All Frequently Asked Questions
All things Money $$$$
General Info
Venue Questions
About RCFT
Q. How will I know I’m registered for a trip?
Credit card payments: your email receipt from Cheddarup counts as your proof of registration – because we no longer have separate registration form and payment, we will no longer publish a database on the RCFT website.
Check payments: all checks must be mailed within three days of registration. Your registration is confirmed when we have received and deposited the check and emailed you through the Cheddarup system.
Because your Cheddarup receipt is your proof of registration, check that the email address you provide is spelled correctly!
Q. Will I receive a confirmation email?
You will receive an email receipt from Cheddarup.
If you did NOT receive a confirmation email from Cheddarup, email us because your payment may not have gone through or your email may have been entered correctly.
Q. Can I contact the venue to get my money back, a credit, or to have my seats rescheduled for a different day?
A. No. When you pay for a field trip with RCFT, you are entering into a contract with RCFT. You do not have a contract with the venue, nor do they know if your individual family has paid for a trip. If you contact a venue for a refund, credit, to reschedule, or for any reason outside of general information (eg. directions, etc) and/or if you present myself as a representative of RCFT you will forfeit the ability to sign up for field trips in the future.
Q. Do I have to be a member of Kentuckiana Homeschool, Inc. to register for field trips?
A. No. You do not have to be a member of Kentuckiana Homeschool, Inc. to join RCFT field trips. KHS member benefits include priority registration for certain field trips, exclusive field trips, and reduced prices on select field trips.
You do have to be a member of RCFT, and can join for free at RCFT Membership Page
Q. Do I have to pay for adults, babies, etc?
A. Whether or not adults, babies, toddlers, etc have to pay is completely dependent upon the venue that we are visiting. Some venues require even 1 y/o’s to pay, while others allow adults, and children up to 5 to enter for free. You can check each field trip to see how much it costs by going to our field trips page, clicking on the field trip you would like to attend, and reading the details at the bottom of the webpage for that field trip. It will say “Ticket Price: $X”, and will either have 1 ticket price listed for everyone, or will say what age groups are excluded from this payment for example, “children 3 and under are free” would mean that adults, and any child 4 and older needs to pay for entry.
Q. Do you get paid to do RCFT? Does anyone get paid to do RCFT?
A. No. No one gets paid. All of the work done to make these trips possible is done by volunteers. Volunteers dedicate at least 20 hours a week to RCFT, and on weeks with field trips, payment deadlines, and/or scheduling field trips it can be more than 40 hours a week! No one at RCFT has ever been paid to do this work. It is a work of love and service. Point Persons are also volunteers who have stepped up to lead trips. We are very grateful for the point persons, as we could not have field trips without them!
Q. How do I pay?
A. Payment information can be found on our website on our Payments page. All payments are collected through Cheddarup.
Q. The field trip is full; can I buy a ticket at the venue?
A. NO. Tickets are NEVER available at the venue. You are welcome to email us to see if there are any cancellations or if we can squeeze in another person, but only the directors of RCFT can contact a venue that we have a field trip scheduled with. If you have reserved through us, your contract and seats are with us. We are a non-profit business, and do not allow people outside our directors make or change reservations for us. If your child were in public school, you could not call and/or show up and try to alter the reservation of that school; the same is true for RCFT.
Q. What do you do with the money charged for free field trips?
A. ALL of the money collected from free field trips (minus any Cheddarup fees) is donated to charity, put into the scholarship fund, and/or used to buy small tokens of gratitude for those at the venue who hosted our trip (eg. RCFT used the money from the WAVE3 field trips to buy a fruit basket from Pauls Fruit Market for the employees of Wave 3) and those who volunteer for RCFT.
Q. Will I receive my tickets in the mail?
A. Generally, our field trips do not have tickets. We will meet up at the venue, and go in together as a group, much like a “regular” school. If tickets do need to be sent, a shipping cost (typically $1.50) will be added to your Cheddarup cart automatically .
Q. Why should I support River City Field Trips?
A. RCFT has been working for Kentuckiana homeschoolers since 2006. We are the longest running field trip resource, and have plans to continue as long as possible. In order to keep RCFT running, we need dedicated patrons and volunteers. Please consider donating your time to support us, share our events with your homeschool friends, and share our information with your homeschool groups. Word of mouth is our favorite advertising! By supporting RCFT, you are ensuring that current and future homeschoolers will have access to discounted educational programs and trips. Thank you!
