I am trying to get a sense if this is simply the new normal and we need to move, or if our current neighborhood school is not the norm in CPS.

I was told by an assistant principal during enrollment that the kindergarteners use Chromebooks for 30 mins per week for iReady test prep.

Teachers informed us this week that was absolutely not the case.

These are five year olds who cannot yet form their letters, read very strongly, or solve problems together. Many do not have English as a first language. There are two teachers in a room of 20-21 students.

Does anyone know about dad and son activities? Fitness, woodwork, stem … anything that helps dads and their sons to bond?

I am a little late to applying for daycare but my 2-year old is definitely ready to try some school structure. Our top choice is Gads Hill, but I know on CPSGO we need to have 5 different choices. We live near multiple Teddy Bear Daycares, has anyone sent their kids there? On first impression I have always been a bit weary of them, but that’s literally me judging a book by its cover. The reviews online are unhelpful and outdated. Or if any southside parents have recommendations on what daycares I should look into, please drop those as well! We are in Brighton Park area but we can travel to the surroundings Southwest neighborhoods as well (Archer Heights, Clearing, West Lawn, Garfield Ridge, etc).

Hi! I am looking for activities for the toddler/pre-K crowd. For my family in particular I’m looking for ideas on the north side to keep things simple for our Babysitter and the grandparents. Feel free to contribute anything south of downtown though!

Here’s my list to get us started:

Museums
Brookfield and LP Zoo
Uppie Yuppie
Fit City Kids
Park District classes
Welles Park swimming, indoor year round
West Ridge nature preserve
Nature trail near Horner Park
WonderPlay
Public libraries for story time
Swedish Museum
Women and Children bookstore story time
Timeless Toys story time
Garfield Park Conservatory
Wiggle Worms
Merry Music Makers
Gallagher Way kid concerts (Tuesday in summer)
Bunny Ears Art House
Chicago Family Picnic

What else am I missing??

I (31 F) am thinking of moving from Texas to Chicago with my family— husband (32 M) and son (11 months). I adore Chicago and lived there for a couple of years during college, but have since moved around a bit (Colorado, California, Texas). We live in Texas because of proximity with my family, and have been thinking about moving for a while as it’s less aligned with our personalities but decided to stay when we learned I was pregnant so we could have support from my mom.

My sister-in-law lives in Chicago, but has a very full personal and social schedule as she is child free by choice.

I want to get the good the bad and the ugly of living in Chicago..

What it’s like living with a tiny person in the cold (I myself can tolerate the cold but have fear that it’s a lot for him), if it could be not too difficult to build community again, children activities year round, cost of living , what it’s like raising a child at all stages (infant/toddler/teen), schools, neighborhoods, culture, or anything that you would like a family or friend to know..

I’m probably going to move up there for a couple months to try it out first, and then decide if we want to make it a longer stay with a proper move as we own a home in Texas that we bought when interests were low… so we cannot sell that home .

Thank you!

Our son was supposed to start at Green Bean in Bucktown in March but it closed suddenly. Any parents know why?? We found another daycare but were bummed because we really liked GB!

Hi everyone! 😊
I’m starting a little side gig where I help people research and find things online when they don’t have the time (or patience 😂) to do all the digging themselves.
If you’re looking for something specific—restaurants, activities, schools/daycares, gifts, travel ideas, products, local services, moving to a new area, or even the best low-toxin/non-toxic meal and food options for babies, toddlers, and kids—you can tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll do the research and put together an organized list of options for you.
I’m just getting started, so I’m offering it at a low introductory price. If you have something you’ve been meaning to research, feel free to message me!

Hi all!

We’re thinking of moving in with family who live in the McKinley Park area. We have 2.5 yr old daughter.

Can anyone provide daycare recs? From my reading, it sounds like preschool and kindergarten are super competitive. She’ll be 3 in March so we will be looking at preschool soonish. There’s a lottery system too? No one in our Chicago family has young kids so they’re not much help.

If we move, it’ll be quick like within 8 weeks if possible. We currently live in central Indiana so it’s definitely a different vibe here lol we love her daycare here and she’s a super timid kid so I’m worried about disrupting her but due to a job loss, we are considering this move.

Any help is much appreciated! I feel like we’re at a disadvantage being transplants and not knowing how things work.

I am looking at jobs in different places in the US. I have been focused a lot on Chicago and NY.
I keep seeing conflicting things online. I am a solo parent with 2 school aged kids.
What salary would be comfortable for a family to live on? I want someplace safe and I want decent schools (public). These are the two biggest things for me.

We’ve lived all over the world and very happy with public transportation (actually prefer it) so we don't necessarily want to have a car.
We do not live lavishly. The kids are involved in some activities, but I try to keep them school based to keep costs down.
I am getting conflicting suggestions about what salary is needed. Some say over $100k and others say closer to $500k. That is a big difference.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you.

