Where to start homeschooling? At the library!

18 Aug 2013

Is there too much writing or too litte? Either could turn a child away from a book, but learn your child's preferences and you have a key to finding the right resources. — Is there too much writing or too little? Either could turn a child away from a book, but learn your child’s preferences and you have a key to finding the right resources.

How do you start homeschooling? Start homeschooling in the library! If at all possible get a library membership and learn how to use it fully. Know if and how to order books in from other libraries. Find out if you can reserve and renew books online.

If your town or city has a university library, particularily one with an education program, look into getting a library membership there too, as some education departments will have curriculum library and helpful teachers resources. I’ve been able to borrow resources such as an Alaskan math curriculum explaining mathematical concepts in the context of Yup’ik culture, teachers guides on using tangrams and geoboards, as well as preview many textbooks.

Sometimes, even an adult's textbook can be interesting if you sit and discuss the charts together. — Sometimes, even an adult’s textbook can be interesting if you sit and discuss the charts together.

Learn your child’s tastes in books. Does too much text on one page overwhelm your child? Does your child like charts and graphs? Are there styles of artwork that disgust or scare your child? I know there are children out there who will willingly gather books from all over the library but my children get intimidated by the huge shelves and tend to stick to one spot. It is easier for me to gather up some books to bring to them than to try to herd all three of them around the whole library with me, but doing this means I need to know what types of books will work for them. Don’t limit yourself to the children’s sections. Look in the adult nonfiction section for coffee table books with an abundance of pictures and charts. I also like to get adult books out on whatever topics they’re studying so that I can learn a bit extra to share with them.Whether you decide to purchase a complete curriculum, allow your children to unschool or find a balance somewhere in between those two extremes, libraries can help fill in the cracks. When we’ve needed breaks from our curriculum we can learn math from library story books. There are sometimes older treasures like Many Luscious Lollipops: a book about adjectives Ruth Heller, that can reinforce concepts learned in other curriculum. There are books about figures of speech and children’s jokes.

Homeschooling is a wonderful adventure, if you’re ready to learn alongside your children. There’s so much to learn.

2 Comments

Susanne

19 Aug 2013 at 7:41 am Reply

Yes indeed at the library!
Pingback:

5 Sep 2013 at 11:59 am

401st Carnival of Homeschooling | The Informed Parent

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Christy's Houseful of Chaos shared a video from the playlist Christy Knockleby Talking About Literature.

16 hours ago

I've been thinking about the South Sea Bubble again recently, partly because I've been reading about Charles II and his financial mismanagement. He would give away the right to all the taxes on certain things to various mistresses of his. I'm not sure that was unusual or not, but it really didn't help the government finances. He died in 1685, so there were several more decades before the South Sea Company was formed to try to deal with the national debt, and I don't know how his successors managed their finances. That's one more gap in my knowledge I hope to fill in shortly. There's a cute Extra History animated video about the South Sea Bubble that I recommend people read, and one of the things it mentions is Britain still trying to pay off debts from centuries ago. We really, really need more debt forgiveness in the world, so governments can concentrate on meeting people's needs now rather than trying to pay for the mistakes made generations ago. ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

22 hours ago

Downtown Sudbury is filled with murals. I love it. Are there neat murals in your communities? Feel free to share pictures here! ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

2 days ago

I’m Canadian but I see the headlines that in the states Roe vs. Wade has been overturned. One part of my brain says ‘well, that was to be expected…” and another part of my brain answers “people will grieve, even if a death is to be expected….”. Since there are already laws in some places waiting to come into effect when Roe vs Wade was overturned…. I wonder about the secretaries who must be calling people to notify them that scheduled medical procedures will not be taking place. I think of people whose lives will be drastically impacted by whether something was scheduled a week ago or a week from now. Maybe some of those people will look back with gratitude for all the joy their unplanned child will bring, and while others will look with anger and grief at how their lives were shaped. The decisions about those lives should not be in the hands of those judges. I've never liked the phrase "pro-choice" because it makes it sound like it a decision between two brands of cereal. It trivializes a huge decision people make. It makes it sound like the choices are equal and freely chosen. Life is way too complicated for that. Real choice would involve there being affordable health care and affordable child care and affordable lives as well as affordable access to safe and legal abortion. But for whatever reasons people make that decision, and within whatever restrictions they are making it, it is for the woman involved to make it and not nine judges appointed by politicians that make careers out of wedge-issues.Obama should have been able to appoint one of those judges in his last year. Political parties should not have spent decades making a huge wedge issue out of this while at the same time discouraging sex education and doing nothing to make birth control or parenting affordable.My heart goes out to all of you affected by this. I am so sorry for this loss.#roevwade #americanpolitics #abortionrights #SupremeCourt #RoeVsWade #healthcare ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

