We recently hosted a couple of programs at our library to connect with local homeschooling families and people who were considering homeschooling as an option. It’s been a fun and educational process for me, and I’ve learned that there are far more homeschooling families in our area than I thought.

Here are the two programs that we offered:

Homeschooling 101: A Virtual Presentation

One of the first in-person programs that we had to cancel back in the early days of the pandemic was a presentation by Jamie Heston, a local homeschooling consultant. At the time, she asked if it would be possible to offer the program online via Zoom instead, but we hadn’t really offered programs that way (other than a couple of author talks). Now, however, it seemed like a great way to connect to families who were considering homeschooling, but wanted to learn more.

Jamie often offers free presentations on behalf of the Homeschool Association of California. This was the same hour-long presentation, which covered the basics of how to register as a homeschooler, what the different options are, what documentation is required, how to transition back into traditional school if necessary, and a wide variety of recommended resources. I was surprised to learn how easy it is to register as a homeschool, and that families can start at any point, even in the middle of the school year. As a parent, I have been incredibly grateful for our local public schools, and the wonderful teachers my kids have had along the way, but it was still reassuring to know that it would be relatively easy to switch to homeschooling (at least from a legal perspective) if the school environment was not working well for some reason. Jamie also recommended this list of books about “unschooling” from Amber Dos Santos’ blog.

Homeschooling Open House

In order to convey that our libraries are interested in working with local homeschooling families, I advertised a Homeschooling Open House. A few months ago, I posted on a couple of Facebook groups for local families asking homeschooling parents to message me if they would be interested in being added to a mailing list specifically for homeschooling events. Once I had that mailing list, I sent them this simple survey, which asked them which days and times would work best. Based on the results of that, I ended up scheduling the Open House on a Monday afternoon from 1pm to 2:30pm.

My goals for the open house were pretty simple. I wanted to provide a space for the families to connect, to share information about library resources that might interest them, and to solicit feedback about what services and resources they would find most helpful. I prepared some handouts about our online databases and tips on using our library catalog, along with a basic library scavenger hunt (see below). I also created a more detailed printed survey, based on one that Kitty Murphy from the Medina County District Library in Ohio had shared with me when I asked for ideas from the Programming Librarian Interest Group on Facebook. And I set aside a table for a Curriculum Exchange, and advertised on the flier that participants were welcome to bring any materials they would like to share.

I really had no idea what to expect in terms of attendance. I thought we’d maybe get three or four families, so when people started pouring in, I was shocked! Within the first half hour, there were almost sixty people, with clusters of kids and parents all over the library. One of our interns helped the kids make pin-back buttons, and we put our two SuperSpace sets (giant Magna-Tiles) out in the children’s area. Several of the older kids clustered around a boy playing a video game on the computer (in retrospect, I should have set-up one of our Nintendo Switch games on the projector). A couple brought in boxes and boxes of materials for the Curriculum Exchange, although some of it was wildly outdated (including a book about Christopher Columbus from 1967). Other people brought in more current materials to share, and many of the parents hovered around that table the whole time. I did end up with a lot of leftover curriculum, which I offered to hold on to for a homeschooling meet-up that a local parent has just started.

In the end, I didn’t really get much of an opportunity to present our library resources, because people kept arriving at different times. They did take my handouts though, and if they had specific questions about our databases, I gave them a personal demonstration on a laptop I had set up on the table with the handouts and surveys. I did get a number of responses to the survey. From those, I learned that most of the parents were primarily interested in opportunities for their kids to interact with other homeschoolers, and rather than with students from traditional schools. There was a great deal of interest in STEM programs, and access to scientific equipment, like microscopes, so I have been talking to some of my coworkers about offering some science programs specifically for that community. A lot of them were also interested in Homeschool Graduate Panels (a chance to learn from the experiences of recent homeschooling graduates), which is something I haven’t explored yet.

Here are a few take-aways I took from these two homeschooling-focused events:

• The homeschooling community is much larger and more networked than I thought, and families are also willing to travel long distances. Most of the families at the open house belong to the same two local homeschooling networks, and many of them live in San Francisco, or down the coast towards Half Moon Bay. I am excited to have the ability to connect with so many new families through these networks, and to promote our programs and services to them.

• The homeschooling parents seemed genuinely happy to see the library reaching out. In the end, the Homeschooling Open House was more about providing an opportunity for families to connect with each other, which is a really easy thing to offer. One of the parents has just reserved our community room to schedule a regular meet-up for homeschooling families, something that requires no effort from us at all, other than providing access to the space.

Have you offered any programs for homeschoolers or about homeschooling? Please share your experiences in the comments below.