Yes, you are unique, and you are loved.
As a parent in today’s interconnected world, knowing how to best help your child succeed is difficult. Many states sponsor online public schools (i.e., state virtual schools), but is it wise to enroll your child in a supplementary school program to the exclusion of enrolling in a charter school or performing extracurricular activities like sports, dance, music, or gymnastics (Evergreen Education Group, 2018)? Additionally, what tools should parents use to help their students with homework? Programs like ABCMouse.com may work for some students, but do students with a known or perceived learning disability require different tools? And what happens if we pick the wrong tool? All of these questions and more plague legal guardians of students, as more free and low-cost options are being provided at a rapid pace. It sounds like a perfect opportunity for a librarian to step in and make sense of it all.
Libraries To The Rescue
A timeless and practical way to help any student currently enrolled in some type of school program, even homeschool and semi-structured unschool instruction plans, is to speak with your local, county, or state libraries to find any free homework help resources. For example, the State Library of Louisiana provides education assistance through the Homework Louisiana (http://homeworkla.org/) website in partnership with Tutor.com. Not only does the State Library of Louisiana provide academic tutoring for K-Adult students in more than 60 subjects and three languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese), but they also provide job search assistance and test prep. So, while a high school sophomore is dropping off a paper for a writing coach to review, the parent or legal guardian can receive math help for college classes and creating a cover letter or resume.
What About Parents?
But can the homework help provided by libraries also help parents who current are, or who plan to start, homeschooling their student? The short answer is yes. In most situations libraries provide instructor resources in addition to student resources. It is in the library’s best interest to ensure educators have transparent access to what the library is promoting, and part of that transparency is the ability to design lessons around the service(s) libraries provide students. Therefore, a homeschooling mother of three can look to the library for fact-based recommendations on instruction, supplementary instruction resources, and program guides.
What About Families Who Homeschool?
Though many libraries may provide writing coaches, math coaches, live tutors, and test prep, very few libraries can ensure citizens know that these resources are provided. Households not enrolled in traditional public education programs are most at risk for not being informed of new program launches, as many homeschool communities are decentralized and distributed throughout one or more regions. In fact, I spoke with the only librarian at the State Library of Louisiana who acts as a liaison between public libraries and school libraries, and she advised it is nearly impossible for thousands of homeschool families to be notified of these types of programs. There are many reasons why homeschool families are difficult to reach, like concerns about privacy, being geographically distributed over a large area, and not having a single homeschool association that can act as a liaison between families and the state.
As usual, libraries are a handy resource to use for any parent or legal guardian who is concerned about effectively supporting their student(s), but it is up to the individual to look for and utilize those resources.
Reference
Evergreen Education Group. (2018, September 25). digital learning collaborative. Retrieved March 7, 2020 from https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/state-virtual-schools
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