Since I know I have local Chicago readers, I wanted to pass along this perfect activity if you have kids.  Bill, the kids, and I will be attending.  My kids love dinosaurs and trains, so this is right up their alley!

DINOSAUR TRAIN™: PLAY THE DAY AWAY!

A fun-filled day of Dinosaur Train events and activities perfect for the whole family.

WHEN:            Saturday, May 29, 2010       9 am – 4 pm

LOCATION:    The Field Museum

1400 S. Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL

East Entrance (Museum Campus Drive & Solidarity Drive facing Adler Planetarium)

CHECK IN:     Classroom C, Ground Floor

DETAILS:

• FREE Basic Museum Admission: the first 75 kids between the ages of 3-8 who come to The Field Museum’s East Entrance will receive free Basic Admission for them and one parent.
• Dinosaur Train Casting “Roar”: calling all kids ages 3-8…show us your star power and you could end up being featured in a commercial or online video!
• Meet Dr. Scott Sampson, Ph.D.: Dinosaur Train host and world-renowned paleontologist, appearing between 9:30-noon.
• Toy World Premiere: be the first to see and play with the exciting Dinosaur Train toy line from Learning Curve—not yet available in stores!
• Sing Along: with Dinosaur Train show creator, Craig Bartlett, who will perform the show’s theme song and other hits from the show.
• Meet Buddy the Dinosaur: meet the star of Dinosaur Train live and in-person!
• Win Valuable Prizes—including $100 Savings Bonds: participate in the “Big Dino Dig” to win prizes—from toys to bookmarks to $100 US Savings Bonds!
• Enjoy Dinosaur Train Activities All Day: color your favorite characters, play Dinosaur Traincomputer games and watch episodes of the hit PBS KIDS^® series.
• Attend a special family lecture on dinosaur discoveries related to Dr. Scott’s recent book. A book signing will follow. Call 312-665-7400 to reserve a seat for this lecture. Space is limited.

Come to play—stay for the day!

§         For questions in advance of the event, call 312-670-7079.

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My kids are still pretty little to be making handmade gifts for the holidays.  I do remember doing it for my parents though.  I wonder if my parents appreciated all my hard work or not.  I am just kidding.  I know they do since I appreciated all the hard work that Madison put into this handmade ornament she made at school for Christmas last year:

When we decorated the Christmas tree, we definitely put it up.  I made sure I saved it so we could put it on the tree this year.  I have a special gift the kids are working on for the grandma’s for Christmas this year.  All I can tell you is that it will require some art skills.  I don’t want to give away much more than that.

What handmade gifts have you received or have you given?

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If you follow me on twitter, you will know what this post is going to be about.  If you don’t, I’ll do a quick explanation of what’s going on.

I live in the Ridgeland School District 122.  We have had a school referendum fail twice.  After the last time it failed, my school district cut all of the music and art programs and supposedly the after school programs too.  After the last referendum failed, I had posted about it on my blog and had quite a response from both sides of the referendum.  However, here I sit, and Madison will go to kindergarten next year, and we have to decide where she is going to go.

I always said my kids would go to public school.  I went to public school and I turned out fine.  LOL  However, my class size was never higher than 25 kids and that was in high school too.  Since I have no experience with private school, I am reaching out to my readers to give me their opinion.

Here’s what I know for sure — there is no art class and no music class.  Instead it is being “facilitated in the classrooms” — whatever that means.  I had a huge concern regarding this “everyday math” I have been hearing about.  However, my public school is not teaching that.  Her class size would be 22 – 30 kids with only one teacher. In private school, she would have gym, music, art, and computer once a week.  Her class size would be around 15 – 19 kids with one teacher and a teachers aide.

Oh and let me add, the referendum is again destined to fail.  The administration gave them 10% raises over the summer!

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?  Public or private?

Edited to add:  Homeschooling is not an option.  Madison does way better learning when it isn’t me.  I can’t believe the amount of things she learned in preschool already.

Edited again 9/23:  The school principal will no longer answer my questions.  All my questions now have to go through the main district office.  According to the District 122 Ridgeland office, there is no music or art at all.  No classes will go over thirty.  However, they will not create another class unless there are 60 kids between 2 classes (I hope that makes sense), so it could happen that both classes could be 29 kids, and they would not make a new class.  They had no idea what the district was going to do if the referendum fails a third time.  In the past, it was threatened that one of the grade schools was to be closed and/or they would go to grade school centers.  When I asked about that, I was told that was up to the school board.

Also, the raise I talked about was given to the superintendent and the assistant superintendents.

Also the district was asked to put their finances online.  26 other local districts have.  Mine has refused and has publically stated that in a local newspaper.

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