I promised to share the replies that I received. They are excerpted below. We used to do that. Then they moved to the gymnasium of a local church so they could combine more activity. __________________ We didn’t have a support group per se, but one of our local home school co-ops reached out to me to do a library information class for their second graders. It was a great experience! We went over how to use the library resources, how to look at websites critically, we looked for books to read for fun. I’d be interested in what other libraries have experienced – my hope is we can be a stronger resource for our local groups too. _____________________________ Homeschool groups provide great outreach opportunities. They can be hard to get involved with, remembering that they often have religious or other driving factors for the decision that is best for their family is important. I have found that it works best to ask homeschoolers what they want and start small to build trust. I have worked with my team at other libraries to build outreach with success. Currently, we are offering a program for the “end of year” and a couple of small group experiences at HLPL. The most important thing, as I am sure you know, is to be prepared to do what they ask even if the image you have may be different from the one they do. In other words, to provide them with what THEY want rather then what you think they may want. _________________________________ We do have such a group. We’ve called it our “Home School Advisory Board”, and I’m very pleased with how it is working. It took some time to get a core group of participants, but with patience and perseverance we’re now seeing an active and functioning group. I’m attaching a copy of the purpose statement. Some of the outcomes I’ve seen (in no particular order): - A place to “plug in” for new home schoolers or home schoolers new to the area - Successful new programs at the library: weekly chess club, annual science fair, bi-monthly book-movie pizza night - New ways for the home schoolers to work together: performance days at local retirement communities, a budding archery club, play dates - Good dialogue between active patrons and the library, informing our collection development and making them aware of what we offer __________________________________ We have been running a weekly home school group for a number of years now. We have a solid group of regulars. We use unit studies for our home school programming. While this requires more work from us, the number/participation of home schoolers attending is well worth it. We are currently studying Native Americans. The students do an oral/visual presentation for their peers. We then follow with an activity which might be art, food, music or a game that applies to the study. The group is for grades 2-6th although we have a number of younger students that come with older siblings. We allot 2 hours. There are some unit studies available for purchase but we develop most of the studies in-house. The parents participate with the hands-on activities but otherwise they spend most of the time socializing. (lol) _________________________________________ Hope this will also help some of you who wanted to see the replies. Thank you to everyone who responded! Phyllis ------ Phyllis Rickard Director North Adams Community Memorial Library (zv245) 110 E. Main St., PO Box 248 North Adams, MI 49262 517-287-4426 northadamslibrary@gmail.com http://www.northadamscml.michlibrary.org/