Homeschool Dance Class at Demaira Dance Studios, Inc.

This active class for kids ages 6-9 incorporates several different dance forms (ballet, jazz, musical theater, modern, hip hop) to introduce students to dance. Kids (boys and girls are welcome) will get moving, use their imaginations, and dance, dance, dance!  Taught by “grown-up homeschooler” Megan Donahue, the class is ideal for first time dancers. This class will participate in our June recital.

Oak Park, Tuesdays 11am.
Chicago, Thursdays 11am.

For more info, check out: www.demaira-dance.com

AJ Collective Workshops (AJCW) Thursdays! – All NEW Classes for this Winter 2012!
Inspired by the creativity of our children, we facilitate workshops with an emphasis on child-led learning.

All classes held at the Ethical Humanist Society at 7574 N. Lincoln Ave, Skokie on Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th.).

ASL
Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 10:00a-11:00p:
We will learn conversational ASL vocabulary as well as developing  ASL grammatical skills using things like facial grammar and classifiers to open up a whole new world of communication possibilities! We will also discuss Deaf Culture and learn to create traditional hand-shape and ABC stories. This will be a fun, interactive class with lots of games and language play! Classes are taught by Amy Eaton who learned ASL in 1988 working with National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s “Sunshine Too”, an outreach company made up of 3 hearing and 3 Deaf actors. Based in Rochester, NY, they toured most of the US, performing for all kinds of audiences in all kinds of situations. In 1990, she moved to Chicago with comrade Peter Cook, an internationally recognized Deaf Poet. Together they taught a mix of ASL and creative drama under the auspices of Urban Gateways from 1991-1995. In 1993 Amy co-founded Nature of the Beast and directed their original “ASL Opera” adaptation of “Medea.”
Class minimum: 5 people, ages 8 and up, parents welcome to take the class as well. $100 per student for the full 10 week session (family rate available). Questions, information or to register contact Amy Eaton: amyceaton@gmail.com

Little’s Art
Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 10:30a-1:30p:
Little’s Art is geared towards children 3 years of age on up to 7 years with one main guided take-home project each week, exploring self-portraits, mosaics, origami and more! The room is set up for three fun-filled hours of exploration (in addition to the main project) with sensory stations to work on fine motor skills though beading, drawing, painting, collage construction, stamping, play dough, stickers and much more! Parents are welcome to attend, or drop off. Stay for the whole three hours or come and go as your schedule sees fit. Class is taught by art enthusiasts extraordinaire, homeschooling moms Jen Kafizov and Amy Jarjusey.
Class minimum: 5 children. $80 per child for the full 10 week session. Drop in fee $12. Questions, information or to register contact Amy Jarjusey and Jen Kafizov: tikistanford@yahoo.com

Teeny Tiny Miniatures, Oh My!
Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 11:00a-12:00p:
The sky is truly the limits in this art adventure class. Come with an idea to miniaturize a fabulous creation! Could be a dollhouse, a doctor’s office, a theater, park or more! Your child comes with an idea, and we can help them think way outside the box to create an amazing miniature with intricate details all around. Not only will they create a structure, but all of the people and the accessories that come along with that special place. Recommended for children ages 9 years and up, or children with required skills: use of glue gun, tweezers, detailed cutting with either scissors or crafting knives, and detailed painting. Class is taught by homeschooling mom and art enthusiast Amy Jarjusey, with the fabulous and very talented unschooled teen artist Emily Souers who has been making art since her earliest days and loves working with kids. She has been teaching children’s art classes in her basement art studio for a little over a year, works as an intern at the Family Programs at the Art Institute of Chicago, and is applying to art colleges so that she can earn her BFA. Her artistic proficiencies include painting and drawing, recycled sculpture, miniatures, and fiber arts.
Class minimum: 6 children. $120 per child for the full 10 week session. Questions, information or to register contact Amy Jarjusey and Jen Kafizov: tikistanford@yahoo.com

French
Thursdays, January 12th – March 29th (no class Jan. 26th or March 15th) 11:00a-12:00p:

