Every year, the library completes a report for the State Library to receive funding. Depending on the year, there are different documents that need to be provided.

Sometimes that includes policies, a strategic plan, or a community analysis and needs assessment. One of the questions in this assessment was how many homeschooling families are in your community. According to the New Mexico Public Education Department, there were 398 families that homeschooled last school year in Eddy County. This number does not count any families that are new and will be homeschooling their children this upcoming school year. This number is a drop from years past. During the pandemic, the state had some of its highest numbers. Even if you aren’t a homeschooler, we have resources you can use at home.

We have many resources and ways to help current homeschooling families and new families looking into starting the journey. But we want to make sure we are meeting your needs. To best serve you, we want to know what your unique needs are. We have always been a tool for home education with books and sources to assist in teaching.

But we want to do more to serve this community. We are looking to build outreach services to build relationships and to better get to know the homeschool families in our community. We have thought about hosting various opportunities for the homeschooled population. A homeschool playdate with coffee and cookies, a homeschool hangout program with activities, or a STEM activity and socialization time during the traditional school day. We want to ensure our services are meeting your needs and help support you in your home educating.

Are you new to the State of New Mexico? There are no federal laws that oversee homeschooling, and regulations vary from state to state. Each state has home education regulations which can be found at the Homeschool Legal Defense website: https://hslda.org/legal/new-mexico. Also make sure to check out the New Mexico Public Education Department website that has great information and requirements to home school: https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/bureaus/options-parents-families/home-schools/.

Do you need a proctor? Sometimes a proctor is needed for students in non-traditional settings. We offer a free exam proctoring service to students in our community. This is for both written and online exams. All you need to do is request proctoring services before an exanimation. Once your school approves us a proctoring site, we can get you set up for the services. We ask that you schedule an exam three days in advance by appointment. We cannot offer the service on the same day.

We offer many educational databases that can support homeschool or in addition to classroom learning. Make sure to stop by the library to learn more about our resources. We would love to know more about how we can support you and your family’s home education. Part of the library’s mission is to support lifelong learning and we truly believe that begins in the home. You can stop by the children’s department and talk to library staff about your homeschooling journey, needs, and resources you are looking for.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Public library a resource for homeschoolers in Carlsbad