Darlington Library Homeschool Hub back in action
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
As students all around Darlington County head back to school, the Darlington Library held a refresher class for local homeschooling parents on tools available to them through the library. Liz Davis, with the library’s children’s services led the ‘tour.’
“The online catalogue is wonderful because you can actually reserve books and download free e-books and audio books through OverDrive,” Davis said. “If you download OverDrive onto your phone or your computer or your laptop, you can listen to or read books so that is a pretty amazing service; the children’s selection is great.”
Late fees are a thing of the past with children’s material, Davis said, and online books don’t need a second thought.
“The nice thing about the electronic collection is that it just disappears after two weeks and you don’t have to worry about returning it,” Davis said. “It is one less thing you have to do.”
Just as with paper books, online books are not always available immediately. However, more e-books are available than paper books so students can always find something to read while they wait.
“There is a waiting list but there is also a way to be able to sort your books to be able to see what is available now,” Davis said. “Say you wanted to read Escape from Baxter’s Barn, we have a copy of that out on the shelf. But say you wanted to try Amare Stoudemire’s S.T.A.T. about basketball. We don’t have that on the shelf so you might want to read that online; that is just one of the items that you can read online.
Patrons have the ability to use Ancestory.com at the library to do research on their family history.
“You have to be in the library to toodle around Ancestory.com but you can do your digging with the rights clues, as long as it is here in America or Canada, “ Davis said.
Though their schools might look a little different, homeschooled students still have to take tests and the library website has a tool for that.
“Learning Express is a beautiful thing because there are all types of text preparation available,” Davis said. “There are practice exams to buff up your skills and that is fourth grade all the way through high school. There is even a practice exam for the citizenship test.”
Several fun features that Davis pointed out are IndieSC, which allows readers to find local authors, and Maps, which features regular geographical maps as well as fun maps like the South Carolina BBQ Map.
Davis said that the homeschool tour was just a short introduction to what is available at the library and through the library’s website. She encouraged all the students to get online and explore all the tools at their fingertips. The Homeschool Hub meets each Wednesday at the Darlington Library at 2 p.m. Each session features a craft or other activity for children. For more information, visit www.darlington-lib.org or call 843-398-4940.
