How is the Homeschooled Voices Book Award going? There has been some progress in the last few months, but there is still a lot of work to be done if this is going to become an established, successful book award.
The good news is that current volunteer judges have made progress on reading the eligible books. We have chosen to continue focusing on 2025 books although it is now 2026. This is because the award got off to a slow start last year, and it is just easier to access the slightly older 2025 books than the 2026 ones which are either brand new or not even released yet. Our plan is to get through these as soon as possible and then move on to this year’s books. So far, there are some titles that seem quite promising to me. Book reviews are coming soon to this site, and I am excited for the opportunity to promote good homeschooling representation.
Unfortunately, there is also some bad news- mainly that there are still very few people participating in the book award. Right now, it is only me and a some of my friends. I had hoped for a larger, more diverse committee, and I am unsure if there are enough of us to properly vote on books. If this ends up being more like a book club with friends, that would still be wonderful, but I don’t think I could claim that the results truly represent “homeschooled voices” in general. It would be more like the voices of a few homeschoolers from similar backgrounds. I was hoping to structure it like an official book award. For example, the Newbery Medal, a prestigious children’s book award has a committee of 15 members drawn from the American Library Association. For the Homeschooled Voices Book Award, we would ideally have a diverse group of homeschool alumni who would search diligently for all available books, read them, discuss how they fit the criteria, and then hold a final vote. I am very grateful for the people who are currently involved, and hope that this project grows and succeeds rather than fading away.
If you wish to join, please fill out this form. You are welcome to join the Homeschooled Voices Book Award at any time!
If you are interested in which books we are reading, check out this Goodreads list.
Homeschooled Voices 
Have thoughts or questions? Please share them!