Young Filmmakers Contest

Submissions Due Jan. 18, 2015

“One Earth…Our Earth!” Young Filmmakers Contest Submissions, from college age to 3rd grade, are due January 17, 2016.

Questions? Please contact Lisa Files at lisa.b.files@gmail.com.  Click here for full contest rules.

Share the Young Filmmakers Contest with Students, Teachers and Parents! Give a voice to the next generation. Introduce the Young Filmmakers Contest to creative students in your community. Click here for a .PDF to share or print.

Homeschool Spelling Bee in South Suburbs

Dear Families,
I wanted to let you know that it is time to sign up for the 4th annual Homeschool Spelling Bee! We need to sign our group up and pay in the next few weeks (SCRIPPS charges $136 per group but thankfully ComEd underwrites some of the cost). Each family cost would be $10 no matter how many students per family participate.
So . . . if you are interested in the SCRIPPS official Homeschool Spelling Bee sponsored by this group of local homeschoolers please contact me at : dcjohnson723@yahoo.com The Bee is open to students (not participating in any other Bees) in grades 1 – 8. On one afternoon we usually run one Bee with the lower level grades (K-3 or 4) and one with the higher level grades (3/4 – 8). The winner of our Bee is eligible to keep moving on to the district & regional Bees with an opportunity to head to Washington D.C. and the Nationals!! Our winners the last 3 years have enjoyed the district Bees.
The Bee will be held the second Thursday of December, Dec. 10. We will be at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights again this year. When you register with me, I will send you an email with the password info that gives access to the official website, spelling lists, rules, fun games to help with practice, etc.
If you “think” that you aren’t a good speller, THEN HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO LEARN HOW TO SPELL EVEN BETTER!! Nothing like a little friendly competition to spur each other on to greatness! Friends and family may come to cheer you on, and it is a fun afternoon together! Last year we had such a fun and encouraging crowd and it was great!!
Our group needs to be supported by enough families and signed up with fees to me by October 10th! so I will be waiting to hear from YOU!! Please feel free to pass this along to any homeschoolers in the South Suburban area who might be interested. They do need to live in Illinois 🙂
Blessings!
Cindy Johnson

HSLDA Poetry contest

Info received from HSLDA:

HSLDA's PHOTO CONTEST

How better to celebrate National Poetry Month this April than by
giving your children a creative incentive to write a poem of their own!

HSLDA’s annual spring Poetry Contest offers all homeschooled students ages 7–19 a place to have fun practicing their poetic techniques in a creative response to one of three classic poems.

Open to HSLDA members and non-members alike and offering cash prizes upwards of $200, this contest promises to be a fun, educational experience for all!


Speech and Debate Competition

Communication Festival

What: Art/Music/Forensics

Where: North Central College, Naperville, IL

When: March 25-27

Showcase your talents.Competition for all three including photography,painting,drawing, vocal,instrument,speech,debate.

Who: Grades k-12.for art and age 7-19 for forensics.

Organization Name: Lifelong communicators

Website: www.lifelongcommunicators.org
Contact Person: Diana Wolfson

Email: Lifelongcommunicators@gmail.com

HSLDA Contest

HSLDA--Celebrating 20 Years: Share Your Voice! Video Contest

Help us celebrate our 30th anniversary
and have some fun!

Throughout 2013 we will be holding several contests, each offering the chance to win some great prizes. You can enter as many of the contests as you like, and as a matter of fact, we hope you enter them all!

Contest #1: Share Your Voice! Video—Enter through February 28
Enter to win an HD GoPro® Hero3—World’s Most Versatile Camera.

Two ways to participate:

Submit a video

Step 1: Using your webcam or smartphone, film a 30-second response to the question “Why do you love homeschooling?”

Step 2: Upload it to YouTube.

Step 3: Fill out the contest entry form and paste in the link to your video.

Ready, Set, Vote!

Whether or not you submit a video, you can vote for your favorite videos every day until the contest ends (February 28 at 3 pm EST through March 14, 2013, at 2:59 am EST).

The top 16 finalists will be based on popular vote. From that group, a panel of HSLDA judges will select the Grand Prize Winner!

Get all the contest details here.

Speech and Debate Tournament

I LOVED speech and debate when I was in high school. I think the critical thinking skills and the necessity to respond in the moment are life skills that are difficult to learn elsewhere. If you would like this type of opportunity for your student, here is an opportunity to build their enthusiasm and get an inside look at a speech and debate tournament.

From Lisa Lueken the NCFCA Illinois State Representative:

Speech and Debate Tournament – University of St. Francis


On March 4-6, 2013 several hundred homeschool students will gather at the University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois, for a three day speech and debate tournament.  We need several hundred judges! Our students love to have homeschool parents as judges because you give excellent feedback!  It’s a 2 1/2 to 3-hour time commitment which includes a brief orientation, the speech or debate round and refreshments in our hospitality room.

