Minooka TAP is..• Mike Curtis• Jackie Harig• Angelica Lara• Kris Doerr• Cathy Tadey• Jim Keeton

WEBSITEwww.minookatap.comBlogCalendarMeeting ScheduleFormsOnline Assignments

FACEBOOKwww.facebook.com/minookatap

YOUTUBE – minookatap

EMAIL – minookatap2@gmail.comminookatapfundraising@gmail.com

•We schedule a total of 15 meetings. One per month.•We hope that with that few meetings, every student can attend almost all of them.•We meet on Saturdays.•We also have one “online” meeting per month.•These are mandatory and done on your own time. You have one month to complete the activities in an online meeting.

• 15 meetings = 30 hours• The basketball

practices twice as many hours before the first game.

• English class has twice as many hours before midterms.

• 30 hours is only 4 ¼ school days.

Yet, in that time…

We focus on four key areas to get the kids prepared…

•Financially

•Logistically

•Socially

•Academically

We understand this trip is expensive, and we know the #1 concern for most parents is financial.

Your payments to EF cover:

•Airfare

•Bus drivers/trains

•A 24/7 tour director

•Hotels

•Dinners and Breakfasts

•Entrance to most activities

Your payments to EF Tours do not cover:

• Educational expenses here at home, like books, paper, or other materials

• Renting meeting space

• Tips for our guides and drivers

• Extra activities• Souvenirs• Lunches, snacks, and

drinks• Our student books

As a group, we run three fundraisers a year.

Little Caesar’s PizzaHoopsManiaChicago White Sox

If you would like to form a fundraising committee with other parents, please do, but please communicate with us before using TAP’s name to sell any products and coordinate with us so we don’t overlap with current successful fundraisers.

When it’s all said and done, TAP spends about $400 per student to cover expenses.

We can not operate at a loss.We don’t want you to have to

pay more than just the price of the trip.

We need that money.

So, we expect each student to raise $400 for TAP through our fundraisers.

We will keep track of the money made at each fundraiser, and periodically we will let kids and parents know if the individual goal was met.

If it was not met, we will need to collect the difference before departure.

These kids are able-bodied, intelligent, and could be hard-working.

Over the years we’ve had dozens of kids pay for their entire trip themselves.

• Rake leaves• Mow lawns• Shovel snow• Pull weeds• Babysit• Housesit• Pet sit/walk dogs• Plant sit

Besides money, these logistical concerns are what weigh most on kids and parents…

•Phones/Skype/Wifi/Communication

•ATMs and Credit Cards

•Passports

•Foreign Currency

•Foreign Languages

•Foreign Customs

•Behavior and Expectations

•Hotels and Rooming

•Planes

•Airport Procedures and Pickup

•How and What to Eat?

Here’s the stuff that concerns the teachers the most…

•These are 14-16 year old kids, away from home for 12 days in strange places.

•They have to know us (the teachers), so they trust us to keep them safe and know that we care.

•They have to know and trust one another.

•We have to know and trust them.

This is why attendance at as many meetings as possible and participation in our online activities is so important.

Here’s the other stuff that concerns the teachers the most…

• This is an educational trip.

• We are teachers, not tourists.

• We are students, not sightseers.

Online MeetingsEach month, except the summer, we have two online activities for the kids.

One is an academic activity.

The other is the TAP Movie of the Month.

These assignments are for their benefit, and will help them connect better to the places we’ll be visiting and the people we’ll meet.

WritingWe publish a student written

book every year.

This book acts as a travel guide, a text book, a journal, and an activity book.

Each student will be expected to research a variety of topics and contribute articles to the book.

At the end, each student in our program will be a published author.

• We need kids to beprepared for the trip – financially, logistically, socially, and academically

• If they are not prepared, we, as teachers, do not feel comfortable taking them.

• It’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to the group.

1. We want the kids to have fun. Fun is worth 100 points.

2. We want the kids to learn. Learning is worth 1,000 points.

3. We want the kids to be safe. Safety is worth 1,000,000 points.

The kids have to be active in TAP.

We don’t’ feel we can reach all three of our goals if the kids are not prepared.

We understand that you can’t make every meeting, but we need you to come as often as you can.

We understand that some people have no luck selling, but we need you to try.

We need you to be there when you can, participate in what you can, and be an active member of this group.

For participating whenever they can, kids can earn TAP points throughout the year. Points will be given for:

Meeting attendance

Writing assigned articles on time and up to standards

Participating in online activities

Watching Movies of the Month and joining the online discussions

Asking questions and participating at meetings

Helping with fundraisers

Other opportunities may arise

Kids who aren’t active in the TAP Community will not travel with us. That is for the good of the group.

Students must earn 75% of the available points to travel.

Students who earn 100% of the points will get a free TAP t-shirt before the trip.

The student who has the most TAP points will get a free lunch from Mr. Curtis while we’re on tour.

Thank you for your time.

If you don’t know any of the TAP teachers, please introduce yourself to at least one of us before you leave.

We need to have a positive relationship with you as much as we do with your kids.

If you have any questions that you don’t feel comfortable asking out loud, please feel free to see us or email us.

Please make sure we have your contact info (if you’ve been receiving our emails, then we do).