Parent workshop · 90 minutes · English or Korean · Live online now · Glenview, IL in-person planned
The AI workshop for parents —about your work, not your teenager’s.
Ninety minutes, no jargon, laptop optional. You will not be taught what your child should be doing. You will build something you actually use: a way to compare aid offers side by side, a deadline tracker that does the nagging for you, or a first pass at a college list built on fit and cost rather than a ranking. If we use a word you have to look up, stop us.
What you actually walk out with
Every session is built around one of these. You pick, or the room votes. Each one is a chore a parent already has — the point is to remove it, not to admire the technology.
Compare two financial-aid letters honestly
Aid letters are written to be hard to compare. You will lay two of them side by side on the same terms — total cost, what is a grant, what is a loan, what recurs each year. You type the numbers yourself; never upload a document with account or Social Security numbers in it, and we say that out loud in the room.
Organising numbers is not financial advice. For your family's actual decision, the school's financial-aid office is the authority and we will point you there.
Build a deadline tracker that does the nagging
Test dates, application deadlines, scholarship cutoffs, recommendation requests. You will end the session with a dated list you can keep updating — so the reminders come from a calendar rather than from you at the dinner table.
You verify every date against the official source. We show you how to check rather than asking you to trust an answer.
Research colleges on fit and cost, not ranking
A first pass at a list built from what your student actually wants, what your family can actually pay, and what each school actually offers — using every school's own net-price calculator rather than a sticker price.
A list is a starting point for a conversation with your student, not a verdict on where they should go.
Write the email you have been putting off
The note to a counselor, the follow-up to a coach, the question to an admissions office. You will draft it, then edit it back into your own voice — which is the part most people skip and the part that matters.
It should sound like you. If it sounds like software, we rewrite it until it does not.
Ask the question you cannot ask anyone else
The last stretch is open. Bring the thing you are genuinely stuck on — a course-selection argument, a summer that has no plan, a kid who has stopped talking about college. We work it in the room, with everyone watching how the question gets taken apart.
We answer as a practitioner, not as your family's counselor, and we will say when a question needs a professional we are not.
The flagship build, demonstrated
Two aid letters. Written to be hard to compare. Thirty seconds to an honest table.
You type the numbers in — that part matters — and the same question every letter dodges gets answered in one row: what does this actually cost per year, and how much of the “award” is money you repay?
A scripted demonstration with sample numbers, not real letters. Organising figures is not financial advice — your family’s decision belongs with you and the school’s aid office.
The rule we teach before the tool: type the numbers, never upload the letter — no account numbers, no Social Security numbers, nothing identifying, ever.
| Same terms, both schools | School A (sample) | School B (sample) |
|---|---|---|
| Published cost of attendance | $62,000 | $48,000 |
| Grants + scholarships (free money) | $34,000 | $18,000 |
| Loans (borrowed — repaid with interest) | $5,500 — repaid | $5,500 — repaid |
| Work-study (earned during the year) | $2,500 | $0 |
| Net cost before loans — the row that matters | $28,000 | $30,000 |
Notice what the table does not do: it does not tell you where your student should go. The “bigger award” letter and the cheaper school are different schools — and that conversation is yours, now with honest numbers in it.
Is teaching parents this just teaching families to cheat?
It is the first question in most rooms, and it deserves a direct answer rather than reassurance. The workshop is for a parent working on their own planning and paperwork. A school’s rules still govern anything connected to the student or an application, and the parent checks the final work against those rules.
The reason we teach it this way is that most parents' only experience of these tools is watching their teenager use one, which is exactly the wrong first impression. A parent who has directed one of these systems for ninety minutes on their own work has a far better instinct for what it is good at, where it is confidently wrong, and what a reasonable line looks like for their child.
That instinct is worth more than any rule we could hand you. It is also, honestly, why we run this at all: parents who understand the tool ask better questions about our programs, and we would rather be chosen by families who know what they are buying.
For churches, community organisations, and parent groups
We run this as a hosted session for community groups across the North Shore and Lake County. The terms are the same every time: content-first, no product pitch in the room, secular framing, all materials provided, and your organisation keeps the relationship with its own families. If a parent wants to talk about our programs afterwards, they can find us — we will not turn your event into a sales meeting, and we will put that in writing before the date.
- Ninety minutes, or sixty if that fits your schedule better
- English, Korean, or both in the same room
- We bring the materials, the examples, and the equipment
- No collection of anyone's contact details as a condition of attending
- No photographs of attendees or their screens
Questions parents ask
Community · Facebook
Stay close between seminars. Four parent communities, all open — join the one that fits.
Quick weekly tips, honest answers on where AI helps and where it quietly does the thinking, and parent Q&A threads. Each group has one job: one for the SAT and ACT, one for the AI-and-integrity question, one for North Shore families. No selling in any of them, including by us.
Admissions · AI · Counselors
Open now — newly formed
College Admissions and AI: Parents, Students, and Counselors
The rules students write for their AI, printed in full; what admissions offices can actually see; and straight answers, including "we do not know." Created 2026-08-29. Nothing is sold here, including by us.
Open the groupAI & Integrity · Admissions
Open now — newly formed
Is AI Cheating? College Prep for Parents
Only about a third of teachers say their school has a consistent AI policy, so most families are guessing. This group answers it plainly — plus the college list, essays, deadlines and financial aid.
Open the groupTest Prep · SAT & ACT
Open now — newly formed
SAT & ACT Prep for Parents of High School Students
Timelines, score reports, and what actually moves a score versus what wastes a summer. Including where AI genuinely helps with practice — and where it replaces the reps your teen needs.
Open the groupLocal · Chicago North Shore
Open now — newly formed
Glenview & Northbrook Parents — College Prep
Our district structure changes real decisions — the two Glenbrook schools differ in size, and Vernon Hills is split between two districts by street address. Generic advice misses that; comparing notes locally does not.
Open the group
Every group is public, so posts can appear in search outside Facebook. Please don't share anything about your teen you would not want public.
Ask about the next workshop
Tell us your community and whether you would want to attend or to host one. We run these in person across the North Shore and Lake County and live online for families anywhere. We will reply within two business days with the next dates.