The Carnival and Blog Award Alternatives

There is a big, huge, homeschooling carnival, to which I often submit, and which I often read, that was started by the Cates at Why Homeschool. It's massive, has a long history, and its host blog rotates from week to week. My greatest interest in reading this carnival, which sometimes showcases gems of posts but also always includes stuff I don't really see as relevant to homeschooling, is to get a gauge on what people are interested in, in any given week, and what the authors of these blogs see as the best of their blog for the week. There's always something useful and thought-provoking, but the whole list is usually too much to digest.

Then there's the Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers, now in its eighth edition, hosted by my excellent friend Shez at Homeschooled Twins. This carnival has a strong editorial presence, as Shez reads and comments on all the posts she includes, and illustrates the carnival with example pictures. Whereas the "big" carnival is too big for the host blogger to really read and analyze all the posts, and give a summary in her own words, the COCH (pronounced WOOHOO!) is definitely filtered through Shez's opinions, her judgment, and her selection process. So, the COCH (pronounced YEAH BABY!) is more like a magazine's edited pages, where the big carnival is sometimes more like classified ads. COCH (pronounced HA-CHA-CHA!) is smaller, more chewable, and lemon-scented! Read the eighth edition of this Homeschool Carnival.

Now let's talk about blog awards. The original Homeschool Blog Awards, which have obvious cache in that they own the domain name, have been rather controversial over their short history, as some have claimed they favor and focus on the Christian and right-wing blogs. Be that as it may, or may not, or really who wants to get in a shouting match over it, there is an alternative Homeschool Blog Award hosted by Alasandra at her Homeschooling Blog.

Yes, I'm nominated, and so is Shez, because we cleverly nominated each other! When the voting opens, please vote for us. Or yourself. And I will vote for you too. You can see who nominated who in the comments to the original list of nominees, and you can also still nominate yourself or someone else, because the list is still open here: Homeschool Blog Awards.