Free Creation talk in Carol Stream

Midwest Creation Fellowship talk, “The Six Days of Creation” by John Dingess, on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 6:45 p.m. at 25W560 Geneva Road in Carol Stream, IL 60188.

Contact: Midwest Creation Fellowship

Phone (847) 223-4730

Email wscmcf@hotmail.com

Website http://www.midwestcreationfellowship.org

The Six Days of Creation.

Do you know that the six days of creation can be understood in threes reflecting God’s triune nature? You are invited to join us as we see what Genesis 1 says straightforwardly in context with other Scripture. Origin science will be used to provide models to help visualize how God formed the earth and universe.

Guest speaker, John Dingess, is a former President of the Midwest Creation Fellowship, following Paul MacKinney, one of MCF’s founders. John has made his living for 34 years as a chemist in product development and has been awarded three patents for his work on chemical product formulations. His full bio is posted on: www.midwestcreationfellowship.org.

Meet us for free coffee and refreshments at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. The talk and Q&A will be from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. (Please note that our November meeting is on the second Tuesday rather than the first.) Admission is free, but donations are welcome. We meet at: 25W560 Geneva Road in Carol Stream, IL. The entryway is just west of Gary Avenue on Geneva Road, on the north side of the street. Enter the drive just east of the sign (next to Slide Chart Company), and park behind the building. Enter through the rear door. Handicapped parking is in front, with entrance through the front door.

For more information, visit: www.midwestcreationfellowship.org, email: wscmcf@hotmail.com, or call: (847) 223-4730.

Birds of Prey demonstration at Cantigny

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.

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 7^th at 6:30PM, and Saturday, November 10^th 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

Online science class

This was forwarded to me, and so I’m passing it along as some of you might be interested:

Dear Friends,

This is an invitation to join us for our upcoming Online Creation Kids Class. No special equipment, no place to drive. We come to you. You can check “science lab” off your list, because we do the work for you.

CSI has partner with author, home school mom and owner of Media Angels Inc, Felice Gerwitz. This partnership was formed with the purpose of introducing a series of online educational classes for kids.

Tom DeRosa along with host, Felice Gerwitz will cover the topics from CSI’s Elementary Science Curriculum, “Investigate the Possibilities.” Exciting fun for middle school children or your upper elementary students.

Forces and Motion and Matter are the topics of this first series of classes. Join us for:

*Experiments
*Explanation
*Discussion and Questions: Ask Mr. DeRosa your questions

Date: Monday September 24th
October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

Time: 3:00PM 4:00PM Eastern

Six classes
Cost: Only $5 per class
Payment options: Weekly $5 for Six Classes Or Get one class Free: $24.95

SIGN UP TODAY!

We are so sure you’ll enjoy this class we’ve recorded a preview just for you. Our gift.

Visit http://mediaangels.com/creationkids/�to redeem your video, no strings attached. Creation Kids Class videos is found on the Class Previews page. If you have any questions? Please contact Felice at felice@mediaangels.com

Homeschool classes in West Dundee

Received this via email:

The Dundee Township Park District offers special hands-on animals classes for Homeschoolers at the Randall Oaks Zoo in West Dundee. All of the details are available at our website www.dtpd.org The programs require pre-registration and fees are below. Here are our special Homeschool educational classes available in the fall…

Animal Caretakers Club for grades 2-6

Join this club and take care of the Randall Oaks Zoo animals. Brush the donkeys, make enrichment toys for the birds, socialize the reptiles, visit with the goats and much more!

Program # 428317-01
Wednesdays / 10-11 am
August 22 – October 10
$50 Dundee Township resident / $70 non resident

Program # 428317-02
Wednesdays / 10-11 am
October 17 – December 5
$50 Dundee Township resident / $70 non resident

Digestive Journey for grades 1-6

Take a wild tour through animal’s digestive systems. We will learn about ungulates, gastric juices in reptiles, the function of a cecum, and much more. Afterward we will have a snack and see how we break down food. YUM!

Program # 428311-01
Friday / 10-11:30 am
September 14
$8 Dundee Township resident / $11 non resident

Zoo Math for grades 1-6

What does math have to do with running a zoo? Plenty! Come along for a journey of fractions, ratios, geometry, shapes, word problems, estimation, and plenty of mental math. Math applications “in real life,” will be presented.

Program # 428311-02
Friday / 10-11:30 am
September 21
$8 Dundee Township resident / $11 non resident

Jumping Geography for grades 1-6

Where in the world are these animals from? Australia, the desert of northern Africa, Thailand…the list goes on. We will learn how the animals are specially adapted to, and are an expression of the environments that they are from.

Program # 428311-03
Friday / 10-11:30 am
September 28
$8 Dundee Township resident / $11 non resident

Veritable Vocabulary for grades 1-6

Come and see words in action! Do donkeys see dichromatically? Are deer crepuscular? How does a cow’s eructation impact the ozone layer? Is a duck nidifugous? How does a ruminant ruminate exactly? Enjoy the wonderful world of words!

