Wouldn't it be great to have a selection of common learning tools and supplies available for check out at your local public library? Need a microscope or math manipulatives?
Your library probably offers some free public library resources for homeschoolers. In fact, 78 percent of U.S. homeschoolers use the free pubic library as their main source of learning materials, according to a 2003 study by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Books and magazines, audio and video, software, free Internet and computers are all a boon to homeschoolers, as are classes, workshops, events, and helpful librarians.
What about microscopes, telescopes, construction sets, math and science manipulatives, and other common learning tools?
A Public Homeschool Resource Center
In her HEM article " A Homeschool Resource Center in a Public Library," Kathy Wentz shared her vision of the library of the future, "a community-based learning Mecca!"
Wanting her small town library to be a strong as it could be, Wentz volunteered with the Friends of the Library group. Her children volunteered along side her. She began to share ideas with fellow volunteers and staff and together to affect small changes.
The staff became aware of the large number of homeschoolers in the area, because Wentz pointed them out. She built relationships between herself, the homeschooling community, and the library's grant writer.
When Wentz saw the opportunity to propose her dream for a Homeschool Resource Center in the library, she went for it. She surveyed the homeschooling community, created wish lists of materials, and thus provided the foundation for a $55,000 grant request.
Wentz's small town library became the first public library in the country to have a dedicated Homeschool Resource Center. Now they've got a volunteer homeschool consultant and a group of volunteers making their library even better.
Wentz looks for ways to help other homeschooling communities use small acts of volunteerism and community service to improve their own libraries. The Homeschool Resource Center at Wentz's library has its own web page where you can find the interest survey and grant used to manifest her vision.
More Public Learning Center Possibilities
The Center for the Future of Museums has posed similar ideas about the role of museums as learning centers in the future of education, paying particular attention to current museum use by unschoolers.
Source:
Wentz, Kathy. "A Homeschool Resource Center in a Public Library." Home Education Magazine, Jan-Feb 2002.
Institute of Education Sciences. U.S. Department of Education. "Homeschooling in the United States: Statistical Analysis Report." National Center for Education Statistics, 2003.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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