Camp options -- Norwood, Bullis, ESF at GT Prep?

[Anonymous]

Trying to find a couple weeks of specialty/sports camps for my kids (boy age 7 and girl age 6) to supplement the camp with their aftercare provider. My son is all about doing a sports camp (either multisports or soccer), whereas my daughter is more into arts and crafts, music, and dance (though not in any formal way -- she has not actually taken a dance class). I've been looking at these three camps and am having a hard time deciding which would be best. ESf has the best multisport option, but my daughter would just have to do the day camp there (which might work out just fine). ESF has the added advantage of including swim instruction, which both kids need. Bullis does not have great variety of specialty offerings for my daughter but has soccer camp for my son. Norwood is probably the least expensive overall and offers some really interesting class options, particularly in art, science, and nature (which my son would also enjoy), but it is not quite as convenient, doesn't have swimming, and does not really have a true multisport camp or soccer.
So I'm wondering if anyone can speak to the quality of the counselors at these camps, perhaps that might help in my decision-making. Also, which one is most nurturing? My daughter, although not at all shy, had a very difficult transition to kindergarten this year, so I'm concerned about how she will react to another new environment. Great, attentive, fun counselors would probably help.

[Anonymous]

My DD, who will be 8 by this summer, has done ESF for the past three years. She did the whole summer there two years ago, but only a few weeks the other summers. The camp is fabulous, but the kids don't stop all day and they lug their stuff (except their lunch box) with them all day. This includes their wet swim stuff. DD would come home exhausted. She enjoyed it, but I actually think it was overly structured for DD.

[Anonymous]

My daughter did the Junior Day camp two years ago and she enjoyed it. They don't have swim instruction, but they do water play each morning, which she seemed to enjoy. The campus is gorgeous and the counselors are good. We will probably enroll her again this year at Norwood for the Day camp option. If you are looking for a summer camp with a great swim instruction, I recommend checking out Headfirst. They have several locations in MD and DC. We were at the DC location and our daughter really loved the daily swimming. The only downside is that the camp is very expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter did the Junior Day camp two years ago and she enjoyed it. They don't have swim instruction, but they do water play each morning, which she seemed to enjoy. The campus is gorgeous and the counselors are good. We will probably enroll her again this year at Norwood for the Day camp option. If you are looking for a summer camp with a great swim instruction, I recommend checking out Headfirst. They have several locations in MD and DC. We were at the DC location and our daughter really loved the daily swimming. The only downside is that the camp is very expensive.

I'll look into Headfirst -- we'd have to do the Mater Dei location. One concern is that the Day Camp (which would be the only option for my daughter since she would not be interested in a sports camp) is for ages 3.5 to 6, so she would be with a lot of younger kids as a 6 yo.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have experience with both Headfirst and ESF at GT Prep that could comment?