Q. Who can join River City Field Trips?
A. Anyone who homeschools their children can join RCFT group, even if you’re only homeschooling your preschooler. Membership is free, but you are required to register on our membership page. All members must agree to our Terms of Service when joining. Continued violation of TOS will result in removal from RCFT.
Q. What trips can I sign up for?
A. You can sign up for as many or as few field trips as you are interested in. Out of fairness to everyone, especially when a field trip is popular or has a limited group size, please only sign up for trips you will actually attend.
Q. How do I sign up for field trips?
A. Each field trip is listed on our field trips page. On Cheddarup, each field trip lists the maximum number of seats available. All field trips need at least two people who are willing to serve as Point Person if asked.
To sign up for an open field trip, click the title on the field trips page to get the full trip description (Please read carefully and pay attention to suggested ages/grades, special instructions). Click on the “Register and Pay” button – you will be taken to Cheddarup, where you will select the number of tickets your family needs, fill out the reservation form, and complete with payment method.
If a trip is full, we will often create a separate Waitlist form – please fill out the form to be added to the waitlist.
- We will contact you IF tickets become available and give you a small window of time (4 hours after we contact you) to purchase before moving to the next family on the list.
- You must respond that you want the tickets, and THEN we will send you the link to purchase
We will only contact people between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. – you will not miss out on a middle of the night offer!
Q. Can I register my friends/extended family for a field trip?
A. No. One of the Terms of Service that every member agrees to is that they can only reserve tickets for their own homeschooling family unless a special exception is made by the RCFT committee – this exception will be in the field trip description. Continued violation of this policy or others outlined in the TOS will result in removal of RCFT membership.
Q. I’ve never been on a field trip before, what do I do?
A. After you’ve signed up and paid for your field trip, you may be wondering, “What now?” We will send you an email 5-7 days before your trip outlining the time you should arrive, where the venue is, who you need to check in with, and any other pertinent information that you will need.
Sometimes this email gets sent to your junk or spam folder. If you believe you should have received this email and did not, email coordinator@rcft.org. Email is our preferred avenue of communication, notifications of Facebook comments do not always get seen.
Please be aware that your group may not be able to sit together. All seats are filled, in order, just like with a regular school group. We do our best to keep families together, but we cannot guarantee it. If we have to split groups or families, we try to split those with multiple adults, so that an adult from each family can remain with their children. Usually, if a family is split, they are seated at the table directly beside their family, or in the row directly behind their family. If you are unwilling to be separated from your group, you may want to reconsider joining us on field trips.
Q. How can I help?
A. We always need people to volunteer to be “Point Person.” A point person is the person who arrives a little before everyone else, talks to the people at the venue to let them know that we will be gathered soon, and checks people off a list that is sent to them. The Point Person is the “leader” of the field trip, but mainly just acts as a liaison between the venue and our group.
We are always happy to talk to committed, reliable members about volunteering to plan field trips, update the website and social media, help with mailings and more.
If you are interested in learning about what is involved in volunteering and what benefits are available to team members, contact Mary G. at coordinator@rcft.org.
Q. What is a Point Person?
A. A point person is the person who arrives a little before everyone else, talks to the people at the venue to let them know that we will be gathered soon, and checks people off a list that is sent to them. The Point Person is the “leader” of the field trip, but mainly just acts as a liaison between the venue and our group. We cannot have field trips without Point Persons.
Depending on the venue, the Point Person may also be responsible for collecting waivers, distributing stickers/wristbands/etc.
Q. More about RCFT
A. River City Field Trips has been around since 2006. We try to offer diverse field trips that we think people will enjoy, and offer staples that you can rely on every year. We think that one of the best things about homeschooling is the freedom to enjoy things like field trips! The day to day, the field trip planning, database, website, Facebook page, and emails are all maintained by our RCFT and KHS team.
