Support
Often the key to whether a family can successfully homeschool is the type of support they receive. Unfortunately, we don't always receive encouragement from our family or community. Connecting with other homeschoolers is the best way to make new friends, and to get information, ideas, and support. We've compiled support group resources and offer simple ways to connect with other homeschoolers through email groups, website forums, and in your community. You'll also find information on local and state events, cultural and educational institutions, field trip ideas, tutors, bookstores, and much, much more.
Support Groups
Homeschoolers have created networks of support to provide a way to make friends, get ideas and information, and to offer positive socialization opportunties to their children. You can join in! There are many groups to choose from, many with specific affiliations, like Christian groups or unschoolers' groups. Some are eclectic, inclusive, and open to anyone. Whatever your interest, you are sure to find other like-minded parents. And if you don't find what you are looking for, we've put together tips for starting your own group.
Humor
We all could use a little chuckle every once in a while--especially on those days when things seem a bit bleak and challenging. Enjoy some humor from the home front.
Events
You'll find everything from homeschooling conventions to used book sales to camps for homeschoolers. Read about local and state events and submit your event for posting.
Local & State Resources
Homeschoolers learn as much outside the home as in it. Here you'll find listings of cultural and educational institutions, government resources, libraries, and bookstores. If you need a tutor, this is the best place for you to find one near you.
Publications
Want to learn more about homeschooling? Need a monthly or weekly boost of enthusiasm and ideas? You may be interested in a subscription of a homeschool publication. Whether you are looking for a hard copy magazine or an e-newsletter, we've got the best listed here.
What's Popular
Gallery of Contemporary Art
Featuring a selection of contemporary art, the Gallery is located at and operated by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Pearl Lake State Park
Pearls are a gift of nature and Pearl Lake State Park is just that. Just a few miles off the road, it feels like an escape into the backcountry of Colorado. Nestled in the mountains north of Steamboat Springs, this peaceful park sits in a quiet lakeside setting. Overlooking Farwell Mountain, visitors camp along the shoreline and on a ridge with amazing views. There’s excellent fly and lure fishing for native cutthroat trout. A trail takes visitors along the shoreline and leads them deep into the...
Springs Homeschool
This group is for all homeschoolers in the Colorado Springs area.
The Colorado Cyber School
Colorado Cyber, is a statewide K-12 cyber school program that is offered by Douglas County School District to any student who resides in Colorado. Colorado Cyber uses Lincoln Interactive and Aventa, two of the nation’s leading online curriculum used by thousands of students across the country, which is a high-tech, high-touch comprehensive learning package that offers flexible, dynamic and adventurous learning opportunities for students.
Ouray County Museum
Explore the history of Ouray County with special and permanent exhibits, including a look at the mining history of the area. The museum is located in Ouray.
Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys
The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys' mission is to provide educational and cultural services to the greater Rocky Mountain region through the preservation, exhibition, collection and interpretation of the visual arts using miniatures, dolls and toys.
Desiderata School
Desiderata School offers homeschool support and distance learning for all grades K through 12. Using Desiderata as your umbrella school offers you the opportunity to homeschool your students while easily meeting the State of Colorado's compulsory attendance and records requirements. You have the freedom to choose your own curriculum and learning schedules, while they maintain your school records and files. Desiderata also offers accredited transcripts and diplomas. Desiderata firmly believe that...
Estes Park Area Historical Museum
The Estes Park Museum, in Estes Park, Colorado, was founded by volunteers in 1962. As a department of the Town of Estes Park, its purpose is to collect, preserve, interpret and exhibit local history for visitors and residents.
State Forest State Park
The ultimate in rugged Colorado, State Forest State Park offers visitors 71,000 acres of forest, jagged peaks, alpine lakes, wildlife and miles of trails. The park stretches along the west side of the Medicine Bow Mountains and into the north end of the Never Summer Range. Moose is our claim to fame. North Park is considered the moose viewing capital of Colorado, with over 600 moose to be observed year-round. The State Forest State Park has something for everyone in every season. With so much...
