🇺🇸 LIBRARY LESSONS: The 118th Congress at the Library of Congress

The 118th U.S. Congress reconvened last week in Washington, D.C., so this is a good time to remind your homeschool students that they can find out what’s happening in Congress on any day of the week from a very special library — our national library — the Library of Congress itself:

• ➢ Congress.gov from the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world and its holdings encompass all of human endeavor, but its first purpose has always been to serve the legislative needs of the United States Congress. At the Library’s Congress.gov website you can find the daily schedule of sessions, meetings, committees, and conferences; you can read the bills that have been introduced, passed, and rejected; you can look up your own senators and representatives and find out what their voting records are; you can even watch congressional debates live as they happen, without the attendant spin and sensationalism of the media.

One special section of Congress.gov is “The Constitution Annotated,” a major reference site with the current text of the U.S. Constitution and plainly written explanations of how its many provisions have been interpreted over the years:

• ➢ The Constitution Annotated (congress.gov)

Why not make it a homeschool project this year to follow a particular bill through Congress, or follow the meetings of a particular committee, or the votes of a particular senator or representative. Helping the Congress do its work, and helping We the People keep an eye on that work, is one of the main functions of the Library of Congress — a library every good homescholar should know.

What educational discoveries have you and your students been making in your favorite library this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ Dukedoms large enough: Have you found all the local libraries in your area? There may be more than you realize, and there’s no better homeschool field trip than a field trip to a new library! The WorldCat Library Finder will help you find all the library collections near you — public and private, large and small — and the WorldCat catalog itself will help you locate the closest copy of almost any book in the world. 📖

❡ Books in the running brooks: The sidebar on the River Houses website has links to several wonderful online library collections that we like to explore. Why not sit yourself down at a large screen for a while (rather than a phone) and give them a browse. 🖥

❡ When in doubt, go to the library: This is one of our regular Homeschool Books & Libraries posts. Add your name to our weekly mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 📫

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

❡ Support our work: If you enjoy our educational materials, please support us by starting your regular Amazon shopping from our very own homeschool teaching supplies page. When you click through from our page, any purchase you make earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping us to keep going and growing! 🛒

❡ Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groups — local chapters that we call “Houses.” Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page. 🏡