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Thisisthe secondin;athree-part series about using the library as your main source for cur- riculum materials. This article
focuses;on;helping;your;children;learn
about the library so that they can become
active;participants;in;the;process.
As the original “Relaxed Home School-
er,”;I;used;very;little;purchased;curricu-
lum;materials;over;the;years,;especially
in;the;years;prior;to;high;school.;Every
week;we;would;trot;to;the;public;library
in our town and return with several arm-
loads full of books. I always went to the
library searching for four categories of
books.;The;first,;which;is;very;impor-
tant, was books to read myself. Without
serving as a good role model, all of your
attempts;to;help;your;children;love;read-
ing;will;be;fruitless!;The;second;category
was;books;I;planned;to;read;to;the;chil-
dren;or;simply;to;place;in;strategic;areas
around;the;house.;I;put;books;about;art-
ists in our art center, books about a musi-
cian;on;top;of;the;piano,;and;books;about
birds near the binoculars on the table
facing the bird feeder.
Every day we had reading time three
times a day, when I sat on the couch read-
ing;to;the;children.;Typically,;one;session
a;day;was;for;fiction;books;and;one;for
nonfiction,;which;was;correlated;with;a
project;or;unit;study;we;were;working
on.;(The;first;session;was;at;the;breakfast
table,;and;featured;Bible;stories,;which
we;didn’t;get;from;the;public;library.)
The third category was books that were
specifically;selected;by;me;in;order;to;fit
into;a;particular;unit;study;we;were;con-
centrating on that week. These unit stud-
ies;weren’t;always;planned;in;advance.
The discovery of an interesting spider
web might occur on Monday morning
and;by;the;afternoon;we;were;immersed
in;a;unit;study;on;spiders!
The;fourth;category,;which;is;probably
the;most;important;of;all,;was;the;books
selected by the children themselves for
their own reading. Note that I rarely dictated the books that the children themselves read, although I did establish some
The
Ordinary
Homeschooler
Mary Hood, Ph.D.
Teaching Children
to Use the Library
In order to learn how to select their own books, the children obviously needed to
be taught how to use the library.