This fun-filled foreign language session is geared towards students ranging from ages 7-12 (or any age beginning French speakers) and will focus on introducing students to spoken French. There will be lots of opportunities to practice speaking and active learning, through songs and other activities. Children will be exposed to vocabulary related to colors, numbers, clothes, animals, foods and other basic ideas. Most of all, students will learn how to meet others and speak about themselves in French, be introduced to some writing and written vocabulary, as well as engage in cultural games and activities to strengthen language skills. Classes are taught by Andrea Parkins who is a homeschooling mother with approximately 15 years of experience as an educator. Andrea earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in Romance Languages and speaks, reads, and writes French fluently.  She has experience teaching Kindergarten, 3rd grade, primary French language, as well as 5th and 6th grades.
Class minimum: 6 students. $100 per child for 10 weeks.   Questions, information or to register contact Andrea Parkins: parkinschi@comcast.net

Ancient World History
Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 12:30p-1:30p:
Typically, the study of ancient civilizations involves an examination of early man, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Greece,  Ancient Rome, and other civilizations. This class, most suitable for 9-12 year olds, will hopefully be the first in a series. The focus will be on early man and civilizations and Mesopotamia. This storied land, known today as Iraq, was home to some of the greatest early civilizations, including the Hittities, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and others.  Students will actively explore cultural aspects of these civilizations, including religious beliefs, foods, etc.  Drama, art, and other mediums will be incorporated and students will be able to shape how this study unfolds.  Classes are taught by Andrea Parkins who is a homeschooling mother with approximately 15 years of experience as an educator. Andrea earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Political Science.  She has experience teaching Kindergarten, 3rd grade, primary French language, as well as 5th and 6th grades. Her passion was subjects such as Ancient World History and United States History. After leaving her teaching position, she worked on a team which provided support to teachers with respect to interventions for struggling students.
Class minimum: 6 students. $110 per child for 10 weeks.   Questions, information or to register contact Andrea Parkins: parkinschi@comcast.net

Hands-On Science Exploration
Thursdays, January 12^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 1:45p-2:45p:
This is a diverse exploration into various science disciplines including biological and physical sciences, astronomy, electricity, chemistry and more. A bi-weekly adventure into each of these topics will include instruction, group discussions, hands-on activities in each given branch of learning, group and independent work, and resources for your child to bring home and explore further. This class is designed to encourage independent discovery and build on current skills, geared towards children ages 8-9 years and up. Classes are taught by homeschooling parents, Jen Kafizov and Amy Jarjusey.
Class minimum: 6 children. $145 per child for the full 10 week session. Drop in fee: $15. Questions, information or to register contact Amy Jarjusey and Jen Kafizov: tikistanford@yahoo.com

Kindermusik Family Time
Thursdays, January 19^th – March 29^th (no class Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 2:15p-3:00p: (NOTE: This class starts 1 week later than the others and runs for 9 weeks.)
A music and movement class for the whole family!  During each 45 minute class parents and their children will sing, dance, and move their way through an exploration of several elements of music: beat and rhythm, concepts and contrasts (such as staccato and legato, high and low, the major scale, and arpeggios), the human voice, instrument families, and ensemble. They’ll engage in activities that the whole family can enjoy together, including finger plays, songs, circle dances, story time, and family jam.  Each family will receive a set of home materials including CDs, books and instruments to further your music making at home.  Class is taught by Julie Friend, homeschooling mom, who is a licensed Kindermusik educator.  She has been teaching all levels of Kindermusik in and around Chicago for the past 9 years.  Prior to teaching Kindermusik she taught elementary general music for four years.
Class minimum: 6 children. Tuition will be $140 (parent/child) and will include the home materials. Questions, information or to register contact Julie Friend: jfriend22@comcast.net

Tween Club
Thursdays, January 19^th – March 29^th (no gathering Jan. 26^th or March 15^th) 2:45p-4:15p:
Have tweens will gather! This is a fun social gathering for children ages 9 years up to 12 years of age. Each week is “hosted” by one tween/parent volunteer. To host simply means to plan that week of activities for the tweens. Gatherings will primarily happen at EHS, however there could certainly be some off-site field trips planned as well. There is a yahoo group for Tween Club, please take the time to join it: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChiTweenClub2/. This is a casual gathering of kids, no class minimum required to have it run. The rental fee donation is $15 per child for the 10 week schedule. Hosts may request up to $5 per child on any given week to cover the costs of supplies for their planned activity, but free activities highly encouraged. (Max. paid per child for 10 weeks would be $65) Off-site field trips planned should not cost a child more than $10. To register for this gathering (pay your child’s $15 donation fee) or any questions contact Amy Jarjusey and Jen Kafizov: tikistanford@yahoo.com

The Skokie Heritage Museum has one more Historical Adventure for Homeschoolers scheduled this fall.

