Learn with Mel Hern

Should I Quit My Day Job Yet?  Let me give you a little back story on my dream to work from home. I have been on a mission to create a side gig that will eventually allow me to leave my full-time job as an educator. I have been teaching for the last 19 years and while I love working with students, I do feel that I need a change.  I want to be able to work from home and move away from the daily grind so that I can be with my parents whenever they need me, still be able to help support my family, and have the freedom that I crave. That is my why and I am working tirelessly for change so that I can accomplish my dream.  My first attempt at working from home started about two years ago as I began selling It Works products, that I really do love. I have made an income from my phone each month, which has been great. I love to introduce people to our awesome coffee, neck cream, and more and I will continue to spread the word, but I know that it isn't my calling to do this for t...

  Let's talk about making money online. If you are anything like me, you are seeking to make passive income so that you can have the freedom to live life on your own terms, and even though some make earning passive income look easy, everything you have tried has failed. Either way, you keep dreaming of the day when you achieve the financial freedom of being able to work from anywhere in the world while money rolls in while you sleep.  Wouldn't that be cool?  Well, If you have been following me at all, then you know I have been focused on working hard to make money online since around the end of April. So, how has it gone? Before I delve into the income portion, let's discuss the type of platforms that I am using. The first platform I started using was the boom learning site which saved me during our online teaching sessions. I truly love  boomcards . They are interactive activities on any topic and grade level you can imagine. What I do on boom learning is create dig...

To bring back to life from apparent death or unconsciousness is to resuscitate. It is hard work, sometimes gut wrenching work. The act of resuscitating a human who has lost consciousness may be what seems to you as an eternity; arms shaking, deliberate movements to find life, and a hope-filled energy that moves you to not quit until you have heard a breath or found a pulse.  The unconscious body being resuscitated is symbolic of our education system as it hangs on for dear life, not quite lifeless yet but nearing the threshold. Years and years of oppression, segregation, manipulation, drawing of lines to separate Black from White, rich from poor is taking its toll. From political destruction of our system to outright mandated teaching methods that simply do not work, our students are finding it hard to stay conscious folks, that is unless they are wealthy and live in the right school districts. Our system that is supposed to educate its youth is tattered, hanging on for dear ...

  Are you a teacher wanting to make money by selling your products online? Do you have great ideas and/or lessons you have created that you want to share? Well, let me tell you that you absolutely can make money by selling your resources online. Did I say it was easy? Did I say you would make a lot of money in a short time? No. In fact, as I am in the midst of month two of selling my personally created interactive lessons, I can show you exactly how much online money I have earned. Below you will find my first-month earnings from Boom Learning and my current earning which is current as of today, 06/10/21. I still have 20 days to earn some dinero! 🙌  As you can see, I earned $51.67 in my first month and I am currently at $35.49 for month two. Not bad for a beginner. Are you wondering about Teachers Pay Teachers ? Yeah... I made $7.55 my first month and so far this month, I am at $0! 😒  I have some work to do on TPT! I have had sales on different items that I have c...

  This teacher is ready for summer break! How about you?  Do not act like I am the only one ready to get wild and hang from a chandelier. 😂  I think we can all agree it has been a year for the books, well, maybe a digital book. :)  I know many of us had to become online educators at the drop of a hat! Wow, are we amazing. We were definitely dealt our fair share of craziness this past school year but somehow we soldiered on and are ending it like the champs we are. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient, how flexible, supportive, intelligent, and strong that we all are as educators. Whatever is thrown at us, we always manage to pivot until we find success. Yes!👏 That being said, it is almost that time... to stop the caregiving that is innately found in us teachers and start finding the care for ourselves. The time is now to do whatever it is we want to do, no holding back.  As I get older, I start to see my time on earth quickly passing and I keep thin...

  If you have been a little stressed about your students, don't fret. I think I might have the answer for you. I say hop on board the boomlearning express! This tool is amazing and will not only benefit the students but will help you, as a teacher too with automatic grading and a library full of interactive pre-made lessons from PreK-12th grade! Are you an educator who has dealt with the struggles of virtual learning?  If so, you might be thinking that these past several months have not been the best for learning. In fact, you might have seen the drop already as students were forced to take assessments this school year. You might also be wondering how your students can continue growing their brains, and recoup all that they have missed, over the upcoming summer months. After all, many of us in the educational world know this time as the "summer slide" where students regress during their lengthy time off of school.  Although the validity of such regression is definitely qu...

  You're talented, they said. You are awesome and you are a leader, they said. You are a hard worker and need to create your own material, they said. It will be easy and you can make so much money, they said! Does this sound familiar? Well, let me tell you, I went all in on this well intentioned and motivating advice. Two months later, I have made $28.17 on my Boom Learning   journey and a whopping $6.75 on my Teacher Pay Teachers store .  The well intentioned motivators above, who constantly cheer me on, mainly my family, certainly had no clue the hard work I was going to face. And, quite frankly, neither did I. I thought, "OMG! if other teachers love boom cards as much as I do, there must be a place for me." Well, let me tell you, there definitely is a place, but some of what I am learning is that: You have to really work hard on honing in on one area of your work and get great at it because there is stiff competition. As you grow your following, you can move on to ...