If you are considering homeschooling your children this fall, the library is your greatest resource. Whether this is your first time homeschooling or if you have been homeschooling for years, the library can supplement your homeschooling curriculum.
You can start homeschooling your children at any time during the school year. If you decide that traditional schooling is not meeting your children’s academic needs, you can start homeschooling your children at any time even if it is in the middle of the semester or the middle of the week. To start homeschooling, the parent must submit a letter of intent to the school district. Homeschooling is an option for all students from kindergarteners to high school seniors.
These websites will give you more information and help get you started:
- School Board of Alachua County: (SBAC) provides information about homeschooling in Alachua County. Here you will find the contact information for submitting your letter of intent to start homeschooling. Check out the site shortcuts on the bottom right-hand side of page.
- Florida Department of Education: The Department of Education provides technical assistance and information to school districts and parents. You will find all the rules and regulations for homeschooling.
- Florida Parent-Educators Association: (FPEA) is an independent organization that exists solely to serve home education families in Florida. Here you will find a sample letter of intent to start homeschooling and many resources for homeschooling.
- Home Education Foundation: (HEF) is a corporation established to raise support and direct the lobbying for home education in Florida.
Things to know about the library and your library card:
- Your overall checkout limit is 100 items.
- Your overall holds limit is 100 items, 25 of which can be holds on DVDs. This is helpful when planning ahead for your unit lessons or your semester.
- When placing holds, you can change the activation date. This is also helpful in planning ahead. Planning your whole semester in August, but you don’t need those holiday books and videos until late November? You can change the activation date to when you need the items. If there is a waiting list, you will still advance in the queue, but you will not get the items until the activation date, assuming you are first on the list by that date.
- You can find similar titles and similar series to favorite books when you access the full display of books in our online catalog. If you are trying to find more books for your young readers, this feature will help with that!
- You can find the Lexile Measure and Accelerated Reader information when you access the full display of books in our online catalog. You can also find other titles of the same reading level.
We have many books in our catalog to help you with homeschooling. Here are a few of our newest titles:
- The Brave Learner: finding everyday magic in homeschool, learning, and life by Julie Bogart
- The Call of the Wild + Free: reclaiming wonder in your child's education by Ainsley Arment
- The Everything Guide to Homeschooling: all you need to create the best curriculum and learning environment for your child by Sherri Linsenbach
- Home Learning Year by Year: how to design a creative and comprehensive homeschool curriculum by Rebecca Rupp
- Homeschooling for Dummies by Jennifer Kaufeld
We also have a long list of books about curriculums, that can be helpful to both teachers and parents.
Have a new reader? Check out our readalongs. These are picture books with an audio feature that helps new readers.
These library eSources are geared toward learning for children and teens. Learn another language, computer skills, history, math, and much more. Prepare for the SAT, ACT, and PERT. Submit a paper to be evaluated. Watch videos on photography, painting, drawing, and more.
The final and best resource of the library is our librarians. We are happy to help you access eSources, answer questions, make recommendations, and find materials to meet your needs. Likewise, we have created many virtual events which are accessed on our website and on social media. These virtual events include programs for babies through school-aged teens. These storytimes, music and movement times, science experiments, and craft ideas will supplement any curriculum and model how to do these and similar activities at home.
Final tip: You must keep a record of your child’s learning when homeschooling. In this record, it is recommended that you keep a record of all books and materials used throughout the school year. Use those library receipts to make your list. Note that the ink on the receipts may fade over time, so either update your book lists often or keep a file in your email of all of your emailed library receipts.