owner has really helped she has cut out people that have done this and not let them back into the group. Not sure how she back tracked etc. and if someone does share a file that was not to be shared she is on it immediately saying this was not to be shared please please do not download etc. Hope that it makes you feel a little better that some groups are inspired by you and do the right thing.
Hi Angie, You are correct, not all groups are built around these practices, and I’m so thankful to know that there are others who are built around good moral principles! Thank you so much for sharing my website and others in your group, and a HUGE thank you to your group monitor for her faithful service to you all!
Thank you so much for sharing this! It is definitely a much bigger problem than I imagined, and it’s so disappointing.
You have graciously offered so many freebies over the years, and all of your other products are so reasonably priced, so please don’t feel discouraged! We are all grateful for everything you do!
PS. I love your blogging notebook!
I am not aware of what this “sharing” is, I only know that we would never be able to homeschool without you and your hard work. We have purchased every curriculum you offer and it is a blessing to our family not only because it’s content is superb but because it is so very affordable. For anyone to steal from you or from other creative mom’s willing to share their talents is criminal. Beautifully written and I do hope it speaks to those who are not setting a good Christian example for other moms or for their children. God Bless.
Sorry that you have to deal this. You are very generous and affordable and I say thank you!
I just wanna say that I thought my little ones deleted my purchased curriculum from you and I was getting ready to order it again. Lol. That’s how much we use your LOTW and K4. But I did find the purchased files a few hours later. Yippy! As a homeschool group member it really saddens me to read this. I can assure you that my children only my children use what I purchased and they love it. Our homeschool group focuses on individualized curriculum so everyone’s content is different. more awareness of these issues need to put out there. Some people may not realize that they are or maybe doing wrong. And I never thought about the actually link to the pdf…I hope I haven’t did that in the past. Also I was wondering what about the copyright that you have aren’t they suppose to notify you when a file is posted or transferred? Just wandering because I had the same copyright on my website? Well I hope these issues get resolved and awareness spreads and I hope your sales triples. Maybe it’s time to have a local homeschool group meeting to raise awareness? And Erica so sorry from one homeschooler to another. Please don’t let this discourage you for this is a ministry in it’s self. A gift He has given you.
Hi Penny, You NEVER have to repurchase files from me, so if that ever happens again, just email me and I’ll update your download links so you can re-download! :o) Thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement!
You are a blessing to me and an encouragement. I’m going to host an awareness meeting soon in my area mainly on internet items like this and internet safety for the entire family.thanks
Very well said, Erica! Thank you so much for this post! As a homeschooler and blogger, who creates curriculum, I greatly appreciate your stand on the matter!!
What a very well-worded post. I just recently purchased your toddler and K4 curriculum to use with my boys and love it. It is sad that some people abuse the usage policy especially since your curriculum is so well priced. Thank you for all of your hard work and thank you even more for sharing what you create!