ID Tech BattleBots at AU vs Lavner vs TIC

[Anonymous]

Hello!
We are thinking of signing our 9 year old son up for ID Tech BattleBots at AU. Has anyone done this camp or any other IDTech camps at AU? I can't find any recent reviews of ID Tech's AU camps, and the reviews of their other locations vary widely. ID Tech's instagram ads are compelling, but the camp is $1399 per week and $375 is a non-refundable deposit. I want to get clarity on whether it's worth it - it would be the most expensive camp we do by far.

Lavner robotics camps are less expensive. Our child did 3 weeks there last summer, but I got the sense that the camp was not that well run and the instructors were providing babysitting with screens rather than actual teaching.

Have never done TIC and would love to hear from anyone who has enrolled children in their camps recently. It seems like their pricing is on par with IDTech

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

My DD did TIC and she liked it, but I didn't like that it was ages 9-14 in a single group (she was the only 9yo) and she was the only girl in her group. Even all the counselors for her group were male.

It really didn't feel great that she was the only girl with 14 older boys + 2 college age male counselors. Her "build" partner for the week was 14 yo boy. That's a huge, huge maturity gap. They should have worked that out better and gender balanced somehow.

She was originally supposed to be in a younger group, but they overenrolled that group so they moved her up to adjust the group sizes.

[Anonymous]

Our son did Boolean girl coding camp in Arlington last summer and loved it! They offer one co-ed session each week during the summer. ID tech had camps in the same bldg in Arlington and it looked like the kids were enjoying themselves but did skew older. I just saw them in passing throughout the day as I camped out and worked from an empty office in the bldg the entire week my kid was in camp. Our son was a rising 5th grader last year. He went with a friend who was also a rising 5th grader and both of them said they would come back next summer for 2 weeks instead of just one.