Silver Dollar City Homeschool Rates

Silver Dollar City has a homeschool weekend in the fall

Event Details

  • Exclusive Homeschool classes available! Tickets must be pre-purchased.
  • Continue to watch the website for a Homeschool Weekend Schedule of Activities.
  • Registration at Guest Relations Horseshoe from 8:30-Noon (pick up FREE goodies).
  • The Marvel Cave Mystery Tour is back in 2014! Join fellow spelunkers as you travel through Marvel Cave attempting to solve the mystery of what nearly wiped out our Gray Bat population a couple decades ago. Complete a student workbook as you go from station to station gathering evidence and solving equations to help you determine the culprit. Book early, only 1 tour available.
  • Meet master craftsmen and watch them in action as we Salute The Great American Cowboy during National Harvest Festival.
Event Ticket Prices
Adult (age 12+):$47.00 + tax $50.51
Child (age 4-11):$37.00 + tax $39.77Price includes 2-day admission.

Ticket Details

Meal tickets available and include buffets! These optional meal tickets are charged in addition the admission price.

• Adult: $11.82 ($12.70)

• Child: $6.33 ($6.80)

Or you can use this special Homeschool rate with a code anytime, it looks like. Check the web for all the details.

(Thank you, Kristen!)

Six Flags Reading Program Sign up

We always look forward to our annual visit to Six Flags Great America. Now is the time to prepare for it and motivate the kids to keep reading as well.

Follow the link to register your homeschooled kids to earn free admission for completing 6 hours of reading. https://feedback.sixflags.com/rts/default.aspx

Ready, Set, GO!

The Six Flags Read to Succeed Program is now accepting registrations for the 2013-2014 school year.

Go Big this school year when you and your students participate in the Six Flags 2013-2014 Read to Succeed Program.

Register for Read to Succeed 2013-2014

If you participated last year, your online account is still active. You can login and confirm your information is still correct and make any updates, if needed.

If you are new to the program, registration is now open so you can sign up today. Once you login to your account, you can download everything you need to get started from your Teacher Toolbox in your online account. Your Teacher Toolbox will have the Student Reading Log, Parent Letter and instructional guides. Your students can begin logging their hours as soon as you hand out the Student Reading Logs.

We appreciate your dedication to encouraging students to read and look forward to another successful school year.

Sincerely,

The Six Flags Read to Succeed Team
sixflags.com/read

Free Museum Day September 28, 2013

For one day you can enter a museum for free! (I know we are a little spoiled around here with all the great museums and so many with free days for us Illinoisans)

The Smithsonian Magazine hosts this event, so you can check out their site for all the details and to register.

The ticket is good for two people, and is limited to one per household, so please keep that in mind.

However, there are some great places on the list – SciTech in Aurora, Graue Mill in Oak Brook, Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago,  and more!

Check it out and please pass it along.

Birds of Prey demonstration at Cantigny

Fall Festival, Saturday, October 13

This is coming quickly:

What: Walk on the Wild Side (Birds of Prey)
When:  October 18. 2012, 6:30-7:30 pm
Where: Education Center

More details: Free, family program,  regular parking fee applies.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED due to limited seating. No walk-ins. Please call 630-260-8162 or email register@cantigny.org to save your seat! Registration closes 24 hours before the program or when capacity is reached.

Bring your family out to Cantigny Park for a Walk on the Wild Side! Dates have been set for a fun-filled learning adventure. Be amazed with fascinating animal facts! Each presentation will also offer the opportunity to interact with live animals.

This evening’s program will feature a live birds of prey presentation from the Willowbrook Wildlife Center Staff. Learn about this facinating group of birds and see some raptors up close!

Save the date for the next Walk on the Wild Side presentation!
November 15 (6:30pm)-Simply Snakes

Also check out their other classes for homeschoolers:

Kandinsky Kids for Homeschoolers

In this popular class, students will create using a wide range of media including but not limited to all types of paint, clay, fabric, sculpture, printmaking, etc.

Instructor: Kari Kraus, Water Street Studios

Ages: 7-11 years
October 22, 29, November 5, 12
10:30-11:30am
Location: Education Center
$60 per participant, registration required. No parking fee.

Click here to register online and pay by debit/credit card

Click here to download a registration form and send by mail or fax.

Questions? Please call 630 260 8162.

Click here to review our program policies and directions to class locations.

