Feedback on CASA at Sheridan, Beauvoir camp, and Levine School camp

[Anonymous]

I am starting to look for camps for the first time for my daughter, who will be btwn K and 1st grade this coming summer. She likes arts & crafts and music and seems happier in well-organized, well-structured, relatively small group settings. She is starting to learn to swim, but I am a little neurotic about pool safety (and overconfident kids) and would only want her to be in a swimming program if it were very well supervised. I have heard vaguely good things about the Levine and Sheridan camps and mixed reports about Beauvoir (but it would be extremely convenient, and a couple of her friends will probably go there). Does anyone have detailed feedback on any of these, recommendations for or against, or other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

We did all three last summer. My DC (6) would rank them:

Levine (loved it)
Casa (loved it)
Beauvoir (eh, OK)

This summer we are just doing Levine and cASA

[Anonymous]

Of the 3, Beauvoir is the least organized IMO. Levine is the most. CASA in the middle.

Of the 3, Levine seems to have the most seasoned teachers -- a lot of them actually ARE teachers, not college and high school students earning credits and money. CASA has a fair amount of post-college teachers, and also a good number of college-age students. Beauvoir's are the youngest. A lot of them seem more like babysitters, frankly.

I think CASA, by its nature, will get your daughter the most arts and crafts. Levine = none, Beauvoir in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much. This is very helpful!

[Anonymous]

My DS went to Beauvoir camp at that age, albeit several years ago, and I agree with previous posters that it was not great. Seems like it should be but the wonderful facilities didn't make up for the somewhat cold staff. The best counselor he had was a high school student, who seemed to be the only one who engaged with the kids. He went to St Patricks camp for 5 years after that and loved it. Of all the camps he went to it was the one he actually asked to go back to every year. They swim every day at the pool across the street and I think it is very well supervised. It is swimming lessons rather than just a free swim.

[Anonymous]

My son has attended CASA at age 6 and really enjoyed the program. We just haven't been able to fit their three weeks into our summer schedules the last two years. We've also loved Sidwell, which has lots of offerings like CASA, and we're trying the Potomac School summer program, which is very popular and fills up by January.

I'm glad to see these responses, as it helps me with ratings on my summer camps page I post every year at: http://ytropics.fortunecity.com

[Anonymous]

My 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter have loved Sidwell's Junior and Explorer Programs. Our friends have enjoyed CASA.

[Anonymous]

My child went to Beauvoir summer two years in a row and refuses to go back. Nothing awful but I think he would agree with the PP's child who said eh, ok.

[Anonymous]

OP here. DD loved Levine! We will definitely do it again.

[Anonymous]

My daughter LOVED Beauvoir. Totally organized at the 3-4 yr level. She was beaming with joy at pick up. Literally. Ms Manning is great

[Anonymous]

OP back again. We also did Beauvoir--it was not a good fit. Maybe it was too big; maybe there was too much change week to week; maybe it was too much like school but with activities that were not all that compelling. Whatever the reason, DD cried almost every day at drop-off, and she is normally a very confident girl who loves school and her other activities. The staff and facilities are very nice, but for us, the experience was a disaster.