McAllister House Museum
Tour one of the oldest homes in Colorado Springs with knowledgeable guides and staff who recreate the atmosphere of the early history of the family and city, making the house and its occupants live again. Restored to its original Victorian elegance by the National Society of Colonial Dames.
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum is Colorado's official air and space museum. Located in the former Lowry AFB on the east side of Denver, it is housed in the 40,000 sq. ft. World War II-era Hangar No. 1. The collection includes over three dozen aircraft and space vehicles, scale models, technology exhibits, and one of the original full scale X-Wing Fighter mock-ups used in the filming of the first Star Wars movie.
Denver Northwest Homeschool Community (DNHC)
The DNHC (Denver Northwest Homeschool Community) is an inclusive, non-religiously oriented group of home-educating families. They depend on the participation and contributions of all members. Most members live in the north and west area of metro Denver, Colorado, but activities may take place all over town.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
A beautiful mountain valley just west of Pikes Peak holds spectacular remnants of the earth's prehistoric life. Huge petrified redwoods and incredibly detailed fossils of ancient insects and plants reveal a very different Colorado of long ago. Almost 35 million years ago, enormous volcanic eruptions buried the then-lush valley and petrified the redwood trees that grew there. A lake formed in the valley and the fine-grained sediments at its bottom became the final resting-place for thousands of i...
Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed
A fun satire from The Onion looking at the increasing number of American parents who are choosing to have their children raised at school rather than at home.
Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum
Visit on your own or schedule a tour to learn about Colorado geology. Tours go outdoors to look at local geology, then indoors to learn about rocks, minerals, and fossils. Tours must be scheduled in advance. Located in Golden. Admission is free.
Resources
America's Spectacular National Parks
The concept of the national park is an American contribution to world civilization, and it remains a defining characteristic of our country. From the rocky shore of Maine's Acadia to the barren crater and lush rain forest of Hawaii's Haleakala, America's national beauty is celebrated and preserved in its national parks. This book retells the history of each park, describes its most important features and wildlife, and reproduces its gorgeous scenery in full-color photographs that will enthrall armchair travelers and entice others to lace up their hiking boots and reach for their sporting gear. Organized by region of the country, it includes well-known parks like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Glacier as well as lesser-known destinations like Shenandoah, Biscayne, and Kenai Fjords.
Educational Travel on a Shoestring : Frugal Family Fun and Learning Away from Home
Educational Travel on a Shoestring shows parents how they can help their children learn–and have a blast–while traveling. From researching destinations to sharing activities that both teach and entertain, this priceless guide offers practical information for parents who want to have more fun with their kids, build closer family ties, and enjoy richer educational experiences–all without spending a fortune.
Great Lodges of the National Parks: The Companion Book to the PBS Television Series
Stand amid soaring Douglas fir in the great hall of Glacier Park Lodge or sit in the setting sun and gaze into the Grand Canyon at El Tovar. This beautiful gift book will transport you to the majestic lodges of our national parks to relive the glory of past vacations or plan adventures anew. This book and the PBS television series of the same title (to air in spring 2002) take armchair travelers into these architectural wonders and explore the surrounding natural beauty of our national parks. Lodges, wildlife, and stunning vistas are showcased in 175 full-color and black-and-white photographs, along with historical documents from the PBS series. In his introduction, Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers a call to preserve this national heritage, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book go toward the rehabilitation of these magnificent buildings.
America's National Parks: The Spectacular Forces That Shaped Our Treasured Lands
From stunning mountain ranges to arid expanses of desert, America has been blessed with an incredibly diverse land -- and the vision to protect it for our and future generations to enjoy. These lands are ours to view, wander, learn from, and revel in. America's National Parks captures all that is great about all fifty-six parks in the national park system. It also gives interesting, easy-to-understand background on the geological and ecological forces that continue to make each national park so worthy of protection.

