Blue Ribbon Awards

The 2017 Homeschool Review Crew year has officially come to a close. This year, the Crew reviewed over 75 items ranging from curriculum, audio recordings, religious tracts, books, and even movies and when all is said and done and the last review is written, the members of the crew then vote on what their favorite items were from the year.   The top vendors that receive the most votes in each category are then awarded the Homeschool Review Crew's Blue Ribbon award.

It's always hard for me to vote for my Blue Ribbon choices, as there are always so many wonderful vendors to choose from.   Many may wonder if, when they read my reviews, if I intentionally put a positive spin on my reviews but one the review is written, I stop using the product. I can assure you, this is not the case.  A large percentage of the items I review, I tend to continue to use in its entirety because they really are top quality products.  Many of the vendors who have been awarded Blue Ribbon awards are products I am still using with my kids.

Garrett's Top Choice - Reading Eggs

There are very few educational products that my son actually asks for - Reading Eggs is a major exception to this.  I've had to show him how to log into the website on his own after he hogged my laptop one too many times.  Garrett loves how learning with this program has become "play time" for him with the various activities, games and even the worksheets provided from this website.



Ashleigh's Top Choice -  Thin Stix paint sticks from The Pencil Grip Co.

If it's art, then Ashleigh loves it.  Kwik Stix paint sticks have been a huge hit in our household for a while and Thin Stix wins Ashleigh's top choice, hands down.   Along the same lines, Creating a Masterpiece was also a huge hit for Ashleigh who still uses many of the techniques she learned from this curriculum for her artwork today.


Alyssa's Top Choice -  Drive Thru History

Alyssa had a really hard time picking just one favorite, but ultimately, Drive Thru History won out
with her.  It might be because she has a crush on Dave Stotts though ;)  However, she says she learned a lot about the Gospels, Biblical times and the life of Jesus through watching the videos and enjoyed how Stott's presented the material to keep it from becoming what could have been a pretty dull documentary.

Mom's Top Choice - Let's Go Geography and Memoria Press's Prima Latina (tie)

This was a really hard choice for me and I couldn't just pick one item.  Hence, the tie.  We are absolutely loving using Lets Go Geography and the kids are learning. It's more than just learning to locate a country but also learning about the cultures and customs of those countries.  The neat little art projects that the kids get to make each week just add to the run.  Even Alyssa has been joining in with our lessons so that she can learn more world geography as well.

Tied with Lets Go Geography would have to be Memoria Press's Prima Latina, the introductory course for learning the Latin language.  The structure of this curriculum makes for easy learning week after week and it's been amazing how much Ashleigh has learned since we've been using it. 

So, those were our top picks for the 2017 Crew Year.  But, we're just one family out of many who reviewed this year.  While each one of our top picks was awarded a Blue Ribbon in this year's awards, we only listed our absolute top favorites and there were many categories that are taken into account in the Blue Ribbon voting, many which were categories that involved items we did not review because they did not fit our family demographics.

So, I present, the full list of 2017 Blue Ribbon award winners, as selected by the Homeschool Review Crew as a whole. 

Favorite Reading Curriculum – Reading Eggs
Favorite Writing Curriculum – Writing with Sharon Watson
Favorite Grammar Program – Eclectic Foundations
Favorite Penmanship Program – Channie’s Visual Handwriting & Math Worksheets
Favorite Literature Curriculum – Hewitt Homeschooling 

Favorite Social Studies Curriculum – Let’s Go Geography
Favorite History Supplement – Rush Revere
Favorite Science Curriculum – Innovators Tribe
Favorite Math Curriculum – CTC Math
Favorite Math Supplement – Times Tables the Fun Way

Favorite Foreign Language Curriculum – Memoria Press (Latin)
Favorite Fine Arts Curriculum – Creating a Masterpiece
Favorite Elective Curriculum – Doctor Aviation
Favorite Christian Education Curriculum – Drive Thru History
Favorite Christian Education Supplement – Brinkman Adventures

Favorite Preschool Product – Reading Eggs
Favorite Elementary Product – Susan K. Marlow
Favorite Middle School Product – Innovators Tribe
Favorite High School Product – Doctor Aviation
Favorite College or College-Prep Product – Institute for Excellence in Writing: High School Essay Intensive
Favorite Parent Product – Everyday Homemaking

The Resource I Didn’t Know I Needed –  Innovators Tribe
Favorite Planning Product – Only Passionate Curiosity
Best Online Resource – Reading Eggs
Best e-Product – Home School in the Woods
Favorite Book or Novel – Rush Revere
Favorite Audiobook or Audio Drama – Heirloom Audio Productions: Captain Bayley’s Heir
Best Product Just for Fun! – Drive Thru History

Kids’ Choice – The Pencil Grip: Thin Stix
Teens’ Choice – Drive Thru History
All Around Crew Favorite – Drive Thru History

Congratulations to all the winners and Thank You to each and every one of them for giving us an opportunity to use and review these wonderful items.