To register go to www.ncfca.org and click on “Judges” in the upper right hand corner.  You should see a link for “Best of the Mid-West” after clicking on the state of Illinois. If you have any questions please contact Mary Vilim at mjvilim@gmail.com or (630) 466-0117.  Also, please feel free to invite a friend!  No experience is necessary.  We are training our students to talk to people of all walks of life.

If you are a homeschooler who is considering having your student participate in speech and debate at some time in the future, we encourage you to come judge at our tournament and see what we’re about.  Children who are old enough to sit still for 1 1/2 hours are welcome to come and observe.

Looks like a fantastic opportunity to jump right into this effective skill building experience.

Mathletics!

I’ll have more to say about Mathletics on another day, but we love this website and how easily it motivates kids to learn and master their basic facts. I have lots to share about it’s many great resources, but for now, you can check it out for yourself.
Coming next week Mathletics will be hosting the American Math Challenge to help drum up some enthusiasm for math. Kids enjoy competition, interacting with kids from around the world, and having the potential to win! Follow the links below to get a jump on the American Math Challenge today.
American Math Challenge: October 16 & 17th, 2012
The American Math Challenge 2012

It’s FREE and FUN, for all schools and students, K-12

REGISTRATIONS OPEN NOW

PRACTICE FOR ALL STUDENTS STARTS MONDAY OCT. 8th
FULL COMPETITION EVENT ON October 16-17th, 2012

Game On! Click for video

Schools and students across America are currently registering to compete in the 2012 American Math Challenge!

Will YOUR school or class be on this year’s Hall of Fame?

REGISTER TODAY and get your students
EXCITED! about MATH!

It’s FUN, it’s completely FREE and there are prizes to be won!

GETTING STARTED IS EASY!

1. Register your e-mail at www.americanmathchallenge.com.  We recommend using a personal email address for the fastest and easiest registration.
(You only need one registration to secure a spot for your whole school!)

2. Wait for a confirmation link via e-mail. Click this link to let us know your registration is valid.

3. You will be taken back to our site to enter all of your school information (or, for students/parents, student information.)

Once your school is registered, you will get a SCHOOL ADMIN login to upload any number of students, classes, and teachers to your Registered School Account

Parents/Students registering on their own will receive a login for use on www.americanmathchallenge.com after October 8.

Students will compete in the American Math Challenge using Mathletics, an online Math program.
They will be tackling adaptive curriculum-based math questions and competing against other real student peers in timed mental math showdowns—all for great prizes!

Questions? Email us here!

See you at the Challenge!

The American Math Challenge Team
3P Learning USA
info@americanmathchallenge.com
1.866.387.9139

Brought to you by the award-winning MATHLETICS

Essay contest

Midwest Creation Fellowship, PO Box 952, Wheaton, IL 60187  PH: 847-223-4730

Have you entered the essay contest? A couple months still to get your entries in. Take advantage of being stuck indoors by having your kids do some writing with a purpose. All the details below and at Midwest Creation Fellowship’s site.

Here’s some info to get you started (but, fyi, I think their ages are switched on their categories):

Purpose:
To encourage the development of skills in research, analysis and logical reasoning through preparing an effective presentation of a thesis in a creation-oriented paper.

Prizes: Senior High Level (Ages 11-14*)

  • $250 First Place
  • $100 Second Place
  • $75 Third Place

Junior High Level (Ages 14-18*)

  • $100 First Place
  • $50 Second Place
  • $25 Third Place

* Entrants 14 years old on April 30 may enter either Junior or Senior division

Topics: must strongly relate to the subject of creation vs. evolution, from a creationist perspective. Suggestions:

  • Why do cultures around the world…
    …have the same star constellations?
    …have very similar legends, such as a gigantic flood?
    …offer blood sacrifices to their god(s)?
  • Reasons why I believe in creation
  • Vestigial organs: a vestigial argument
  • More topic suggestions

Contest open to homeschoolers

An organization known as Creative Communication offers contests in the area of art and writing to students of various ages.

There is no fee to enter and they publish a book (which they then sell) of winning entries. This can be a fun motivator if just working toward a grade or even just to get an assignment finished is getting a little old.

From the coordinators:

We have three contests . . .  Each year we have several homeschoolers accepted in our
contests and we admire their impressive work.  The following is
information on each contest, if you have any questions please feel
free to contact me!

Here are the websites for more information:
Art Contest
www.celebratingart.com

Poetry Contest
poeticpower.com

Essay Contest
poeticpower.com

National Geography Bee

An opportunity to flex your mental muscles in the geography arena!

What: The Lake County National Geographic Bee
Where: Grayslake Area Public Library
When: Tuesday, December 13 at 10 am
Who: The competition is open to homeschooled students who live in Lake County and are in 4th to 8th grade.  This is a great opportunity to test kids on their national and international geography knowledge.  The winner will take a test to qualify for the Illinois Bee.  Last year the Lake County winner, Annie Ulrich, won the state competition and went on to the National level.

To find out more or to sign up, e-mail Audrey Ringer at dnaringer@yahoo.com.

My kids participated in the local geo bee a few years ago and it provided great incentive to learn their geography facts and really dig into the world around them. Great opportunity!