Home-school and In-school Information & Tools

 

Welcome to the Galway Public Library Home-school or In-school Guide

Whether your children are going into school full-time, doing a hybrid of days in-school and at home, are just starting out with your home-school adventure, or are a seasoned homeschooling veteran, Galway Public Library is here to help. This guide will provide you with many in-school & home school library resources, library home school programming, state regulations, and local support groups. The library is a great resource on your educational journey.

Home-schooling

Here are a few steps to help you get started if you are thinking about homeschooling

  • What you need to know to get started – The Galway Public Library system has many books on how homeschooling works.  We also have a liaison you can speak with to get your questions and concerns addressed, such as: How does homeschooling work? What time, effort, and money will it take?  
  • Know the law – See the NYS Homeschool Regulations page to read and understand the requirements for home-school parents. 
  • Connect with others – Home-school families often join together to create vibrant communities that support each other in learning cooperatives, parental support groups and extra-curricular activities.  We have a list of community organizations you can check out below to find the right one for your specific needs.
  • Tailor your home-schooling – Discover your child’s learning style and types of curriculum available. See some tips at Starting Strong on the HSLDA website. Learn your teaching and learning style and take the Style Quiz.

Galway Public Library’s Homeschool Liaison – Deb Flint

Deb home schooled her 3 children for a total of 22 years experience. She also led the LEAH Coop for 3 years. If you have any questions about how to get started, regulations, forms, etc. please contact Deb via the library at 518-882-6385.

NYS Department of Education Regulations for Home-schooling

Here is a brief synopsis of required paperwork for homeschooling in New York State. Please see the Key Laws and Regulations Relating to Home Instruction for complete requirements and details.

  • Letter of Intent: Parent sends a notice to the superintendent of their intention to instruct child at home. Due by July 1st (August 1 2020) OR within 14 days of after commencing home instruction (anytime during the year).  School district responds within 10 days by sending copy of regulations and blank IHIP forms.
  • Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP): Parent prepares and submits IHIP to school district; including child’s age, grade level; syllabi, curriculum, materials, textbooks, or plan of instruction; dates to submit quarterly reports, name of instructor. See Key Laws and Regulations Relating to Home Instruction for details and required subjects. Due by August 15th or within four weeks of the receipt of regulations and forms from school district.  
  • Quarterly Reports: Parent submits to the school district a Quarterly Report for each child listing: hours of instruction, description of material covered in each subject in the IHIP, grade in each subject or a written evaluation of the child’s progress. 
  • Year-End Evaluation: Included in the 3rd Quarterly Report will be the method of annual assessment as determined by the parent. Assessment may include commercially published norm-referenced achievement tests or a written narrative, in accordance with the grade level of the student. See Key Laws and Regulations Relating to Home Instruction for grade level assessment requirements and approved normative tests. Results of assessment should be submitted with 4th quarterly report. 

Important sites

Community Organizations

Additional Information

Home-schooling suggested Materials

Homeschooling Books

  • 102 top picks for homeschool curriculum: choosing the right curriculum and approach for each child’s learning style
  • A Charlotte Mason companion: personal reflections on the gentle art of learning
  • Beyond survival: a guide to abundant-life homeschooling
  • College-prep homeschooling: you complete guide to homeschooling through high school
  • Dr. Beechick’s homeschool answer book: Q & A
  • Home education curriculum
  • Home learning year by year: how to design a homeschool curriculum from preschool through high school
  • Home sweet homeschool: a survivor’s guide to giving your kids a quality education
  • Homeschool your child for free: More than 1,400 smart, effective and pratical resources for educating your family at home
  • Homeschooling by heart: a mom’s road map for making it all work
  • Homeschooling, the teen years, your complete guide to successfully homeschooling the 13-18 year-old child
  • Schooled
  • So you’re thinking about homeschooling: fifteen families show how you can do it!
  • The big book of home learning
  • The Homeschooling handbook: from pre-school to high school, a parent’s guide
  • The McGraw Hill homeschooling companion
  • The successful homeschool family handbook: a creative stress-free approach to homeschooling
  • The ultimate book of homeschooling ideas: 500+ fun and creative learning activities for kids ages 3-12
  • Things we wish we’d known
  • This is my home, this is my school