If you are a Cantigny Member Plus, please call 630 260 8162 to register and receive your class discount of $5.00.

Staycation Take 2

Each year our vacation budget seems to shrink a little more and we need to get a little more creative with how we spend those hard earned dollars. Fortunately, living in the Chicago area you don’t need to go far to enjoy a lot of life and experience for not a lot of money.

My post last year summed up lots of unique spots to check out around the area and I don’t want to just duplicate that (but feel free to check it out here as much of that still applies), so this year we will look at different categories of attractions that even some Chicago residents might not think about while making the most of life in this great metroplis.

Because I’m a list maker and categorizer, we’ll break this down into Get Active; Grow ‘n’ Learn; and Give Back.

Get Active

Of course there are the obvious: parks, forest preserves, bike trails, swimming pools, and sports teams.  But here are a few places to definitely check out to add active fun to your staycation.

– Trampoline parks. A newer addition to the bouncy world of fun, these parks take trampolining out of the backyard and turn it into a group activity. Many include areas with trampolines made into activity specific areas like dodgeball, basketball, jumping into foam pits, just jumping and smaller tramps for little ones. This is not generally a cheap outing, but check for after hours and holiday specials throughout the summer. This is a great way to spend a rainy day when the kids are bouncing off the walls at home anyway.  Check out different centers (different owners, but similar facilities) in Buffalo Grove and Carol Stream, Niles, South Elgin, and Naperville (note that trampolines do bring an element of risk with them. Encourage kids to jump safely, watch the safety videos, and you should expect to sign a waiver in order for them to jump)

– Disc Golf. Not your mother’s frisbee game, and growing in popularity especially among older “kids.” This is a great activity for families with kids that are a bit older and ready to take on a challenge.  There are currently 163 courses in Illinois, although not all in the Chicago area. Perfect for those cooler days with friends or just family. Check out the Disc Golf Course list with links to locations and more details on some of the courses.

– Bowling. Not as heart pumping or muscle building as the others, but a fun afternoon of bowling keeps a wide range of ages happy and offers a great environment for active fun together. Brunswick offers free bowling to kids all summer long, one game per day per child. Of course you’ll have to rent shoes (unless you’re lucky enough to find them at garage sales or thrift stores), but still a nice deal. AMF also has bowling lanes in various cities. Many cities will have a local bowling alley, but another popular destination is Funway in Batavia which offers many activities from bowling to go carts to roller skating.

Grow ‘n’ Learn

The library deserves a section all its own because it is a huge doorway to tons of fun right in your backyard, most of it already paid for by your tax dollars, but I’ll highlight our favorites. Be sure to check out your own local library for programs, movies, outings, speakers, displays, and reading incentives to keep you learning all summer long.

Summer reading program (and winter one if they have it, too, but that is not coming soon). Get your kids reading and earn free family outings. From the summer reading program we earn at least 3-4 of our family staycation outings. Each year we get a pass to DuPage Children’s Museum, baseball tickets, Medieval Times passes, water park tickets, meal coupons, and many more exciting and free passes to keep our summer fun at an all time high.

Museum Adventure Pass. I mention this periodically, and it should not be overlooked. Each museum or location has a different deal that you activate through your library card. Stop in to see your librarian and with a few clicks she presents you with a pass for the Morton Arboretum, Chicago Botanic Garden, Cantigny, Brookfield Zoo, or a variety of other places. We have used these a few times now and have really enjoyed each one.

Summer classes. Many colleges offer classes for various ages through the summer. Check out the closest one, and also take a look other places like Fermilab for keeping learning alive through this break in the traditional school year.

Donley’s Wild West Town. Part fun, part learning, Donley’s will teach you to use a slingshot, entertain you with a gun fight drama, take you on a pony ride, and let you pan for gold. Younguns won’t quickly forget all the fun and adventure as they travel back to a little less tame period of history.

Give Back

Hanging with friends, relaxing, and stimulating your intellect are all great parts of vacation, but you can also spend part of your staycation giving back to those less fortunate. We may worry about having enough money to make special memories with our kids this summer, but others worry about just having the necessities of life. Look for a way to lend a hand this summer.

