Mood:  happy

Recently I told you that I had an announcement to make. An announcement that some of you will like, but, I'm sure, some of you will roll your eyes at.

Well, the big announcement is that I will be staying on the TOS Homeschool Crew as a First Mate this next year. That mean's I will be reviewing more great products for homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike, and I will be mentoring some new reviewers that will have just joined the crew.

We still however have the end of this year to complete. I, as of this post, have four more reviews to write before the end of the month. In wrapping up this Crew voyage we did have some end of the year things to do. One of those things was to vote for some awards that we are giving to the great products and companies that we reviewed this past year.

This past year has been an amazing year. I have grown as a person because of being part of such a wonderful team, and I have learned so much from them. My blog has grown as well. There have been so many new folks who have begun to read my blog this year. I appreciate all of my readers, it has been an awesome year. Lastly, our family has grown because of all of the great products that we have found and used that we probably would have never dreamed of buying before having the opportunity to review it.

Being a part of the TOS Homeschool Crew has been a very unique experience. I don't think that I realized how much being on the Crew has done for us until actually voting for the awards that I mentioned above. After voting, I wrote a post on the Crew forum about the Tinkel experience with trying to vote for the best products from this past year. I thought that I would post it here as well. Some of it you will not understand because it was written about things that are unique to the homeschool crew, but I think you will get the idea of what this past year has meant to us. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Well, the Tinkel family finally voted yesterday. We had a lively discussion for a little while and filled in many spots. Then the two youngest left and it was just John Allen and I to choose the rest. Finally we got down to the last one - The Crew Favorite. I shooed John Allen from the room because I really wanted to think this one through. After all, I was choosing the one product that was generally liked by all and the one that I felt had the most impact on our homeschool this year (at least that was my criteria). I couldn't make up my mind, so I decided to go through the list and write down the ones that stuck out in my mind. Well, that did ALOT of good! I managed to narrow it down to 16 items  !

But, a funny thing happened when I began to read down through the "short list". As I was reading each product and thinking about how they impacted our homeschool, tears began to roll down my cheeks. I thought about traveling in the car listening to Hank the Cowdog, and how Grandma was "driven up the wall" with the crazy songs that the kids kept singing. I recalled how excited the kids got when their basic math skills improved after working with Barnum Math. I remembered snuggling up on the couch and listening to "Sarah's Wish". The memories and the tears flowed as I thought about the different things that really motivated my teen-age son and the things that made an impact on my asperger's child's learning. I even shed some tears when thinking about Time4Learning and how my preschooler really fell in love with learning because of that product. All of the tears really made me think about how much of a blessing the crew has been this year (and that I probably should start taking my anti-depressant again ).

So, after all of that, what did I finally choose? What was that one product that really effected our homeschooling for the better? The one that may not have been the absolute favorite of everyone, but that all agreed that they liked and thought it was worthwhile? Well can you believe it was Sue Patrick's Workbox System  ?!? Yep, it was the one that really did transform our homeschool for the better...even with the adaptations! Sue won out!

With that being said, I need to thank you all, again, for a fantastic year. You all along with the wonderful products have meant more than you will ever know (at least this side of Heaven). I'm looking forward to more great things to come.

Tim 

Subscribe to Families Again