All Schooling Information & Activities

Library resources

Educational Books

  • 50 ways to bring out the smarts in your kid
  • 125 brain games for toddlers and two’s: simple games to promote early brain development
  • Alphabet art: with A-Z animal art & fingerplays
  • Back to school: a global journey
  • Brain quest, 1st grade math (kit): Q & A to challeng the mind, By: Majorie Martinelli
  • Brain quest, Grade 1 (kit): 750 Q & A to challenge the mind, By: Chris Welles Feder
  • Children exploring their world: theme teaching in elementary school
  • Classroom assessment: concepts and applications
  • Creating innovators: the making of young people who will change the world
  • The death of common sense in our schools and what you can do about it
  • Debt-free U: how I paid for an outstanding college education without loans, scholarships, or mooching off my parents
  • Don’t whistle in school: the history of America’s public schools
  • Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis: projects and principles for beginning geologists
  • Going to school in 1776
  • GRE exam: premier program
  • Growth mindset coach: a teacher’s month-by-month handbook for empowering students to achieve
  • A heart full of love
  • How your child learns best: brain friendly strategies you can use to ignite your child’s learning and increase school success
  • The instant curriculum: 500 developmentally appropriate learning activities for busy teachers of young children
  • The knowledge deficit: closing the shocking education gap for American children
  • Leaders of their own learning: transforming schools through student-engaged assessment
  • My first grade super yearbook
  • The new global student
  • No more homework! no more tests!: kids favorite funny school poems
  • Ocean life: theme unit developed in coorperation with the New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden
  • The passionate learner: how teachers and parents can reclaim the joy of discovery for all children
  • Phonic: big get ready workbook
  • Rethinking grading: meaningful assessment for standards-based learning
  • What a day it was at school!: poems
  • Whatever it takes: How professional learning communities respond when kids don’t learn

Educational DVDs

  • Argumentation: the study of effective reasoning
  • Baby da Vinci: from head to toe
  • Baby Einstein, Baby’s favorite places
  • Baby Einstein, Meet the orchestra, First instruments
  • Baby Einstein, My first songs, see and sign with baby
  • Between the lions, A king and his hawk
  • Between the lions, Pandora’s box
  • Between the lions, The lost rock
  • Between the lions, The ram in the pepper patch
  • Between the lions, Touching the moon
  • Great Minds of the Western Intellectural Tradition Series
    • Classical Origins
    • The Christian Age
    • From the Renaissance to the Age of Reason
    • The Enlghtenment and its Critics
    • The Age of Idealogy
    • Modernism and the Age of Analysis
    • The Crisis of Modernity
    • Classical Modern Political Theory Part 1
    • Classical Modern Political Theory Part 2
    • Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance Part 1
    • Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance Part 2
    • Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance Part 3
    • Einstein’s relativity and the quantum revolution: modern physics for non-scientists Part 1
    • Einstein’s relativity and the quantum revolution: modern physics for non-scientists Part 2
    • The History of Ancient Rome Part 1
    • The History of Ancient Rome Part 2
    • The History of Ancient Rome Part 3
    • The History of Ancient Rome Part 4
    • Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age Part 1
    • Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age Part 2
    • Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age Part 3
    • Dutch Master: The Age of Rembrandt Part 1
    • Dutch Master: The Age of Rembrandt Part 2
  • Freedom Writers
  • How’s that made?
  • Last minute SAT: Critical reading
  • MythBusters: Urban legends
  • Sign language 101: a beginner’s guide to American Sign Language
  • Waiting for ‘Superman’

