Library Scavenger Hunt Experiment

Hello and Welcome!

Want to hear something interesting? I had did this post already, but somehow, when I switched phones, my post's body got totally deleted. 😲 I went to check on it and realized it wasn't there!

So I'll be trying to rewrite this one from memory. Anyway, every so often, we go to the library and get books and videos that pertain to our curriculum at that time. Last time, I just picked out all the materials online and had them (the library staff) pull the books and have them waiting for us. The kids still picked out their extra books just to read for fun, but the rest was done. The results were that they weren't into reading the stuff Mom picked out near as much as I'd hoped. Go figure. 🤷‍♀️ This time it would be different.

I made a lanyard for each of my kids, I even let them pick the material. On each card, I wrote the subject they were looking for, and then an example book and book number, that way they could find where the books pertaining to that subject were in the library.

The directions were to find that book and get either that one, if it looked interesting, or one near it about that same topic that they liked. This got them involved and taught them about the classification system in the library. I was expecting them to get far less books than the previous time, we left with over 50 books! The librarian saw us looking around and I told her what they were up to. So she left us to our scavenger hunt and went back to her desk. After they were done finding their school books, I saw my youngest daughter walking around with a scrap of paper. I went to see what she was doing. She said I wanted a book about origami, so she ask the librarian about it. The librarian asked if she wanted her to show her where they were or did she want a book number to try to find it herself. She had said she wanted to try a find it herself! So she was proudly walking around with her book number finding her book.

Turns out this method worked way better. The more involved the kids are in their learning process the more readily they accept it as fun instead of just schoolwork.

They have read much more this time than last time, and they are having fun doing it!

A bonus is that it's "Book It" time of year, so reading is rewarded with free pizza! For those of you who don't know this, homeschooled kids can do the Book It program! Go check out their website for more info.

Well that's it for this one. The lesson we learned with this experiment was, get the kids involved with choice in their education, it pays off!