Homeschool Resources at Your Library
Here at Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library, we have had an influx of homeschool families coming in to inquire about resources they can use in their day-to-day learning activities. In this month’s blog, I would like to detail some of the databases and materials that might be useful to the homeschool families in our community.Our Parent/Teacher section in the Children’s department is a great place to start. The Parent/Teacher section contains workbooks for various grade levels in a variety of subjects and the collection is always growing. There are also books for parents who would like more information about helping their neurodivergent children succeed, families who would like to expand their knowledge of keeping their children safe while they are online, and caregivers who would like to add more art-based activities to their curriculum. Early Learning Kits are a great resource for families with younger children. The bags are divided by themes and grades pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade. They contain books on that topic, a folder with lesson plans and activities to do at home, complete with required templates to copy, and an educational game or puzzle. These kits are available to everyone for check out and can be found in the Children’s department next to the Parent/Teacher section.Let’s not forget about what libraries are known for: books! Easy Reader books are leveled books to help beginning readers develop their skills and build their vocabulary. We also have an Easy Nonfiction, a Juvenile Nonfiction, and a Biography section that offers titles that are great sources of information when learning about math, science, languages, geography, and history. Our website has a new feature to help homeschool families as well. Under the Youth Services Tab, you can now find Homeschool Resources. These are links to sites that might be helpful when planning and implementing your learning activities, such as the Arkansas Department of Education, Khan Academy, and National Geographic for kids. You can also access Mango Languages from our databases under the Books and References tab on the website. All of this can be found at libraryinjonesboro.org.Finally, we have created a survey for homeschool families to submit to tell us about what library resources they use regularly and what kind of resources and programs they would like to see offered at the library. We invite you to submit your answers at https://forms.gle/ddXyQehYeLyGmm2Y9. Happy Homeschooling!