Did you love the camp(s) your child(ren) attended this summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't recommend WIS for very young children. It's a madhouse.

I'd have to disagree with this. My 4 year old attended WIS summer camp this year and loved it!

My three-year-old attended. Her teachers were terrible and barely even said hello to the children in the morning (they were not affiliated with WIS during the regular school year). And the playground was really chaotic and crowded with a mix of older and younger kids. No one knew my child's name on the playground - there was one aide watching dozens of kids. My child was scared of the older kids.

I guess I felt that no one really cared about my child there, which was sad because she was only three at the time and it was her first introduction to camp.

I wouldn't recommend it. And it doesn't have a great reputation in the neighborhood. I've heard raves about St. Patrick's and NPS' and Little Folks' camps. We'll try one of those next year.

My nephew attended WIS and HATED IT. He was 7 or 8. The "teenage" counselor played dodgeball with the kids and was throwing the ball at their faces. My nephew was hit in the face and was told... "suck it up, this is a man's game!" Needless to say my sister almost went to jail over that whole thing. It was so upsetting. I hated that camp as did everyone in my family. My nephew was miserable and my sister pulled him early.

Thank you for posting. I'm the poster who talked about my three-year-old who was so miserable there. It's a great school, so I'm not sure what is SO wrong with its camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm interested in the following camps and wonder if anyone has experience - good or bad - for a 5 1/2 year old boy -

Landon Camp
Concord Hill Camp
St Patricks Camp

My son went to St Patricks camp for 5 years starting in K and loved it. He went for 6 weeks the first few years and 3 weeks the last couple. It is well organized, they do a lot of different activities, and the couselors seem to be engaged. It is more expensive than a lot of the other camps he's attended (especially the extended day piece) but in the end was worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would not recommend Homerun. It's a mad house and drop-off and pick-up felt very unsafe. I felt like anyone could have grabbed my DC and no one would have been wiser. I also think they say 5:1 ratio and that is definitely not the case. The head coach/owner of the op drones on way too long IMHO during the Monday morning meeting about baseball and what several people who once attended his camp achieved. It's a bit much for a 4-year old.

I agree with this post; our four-year-old hated Home Run and we stopped going after two days. I will say in their favor that they were very nice about refunding us the pro-rated portion and did it promptly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm interested in the following camps and wonder if anyone has experience - good or bad - for a 5 1/2 year old boy -

Landon Camp
Concord Hill Camp
St Patricks Camp

Concord Hill camp is lovely but it might be a little underwhelming for a five-year-old. They don't have the space for a lot of outdoor activities, but the teachers/counselors are great and the activities are excellent for the younger set; little kids love it. I'd say Concord Hill is perfect for three and four-year-olds, and iffy for five-year-olds.

Landon is good for preschoolers/kindergarteners as well. For older boys, it was a little too Lord of the Flies and macho/sports for our tastes, but if you have an outgoing, sports-loving boy it would probably be a good choice.

HTH.

[Anonymous]

Stand-out camps over the years:

Temple Sinai Nursery School during preschool - lowkey, good special activities, teachers are the lead counselors while teenagers provide the extra energy.

FONZ camps at the Zoo for early elementary - content rich, teachers as lead counselors, and they walk all over the zoo and come home exhausted. For one DC after a rather understimulating year of kindergarten, it was like a man finding water in the desert!

For older elementary and up: TIC (Technology is Cool). Locations in MD and VA, half a day sports mixed with half a day programming/web design/video/computer graphics/etc (you choose one). Counselors are hired for skills with kids as well as tech/sports skills, the tech is real but well supported so not frustrating, the sports get the kids out and running for half of each day.

