You know that you are a homeschooling family when you show up to the library parking area on a day that the staff are restricting traffic to patrons only due to a nearby sports event and as you reach into your purse to show your library card to the attendant, she says, “No need to get that out. I know you guys! Have a good time at the library!” It is even worse when you realize that even though you can pretty much recite the days and shifts worked by every single librarian as well as their general personalities and what kinds of books they like reading, you really do not recognize this particular librarian. And yet she knows you and your kids on sight.
My kids get most of their education in the library. We wander through the building together once or twice a week, each visit leaving with bags and bags of books to be devoured once we reach home. They investigate possible careers by reading though text books, develop skills by browsing through the non-fiction section and picking out books on a whim, and develop even further as writers and storytellers by losing themselves in classic fiction.
Both kids love the summer reading program that signals the start of a new grade. And this year, summer reading ushers in new library privileges. They can both now wander about in the Teen section by themselves. The Teen section of our library is nearly perfect. Any adult may wander through the stacks but the comfy couches and reading chairs, the group desks, and the computers are for teens only. No “little” kids and no adults may linger or sit. And the Teen section is within line of sight of the children’s librarians’ desk, just in case anyone gets a little too exuberant (there is one librarian wandering around at all times issuing “Shhh’s” to quell exuberance and keep the library peaceful). All in all the Teen section is perfect, except that “teen” books are predominantly ill-fitted to our family’s value structure and so my kids load up on classics from the kids section or the adult mystery area of the library and then happily go sit in the teen section.
Regardless, the library is like a candy store for my kids…and the librarians, who smile and greet us every time we visit, recognize kindred spirits in my children.
