How to Follow a Blog

Once upon a time, I used the Bookmarks feature on my internet browser to follow blogs. Yep, super embarrassing to think about that now, but I know for a fact that not everyone knows how to go about following their favorite blogs (and some people, I can't name names, don't actually follow any blogs--shocking to many of you as that is).  If you have teacher friends that look at you like you are speaking a foreign language when you mention a teacher blogger that is "famous" in the teacher blogger world, you can feel free to direct them to this tutorial so they can join in on the pure amazingness of teaching blogs.  I would bookmark my favorite teaching blogs, then check them about once a week (I noticed that's about how often the authors would write new posts). Thankfully, since that time, I have learned how to follow my favorite blogs and find new ones to read every so often. This is a little tutorial on how to do that. 

So, the first step I use to follow blogs is getting a Bloglovin' account. It's free. It keeps your blogs in one place. bloglovin.com. Get there.

 If you choose the email route, confirm in your email.

 Then, you're ready to start adding blogs to follow!

 If you're a teacher (and chances are, you are if you're on my blog), you can just type in "teacher" to start. You'll find a ton just with that one word. See the "A Teeny Tiny Teacher" blog there?  If you have even the smallest sense of humor, or humour if you're fancy, you'll dig her blog (I laugh at every single post). You can also type in "teaching" and get some more blogs that you may be interested in. Once you sort of look around and what's out there in the world of teaching blogs (and home decor/renovations if you're into that like me), you'll be building up your blog list quickly. You can always "unfollow" a blog if you don't end up liking any of the posts or accidentally add one. I prefer to follow blogs that tell stories about random stuff I can relate to (read about Abby's post pregnancy legging showdown here), show more of their personal side and not just teaching, give tips/tutorials and are funny. Those are just my personal preferences. There are a couple fashion/makeup/hair ones I follow, but to be honest, I can't keep up with that in my life right now, so I don't actually read them anymore #mommyproblems

If you click on an individual blog, you can see several recent posts. Boy....apparently been on a bit of a tutorial kick, haven't I?

Once you've started to follow some blogs, you'll have "unread posts" to sort through. Now Bloglovin' by default just gives you (I think) the last handful of posts a blog you just followed. If you don't want to read them, just click "Mark as read" at the bottom of the post in your "feed" (the list of posts).

And if you come across a blog that you like, you should be able to see one of these symbols that will let you add it to your list to follow future posts. Can you find mine on my actual blog???

And, if you're like me, you might prefer to read blogs while you're waiting in those random times throughout your day. We all have them (mine is in the middle of the night when I'm feeding my baby).  Bored at the doctor's office and the 'zines ain't your style or are old issues? Time to whip out your phone and catch up on some blog reading. Just download the Bloglovin' app and you can have your favorite blogs at your fingertips.

So that's it. There are probably other ways to follow blogs, but this is how I roll. Feel free to leave a comment below!

-Jen