We have a large homeschooling group in our community. I have done special programs for them : nature journaling/poetry workshops, paper sculpture
workshops, book discussion groups, story times. I think you may find that your parents homeschool for all kinds of reasons. Religious, discontent with local schools, wanting to spend more time with (especially younger) children................... Because of that, they often are not a coalesced group to work with. I have also tried to collect materials that parents can use for their schooling. We have a Spanish program on tape, math books, theme books, etc. I'm very fond of most of the children; they are often younger, sweeter, and more interested/ing than their counterparts in the public schools.
Once a month we invite our homeschooling families to an early edition of our afterschool storytime for K-2 children. We sort of cater the theme that week to one that appeals to our local homeschooling families. This type of theme is usually along the lines of Ancient Eygpt or something with a science twist. We also reserve a time slot in our daycare programming that allows homeschooling families to drop in at that time. These have been a big success because the moms and dads like to get together and discuss issues they have in common, check out a TON of books, and allow the children to be exposed to some really awesome literature!
We are able to do a lot of personal invitations to each family because we invite our homeschooling population to sign up for our Connections electronic newsletter. The newsletter promotes library materials and services. It also usually highlights some local news item regarding homeschooling, a list of support groups, online resources, etc. that cater to the homeschooling population. The trick is getting to know the support group leaders. They really get the word out about what the library can do for them and the special events.
The librarian that puts together the newsletter acts as a point of contact to field collection requests, conduct library skills trainings, and general tours for these groups!
For our homeschool patrons we have the following:
A quarterly newsletter which includes upcoming (4 months) kid, teen, and family programming, book lists for kids and teens, websites and some fillers like puzzles, fun facts etc... Usually the newsletter follows a theme but not always. We also have 2 fun programs. In the winter we have ice cream social and old fashioned games (jump rope, hopscotch etc...) and in the fall we have a craft day. In the spring we have an education fair. Mostly we set up tables for people to sell used curriculum but we also usually have support groups, sports groups, music teachers, tutors, and Usborne Books. We have also put all of our homeschool materials in one place. Handouts such as state law, local support groups, local testers/evaluators and extra newsletters. We have also put together a notebook full of information useful to Homeschoolers.
We have created a bibliography of library resources that parents may find useful when schooling their children. We have also just created a homeschoolers book club by popular demand. Our first session is next week, but we already have a decent list of kids who have registered.
We have had a homeschool group meet here once a month for almost 2 years now. We have been having about 25 (parents and children together) attend each month. We have a program for them on the second Friday of each month during the school year, from 1-2 p.m. The time & date were suggested by a homeschooling mom who uses our library a lot. Most of the time lately we have had special speakers--a firefighter, a detective, a dentist, a chiropractor, a banker, and this month it will be a veterinarian. They also like to do a craft day once or twice a year, making rubber-stamped projects; and they like to have a board game/socialization time once a year or so. While we do not have a special collection for them, we do have a "parent-teacher collection" and are happy to purchase any materials they request for this. We find they prefer to purchase their own curricular items. Your community may be different. I think the important thing is to ask them what they want, and then listen and respond accordingly--not to just blindly plan programs a librarian thinks would be beneficial for them.
We've tried and still need to do more. Last winter a h.s. mom suggested that we do something more. As a start she suggested that we have a meeting with local families to assess what might be desirable (& doable). Our meeting had to be cancelled due to low registration, but according to this lady other libraries have done so with more success. Each May we reserve a display case for homeschoolers to display one or two projects. The participation varies from year to year.
At my library, we do programs for homeschoolers if they ask for them. We do make sure that they can guarantee us a certain number of attendees, as we don't have the staff to do a program for just one family. We also allow homeschooling parents to apply for the same library card we provide to teachers, so they get the same privileges as teachers do (staff will pull collections upon request, longer checkout periods, more fine forgiveness, etc). We also have a section of our website that addresses local homeschoolers and their needs, http://lanepl.org/educators/homeschool.htm.
I do a monthly creative writing group for kids 8 and up and a monthly book discussion where we focus on our state's children's choice award (Golden Sower) nominees.
One of the things I have done is to attend their conferences - Minnesota Association of Christian Homeschoolers has an annual conference. They floated the idea of a column in their newsletter that I could provide for them. (This never materialized, but was suggested.)
I have a twice a month homeschool program. This year one session is our "K.I.D.Z. Club" (a different topic each month geared for grades 1-5) and the Art out of the Box from the Kentucky Museum of Art. See website: http://www.kentuckycrafts.org/education%202/traveling%20suitcases.htm The kidz club is a box on a topic that different library branches share, so we each only have to put together one topic. The art boxes are great, but it's tough to know what is in each before you get it. They cost $30 to get, which I think is cheap. Our topics for kidz club this year is Storm the Castle, Don't Let the Pigeon Read the Books (Mo Williems books), What's Cookin'?, How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head and other Fantastical Tales by Bill Peet, Udderly Good Fun!, Chocolicious!, and P. U. What Stinks? They run from Sept. to April, and we skip Dec. I'll attach the program I put together this year: P.U. What Stinks? Hope that helps, we've been doing them for 5 or 6 years now. I have done several other types of programs from a general dog theme where I've invited a vet, a canine officer and his dog and a therapy dog and handler and we've talked to each and listened to what they had to say and asked questions. I had dog books on display and a doggie treat (puppy chow).