Homeschooling Resources
Park Ridge Public Library has available resources in a variety of formats to help families who are homeschooling.
Materials to Check Out
Beyond our fiction and nonfiction books available for literacy and research, the following materials may be of interest for homeschooling families.
Audiobooks: Recognizing some children are better auditory learners, fiction and nonfiction books are available in a number of formats, including books on CDs, Playaways (mini-audio player) and Readalongs (picture books and early readers with built-in audio players).
Decodable and Phonics Books: Early literacy books for children learning to read.
Kits: A variety of kits to support early literacy and interests. Kits are limited to PRPL cardholders.
- Music Kits: Musical instruments, books and activities to support early literacy.
- Theme Kits: Books on selected themes packaged to reinforce concepts with early learners or support learning subjects for elementary-age kids.
- STEAM Kits: Kits exploring a variety of science, technology, engineering, arts and math topics with activities, games and books at a variety of learning levels, from early learners to older children.
Videos: DVDs covering a range of nonfiction subjects.
World Book Encyclopedia: 22 volumes available to check out. Highly illustrated, A-Z general encyclopedia for all ages with research aids and a student guide to better writing, speaking, and research skills.
World Language Books: Dictionaries as well as fiction and nonfiction books in a number of languages to learn and help develop fluency in a language.
Studying a specific topic and need materials appropriate for your child’s reading level? Complete a materials request form and our staff can pull materials for you to review and check out. We can also help place holds for materials from other libraries if they’re not in our collection.
Online Resources
Visit our Kids Databases page to use these online databases and services (except ABC Mouse). Online database use is limited to Park Ridge Public Library cardholders.
General Research Databases
- Biography Reference Source: More than 390,000 biographies. Includes complete full-text run of Biography Today and Biography Magazine, as well as thousands of narrative biographies.
- Gale eBooks: A collection of children’s Gale Reference books online, covering topics such as General Reference, Arts, Health, History, Literature, Religion, Science, and Social Science.
- World Book for Kids: Engaging content, features, and tools developed especially for young students.
- World Book Student: Content to meet the research needs of elementary and middle-school aged students with thousands of articles and multimedia.
Language and Literature
- LOTE4Kids: An online database of digital books in over 75 languages that allows kids to enjoy the magic of books in Languages Other Than English (LOTE).
- Novelist K-8 Plus: Search through over 100,000 fiction titles to find books to read, and find book reviews, book discussion questions, and facts about the authors.
Curriculum & Enrichment
- ABC Mouse: Available only while in the Library, this learning activity contains printables in areas such as reading, math, geography, art and music. Activity sheets include alphabet coloring sheets, word searches, crosswords, and writing and spelling activities. Some activities are available in Spanish.
- Teachables: Resources for every subject such as lesson plans, mini-books and activity sheets for instruction and enrichment from Pre-K to 6th grade.
Community Homeschooling Resources
Learn more about homeschooling resources or curriculum standards in our community or connect with other homeschooling families in the area.
- Illinois State Board of Education Homeschooling: Information on registration, requirements, resources, and more.
- Illinois State Board of Education Standards: Expectations for what all students should know and be able to do in each subject at each grade.
- District 64 Curriculum: Curriculum overview at Park Ridge public schools to promote achievement of the Illinois Learning Standards with a link to learning objectives at each grade level.
- Local Homeschooling Groups: Local groups suggested by patrons who homeschool. The Library is providing these groups for access and does not endorse these groups.
