Helping Homeschoolers in the Library Adrienne Furness adrienne.furness@gmail.com

Homeschooling in the United States 2003 report from the National Center for Education Statistics More than 1.1 million children and teens homeschooled in 2003 2.2% of the school-aged population

1.1 million and growing… Figure 1. Estimated number and 95 percent confidence interval for number of homeschooled students, ages 5 through 17 with a grade equivalent of kindergarten through 12th grade: 1999 and 2003

How many homeschoolers in NY State? Your district?

Good luck!

The 80/20 Rule

“Homeschoolers at the Public Library: Are Library Services and Policies Keeping Pace?” by Amy McCarthy and Deborah Lines Andersen

The Ten Easiest Things You Can Do to Better Serve Homeschoolers

#1: Talk to homeschoolers who visit the library. Start finding out what the homeschoolers in your area are looking for. Not all homeschoolers are the same.

#2: Make sure people can find homeschooling materials. They can’t check out what they can’t find. Make a special section for homeschooling materials. A spine label or pathfinder could work.

#3: Learn what homeschooling groups are active in your community, what their missions are, and who is running them. Tap into existing networks. Word-of-mouth. Remember that homeschoolers can be ultra-sensitive about privacy issues.

#4: Allow and encourage homeschoolers to use library meeting room space. This gets the homeschoolers in your library. Maybe they’ll even let you talk.

#5: Display projects created by homeschooled children and teens.

#6: Create handouts of the NYS laws and regulations pertaining to homeschoolers.

#7: Maintain a file of catalogs from companies that sell materials and supplies of interest to homeschoolers. Store in boxes. Circulate or make reference. Could also devote a portion of your website to this.

#8: Extend any privileges you extend to public and private school teachers (extended loan, no overdue fines, increased limits, etc.) to homeschoolers. Homeschooling parents are teachers. Risk vs. benefit.

#9: Consider the needs of homeschoolers when creating library policies. Meeting rooms Loan periods Item limits Interlibrary loan fees Overdue fines/maximum fines Volunteer programs

#10: Attend local homeschooling conferences, lectures, and curriculum fairs. Talk to homeschoolers. Hear what they’re talking about. Look at potential acquisions for your collection. LEAH (Loving Education at Home) annual conference in Syracuse (www.leah.org).

Looking for more? Homeschoolingandlibraries.wordpress.com Helping Homeschoolers in the Library due out from ALA Editions in January 2008!