2 days ago

This political cartoon caught my eye when I was looking through different works by illustrator Robert Seymour. The King of France is trying to muzzle public opinion with limits on the press. I love the tension in the picture, the obvious yet undrawn next scene we know is coming - the hammer will hit the tail, and the lion will wake and eat the king. This is from 1830. I find myself reflecting on how people talk about freedom of the press today or restrictions on the press and the difference between actions attempted in the past and now. When people talk about freedom of the press now they often picture something like this, with the government attempting to muzzle the media. Yet it is all so much more complicated. Sometimes people talk about free speech or freedom of the press when what they mean is that they want to force others to report the misinformation they believe. Saying that the truth is being muzzled is a way of keeping people from thinking about why the mainstream media doesn't support their view. It teaches distrust and prevents people from listening to the information that might challenge their preconceptions. Politicians, influencers, etc, discredit the press instead of muzzling it.Yet, I understand the urge to complain about the media, and to want to see one's own views published more popularly.... I too feel there's so many things that should be reported on more that aren't.... not because the government is trying to muzzle it, but because it doesn't get people to click links. I remember a few years ago when the Canadian government was providing funding for local journalism - basically, subsidizing newspapers hiring journalists to encourage them to publish local news rather than just re-share syndicated materials. Supporters of the opposition party claimed that was the media being bribed and they complained about the building of a list of which media outlets qualified for the subsidy as though a list was inherently wrong or subjective, despite the government clearly publishing the very reasonable criteria for getting on the list. I think it was local news being put on life-support, trying to keep it alive. How are newspapers supposed to stay alive these days, given that what advertising money companies spend goes to tech companies instead of their local papers?Life is so complicated. ----Image description, taken from Wikimedia Commons: A large lion, inscribed 'Public Opinion', lies quietly; its eyes are closed but its profile is menacing. Two "Zanys" with ass's ears and fool's caps prepare to control it. One, Charles X, in uniform, his cap inscribed 'C x R' holding a plaster inscribed 'Ordinance for abolishing the free press', stoops towards its head, while Polignac (left) hammers in staples which attach the tail to the ground. The King: 'Now Polignac, don't let him wag his tail and I'll clap this plaster over his nose and he shan't snore!' Aug 6 1830. Lithograph#politicalsatire #LocalNews #LocalNewsMatters #trust #history #politicalcartoons ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

3 days ago

This is garden four years ago and today. Oh, I know, it doesn't really look like a garden. There's no rows of veggies. There's a big patch of herbs, berry patches, asparagus, and veggies are placed in amongst the perennials wherever this is room. There are native wildflowers including nodding onion, aniseed hyssop and common milkweed. Each year we add more dirt to cover a different patch of the rock and we normally plant annuals there the first year.I posted earlier today Carly's guest post about the problem of topsoil depletion on a worldwide scale. I'm sharing this now to show part of why I don't take topsoil for granted. I feel guilty at times, for buying topsoil, wondering where exactly it came from and what area was damaged to create this. We buy municipal garden compost as much as we can and have a little composter of our own. We cannot take topsoil for granted. Topsoil is precious.We know there are voles that live in the our garden. There are birds that come for the wildflower seeds and this year almost anytime we go outside we see a rabbit casually chewing on something. Our yard is alive.#pollinatesudbury #wildflowergarden #NationalPollinatorWeek #topsoil #lazygardener #compost ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook