Blogger Kary Henry

Dig It! Homeschool & Archaeology

The ALSC blog has a category of posts labeled “Children’s Librarians Are Experts.” This label recognizes the many and diverse talents of children’s librarians. I employed a version of this when I asked my talented and awesome colleague, Cristina, to run archaeology programs for our homeschool students. The homeschool students absolutely loved getting to learn from a real archaeologist. Cristina loved leading a program about a passion of hers. And I loved not having to lead a program getting to watch a colleague shine!

Blogger Kary Henry

Homeschool Art Featuring Aminah Robinson

Many of my homeschool programs focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) concepts. But I truly love art! So I’m grateful when I come across an artist who so intrigues me that I’m able to focus on another important acronym: STEAM. Aminah Robinson was just such an artist. When I discovered her art on the Columbus Museum of Art’s website, I knew I had a unique and wonderful homeschool art program just waiting to be shared.

Blogger Kary Henry

Homeschool Book Club Activities

I offer two homeschool book clubs, both based on the Illinois Readers’ Choice Awards. The younger students read books from the Bluestem list, and the older students read from the Caudill list. Recently, I was struggling to create engaging and fun book-based activites that would work in a virtual setting. My niece, Amanda, came to the rescue! Amanda is a brand-new (and, proud aunt brag, fantastic!) elementary school teacher and had created a cool activity for her students. She graciously shared the idea with me. I’ve now adapted it into multiple versions. Each time my homeschool students have said things like, “This is the coolest thing ever!” and “Can we do this again next week?”