Libraries
Libraries are an important resource for homeschoolers. Parents and children value librarians for the expertise they share when navigating the vast amounts of information found in today's libraries. Libraries also provide lending materials, educational materials, meeting space for support groups, and more.
National Libraries
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations.
America's Story from America's Library
This Web site is brought to you from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world and the nation's library. The site was designed especially with young people in mind, but there are great stories for people of all ages.
American Memory
American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
Libraries & Homeschoolers: Working Together
Homeschoolers and the Public Library

Public libraries are invaluable tools for DIY educators and home education. Home-based educators utilize various curriculum sources to assist in teaching.  The National Center for Educational Statistics published a survey from 2012, in which 70% of homeschooled parents cite the public library as their most valued resource. This article, written for the American Library Association, details how librarians can meet the needs and work in partnership with homeschooling families. 

Make Room for Homeschoolers: Children Educated at Home Can help Make a Library More Fantastic

This unique library program in Floyd County, Indiana, offers ideas on how to provide programming for the homeschooling community. 

Serving Homeschooled Teens and Their Parents (Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides for Young Adult Librarians Series)

This guide for librarians addresses the needs of homeschooled teens and how a library can meet those needs. Includes ideas like developing a homeschool resource and book collection to creating special homeschool programs. While this book was written for library staff, it is also an insightful guide into how homeschoolers and libraries can work together. 

Libraries and Homeschools: The Perfect Partnership

This articles details all the ways that libraries can assist and support homeschoolers, including meeting spaces, collections of local materials, lectures and programs, book discussions, foreign language materials, and so much more.

Helping Homeschoolers in the Library

This practical guidebook seeks to bridge the gap between librarians and homeschoolers in these two ways: who are homeschoolers and how can I help them practically? Part 1 addresses the history and background of homeschooling as well as the needs and viewpoints of various homeschooling groups. Part 2 deals specifically with building programs and services for the homeschooling population. By moving past stereotypes and understanding what resources are available, librarians can be important allies to this diverse group of patrons. Children's and YA librarians, library directors, support staff working with youth in public libraries and educators will find the information and tools they need to develop policies, programs, and services to support homeschoolers in their communities.

Public Libraries Welcome Growing Homeschool Community

Public libraries around the country are finding new ways to serve the growing population of homeschoolers through physical spaces and creative programs catered to homeschooling families’ needs. This article takes a look at what libraries in Illinois, Colorado, and Tennessee are doing to meet the diverse needs of homeschooling families. 

Homeschooling: Exploring the Potential of Public Library Service for Homeschooled Students

As the number of homeschooled students rises in this country, needs for resources, instruction and support also has risen. The homeschooled students, while not participating in the school classrooms and by extension the school or public libraries, have needs that should be satisfied by library services. These include access to materials and technology, information literacy skills instruction, reading and writing support, curriculum materials and methods, reference services, as well as areas to “make and take”, facilities for quiet study or to meet with mentors or tutors. In addition, homeschooled students need the kind of library skills instruction that all students in traditional school libraries receive. The purpose of this study is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of library support to homeschooled students and to make recommendations based upon analysis. 

A Home Away from Home: Libraries & Homeschoolers
According to a 2003 study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), when homeschoolers were asked about their primary source of books and/or curriculum, 78 percent named their public library. This article offers ideas for outreach and support to homeschooling families, including ideas for creating a homeschool information hot spot, touring the library with homeschool groups, offering targeted programs and more.
There's No Place Like… the Library!
On the rewards of the library-homeschool relationship, with practical suggestions of ways libraries can cultivate relationships with homeschoolers.
Four Reasons Why Libraries are Homeschooling Hotspots

There are four reasons why libraries should be indispensable for homeschooling families. They offer resources and materials for homeschool students, individualized help and tutoring, activities and events for homeschoolers, and opportunities for parents. 

Homeschooling Families Tap into Library Services, from Storytime to Science Equipment

Across the country, librarians are stepping up to serve families who choose to educate their children themselves. Libraries have an important role in advancing education in whatever format. Many libraries offer events for homeschool families and offer programs and services that cater to home educators. 

19 Ways to Get the Most from Your Library

We all know the library is the homeschooler’s best friend. Where else can you go to find all those wonderful books, DVDs, and more for free? But your librarian can be even more helpful than you had realized. Here are some tips for getting the most from your library.

Featured Resources

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Safe Young Drivers: A Guide for Parents and Teens
Sixteen is by far the most dangerous age on the road. A 16-year-old is twelve times more likely than older drivers to die in a crash as a single occupant. Put two young teens in a vehicle, and the odds of death and injury nearly double. Despite these sobering facts, the procedure for obtaining a driver’s license in most states remains minimal. Commercial driving schools, even the most competent and conscientious among them, cannot possibly provide complete instruction. This book helps to address...
Greenleaf Press
Greenleaf Press is a small family-owned and operated publisher and supplier of quality books for children. They are committed to "twaddle-free", living books, and approach teaching history to children using biography and chronology. You will find sections in the catalog covering each major historical period in order, with a variety of biographies, reference books, and historical fiction. For Israel, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance and Reformation there are Greenleaf Stu...
Veritas Press
Veritas Press offers a history based classical curriculum for kindergarten through twelfth grades.
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
This radical treatise on public education has been a New Society Publishers' bestseller for 10 years! Thirty years of award-winning teaching in New York City's public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders as cogs in the industrial machine. In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of Dumbing Us Down and to keep this classic current, we are renewing the cover art, adding new material about John and ...
Don't Waste Your Time Homeschooling: 72 Things I Wish I'd Known
Traci Matt, a veteran homeschool mom helps you make the most of your homeschooling efforts. She takes a look back at 20 years of successes and challenges, offering tested strategies to assist you on your home education journey. This book will help you learn ways to keep a peaceful home, stay out of the isolation trap, practice self-care, learn how to live with teens, and respond to the questions of others.