[Anonymous]

Here is a response about a different type of camp... but someone out there might be interested... My daughter did the 2 week Chinese Culture and Language program at Sidwell last year and loved it! She was a rising 1st grader - lots of hands on activities (cooking, calligraphy, exercise, dance plus language classes), excellent teachers (3 professionals with about 30 participants) and about 6 high school counselors that all study chinese (DD keeps asking me to get them to babysit!!). She is going back this coming summer (after having studied chinese this school year in extended day). Program has expanded to have Spanish, French and Latin sessions too although not sure DD wants those as much as the Chinese!

[Anonymous]

This answers the question and asks another: I've copied an email I sent in a panic last summer after a bad camp experience. Maybe you'll get a laugh and also be reassured that you're looking so closely at camps now!

OK, so I’ve led a sheltered life with Saint Columba’s summer camp. Silly me for thinking that another church camp (Long Summer Day at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda) would be a good way to finish out the summer. In 2 weeks, my six-year-old son has been exposed to video games, scary PG rated movies, and many new “vocabulary” words that go beyond potty talk. He’s fed copious amounts of Slurpees and other crap and leaves camp exhausted and hyped up on a sugar high. He’s learned to burp and belch at the table, which is encouraged at this camp. It’s like a frat house in training.

Anyone have any input on life at Audobon Naturalist Society Camp, Outdoor Nursery Camp, FONZ camp, or any of the other outdoorsy focused camps in NW DC or areas close to Bethesda?

Anyone know if any of these other camps have openings in August? St C's ends August 1.

Any suggestions? And yes, I've considered chilling and forgetting it, but trust me, this is excessive....my friend took her kid out after calling it a camp for "big swinging di***", which is by the way another one of those enriching words he picked up.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know anything about a nature camp out in Poolesville? Cabera, Cavera, Labera, or some such name?

[Anonymous]

I want to know more about CASA at Sheridan...anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know anything about a nature camp out in Poolesville? Cabera, Cavera, Labera, or some such name?

Calleva. DS did it for two summers, about six years ago. It was pretty bad. They were transported out in an old school bus which, he later told me, was rusting out on the bottom. Different activities each day, some of which required substantial additional travel. The counselors seemed to be hired for expertise in their activity rather than skills with children - weak leadership, poor attention to safety (my son had to ask for a helmet for rock climbing), and little understanding of child development (when a child became sick after being hit in the stomach, they stood around him chanting "barf barf barf").

I really hope it has improved, but I wouldnt recommend it.

[Anonymous]

My daughter (9 years old) did calleva this past summer and loved it. I've only heard good reviews (all recent experiences). The bus is the same but there is real outdoor camp experiences (rafting, canoeing, rock climbing) here versus just getting thru the day. My daughter was thrilled by the adventure every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD attended a MathTree camp for two weeks and it was horrific. She cried every day and NO ONE told us.

How old was your DD? After you found out, did she tell you what she disliked about it? We were thinking of this for our DS8. He really likes math and has a real facility for it. His teacher recommended MathTree as a good enrichment camp, but we hadn't heard anything about it from anyone who attended. Could you please describe what made her unhappy with it?

DD was 7 when she attended. She said that the camp teacher spent most of her time focused on the older kids and pretty much ignored her. The camp teacher told me (after the camp was done) that DD needed "too much individual attention". The camp teacher was (IMHO) *VERY* condescending to the younger (less than 4th grade) kids.

[Anonymous]

My 2 year old son went to CLC in Rockville. They had lots of outdoor playtime fun with sand tables, sprinkler/water play in the mornings, then went inside and changed into reg. clothes. He came home with art "projects" just about everyday. He had a teacher who teaches during the school year and two aides (HS/college students) in a class of 7 or 8. It was great, and they were really attentive to the kids. I felt like he was really well taken care of, and he had a lot of fun.

The older kids did trips--to pools, to the Imagination Stage, etc.

[zumbamama]

No...I wasted $200 on baseball camp.

[Anonymous]

my friend took her kid out after calling it a camp for "big swinging di***", which is by the way another one of those enriching words he picked up.

I just spit out my coffee, picturing this.