Feed My Starving Children. We have enjoyed taking part in this program a few times now and cannot believe how quickly 2 hours flies by. Sign up for a 2 hour time slot of packing nutrient dense meals to ship to countries in need. By the end you are chanting, “Chicken, veggies, soy, rice,”  and in so doing are providing food for the hungry. My daughter enjoyed herself so much she wants to have her birthday party there this year. Kids 5 and over can attend with adult supervision. I loved watching my 6 year old scoop, weigh, and count, having fun in the process of making a difference. They have locations in Schaumburg and Aurora, so make sure to get a group together and find a couple hours to spare for this worthwhile cause.

Food bank. Meeting a need closer to home, area food banks are also always looking for volunteers. Northern Illinois Food Bank is one with multiple locations that are always seeking volunteers of a variety of ages.  Check out their page for other local food pantries that might be able to use your help as well.

– Check out other volunteer positions around the Chicago area at Chicagovolunteer.net. They have listings for forest preserves to museums and more.

This post may spark your thinking for some special ways to spend your staycation this year and may even begin a relationship that will open new opportunities and experiences for years to come. Vacations shouldn’t end with summer. Build some memories that will take you full force into the next school year and beyond. Hope some of these ideas will help your staycation stick with you a little longer.

Student Job Fair

Student Job Fair

This year our Job Fair will be held on Wednesday, March 21st from 5:00 to 7:30 pm. It will be held at Merner Field House on the North Central College Campus.

The KidsMatter Annual Student Job Fair is funded in part by The DuPage Community Foundation and local sponsors. The annual KidsMatter Job Fair is THE one-stop place for young people to find seasonal & summer jobs. The Fair provides job opportunities as well as mock interviews, resume workshops, and internship experiences to prepare students for the workforce. Endorsed by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, last year’s Fair attracted over 1,500 students.

In this tough economy, the Fair will help high school and college students find part-time or seasonal employment.

Each student who attends the Fair will receive a free Resource Booklet summarizing the opportunities available at each participating business along with their contact information. The booklet also includes a section that provides tips and tactics students can refer to in order to increase their odds of securing a job. It answers questions such as:

“How do I prepare for an interview?”

“Who should I use as a reference?”

“What qualities are employers looking for?”

Other Features:

What Not To Do In An Interview, including individual “mock” interviews with students – facilitated by the Heritage YMCA Internship Opportunities & Information–throughout the evening Career Opportunities: Including Naperville Police Department, Naperville Fire Department, Plumber’s Union, U.S. Army, Hair Professionals School of Cosmetology, and more.

ht: Naperville Home Educators

DuPage Engineers Week

Last year I heard about an event geared toward K-8th grade students that would help them understand and explore the various worlds of engineering. I had no idea how much we would enjoy this event.

Here’s the info on the event for this year:

Join us for a fun, free, family interactive event with displays and presentations that will excite children about science and engineering. The DuPage Engineers Week Expo includes cryogenic freezing with a few controlled explosions, model airplanes and a wind tunnel exhibit, robots, bicycle power, load testing and destruction, static electricity, levers and pulleys, building molecules and hands-on activities with ZOOM®, Design Squad, LEGO® Robotics, and the DuPage Children’s Museum. See a list the free public events.

You do not have to be an engineer to enjoy the 28th Annual DuPage Area Engineers Week Expo. The Expo is geared toward children in K-8th Grade, however, all ages will enjoy this event!

Details:
When: Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Where: Illinois Institute of Technology: 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL (Directions)
Cost: Free, and open to the public

Lunch and snack items will be available for purchase as a fundraiser from Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

IIT Alumni – Call for information on a special Alumni-only Breakfast!

If you are free and looking for something to keep your kids engaged, I would encourage you to check this out. It was packed last year, but we still managed to navigate our stroller through the hallways somehow. Our whole family enjoyed the event immensely, although our then 8 month old did not like Mr. Freeze’s explosions. If you have seen his show there or elsewhere, you can probably understand why.

Expect parking to be a nightmare, and the building to be crowded, but also prepare for your kids to enjoy themselves and not want to leave. We all learned a lot of new information.  Some displays have kids helping out, but many are staffed by engineers eager to share about their background, their education, the career choice, and their displays. They want to engage your student and help them learn about engineering and the various fields it encompasses.

The program for the event is now available online, so check that out to get a good idea of what to expect from the displays.

Steve Demme coming to the area

Next week! This ICHE sponsored event is coming soon, and if you can’t attend in person you can register to attend online. Steve Demme is an incredible speaker and well worth taking the time out of your weekend to give a listen.

