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Homeschool Resources in Wichita and around the web
Web resources
Team or Leadership Opportunities:
- Lego Robotics Club and/or team (club open to all ages -- team age 9 to 8th grade). Club meets in the Fall and Team forms in December.
- B.E.S.T. Robotics Team in August
- WAHAA- Wichita Area Homeschool Athletic Association offering opportunities for junior high and high school students interested in playing-Soccer, Baseball, Softball, Golf, Basketball, Volleyball, Track, Cheerleading
- Math Counts Team
- Science Olympiad
- Cubscouts - Chartered by most Catholic Churches
- Boyscouts - Charted by several Catholic Churches
- BSA Venturing Crew ages 14-21 (co-ed)
- Homeschool Irish dance class at Corry Academy in Andover at 10 am on Wednesdays.
Around Town Resources
- Wichita Public Library Note: The library also has themed Discovery Boxes -available for check out.
Note: Library Gold card has some benefits like free holds and extra days before late fees.
Library has Summer Reading Program and other small programs all year long.
Other University Libraries including Interlibrary loan
- Wichita Parks and Recreation Classes
- American Red Cross classes
- The Great Plains Nature Center has wonderful educational opportunities. They sponsor an excellent Summer Reading Program and an event geared to homeschoolers aka Teaching Parent Families that meets on the first Monday of each month during the school year. Go to www.gpnc.org for more info. Also, check out their Discovery Boxes for 2 weeks at a time that are full of hands on learning.
- USD 259 Parent Resource Center
die cuts, copy, laminate, paper, etc at reduced rates Also free babysitting while you create!
- USD Parents as Teachers Activities for kids 0-5 include free science, free art class, books and babes and playgroups. Click on Newsletter at the top to see current offerings.
- Newman University has held a free 8 week hands on laboratory experience for various grade levels for the past two years. In the past it was open for 6-12th grades and last year 6-10th grades. Info will be sent out through our yahoo group in the fall with more specifics.
- Wichita River Festival - many opportunities the week after Mother’s Day in May. In past years, some include free entrance to local zoo, museums and Botanica. Participation Button $5
- Central Homeschool Family Ministries (CHFM)
A Christian homeschool co-op that meets at Central Christian Church.
- The American Girl Club
- Tutus Tuus Summer Camps for Middle and High School Students.
Tutus Tuus VBS held at many Catholic Churches around town in Summer- if yours doesn’t have one call another neighboring parish to ask for how to sign your children up.
- Knitting and Crochet classes @ the Heritage Hut
- Encompass the Arts Offers classes on singing, cooking, acting art, music, etc
- Kansas Cosmoshpere & Space Center classes and camp
- Free:
- WSU Engineering Open House- May 1, 2009
- WSU Engineering Fair held in February
- Switched on Saturday free hands on science program, lunch, tshirt
- Home Depot Monthly kid workshops (google Home depot kid workshop)
- Lowes Kid Monthly Build and Grow Workshops
Homeschool Workshops and Curriculum Fairs and curriculum
- The Kansas City Conference for Catholic Homeschoolers
- Teaching Parents Association is an umbrella group for many Wichita area homeschool groups and activities. They host a variety of events and activities. Here are a few 2009 events coming up:
- Scholastic Books Book order forms are at most HFHE monthly meetings. Also Scholastic Teacher Store online has occasional Dollar sales.
- Dover Book Samples- you can subscribe to get up to four different sets of Dover samples by email
- Cathswap forum to buy and sell used items
- cathbooks@yahoogroups.com -Used catholic book yahoogroup
- Vegsource.com go to Homeschool then swapboards
- Sacredheartbooksansgifts.com Linda gives a discount and free shipping over $25
- Allcatholicbooks.com discount on most titles
Homeschool Software to Purchase
- Academic Flashcard; you can try it for free for 30 days at the following website. The program has a text to speech feature that will read out loud the text on the flashcard. This is wonderful for students who are not fluent with their reading yet. You can print out your flashcards on cardstock paper.
- Handwriting sheet generator Startwrite.com Can personalize and add pictures
- Homeschool Tracker Software for making schedules and lesson plans, grading and time logging.
Volunteer Help Needed
- Prayer at Tiller's Abortion Clinic
- Life Chain - First Sunday in October
- Kansans For Life
- Food Handlers card to work at the Lord's Diner
- To numerous to list all the opportunities for teens to volunteer
Favorite Homeschool Books
- The Catholic Homeschool Companion selected & edited by Maureen Whittmann & Rachel Mackson
- Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss
- Literature Alive! by Cay Gibson
- Teaching Tips and Techniques by Laura Berquist of Mother of Divine Grace School
- Catholic Homescholing by Mary Kay Clark of Seton Homeschooling
- Favorite Catholic Talk CDs or MP3
Many titles including Bible Studies, movies, mp3. All MidWest Catholic Family Conference talks from past years. Free to check out and borrow from St Thomas Aquinas Church Library, Wichita KS
College Credit Opportunities for High School Students
- Newman University: ISSP Free Summer Weeklong Science program, Women eXploring Mathematics and Science (WXMS) Summer Institute. Go to www.newmanu.edu then Academics then Scholar programs, Also Newman might offer Homeschool science class at reduced rate contact Dr. Leyba
- Friends University offers classes to Seniors for $45 a credit hour (not kidding!)
- Can write a letter asking for more than one class per semester or starting as Junior saying you can handle the class load. (fine arts classes not included)
- Community Colleges welcome highschool students for classes (online classes available too)
- Wichita State University has a limited # to grant a free Spring class to interest students in attending
Discounts for Showing Teacher ID
- Borders Books
- Barnes and Noble
- JoAnns fabrics and crafts
- Office Max
- Many more: doesn’t hurt to ask if they have a teacher program they will accept homeschoolers normally. If a store is having Teacher Appreciation please consider yourself included unless told otherwise. Some have breakfast, totebags with samples and coupons, etc.
Discount Museum Annual Pass to all ASTC affiliated museums in the world
Money saving tip: Buy from museum offering cheapest annual pass for family (buy individual student pass for extra kids or college students – read the admission rules of museums you want to visit before purchasing for the year to determine how many to buy. We buy ours from Anniston Alabama www.annistonmuseum.org for $35 and each additional student is $10 or individual is $25. Exploration Place is a member and will accept the family passes (2 adults and children under 18).
http://www.astc.org/ Go down on left to ASTC Passport - then download list of museums included.
Local Homeschool website that keeps updated list of area offerings:
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