I must admit, six months ago when I first had the idea for starting a homeschooler’s book award, I initially imagined something small. Maybe we could create a local award with just our community of friends? Or, (thinking big!) maybe even our whole state of Minnesota?! I really did think that a national book award would be great – it just seemed…well, overly optimistic.

Ultimately, I was convinced by friends with greater vision than mine and less fear of taking risks that we should just go for it. If it didn’t catch on in it’s first year, we decided, we would just keep plugging away in hopes of eventually getting the word out.

Well, word has definitely started getting out. In fact, it seems that we may have sorely underestimated the power of the homeschool community’s connection worldwide! That’s right, worldwide!! Since launching our website and announcing our “little” book award idea just 10 days ago, we’ve had an amazing response.

To date, we’ve had significant numbers of visitors to our website from 48 of 50 states in the U.S. (can someone give West Virginia and Alaska a shout out for us??), PLUS we have also had strong interest from homeschoolers in Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Columbia!!

Unfortunately, we now have a problem we never anticipated. The National Homeschool Book Award appears to be a misnomer! But changing the name at this point is, at best, logistically difficult and, at worst, confusing and possibly counterproductive to continuing to get the word out.

The question then is – can it really be called the National Homeschool Book Award and still be welcoming of homeschoolers worldwide?

We certainly hope so, because make no mistake -

ALL homeschoolers are welcome here!

While our geography may vary, our thread of experience and need for connection with one another is very much the same. And, ultimately the book award is seeking to recognize that unique experience and connection with learning through literature.

So, to all our homeschooling friends in Australia, Canada, Columbia, the U.K., and wherever else you might be from, welcome!! We’re quite glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll keep coming back to join us on our yearlong adventure!