Please join ICHE and CHOSEN, the Freeport area support group, in welcoming
Steve Demme to the greater Rockford area!

Steve will be sharing his unique and encouraging insights on family life.  Steve and his wife have raised four sons by God’s grace.  He has worked as a math teacher and a pastor, but many know him as the author and founder of Math-U-See.

The desire of Steve’s heart is to see a balanced bilblical view of the family restored.  We are very excited to hear from a man who has seen first hand how our homes and families can be impacted by the love and grace of our Savior.

Check out their website for all of the details about this family discipleship seminar.

This event is an exciting first for ICHE.
If you cannot attend in person, we are offering a live webstream of the event!

To view the live webstream, register online and check the box that says live stream at the end of the registration form.  You will receive an email shortly before the event with instructions on accessing the website and video stream.

Movie Review: The Mighty Macs

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It’s 1971. Cathy Rush is a woman ahead of her time … and she’s about to embark on an adventure for the ages. A new era is dawning in the country and in collegiate athletics, where a national champion will be crowned for the first time in women’s basketball.

In the lead up to this historical season, major universities are preparing their game plans to win that first title. Meanwhile a tiny all-women’s Catholic college in Philadelphia has a more modest goal: find a coach before the season begins. Providentially, Cathy Rush is about to find Immaculata College.

Recently married, Cathy is dealing with the aftermath of a truncated playing career. While cultural norms would have her staying at home, she’s willing to do the hard work necessary to help her new team reach their goals—or perhaps she’s just trying to achieve her unfulfilled dreams through them.

From the beginning, her challenges are as imposing as the big-school teams Immaculata will face on the court. Cathy learns there is no gymnasium on campus, she receives little support from the school’s Mother Superior, and the school is in dire financial straits. To top it off, she may not even have enough players to field a team!

While it appears the Macs don’t have a prayer, all hope is not lost. With the help of Sister Sunday—a spunky assistant coach—and the support of a booster club of elderly nuns, Coach Rush creates a new game plan that just might bring the team—and the school—together.

Will this pioneer buck cultural norms and spur her rag-tag team to unexpected heights? Or will her hard-driving ways create a wedge between the coach and everyone around her? One thing’s for certain: there’s never been anyone like Cathy Rush at Immaculata!

LOVED it!

A movie you can watch with your preschooler  in the room  and your teenager across the couch and all enjoy it, and not have to fast forward any parts. I highly recommend this film for its fast paced story line and family friendliness.

It lays out the importance of family values and keeping faith alive. Even when struggles and obstacles pile up, this team pulls together and works toward their goal from day one: We will be #1.

It is in theaters starting today, and you will want to jump at this chance to see a movie that is rated ‘G’ and isn’t just a light-hearted kids’ movie. This is a true family film that adults will enjoy, will keep kids’ attention, provide a few laughs, and will offer some great talking points on the ride home.

Don’t miss it!

More info on the film:


Disclaimer: I received an opportunity to view this movie prior to its release in exchange for my honest review.

ICHE Young Adult Conference

Join us at ICHE’s

Young Adult Conference!

November 12, 2011

9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Doors open at 8:30 a.m.)

Fellowship Church of Carol Stream Young Adults 18 years and older
Mr. Caner

Featuring Dr. Emir Caner

Don’t miss this opportunity!  Dr. Caner is a captivating speaker with a relevant message to tell!

His topics are:

– When God Drew Near:  A Muslim’s Story of God’s Grace (Isaiah 9:2-6).

– 10 Things Every Christian Needs to Know about Islam

– Reaching Your Muslim Neighbor

This conference is just $30.00 per family.

Those 18 and up are invited to attend.

In addition to challenging sessions, the day includes times for ……..

games, fellowship, and volleyball.

Bring a sack lunch, and stay for the delicious lasagna dinner which is available for only $7.00 per person.

After dinner, the evening is full of fun opportunities you won’t want to miss.

Each year we have to shoo people out the door because they don’t want to leave.

Sign up now for this popular conference at  http://www.iche.org/forms/2011-young-adult-conference-registration-form.

You’ll be glad you did!

Location –

Fellowship Church of Carol Stream

130 Shawnee Drive

Carol Stream, IL 60188

Questions?
(847) 603-1259

Location
Fellowship Church of Carol Stream
130 Shawnee Dr
Carol Stream, IL