Historical Adventures for Homeschoolers: Intro to Architecture

Deadline to register is 12/8.

Register at www.skokieparks.org or call (847) 677-6672.

More programs to come this winter!

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving,

Amanda Hanson, CPRP
Facility Manager
Skokie Heritage Museum
8031 Floral Ave.
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 674-1500 ext. 3020

Another amazing all homeschooled cast!

WHO: Pigeons with Teeth presents “One if By Mamet, Two if by Guare: 3
short one acts” and Daddy G presents improv teams “Household
Appliances” and “Those Darn Kids”

WHAT: an extravaganza of short one acts and short and long form improv
performed by homeschoolers

WHERE: PROP THTR, 3502-04 N Elston (south of Kedzie/Addison/Elston
intersection)

WHEN: Two shows only! Thursday, November 17th at 7:30 and Saturday,
November 19th at 2 pm

HOW MUCH: 2 bucks at the door

We’re looking forward to a great show by some great kids! Hope to see
you there!

Amy and Greg

Please join us Monday

Join us for the Northside Unschoolers Group Parents Meeting. We will be discussing and creating Family Mission Statements.
Monday evening November 14, 2011
7:00pm-9:00pm
Irving Park United Methodist Church
3801 N. Keeler (at Grace St.)
Just off the Irving Park stop on the Blue Line and Irving Park, Kennedy exit.
There is plenty of street parking.

2012 Winter-Spring Shakespeare class with Eliza Hofman

Jan. 9-March 12, Mondays 1-3 p.m.; Antony and Cleopatra auditions Jan.
23

March 19 no class

March 26 to April 16, Mondays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dress rehearsal and performances weekend of April 20-21

Reba Place Center, 535 Custer Ave. Evanston

Ten 2-hour classes, four 4-hour classes, one dress rehearsal and
performance: $220

Ages 9 and up

The schedule has been set for the Winter-Spring Shakespeare class with
Eliza Hoffman. This is a year focused on Shakespeare’s
`tragedies,” with a continued focus on the `original
practices’ model. The students will learn to look at the plays in
the context in which they were written and experiment with applying that
knowledge, understanding of the text, and Their own imagination to
transform the plays from the page to the stage.

Please note the schedule:

* This year Eliza created more time for rehearsal while allowing
students time to study plays in further detail. The last four classes,
March 26 to April 16, begin at 11 a.m. Please pack a lunch to eat.

* To accommodate students who will be taking AP tests the first two
weeks of May, the performances will be the weekend of April 20-21.

* Auditions for Antony and Cleopatra will be Jan. 23. You do NOT need
to have taken the fall class to audition.

* The Winter/Spring 2012 session will study Julius Caesar and Timon
of Athens, one of the contested of the Shakespeare plays. Timon is
playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in the spring; we may try to
arrange a class trip to see it.

To register please contact Maria Galo, mariatgalo@hotmail.com
.

Eliza Hofman holds an MFA and a Master of Letters in Shakespeare and
Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin College in
association with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. She
possesses a thorough knowledge of the stagecraft, language, and culture
of Shakespeare and contemporary early modern playwrights. Originally
from the Philadelphia area, Eliza holds a BFA from New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since moving to Chicago,
Eliza has performed with Organic Theatre and Two Pence Shakespeare
Company. Favorite performance experiences include Twelfth Night with
the Delaware Shakespeare Festival, and school productions of Romeo and
Juliet, Edward II and Henry IV Part II. She also performed as an intern
and apprentice with the American Shakespeare Center in Macbeth, The
Witch, and Measure for Measure. Eliza believes strongly in the
application of academic study on performance, and she strives to
integrate textual clues and stagecraft in the classroom and the theatre.

Thanks so much!

Maria Galo

Association of Chicago Homeschooled/Unschooled Teens (often simply called teen club)meets every Thursday at Youmedia to socialize and work on projects together. If you are a Chicagoland teen aged 13-18 you should come check it out!

LOCATION: Harold Washington Library Center You Media 1st floor
400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL

When: Thursdays from 1-3pm
What: Multimedia projects in small groups, large groups or independently. Staff will be present to assist.
Who: Any homeschooled teen in good standing with the library.

It sure is nice to see this synopsis of some of the projects I’ve done over the years. Thanks Ann Parkinson for writing about this.

