ICHE convention this weekend

This weekend is the convention for the Illinois Christian Home Educators in Naperville.

In honor of this upcoming event they are having a giveaway on their blog:
http://www.iche.org/blog/3906/06-03-2013/james-and-stacy-mcdonald-and-book-give-away

You can win one of Stacy McDonald’s books (both of which I have read and thoroughly enjoyed!) by leaving a comment there. The contest is only open for a couple days, so be sure to enter there for your chance to win and peruse the rest of their site for the details about the convention as well.

Meeting for homeschoolers at IIT in Wheaton

This was forwarded through the Naperville Home Educators Yahoo group.

Looks like a great opportunity to give some input and hear about brand new opportunities for homeschoolers in a partnership with IIT.

at the Rice Campus

201 East Loop Road
Wheaton, Illinois 60189

October 2, 2012

Dear Home School aficionado:

We at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Rice Campus in Wheaton, would like to work with you and your students in their secondary education.

For everyone’s best quality of life, the staff at IIT realize that all citizens, both young and old, need to respect and appreciate the intricate and complex web of life on Earth, and understand its dependence on the abiotic factors that provide the edifice for our planet. In the words of the African environmentalist Baba Dioum “In the end, we will only conserve what we love; we will only love what we understand; and we will only understand what we are taught.”  At IIT, our mission is education—and an important topic within that endeavor is living sustainably, within the means of the earth, as we go about our daily lives.

We are trying to increase our own sustainability efforts on campus, and are including outreach into the community as part of those efforts. Thus, our staff would like to work with you and your students as we feel we can offer expertise in the teaching of environmental science—an appropriate theme for integrating the various disciplines of science with technology, mathematics, the humanities and the social sciences.  We have ideas for several different problem/project based learning offerings and would like to engage in discussion regarding how we can help you, with our facility and staff, in the education of your children.

To accommodate different schedules we will hold two meetings at the IIT Rice Campus: Wednesday, November 7th at 6:30PM, and Saturday, November 10th at 10:00AM.  We anticipate that the meetings will last 1.5 to 2 hours. At the gatherings we will ask for your input as to how we can help you in the education of your children within the themes of sustainability and science, while using the Rice Campus facility as our “Petri dish.”  We are open to your ideas and desire to gauge your interest in this collaboration.  We plan to outline some of our project ideas in the dialogue.

Please respond to me regarding your interest in this collaboration, as well as your availability for either one of these meetings at camasus@hawk.iit.edu.   Questions are also welcomed via email. Feel free to forward this letter to friends and colleagues whom you think might be interested in this project.

Hoping we can work together for our youth and their education,

Susan Camasta, PhD

Department of Mathematics and Science Education

School of Applied Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago & Wheaton, IL

Learning Vine Open House

If you are interested in The Learning Vine Academic Program for homeschoolers, you are invited to attend their Information Meeting this Friday, February 10,  at 1:30 PM in room 2A/B (lower level) of Community Christian Church on Emerson Lane in Naperville.

They will be presenting an overview of what their academic program offers and have time for Q and A. This meeting is meant mainly for families who have not enrolled previously in the program.

To learn more about the program online, please see their website:
http://www.thelearningvine.org/academic.html

Meet up in Oswego & Fox Valley area

Looking to connect with other homeschoolers face to face? This meet-up might be just the thing.

This is a place where homeschooling families from the Western Suburbs can connect with each other, socialize, make friends, set up events & playdates, ask questions, share ideas, explore resources, network together and have fun!   Most of our Meet-ups are in the Oswego, Naperville, Aurora, Yorkville, Montgomery and Plainfield areas however, anyone from neighboring towns is welcome. Many of our field trips also are in nearby areas. We are looking for active participants to get involved with events. We are a group that welcomes all philosophies on homeschooling.

Name: Fox Valley Homeschoolers

Location: Oswego, Il

Primary Contact Person: Joni Choudhary

Email: joni_choudhary@hotmail.com

Homeschool Football!

Just crossed paths with a coach from this football team. I have heard lots of great things about this organization and this team in particular. If you are looking for some activity for a teenage boy, you will want to check this out. It is based at Crossroads in Big Rock, but they hope to have practice in the Naperville or Aurora area. I know people are coming from all over for this, so if you are interested, get in touch with them. If you are looking for some training and physical conditioning, or an actual team sport, this will be of interest to you: