Magento 2 Category Collection doesn't show items not in Top Menu

Question

I am trying to display certain categories along with their images on homepage. I've made sure the categories dont appear in the top menu and only in the code that I am trying to use. Below code only displays category which are in TopMenu.

Is there a way around?

<?php 
  $categoryHelper = $this->helper('Magento\Catalog\Helper\Category');
  foreach($categoryHelper->getStoreCategories() as $category): 
?>
   <li>
     <a href="<?php echo $categoryHelper->getCategoryUrl($category) ?>">
       <?php echo $category->getName() ?>
     </a>
   </li>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Answer 1

Please try this code, you can optimized it as you wish.

<?php 

$categoryHelper = $this->helper('Magento\Catalog\Helper\Category');
$objectManager =   \Magento\Framework\App\ObjectManager::getInstance();
$categoryFactory = $objectManager->create('Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Category\CollectionFactory');
$categories = $categoryFactory->create()
->addAttributeToFilter("parent_id",2)
->addAttributeToFilter("is_active",1)
->addAttributeToFilter("include_in_menu",0)
->addAttributeToSelect('*'); 

foreach($categories as $category): 
?>
    <li>
        <a href="<?php echo $categoryHelper->getCategoryUrl($category) ?>">
            <?php echo $category->getName() ?>
        </a>
    </li>
<?php endforeach; ?>