On the tenth anniversary of  the September 11th attacks on America when there were memorials and reflections upon the day and what it meant to the world I paused in my reflecting to recall how I felt that day about homeschooling. It was my daughter’s official 5th day of homeschooling kindergarten. We were making green play dough when the news of the awful destruction happened. Our whole family and neighborhood went in to shock and mourning for many weeks, but for one minute while the news sunk in I took a deep breath and was grateful to have both of my young kids by my side throughout that day and the days to come.

Now ten years truly have gone by and during that vast expanse of time we have encountered all other sorts of feelings about homeschooling. We have struggled to find curriculum that would make our lives easier and failed, we have created our own curriculum from following our kids’ interests and we have taken full advantage of what life in the city of Chicago has to offer homeschooled kids. It took a few years to slough off the fear that we were missing something, to relax about sometimes missing something and focus instead on living and experiencing the moment and learning what we would from it. That might sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but consider how one spring we took our nine year old daughter,and our 5 year old son to Madison Wisconsin to attend a zine festival. She had just gotten excited about reading and writing. My husband and I had always been excited about zines, and had made many over the years. We all needed a weekend getaway. It was a perfect unschooling adventure.

We took a bunch of copies of our zine Relaxed Homeskool and my daughter took a bunch of copies of a zine she and a friend had made titled The Stereotype. We met several amazing zinesters, attended workshops, made friends, and connections. As a result of one of those connections my daughter’s writing was later published in a book, she was invited to read an excerpt of her work at a public event and she attended a gala opening night of a movie. She wasn’t even 10 yet. My husband and I didn’t fare quite so well, but what I recall most from that weekend was talking to the man in the booth next to me about life. He had a great zine and told us about his wife and son in Iowa. When I asked why they weren’t there he explained that they were taking their black belt test that weekend. He said in his town there were two options for kids, you could take karate or piano. My brain quivered. Do you mean to say that those were the only weekend classes I inquired. No, those were the only classes. Ever. I quickly flew my brain back in time to my younger years growing up rural and by the seaside. There were a few karate and dance places. But mainly there was my bike, the woods, a beach, a puddle with tadpoles, a treefort. The options were many but all natural and without scheduling overlaps. I had been under the false assumption that this kind of life no longer existed. People told me this all of the time. Even from the rural place I grew up. No one lets their kids play outside and do things anymore. Its too dangerous. I had spent the better part of the year in Chicago sifting through emails about all of the things my child could do in the homeschooling community. She could be in Girl Scouts (we went for that and got a little nature fix after all. But I also got to be a girl scout leader for 3 years). She could take a ballet, modern or bellydancing class. Clay, circus, Lego engineer, science experiments, open gym, drama, Spanish, book club, field trips up the wazoo, archeology digs,knitting, art, guitar lessons, piano lessons, soccer, dodgeball, karate, bike riding club and sea scouts. To name just a few.

We tried a lot of it and made a bunch of homeschooling and unschooling friends that helped me work my way through my own philosophy on educational and practical experiences. But the truth is, that there were times when I felt exhausted from the back and forth commutes to each activity. There were times where we ate in the car or had squabbles over getting out of the door in time to make the class. There were times my kids didn’t want to attend a class but we had paid so we were committed and going. My son sometimes suffered from being dragged around to my daughter’s activities rather than having time to explore the world in his own time and space. What I learned from the zinester that day was that life didn’t have to be breakneck just because it could be. Having many choices had led me to feel that life was richer and deeper and more full of potential. But it also made me try too hard to do everything and be everywhere so that my kids wouldn’t miss an opportunity.

That was the biggest lesson homeschooling taught me in Chicago. Slow down. Allow yourself and your kids to unschool, unfold and find their own passions. Don’t sign them up for everything but don’t hide away either. And although my children rarely get to ride their bikes though woods to a treefort they built themselves, I took a long view of what was so powerful about those experiences I had as a child-the fact that I was on my own sometimes, able to think, explore and learn from my own actions how the world worked.  I tired applying those opportunities to my children’s city life. As they grew older that meant letting them have a lot of say in what they wanted to learn about, trusting them to make independent choices and to move around the city independently. Ten years of coaching is what homeschooling my kids has amounted to in order to raise free thinkers who are not afraid to go for what they want. It hasn’t been all smooth and simple, and who knows if it will be a complete success but it really has been a great adventure, even for the the facilitator that is me.  Although I have listed many things for homeschoolers to do in Chicagoland over the years and will continue to, I hope you and your family will find things on that list the things that give your children more autonomy and strength.