Nature lovers will be captivated by gorgeous photos of landforms, flora, and fauna. Families will appreciate the information that is sure to enhance vacations at the parks. And visitors to any of the country's national parks will forever treasure this book as a memento of past visits and an inspiration for future ones.

Unlike any other book published on national parks, America's National Parks is a must-have for anyone who relishes America's natural wonders and wants to learn more about the powerful forces that created them.

These Rare Lands
If a picture's worth 1,000 words, this book--with its hundreds of breathtaking photos of America's National Parks--is a well-stocked bookstore. Accompanied by the words of poet laureate Mark Strand, These Rare Lands is a perfect coffee-table book for anyone who has enjoyed the wonders of nature's wildest places. From a storm over Sequoia National Park in California to the otherworldly stalactites and stalagmites of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and an Atlantic sunset in Maine's Acadia, this is a book that draws you back again and again. Photographer Stan Jorstad's obvious love of nature comes through in the thoughtful approach he takes to his life's work, contained in the pages of These Rare Lands.
America's National Parks for Dummies, Second Edition
What makes a trip to a national park so wonderful? For starters, America's national park system is more diverse than any park system in the world. You can stroll the seashore at Olympic National Park in Washington or Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, climb craggy mountains in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, or go underground into the world's largest cave system at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. You can marvel at the largest canyon on Earth (Grand Canyon National Park), hike among the planet's largest collection or rock arches (Arches National Park), explore the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere (Death Valley National Park), or wander a realm of forests and misty mountains (Great Smoky Mountains National Park).

And these are just a few of your park options.

America's National Parks For Dummies gives you guidance to decide which park is for you, when to go, and what to see when you reach your destination. This guide will help you plan the best trip imaginable, whether you are

  • An inexperienced traveler looking for guidance in determining whether to take a trip to a national park and how to plan for it
  • An experienced traveler who has yet to explore the national park system and wants expert advice when you finally get a chance to enjoy one
  • Any traveler who doesn't like big, thick travel guides that list every single hotel, restaurant, or attraction, but instead looks for a book that focuses on the places that will provide the best or most unique park experience

America's National Parks For Dummies is user-friendly and organized in a logical fashion. Each park is broken down in a chapter that delves into the nitty-gritty of trip planning and highlights, including tips for

  • Planning your trip by touching on the diversity of the park system, explaining some of your vacation options, and telling you when parks are the most (and least) crowded
  • Ironing out the details by describing how you get to the parks and how to find your way around after you arrive
  • Exploring America's national parks by giving you the lowdown on 15 of the best parks, detailing things like each park's wild kingdom, the best spots for memorable photographs, and a few safety issues

The pages of this book resemble a great long-distance hike – you never know what's around the next bend in the trail. So throw on a backpack, take a swig of water, and get ready to explore the national parks!

The National Parks of America
For tourists, family campers, and serious lovers of the outdoors, here is a big, beautiful, color-illustrated book that describes more than 50 national parks, sites, and seashores that stretch from Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Yosemite in California, Haleakala in Hawaii, and Glacier Bay in Alaska. More than 400 breathtaking photographs capture the beauty and atmosphere of each site, and 54 color maps show each park's location and major features. Visitor information panels give important details on access points, accommodations, and recreational activities such as hiking, rafting, birdwatching, and fishing. Here is a wonderful volume that will inspire plans for trips and evoke marvelous memories of past experiences in America's great outdoors.
National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States, Fourth Edition

Now in its fourth edition, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is the ultimate birder’s field guide. Sturdy, portable, and easy-to-use, it features the most complete information available on every bird species known to North America. This revised edition features 250 completely updated range maps, new plumage and species classification information, specially commissioned full-color illustrations, and a superb new index that allows birders in the field to quickly identify a species.

The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fourth Edition will continue to be a bestseller among the fastest-growing sector in the U.S. travel market—the nearly 25 million people who travel each year specifically to observe wild birds.

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Featured Resources

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Safe Young Drivers: A Guide for Parents and Teens
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Secret of Childhood
Maria Montessori describes the child with warmth and the exactness of a scientist. She also discusses the array of materials and techniques needed to release his learning potential.
Montessori: A Modern Approach
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Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families
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Montessori Method
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