Library Resources

• Brainfuse HelpNow
  Provides live, online tutoring for elementary through college students in a variety of subjects, including writing and test prep.
• DBRL Early Childhood Connections
  A Facebook group dedicated to highlighting local resources and programs that provide support and resources to parents.
• DBRL’s Educational Resources Guide
  A catalog of learning tools from your library, including virtual programs, physical and digital collections, databases and free digital courses.
• LearningExpress Library
  Provides test preparation materials for elementary through adult level, as well as math, reading comprehension and writing courses.
• Universal Class
  Offers online continuing education courses taught by real instructors in subjects like language arts, math, science and history. (Must create a username and password to access.)
• Homework Help Databases
  A list of our best subscription resources to help with schoolwork on subjects ranging from history and literature to science and math. Just use your DBRL library card to gain access.

State and Local Resources

Associations, Groups and Homeschooling Information

• Columbia Homeschooling Resource Group
  CHRG is an organization for mid-Missouri homeschoolers offering supplemental educational and social activities.
• Jefferson City Home Educators (JCHE)
  A Christian-based group offering support, activities and homeschooling information for mid-Missouri families.
• Jefferson City Secular Homeschooling Group (JCSHG)
  An “inclusive, secular group” providing support for homeschooling families.
• Mid-Missouri Co-op of Home Educators
• A2Z Homeschooling – Missouri
  A listing of associations, events, publications, etc. centered in Missouri.
• Families for Home Education
  Represents and lobbies for home educators in Missouri.

Curriculum Support and Classes

• Columbia Area Career Center
  Offers many classes for high schoolers, some of which can be taken for credit.
• Heritage Academy
  University-model school offering K-12 classes, designed to supplement homeschooling.
• Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative
  List of digitized collections specific to our state, as well as educational programs and curricula.
• Missouri Course Access Program (MOCAP)
  MOCAP offers online courses for K – 12 students statewide.

Things to Do

• Enns Entomology Museum
  Located at the University of Missouri, this museum holds approximately 6 million specimens of insects, arachnids, and fossils.
• Leisure Times
  Online edition of Parks and Recreation’s activity guide, listing recreational classes and activities available for all ages.
• Museum of Art and Archaeology
  This museum frequently has special exhibitions, offers many options for tours, and has a number of education materials on its website.
• National History Day in Missouri
  A yearlong educational competition that provides opportunity for young people grades 6 – 12 to explore history and present their findings in a range of formats.
• TRYPS (Theater Reaching Young People and Schools)
  Community children’s theater company with a year-round production season.

National Resources

Associations, Groups and Homeschooling Information

• Finding Dulcinea: Homeschooling Web Guide
  Offers resources covering different kinds of home-based schooling, legal aspects, teaching and test-prep resources, online homeschool communities and news.
• Home School Legal Defense Association
  Nonprofit home school advocacy organization providing legal information, including a summary analysis of the homeschooling law in Missouri. While many resources are free, legal advice, courses and some other tools are limited to paying members.
• New York Times “Times Topics”: Home Schooling
  Current news about home schooling, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
• National Home Education Research Institute
  NHERI conducts research and collects and analyzes statistics, facts and findings about home-based education.

Curriculum Support

• American Library Association Book Lists – Children
• American Library Association Book Lists – Young Adults
• Coursera
  Offers free online courses from partner universities and educational organizations on topics spanning the humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, and many others. Many courses are suitable for high school students.
• Database of Award-Winning Children’s Literature
  Use this fully-searchable database to create a tailored reading list of quality children’s literature or to find out if a book has won one of the indexed awards.
• Enchanted Learning
  Curriculum support items, including coloring pages, unit studies, science fair projects and more. Click free sample pages for resources available to non-members.
• iCivics: The Democracy Lab
  Georgetown Law’s web-based education project uses games and simulations to teach civics to students. Includes curriculum units for teachers.
• Khan Academy
  A free online collection of over 2,800 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, etc. for all ages.
• Library of Congress Digital Collections
  Provides free and open access to written and spoken word, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
• The World Factbook
  From the CIA, information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues for 266 world entities.