Program # 428311-04
Friday / 10-11:30 am
October 5
$8 Dundee Township resident / $11 non resident

Hands-on History grades 1-6

How did donkeys impact the gold rush? How did goats change the history of Neolithic farmers 11,000 years ago? What did pigs have to do with the founding of England’s town, Bath? Enjoy stories of how humans and animal history are intertwined in some pretty odd ways!

Program # 428311-05
Friday / 10-11:30 am
October 12
$8 Dundee Township resident / $11 non resident

For more information please call me at (847) 551-4310. Thank you!

Katherine Ellinghausen

Natural Areas/Program Supervisor

Dundee Township Park District

750 N Randall Road, West Dundee, IL 60118

Office (847) 551-4310

Cell (847) 997-8894

Farm tours available

I enjoyed a CSA from this farm quite a few years ago now, and here they are with tours of their facilities. Great way to kick of the outdoor growing season and add a unique field trip to your schedule.

From Erewhon Farm:

Visit Our Farm – Learn How to Garden Organically

Edible Farm Tours — 2012 Schedule

February/ March, 2012, Maple Sugaring Tour! (Dates will depend on the weather)

See how we tap the maple trees, collect the sap, and boil it down to make the most delicious, all natural maple syrup! Also, we’re planting and transplanting spring crops in our hoop houses! We’ll show you how to start seedlings for your home garden.

April 28, 2012 @1:30

Early spring crops are growing in our hoop houses and you can taste anything you like. We’ll show you how we grow seedlings indoors, how we fertilize them, and how we transplant them into our garden beds. We’ll show you how to make a low-cost cover for your garden crops so you can start earlier in the spring. Robin Migalla will demonstrate easy ways to cook kale and Swiss chard. Yum!

May 26, 2012 @1:30

We’ll show you how we prepare our growing beds and some techniques for minimizing weeds in the garden. What’s growing in our raised beds and how we make them. Guess how hot is our compost pile. Is anything blossoming in our edible forest garden? We’ll taste a variety of salad greens and share a garden salad. Robin Migalla will demonstrate easy ways to cook kale and Swiss chard. Yum!

Please let Gayle Riley know you’re coming: (630)776-1700 Cost: $10.00 per person, children under 12 are free! CSA subscribers $5.00.

Private Farm Events

Especially designed tours for school field trips, boy and girl scout troops, and individuals from clubs or organizations. This one hour tour will be themed for the specific time of year and your interests. Vegetable tasting encouraged.

Cost per person $7.50 with a minimum of $50.00

Please contact Gayle Riley to plan your event. (630)776-1700.

We can also organize more in-depth farm visits. Contact Tim Fuller (timf7@yahoo.com or 630-485-9963) for more info.

Farm Location:

40W248 Hughes Rd. Elburn, IL 60119

Mailing address: Tim Fuller, 968 Pattee Av., Elburn, IL 60119

www.erehwonfarm.com

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.

Free science classes

I received the following information via email. Please contact the teacher at the bottom of the invitation for more information.

A Special Invitation!!!

Dear Parents of Home School Students:

I am an instructor in the Teacher Education Department at Judson University
and would like a pre-service teacher that I am instructing to have an
opportunity to work with a multi-age group of students. I would like to invite
you and your second through sixth grade home-school students to come to
four special science/math learning experiences.

Mr. Matt Langston and I will be preparing four hands-on integrated science,
mathematics, and language arts experiences. There would be no charge for
the lessons but parents must attend with their students. (Please do not bring
children who are younger than second grade.)

Where: Judson Teacher Education Building – (Creekside)
Located at the bottom of the hill on Jerusha Street, Elgin, IL

When: 8:30 – 10:30 Monday, February 13

8:30 – 10:30 Monday, February 27
8:30 – 10:30 Monday, March 19
8:30 – 10:30 Monday, March 26

Thinking Like a Scientist – Process Skills
Ramps and Rollers – Physical Science
Fractions and Geometry
Height and Hands – Life Science

Please RSVP at lfiggins@quixnet.net. I need to know the dates you can attend
and the number and grade levels of the children who will be attending with
you. It is not necessary to attend all sessions but I think the experiences would
be very beneficial for all learners. (Please include the names of all participants
as well as a phone number.)

Feel free to call me with any questions of clarification.

Dr. Linda Figgins
630-319-7913

Essay contest

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

Total lunar eclipse coming

Unless you are traveling out of the Chicago area you will miss the “total” part of the eclipse, but you might still be able to catch a rare viewing of both the sun and the eclipsing moon. This chart gives you the time to be looking (7:05 a.m. for us):

For more info on this special eclipse, check out space.com