We at Catholic Sistas are excited to unveil the launch of the Madonna of the Lilies Catholic Homeschool Seal of Approval!
Over the years, I have participated in many online discussions of schooling options, watched many moms share their perspective of curriculum and how it worked {or didn’t} for her kiddos and family. One thing I loved was the personal feedback these moms gave, sharing product pros and cons and how the family adapted to these products.
As we currently ease into our sixth year of homeschooling, I am pleased to announce that Catholic Sistas has created an internal system for approving products and curriculum we feel would be a welcome addition in your home. I have assembled a team of nine evaluators who bring in a combined total of OVER 80 years of homeschool experience. Because Catholic Sistas already writes reviews of Catholic books and movies, Catholic homeschool products and curricula seemed to be a natural progression.
WHAT IS THE SEAL DESIGNED TO DO?
The new seal of approval system is set up within the body of a review. Catholic companies will contact our homeschool team of reviewers via email {Homeschool@CatholicSistas.com} and let us know if they’d like a straight review or if they’d like us to evaluate the product for the seal of approval. With the template we’ve created, home educators will be able to scan the review with relative ease and find the information they need, such as pros and cons, price point, usability, features, and rating. This takes a good chunk out of the guesswork prior to making a purchase, which families will appreciate.
Products with the seal of approval – the seal can be found at the bottom of the review – simply means that a homeschool reviewer has taken all of the product’s information into account (content, price point, features, pros and cons), verified the content adheres to the Magisterium of the Church, and presented it to our entire team, who then collectively approved the product as worthy of our seal. The varied homeschool backgrounds of our team members will ensure that both company and consumer can be assured that our approval system is thorough and fair.
WHAT SPECIFIC PRODUCTS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE SEAL OF APPROVAL?
Because there is already a system in place for Catholic books through the Catholic Writer’s Guild, Catholic Sistas’ Madonna of the Lilies Catholic Homeschool Seal of Approval will focus specifically on two things: Catholic products and Catholic curriculum.
WHAT IF A PRODUCT DOESN’T RECEIVE THE SEAL?
Occasionally there will be times when a product or curriculum is reviewed and does not receive the seal. In those cases, we simply won’t offer a review of the company’s products on our site. Our goal isn’t to publicly skewer Catholic companies, many of which are run by faithful families like our own; we’re sensitive to the fact that this is often these families’ livelihood. Our goal is to showcase products that DO meet our high criteria, so that families can confidently purchase from those companies.
If we have sufficient concerns about a product to withhold our seal, we’ll be contacting the company to 1) share our concerns, and 2) offer reviewer feedback on improvement, including an external panel of Catholic homeschool moms/educators to help the company create the best possible product for the Catholic market. Companies will always have the opportunity to resubmit their product after making changes.
We want to maintain positive relationships with Catholic companies, but our priority is to showcase excellence in Catholic homeschool products and curricula. Catholic Sistas will NEVER publicly share that a company’s product failed to receive the seal.
COMPANIES: if you are seeking to submit your product or curriculum for review, please visit our Review My Product page to start the process.
HOME EDUCATORS: What products are you interested in seeing reviewed? Please leave a comment below to help us cater to your current buying needs.