The Learning Center provides weekly classes (on Wednesdays) to supplement your home curriculum, brings classes that you already attend into one place, has activities and classes for the entire family (ages 3 to high school), and strives to create a community of learners and homeschool moms.
We have about 550 students and dozens of moms: it’s a wonderful way to meet a lot of people. It also allows you to chat with other moms on a weekly basis and to get the information and support that you need, although you are also welcome to drop your kids off. We want to serve your needs. You can find a list of our classes here.
GENERAL NOTES ON HOMESCHOOLING
You can find an excellent introduction to homeschooling here.
Choosing which curriculum to use is one of the most daunting decisions for homeschoolers. There are several places online that give you a good overview, including this one from the Home School Legal Defense Association.
You can find free online curriculum at http://www.ck12.org
There is also a free virtual K-8 school run by Omaha Public School. Students work independently meet in a classroom but get their curriculum online. You can find more information about them at http://www.omahavirtualschool.org/
Homeschool students who are 16 years or older can also take very inexpensive classes at Metro Community College. These classes can count for both high school and college credit.
There are many homeschool groups in our area, but the biggest is the Nebraska Homeschool. It has no meetings, but rather provides information to its members. You can find them at http://www.nebraskahomeschool.org/
There are several dynamic Facebook groups
https://www.facebook.com/groups/369609251802/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/369609251802/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1660134470898833/
The largest Nebraska homeschool conference is held in Lincoln in April. You can find more about them at http://www.nchea.org/2018-why-attend/
Two more modest homeschool conferences are held in the summer in Omaha. You can find out information about the Nebraska Homeschool conference at their website, http://www.nebraskahomeschool.org/
For the Catholic homeschool conference, contact Regina Heywood at heywoods4life@gmail.com,
We have some large support groups and many smaller ones. Most groups have meetings, various activities, and some have classes. You can find a good list of some of those groups here.
To get emails about homeschool events, send an email to hsetree@gmail.com. You don’t have to belong to any group to receive these.
Homeschool Teen Serve is an organization of homeschooled teens committed to volunteer service projects benefitting local communities, which kids love and really provides an excellent opportunity to get to meet other teens. It provides the life-changing opportunity to introduce junior and senior high teens to the joy of serving while opening their eyes to the needs of others in their community. There is a chapter in Omaha and Bellevue. Students must be currently enrolled in a home school and must be either in the 7th grade or turning 13 during the upcoming school year or older. You can find more about them at http://www.homeschoolteenserve.org/faqs-what-you-may-want-to-know/
If you are active-duty military or in the guard, you may want to take advantage of all of the services offered by Offutt’s School Liaison Office, 402-294-4329.
The Nebraska State Education Department refers to homeschools as “exempt schools.” You can download state documents at https://www.education.ne.gov/fos/orgservices/exemptschools/Index.html
If you have problems, you can call either of the following people and they will send you the documents that you need:
Beth Bolte: (402) 471-2795 or beth.bolte@nebraska.gov
Micki Iverson: (402) 471-1894 or micki.iverson@nebraska.gov
Here’s the Department of Education website.
http://www.education.ne.gov/FOS/OrgServices/ExemptSchools/index.html
You may also want to look at their FAQs
https://www.education.ne.gov/FOS/OrgServices/ExemptSchools/Downloads/1617/FAQs.pdf
HSLDA (The Home School Legal Defense Association) always does a stellar job presenting information, although their overall approach is a bit restrictive for my taste. http://www.hslda.org/earlyyears/StartHere.asp
We hope we get a chance to meet you and your family!
Jack and Holly Donnelly
402-541-4829
omahahomeschool@gmail.com