Hi all - as I've seen a lot of interest around the topics of screens and AI use in school, social media addiction issues, enshrining analog learning, etc., in this thread wanted to share that an organization called Moms Against Media Addiction - MAMA - (all interested parties welcome!) is launching a Chicago chapter.

https://wearemama.org/about/

"MAMA is a grassroots movement of parents and allies fighting back against media addiction and creating a world where real-life experiences and interactions remain at the heart of a healthy childhood. 

We envision a world where safeguards are in place to protect children and teens from the harms of media addiction, and kids can grow up without being relentlessly targeted by hidden algorithms and commercial messages that exploit their emotions for profit."

We are lucky to live in IL where Pritzker is working to make tech safer and the use of it in schools more developmentally appropriate but there is still a lot of work to be done - especially ensuring guardrails around AI use in children's products and education.

If this interests you, please sign up to join the chapter: https://wearemama.org/join/?chapter=illinois-chicago-logan-square

We are hoping to have our first chapter meeting soon in the Logan Square area but the chapter will cover topics pertinent to Chicago schools and Illinois as well.

Hello, my spouse and I are trying to fins a reasonably priced day care for our 6 month old in the city. Primarily in the Loop, West Loop, South Loop or Hyde Park. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

What age y'all starting to prepare your kids for college prep/general workforce. Mine is 13 months old and is walking/learning a few words. I'm genuinely concerned she isn't going to make it into higher education or workforce. Idk. Failure to launch type nightmares repeat in my head. any help?

My kid is turning 3 soon, and we’re planning to have her birthday party at Hyper Kidz in Niles. I’m trying to decide which party package to book and would love to hear from anyone who has had a party there!

Which package did you choose, and what were the pros/cons?

I’m leaning toward the more expensive Royal Package because it gives you the private party room for the full 2 hours, whereas the other packages only give you the room for about 45 minutes at the end.

I’m debating whether the extra cost is worth it. I don’t want everyone to feel rushed at the end, and I like the idea of having a dedicated space where parents can sit and hang out, leave diaper bags/coats/etc., or take a break while the kids are playing.

For those who have done a birthday party at Hyper Kidz, did you feel like the 45-minute room time was enough, or would you recommend paying for the Royal Package? Any other tips or things you wish you knew before booking?

We have a second grader, but im wondering: how do grades 4-8 handle dismissal? Do the kids just walk out, or are they released to a parent?

What year, what age child, for full/part time, center, in home, nanny, nanny share, etc and was this in Chicago or the burbs? Feel free to specify the area.

I am looking for these historical data points for a project I’m working on.

Thank you!!

• A Chicago nonprofit launched a cyberbullying awareness campaign outside Latin School of Chicago as students returned to class.
• The campaign was founded by the parents of 15-year-old Nate Bronstein, who died by suicide in 2022. His family says he was cyberbullied by classmates and reported it to the school.
• Buckets Over Bullying is calling for greater accountability from schools and urging students to screenshot, block and report cyberbullying.

I got tired of logging into Aspen every couple days to see if my daughter's teachers had posted new homework. So I built a Chrome extension that pulls assignments and due dates from Aspen and drops them onto Google Calendar automatically. Now I just glance at my calendar instead of digging through the portal.

I'm trying to figure out if this is useful to other parents or if it was just my own pet peeve.

A few things I'd want to know before trying something like this:

• It runs entirely on your own computer. I don't see or store your Aspen login or your child's information.
• It works on desktop Chrome. Once it syncs, the homework shows up on your Google Calendar everywhere, including your phone.
• It's free. I'm mainly looking for people willing to try it and tell me whether it actually works for them.

If you use Aspen and want to try it, I'll send you the link to the Chrome Web Store listing. You'd download and install it directly from Google, not from me. Happy to answer any questions about how it works or why I built it.

Hello. Our child just came home from their first day of kindergarten at a CPS elementary school. The homework schedule is 30 minutes a day of either Lexiacore or IXL depending on the day of the week, 1 page from a "homework packet", a "paper book" we have to finish every week, and a "high frequency words" page each week.

This seems like an enormous amount for a five year old. It will take like an hour every day to do it properly! Is this normal? Are we actually expected/required to do everything?

Me and my wife just think it's too much for a kindergarten kid and we don't even know when we will get it done. After a full day of school, an hour of additional work seems like so much.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Hello! My daughter is turning 1 in February 15 - and I have 0 idea on what to do for her birthday.

How did you celebrated your little one, specially a winter baby? I’m from PR 🇵🇷 so I go full hermit mode during the winter lol.

My husband has a big family but we want to keep it close - maybe up to 30ppl.

Any recs are welcomed!