Christina Giovannelli Caputo - Library Services to Homeschoolers: A Guide

Christina Giovannelli-Caputo has twenty years experience in education and librarianship. A change agent recognized for dedication and advocacy for inclusive and equitable services to diverse populations, including alternative schooling methodologies within marginalized groups. Caputo conceptualized and spearheads the All Learners Welcome-At Home Learners and Home-school current initiative that has united administration, libraries and school districts to work cohesively across the nation to support diverse learners during COVID-19. She is known for increasing the professions awareness on schooling diversity, historical context of education and public libraries partnerships through; publications, presentations and professional development groups. A mom to four, she keeps busy advocating for youth everywhere.

Dominick, Rocco, Analisa, and Anthony,

Thank you for the beautiful blessing of being your first and most important teacher. The four of you are my greatest achievements.

Nick,

Per sempre, mi amore.

Momo and Nonno,

Thank you for always believing in me and the gift of my MLIS.

My colleagues,

Pat, thank you for taking the leap to programming for homeschoolers with me. Beloved Tina, thank you for seeing a need in the homeschooling community to serve. Kary, thank you for advocating with me. Bill, thank you for engaging the homeschooling community and always showing up (DSP). Kathy, thank you for paving the way for all of us who came after. RoseMary, thank you for the countless hours of editing and guidance.

The librarians,

Thank you for being an inspiration to me and others for serving the home-school communities.

The library is a cornerstone to the educational community, and public libraries must foster and build relationships with at-home learners. The educational landscape is in transition. While the historical context of education will remain unchanged, the future of schooling continues to evolve. Schooling diversity has been growing quietly for years.

Early American history has laid the groundwork for todays educational systemthe origin of home educationteaching and learning dates to the beginning of time. The first child born to the first parents was home educated. The parents taught the child because there was no formalized educational system established.

The education model that is widely practiced and familiar to many, is merely one hundred years old (as of 2021). Home education is far older! Ever heard of the saying, Parents are a childs first teacher? The public domain document Helping Your Child Succeed in School by the US Department of Education references the quote by stating, As our childrens first and most important teacher, it is important that all parents build and keep strong ties to our childrens schools. When parents and families are involved in their childrens schools, the children do better and have better feelings about going to school. Essentially, the interpretation of thisthat it is beneficial and essential to have parents and caregivers involved in the learners schoolingincludes but is not limited to the learners first teacher. Education begins in the home. As psychologist Alice Sterling Honig said, Family is the first school for young children. And parents are powerful models.

Librarians have long supported the parent-as-the-first-teacher philosophy. In 2004, Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) was developed. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA) determined that public and community libraries influence and significantly impact early learning. The library supports early literacy in story times, programs for the young child, and parental support. If the primary adults in a childs life can learn more about the importance of early literacy and how to nurture pre-reading skills at home, the effect of library efforts can be multiplied many times. There is a natural fit for librarians and libraries to support families and early literacies, which acknowledges caregivers as a young childs most significant influence and teacher. In the olden days, a parent was the teacher, and the teacher was the parent. Mother, father, and extended family taught the child/ren.

Formalized mass and common schooling are a new concept in the history of the Americas, and the following is research on home and formalized education. Interestingly, much of the research and writings on the American history of education begins in the 17th century. While settlers migrated to the new land and the first school buildings were erected during the same time, education spans far beyond. The following research aims to establish and compile a historical context for home education and the newer common and mass education.

The exact date of civilization in the Americas is unknown. A recent discovery followed by research from the Chiquihuite Cave in Mexicos northwest region provides evidence that humans may have inhabited the Americas earlier than believed. Stone objects were discovered deep inside the barren and remote Chiquihuite Cave, suggesting human occupancy and rewriting the Americas history. A study published by the journal Nature suggests human life in North America about 30,000 years ago. This research has not been written to spark a debate or undermine experts but merely to establish that home education has been occurring in previous and ancient generations for thousands of years.

Researchers have found evidence dating thousands of years ago of human life before the colonization of the Americas. To begin a population and grow to generations, naturally, there was procreation. We are not sure exactly how children learned or if there is detailed proof of proper schooling; it is assumed that the elders taught the youth. Evidence of a hunter and gatherer community emerged around 11,000 BP (before present) that learned to hunt and gather from someone or something.

As time went on and people, families, and communities evolved, there was more formal schooling. While this chapter focuses on the Americas home education history, there was teaching and learning happening in populations globally. The ancient Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, a written language, and developed a form of literacy, to name one. While in these ancient civilizations there were no school buildings per se, ancient adolescents learned through parents, scholars, and priests. During this same era, the first library in the world was developedthe Library of Alexandria. With the advancement and development of the first library, there was a way to record knowledge and expand learning. Native American academic and activist Dr. Henrietta Whiteman-Mann said, Contrary to popular belief, educationthe transmission and acquisition of knowledge and skillsdid not come to the North American continent on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. We Native Americans have educated our youth through a rich and oral tradition.

However, teaching and learning was an oral custom to the native peoples who inhabited the Americas. Historians and researchers have estimated the population of indigenous Americans in America north of Mexico before 1492, and the estimations greatly vary. William M. Denevan writes that the discovery of America was followed by possibly the greatest demographic disaster in the history of the world. Research by some scholars provides population estimates of the pre-contact Americas as high as 112 million in 1492, while others estimate the population to have been as low as 8 million. Nevertheless, the native population declined to less than 6 million by 1650.