Extracurricular Clubs
American Heritage Girls Club a Christ-centered, non-profit scouting organization, offering a wholesome scouting program for girls, ages 5 to 18. American Heritage Girls' vision is to be the premier National Scouting Organization for young women that encourages family involvement and embraces Christian values. Their website describes how to charter your own troop. There are currently 2 troops within our Portland metro area, one in Newberg and one in Portland. For more information about these local troops, contact Tammy Schwartz, Newberg's AHG Troop 541 Chairperson at tammy@whdl.com (Newberg) or Deb Underwood the Eastside group leader at (503) 863-4458 (Portland).
Chess Vision was formed with the purpose of providing kids the chance to have fun, learn and play chess. With a focus on keeping the game fun for kids while teaching them important lessons they can use in other areas of life such as sportsmanship, problem solving, critical thinking, concentration, patience, and other skills. Clubs are found at various locations in the Portland metro, please go to their website for more information or email them at Info@chessvision.net or call Tony at (503) 880-0581 (Various Locations)
Christian Communicators Northwest was founded for Christian homeschooling families in Oregon and Washington who are looking for a team policy debate organization that endorses and practices a highly structured debate protocol but which remains responsive to the needs of participating families. CCNW provides a shorter debate year, more structured debate focused on the substance of the topic at hand and quality of argumentation, and greater local control for Northwest families. CCNW currently has 4 established clubs located in Salem, McMinnville, Corvallis, and Port Angeles (Washington), which are open to new debaters, and is also eager to mentor those interested in forming a debate club within the region area. For more information see the linked website or contact salemdebate@juno.com (Varioius Club Locations...or start your own!)
Cub Scout Pack 49 (NE Portland) This is a Christian Homeschooling Cub Scout Pack and views Cub Scouts as a wonderful tool to help teach our boys godly character and bring them along toward godly manhood. We participate in many great educational opportunities throughout our year-round program. Den meetings are held during the school year at Calvary Presbyterian Church which is located in NE Portland at the corner of 72nd and Fremont. For more information, please contact Beki Cowling at 503-788-3344 or email her at tbjcowling@hotmail.com. (NE Portland)
Cub Scout Homeschool Pack (Tualatin) Our boys participate in several fun activities each year, including a pinewood derby, family/weekend/ day camps, and attendance at local sporting events. Regular den meetings are held alternating Sunday nights in Tualatin, with one monthly Monday pack meeting in River Grove. The majority of our dens are comprised completely of homeschoolers. It is a great way to build friendships with other homeschooled boys. For more information, please contact Virginia Lenneville at virginia@vjbooks.com. (Tualatin)
FIRST LegoRobotics and FIRST Tech Clubs The goal of FIRST is to introduce the field of engineering to school-aged children through age-specific leagues: Junior Lego League ages 6-9; the First LegoRobotics League (FLL) ages 9-14; First Tech League (FTC) ages 14-18. Essentially each team builds a robot using a program kit that performs required manuevers in the "challenge" for their level. Teams can be formed within a family, group of friends, homeschool support group, or neighborhood. Team registration begins around May and goes until September (but register early as kits are limited). The current year's challenge is posted by mid-September. Local tournaments generally begin in December for FLL and February/March for FTC. Successful teams progress to state, national, and international events. Free coaching workshops are provided by Oregon's regional group (ORTOP). Note: there is a substantial money outlay for a new start up team (around $600 for FLL, around $1400 for FTC, plus registration fees). Some kit scholarships have been available. Go to the ORTOP website to find established teams who may be looking for participants, or start your own! (Various Club Locations)
NEW! Junior Audubon Club The Audubon Society of Portland provides a club for children 3rd grade and above. Each month club members are assigned one of three types of activities: Home-based (creative projects using home materials), library-based (in-depth research on a species), or field-based (focused field trip with family or friends). There are also several all-club parties or activities each year. This program is free for all members. If you would like to join the new Junior Audubon Club, contact Ian Abraham at 503.292.6855 x127, email him at iabraham@audubonportland.org (West Portland)
National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) is a national speech and debate league for home schooled students. The league has provided a venue for home school students across the nation to develop and exercise their communication skills in a Christ-centered environment for over 12 years by encouraging competition in both competitive speech and debate events at the local level, and by helping to facilitate tournaments at the Regional and National level. If you are interested in learning more about the NCFCA or specific events, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page on the NCFCA website. http://www.ncfca.org/new For more information about clubs locally, or if you have questions about starting your own speech and debate club, please contact the NCFCA Regional Contacts -- Oregon State Representative
Gay Haugen at cghaugen@gmail.com or the Washington State Representative
Joanne Nye at WA_StateRep@NCFCA.org (Various Club Locations)
Village Home Education Center provides a number of different club/extracurricular opportunities, from LegoRobotics Clubs, Scripts Spelling Bees, Geography Bees, Chess Clubs, etc. Village Home is a secular, co-operative/private school hybrid with classes and activities for its members and some classes and activities for the general homeschool community. Classes located in (Beaverton and NE Portland)
Washington County 4H Program Many homeschoolers have enjoyed participating in or creating their own 4H clubs. There are a lot of activity areas to choose from including: speech presentation, lego robotics, computer, rocketry, gardening, animal sciences, cooking, sewing and fiber crafts, photography, arts, nature sciences and more. Participants have the opportunity to display their work at the county fair in Hillsboro (generally in July) and county winners are eligible for competing in the state fair in Salem (generally early September). Becoming a leader is easy, and your family and friends can be a club (there's no minimum limit). Cost is minimal (currently $10 per year per participant). Many activity areas have good support materials (some much better than others). Programs are available for grades k-12. Contact the Extension agent to locate an established club, or start your own. (Various Clubs in Washington County)
Westside Homeschool Chess Odyssey Club Westside Homeschool Chess is led by Chess Odyssey's founder, Chessmaster Pete Prochaska. Pete is a fixture in Oregon scholastic chess. He is a professional chess coach with more than 35 years' experience in helping young chessplayers play better chess and enjoy the game more in the process. WHCC's highly effective teaching/training program has been developed as a blend of this experience and Pete's twin passions for chess and kids. All levels of players are welcome. Many of the strongest players to graduate from the WHCC program started out as total novices. Both serious and casual player are welcome. Currently the club meets from 12:00-1:30 on Thursday afternoons at Evergreen Presbyterian Church (NW corner of the Hart Rd./Hall Blvd. intersection in Beaverton). To register or for more info, please contact Chess Odyssey President Pete Prochaska at 503-504-5756 or visit us on the web. Note: Homeschoolers may also join most of our other ongoing Chess Odyssey programs at schools in the greater Portland area. (Beaverton)