Programs & Activities

  • STEAM Interactive Discovery Kits available at our library for check out * New *
    • Building & Design – Grade 4+
    • Electronic Coding & Bots – Grade 4+
    • Estimations & Patterns – Grade 4+
    • Machines & Contraptions – Grade 7+
  • Hangout at the Library – Hang out with friends, old and new, while you socially-distance in-person with other in-school or home-school families. Contact library if interested.
  • Steam Club – Learn about science, technology, engineering, art and math through hands-on activities and experiments for children ages 5-18 years. Contact library if interested.
  • Fun Family Activities you can do at home

Museums

  • Children’s Museum at Saratoga Designed for kids 7 & under, this hands-on museum features a series of themed play rooms & exhibits. * Library Pass available *
  • NEW YORK STATE MILITARY MUSEUM Former 1889 armory displaying 10,000+ uniforms, weapons & art from the Civil War to the present.
  • Brookside Museum known as the Aldridge House, is located on the western edge of downtown Ballston Spa, New York, United States. It is a wooden house built in 1792, one of the oldest in the village
  • National Museum of Dance & Hall of Fame Established in 1986. It contains photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes and biographies.
  • Saratoga National Historical Park History and culture through Battlefields, Schuyler House, Saratoga Monument, & Victory Woods
  • The Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum
  • Empire State Aerosciences Museum Strives to “educate, entertain and excite with experiences in air and space”.
  • miSci | Museum Innovation & Science museum & planetarium, its mission is “to celebrate, explore and inspire science and technology” * Library Pass available *
  • The Saratoga Springs History Museum focuses on the cultural history of Saratoga Springs
  • Hyde Art Musuem Art Gallery and Home * Library Pass available *
  • Mabee Farm Historic Site oldest house still standing in the Mohawk Valley
  • Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave: This museum celebrates Iroquois culture and diversity with nature walks, educational programs, and exhibits that showcase archaeological artifacts.
  • New York State Capitol in Albany: Visit the New York State Capitol to learn about the government and history of one of the original colonies of the United States.
  • Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Museum: Tour these national monuments and learn about the rich history of immigration to the United States.
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art: View the finest works of art from all over the world at the largest art museum in the United States.
  • 9/11 Memorial and Museum: Learn about the events that happened on September 1, 2001, with exhibits of artifacts, images, and testimonies
  • Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse: Learn about life in a canal town and how it played an important role in the country’s growth. A children’s area is available for young learners, making this a great spot for students of all ages.
  • Utica Children’s Museum in Utica: Experience hands-on learning with special events, homeschool group visits, and plenty of interactive exhibits, such as the sensory exploration zone and music areas.

Physical Education

Music Education

  • Virtual Classroom Omaha Symphony Free packets, resources, programs, informational & how to lessons on various instruments,
  • Making Music Fun Free Online Music Lessons and Activities for children
  • Music Together – Online classes for the whole family
  • Lessonface – connecting students and highly-qualified teachers for live lessons online since 2013
  • Little Maestros – Socially distance outdoor classes and musical merch
  • BeatBuds – The BeatBuds use every single moment of the high energy interactive experience they provide to teach music, language and instruments

Dance Education

  • Coming Soon! Contact library if interested.

Drama Education

  • Teaching Drama to Kids Tools to build your students into incredible actors
  • Teaching Theatre Online Activities and practices for teaching real performing art skills through distance learning (including acting, music and dance)
  • Digital Talent Show Challenge – film yourself doing one of your special talents (singing, acting/storytelling, dancing, gymnastics, magic, slam poetry, stand up comedy, visual art, spoken word, making/creating something, yoga poses, tiktok dances, tricks, etc).
  • Improv Activities Draw from strong scenes to give yourself an edge. activities will allow you to build a fun and solid improv foundation—all from your own home
  • Drama Games Acting activities to be done remotely
  • Free Drama Activities Collection of drama resources for online drama classes and social distanced drama classes

Computer Education

  • Study.com Free Computer Programming courses online
  • GCF Global Free Technology basic courses
  • Home and Learn Courses are designed for beginners
  • Meganga Free computer lessons: basics, graphics & photography, internet & email, Microsoft Office, technology
  • Alison Free online software tools courses, including Microsoft tools