Using the
Library for Homeschooling
by: Lorraine Curry
Where can home schoolers get unlimited educational
materials and not spend a dime? The library, of course!
What a blessing to be able to bring home stacks and
stacks of books, all for free. The library makes
homeschooling an option for parents who could not afford
it otherwise.
According to various
experts, and proven by our own experiences, reading
aloud is the very best educational activity. The library
is the place to get the books for doing this. When
reading aloud you will be able to skip over really
objectionable parts of books; or discuss world views. An
example of this was the book that we used when studying
slavery and the Civil War. We checked out a book of the
slaves own words. Rather than pass over such interesting
and accurate history, I passed over the few passages
about nudity.
Scope and Sequence
A good place to start is
with a plan, your scope and sequence. The scope and
sequence gives details on what you will be teaching
(scope) and in what order (sequence). The scope and
sequence is usually written for one year at a time.
There are guides
available that are quite helpful for writing the scope
and sequence. One is World Book's Typical Course of
Study. I thought it overwhelming and simplified it for
the Course of Study in my book, Easy Homeschooling
Techniques. Even a text's table of contents can be used
as a a guide for a subject.
As well as helping with
choosing resources from the library, a scope and
sequence will make it easier to plan your daily
schedule. You will also be able to see at any point
during the year, what you have covered and what needs to
be learned next.
Begin
Begin a rough draft. As
main points (I, II, III, IV, etc.), list the major
subject areas you will cover, such as Bible, Math,
Language Arts, Health, Science and History. Leave plenty
of room between your points, so that you can list
subordinate topics beneath the main points. You may add
Music and Art as well. (You could study the art and
music of the time period you are covering in history.)
Now, pick and list the
topics (from the guide) that you would like to cover.
Get your children's input . You may end up with more
than necessary. Remember, this is a rough draft! Look at
grades around your child's grade, so you can have a
continuity from year to year in subjects such as
history. (See sidebar for an example of a history plan.)
Put some order into the
jumble of science topics in Typical Course of Study when
writing the scope and sequence. Choose one field of
science (chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) to focus on
each year, or spend the year studying scientists and
discoveries from the same historical period you are
studying. Tobins Lab's catalog has science topics
arranged in an orderly fashion.
If you have children in
several different grades, perhaps you can combine the
topics or pick one that all can learn at the same time.
I did this frequently with History, Science, and Health.
Teach your children who are close in age the same Math
and Language Arts. Look through several of the grades
and plan ahead to achieve a continuity from year to
year.
Choosing Books From The
Library
Once your scope and
sequence is completed, you have the easy job of picking
out armfuls of books on a regular basis to fulfill the
learning goals of your plan. With so many libraries
having computerized card catalogs, this is quick work.
Type in the era or topic, such as "civil war."
With this method one
thing leads to another and soon you will read in one
book about a person whose biography you can then borrow.
Many home schoolers favor the old Landmark, Signature or
the We Were There biographies, which your library may
still have. More eloquent writing was done by authors
like G.A. Henty, Oliver Optic or Horatio Alger who wrote
about various historical periods. We used the children's
section of the library almost exclusively for many
appropriate non-fiction books on a wide variety of
topics when our children were younger. We also found
some wonderful classic novels in the adult section, such
as a fragile copy of the Christian colossus about
slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Other Ideas
For foreign language,
check out videos or cassette tapes. Do an intensive
study during the time you have the tapes. Then in a week
or so check them out again and do another study. Keep
doing this until done with the course.
Most libraries have
computers for public use, sometimes with good quality
learning software. Have your child work on one of these
while you are looking for books. Keep track of progress
made each visit.
Use the library's
newspapers for current events classes.
See more easy tips,
including detailed planning how-to's in
EasyHomeschooling Techniques
http://www.easyhomeschooling.com/frtechniques.html
