Homeschooling
Leah Langby
July 15, 2020
Keeping Up With Kids
Outdoors in summertime, child wearing swim goggles, shorts, and tank top approaches a domed cob oven with a fire inside it.

Homeschooling looks lots of different ways.  Here’s a homeschooler who built a cob oven (out of clay and sand–a multi-day project), built a fire inside it, and is approaching it with swim goggles for protection from smoke in the eyes.  Next step–remove the fire so baking can happen.

I got a question today from a librarian about homeschooling.  There are lots of families right now that are feeling worried about sending their kids back to school, and they are seriously contemplating homeschooling.  It might be that these families are going to be turning to their public library for help in finding information to help them make that decision.  If they decide to pursue homeschooling, chances are good that they’ll be looking to public libraries to better understand what is required of them, what their options are for curriculum or approach, and perhaps for additional materials to help them do what they want to do.

I highly recommend checking out the Wisconsin Parents Association for answers to some of these questions.  The WPA cautions against homeschooling as a way to solve a short-term problem (like, say, concerns about illness), recommending that people first contact their school district to find out all the options available to them in the time of COVID 19 before committing to homeschooling.  For parents who want to dig further, they provide great suggestions, guidance about Wisconsin laws and requirements pertaining to homeschooling, realistic discussion about the trade-offs that homeschooling provides, and some help with how to start.

Let me know if you have further questions about this!

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