Bad camp experience - beware

[Anonymous]

We had a terrible experience with Great Adventure Lab Lego STEM camp this week.

It was very disorganized, frustrating for my son, and turned him off from Lego Mindstorms. Then they kicked him out of camp for standard horseplay with his best friend in the camp, and now the two boys have to attend separate camps. Both families are outraged.

ESF and Headfirst were excellent with no issues and a really fun learning experience for my son, Great Adventure Lab is terrible and to be avoided at all costs.

[Anonymous]

What did they do? What do you mean by standard horseplay?

I'm on your side, op, I can't stand when places have poor leadership and then get angry when the kids don't behave, but the kids don't behave because of lack of organization and expectations and supervision. It happened to us in a sports class but nobody got kicked out. So I'm truly curious what your son did to merit getting kicked out.

[Anonymous]

Did you feel that it was disorganized and poorly run before your kid got kicked out or has that colored your view overall? I certainly can understand why it would color your view, but it also makes me take your assessment of the camp with a big grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a terrible experience with Great Adventure Lab Lego STEM camp this week.

It was very disorganized, frustrating for my son, and turned him off from Lego Mindstorms. Then they kicked him out of camp for standard horseplay with his best friend in the camp, and now the two boys have to attend separate camps. Both families are outraged.

ESF and Headfirst were excellent with no issues and a really fun learning experience for my son, Great Adventure Lab is terrible and to be avoided at all costs.

Shame on you. It takes a lot to get a kid kicked out of camp. Clearly he is badly behaved and unsuitable for social settings.

You shouldn't bash the camp because your kid is awful.

[Anonymous]

"very disorganized" -- except organized enough to kick out your misbehaving kid

"frustrating for my son" -- because he couldn't misbehave without getting kicked out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a terrible experience with Great Adventure Lab Lego STEM camp this week.

It was very disorganized, frustrating for my son, and turned him off from Lego Mindstorms. Then they kicked him out of camp for standard horseplay with his best friend in the camp, and now the two boys have to attend separate camps. Both families are outraged.

ESF and Headfirst were excellent with no issues and a really fun learning experience for my son, Great Adventure Lab is terrible and to be avoided at all costs.

Admit it, it was your kid not the camp.

[Anonymous]

We have had our share of disappointing camps, and I know I have been frustrated myself, OP. But two things stand out here: it sounds like your son and his friend were assigned to different camp sessions, not kicked out. And what do you mean by standard horseplay? Camp is more relaxed than school but they still want kids to follow rules and be safe.

[Anonymous]

Meh, not surprised. It's not like the counselor's have much experience with handling groups of kids so it's just easier for them to get rid of the kid.

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering what OP considers "standard horseplay" and how it has any place in a technology camp?

[Anonymous]

NP here. We attended Great Adventure Lab two and three years ago. Three years ago it was great, the year after that was a disaster. Total chaos and counselors who were checked out and not at all responsive to the kids or parents for that matter. I wrote to the head of the program with my concerns and she was also completely non-responsive. I was not at all impressed. My kid did not get kicked out, so no behavior issues here. That said, I pulled him from the second week because it was so bad. I wonder if she expanded too quickly? Or doesn't screen her employees well? I don't know what happened, but it's a shame as it was pretty cool the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm wondering what OP considers "standard horseplay" and how it has any place in a technology camp?

What is standard horseplay and did they stop as soon as the counselors said to? If not, and it was disruptive or problematic, then no matter how good or bad the camp was, your kid's behavior problems likely contributed to the situation.

[Anonymous]

They are responsible for your kids safety and so they limit the rough housing. If they come home with bruises you would be blaming them. If your kids are high energy, pick a sports or variety type camp.

[Anonymous]

"standard horseplay"? LOL bye felicia

[Anonymous]

We've done one-day workshops with Great Adventure Labs and been really disappointed. Checked out counselors (it's just a few hours, don't take the job if you don't want it!) and un-interesting curriculum. TIC is much better for robotics/technology.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing horseplay is being silly, talking when instruction are being given, maybe doing things like piling Legos in a funny way, that kind of totally mischief that is developmentally appropriate for young kids in the summer time.

I work FT so my kids do camps all summer long so I have seen it all. Without exception when I pick up my kid at camp I see at least 90% of the kids engaging in this type of behavior and no one bats an eye.

OP you have a right to be annoyed.