Introduction:
At MLA 2019 in Helena, the Children's and Youth Services Interest Group met
and discussed ideas and suggestions for activities next year. One topic of
interest that emerged was more resources to provide to homeschooling
communities in libraries. A short survey was sent to youth services librarians
across the state to get feedback on what kinds of resources people were looking
for, and the State Library reached out to homeschooling groups across the state
to get their input as well. From those two sources, we compiled a resource
list.
If you have any resources to add, please feel free to post them in this thread!
Homeschooling Resources:
- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfriend Engelman, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner
- All in One Homeschool (website) - A free, online homeschool
curriculum developed by one family. This curriculum is Christian-based and has
materials for Preschool through 8th grade. A separate high school site is
available as well (listed below).
- Khan Academy (website) - A nonprofit website "with the
mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere." KA
has a variety of classes to choose from, and all materials are free and
accessible with an account.
- Online Homeschooling Resources Compilation (website) - This
is a great starting point resource, from parents.com, that goes through many of
the important questions you'll need to answer before starting to homeschool.
This compilation is split up into different sections, and provides resources
for each, such as educational philosophies, legal requirements, online
curriculums, online learning websites, blogs, and online communities (Facebook
and Twitter). The material may be a little dated (the article was written in
2012), but it is a nice outline of topics for those who are new to
homeschooling to tackle.
- How Do I Homeschool? (blog) - This blog is another great
starting point for people who are trying to decide if they want to homeschool
or not. This article lists out each step and topic that needs to be considered
for homeschooling, and provides links. The author of this blog is Christian, so
her personal examples feature her faith, while the information that she provides
is more general.
- Home School Legal Defense Association (website) - HSLDA is
a nonprofit that works to "defend and advance the constitutional rights of
parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family
freedoms." Through HSLDA, you can join as a member and have a low-cost
method of obtaining quality legal defense. While the founding members of HSLDA
seem to be Christian, there is no requirement for members to be Christians, or
to use Christian curricula.
- All About Learning Press (website) - All About Learning
Press has two homeschool curricula available for purchase - All About Reading,
and All About Spelling. The founder of All About Learning Press, Marie Rippel,
started this program in response to her son's diagnosis of severe dyslexia, and
features multisensory programs and scaffolding.
- Timberdoodle Co (website) - This is a great website to get
educational materials from at discounted prices. Materials range from books,
props, toys, models, DVDs, etc
- Montana Coalition of Home Educators (website) - The MCHE's
goals are to "bring homeschoolers together to protect Montana's home
school freedom, while maintaining the independence and autonomy of the
individual families and the existing local and state organizations." They
have a very informative FAQ about homeschooling in Montana, and their
"Support Group" tab has a helpful list of all homeschooling groups
and organizations in the state.
- OPI Home School Informational Packet (PDF) - OPI has put
together this document that outlines key statutes regarding private/nonpublic
schools in Montana, as well as rules and statutes regarding homeschooling. It
also provides links to the 2017 Montana Annotated Code if you would like to
read more in-depth into the rules and regulations.
- How to Homeschool in Montana (website) - This website provides information on homeschooling all across the US, including the various laws, rules, and regulations around homeschooling. I would recommend double-checking your information to verify it, but this is a good place to start for general information.
Conferences:
Montana Homeschool Convention
(will be in 2020 in Bozeman) - Was not able to find a contact for this just yet, so please post if you know who might be in charge of this.