Q. How does a field trip come to be?
A. It really isn’t as simple as it seems when you are planning field trips for a very diverse group of 1,900+ homeschooling families. We book a lot of our theatre field trips at the end of the preceding year. We call or email a venue, receive information from them, start a correspondence, look at our numbers for attendance for similar trips from previous years, commit to a certain day, time, and number of people, design a webpage for the field trip, update the field trips page of the website to reflect the new field trip, post the trip to our webpage, post the trip to our Facebook group, and wait for questions and reservations. We send and receive over 3,000 emails a school year, as well as postal mail, and telephone correspondence. Once we have filled our trip/the payment deadline passes, we contact the venue again to adjust our numbers if necessary and pay for the trip. We then send out an email to the point person to get their description and send them the checklist. We send out an email to the group going with the details of the trip, where to go, who to look for, etc. After the trip, we have to update the website, and database to reflect that the trip is no longer available. I’m sure I left out some of the details, but you get the picture 🙂
Q. Why haven’t you responded to my email?
A. It can take us a while to respond to emails since we are all volunteers working during our “free” time to provide this service. No one at RCFT is paid to be here. We find value in RCFT, and volunteer our time to make it happen.
Some of us work outside the home in addition to homeschooling our own children and volunteering! We send and receive over 3,000 emails during a school year, as well as keep track of the website, membership applications and payments. Please be patient. We will respond as quickly as we can. You can probably find the answer to your question on our website in the FAQ, on the Payments page, or Field Trips page.
Q. Why is there a fee for free field trips and/or free tours?
A. We started charging a fee because we have found that if we do not charge something, we have a 50-75% no-show rate, which is extremely embarrassing for us as homeschoolers and as a business. It also ensures that people who are inclined to forget to cancel reservations that they have made, have a financial reason to remember.
Q. Will transportation be provided?
A. No. Transportation is not provided by RCFT. Each individual family is responsible for arriving at the location of the event on time. It is the individual’s responsibility to find directions, transportation, etc.
Q. Do the Derby Dinner Playhouse plays include food?
A. No. Derby Dinner Playhouse plays do not include any food. Food and drinks are NOT allowed in the venue during field trips.
Q. What is RCFT’s phone number?
A. RCFT does not have a dedicated phone number. ALL of our correspondence is done via email.
Q. I accidentally unsubscribed from the mailing list. How can I rejoin?
A. If you accidentally unsubscribed from our mailing list, your membership to our website and Facebook page will likely have been deleted as well. You will need to fill out the membership form again (under membership at the top of this page), and resubscribe to our mailing list
Q. The “deadline” for a field trip has passed, but the reservation form is linked on the webpage. Why can’t I sign up?
A. Each field trip has a “deadline” to submit a reservation form and payment. The deadline is the date we have to receive money by so that we can pay the venue. Most venues require us to pay 4-8 weeks BEFORE a field trip. The deadline is the last day to register & pay. Each Cheddarup link is set to no longer accept reservations by midnight the night of the deadline or when tickets are no longer available, whichever comes first.
Q. Will you cancel the field trip because of the weather?
Short answer, No. Most of our field trips go on rain or shine, so please dress appropriately. If a venue cancels a field trip for weather, we will notify you BY EMAIL and POST ON THE FACEBOOK GROUP as soon as the venue notifies us. If the committee is making the weather call (generally for rain), we will wait as long as we can to make the call. We have found that the weather is highly unpredictable, and that waiting is the best option we have. Please do not email us about the weather. As soon as we know, you will get an email 🙂
Q. Can I contact the venue?
A. The short answer is No. You can contact the venue for general information like directions, but they will not be able to help you with anything regarding a trip with RCFT. They work with us, and we work with you.
When you pay for a field trip with RCFT, you are entering into a contract with RCFT. You do not have a contract with the venue, nor do they know if your individual family has paid for a trip. If you contact a venue for a refund, credit, to reschedule, or for any reason outside of general information (eg. directions, etc) and/or if you present myself as a representative of RCFT you will forfeit the ability to sign up for field trips in the future.
Q. Can I sell my tickets to someone else?
In most cases, no. If you are no longer able to attend a field trip, contact us no later than 3 days before an event. If we are able to sell your tickets to another family, you will get a refund or credit towards another RCFT event for the face value of the tickets.
For events with physical tickets, you can attempt to sell them to another River City member for WHAT YOU PAID FOR THE TICKETS. If someone tries to resell you a ticket for more than we sold them for, please email us!