I don't believe kids need a ton of structure, and I have been blessed with (thus far) incredibly good kids. Some attitude and a bit of boundary testing, but by and large reasonable, responsible, and compliant.

They are incredibly structured and busy during the school year, so I don't mind slightly lazy summers. I let them stay home together, but we have strict rules. Only their cousins or specific close friends are permitted to come over and only at specified times. I don't mind if the majority of their day is spent watching TV/on the computer/at the pool/at a friend's house as long as chores are kept up with, family safety and accountability rules are followed, and a certain amount of schoolwork, exercise, and community service happens each week. Basically, we come up with a rough schedule that we can all live with, subject to changes and reviewed and approved every night, and then we hold each other to it. 3 years running and we have had some issues but nothing major.

last year my 12 year old did 3 weeks of sleep away camp, two weeks bach to rock, two weeks at home bored and at pool, a week of vacation, and a week when we were all off and home. Was perfect and doing that again this year.

I'm hoping to revive this thread with some additional ideas. Even though it's only December, I notice that some camps fill up starting in January. My DS is 12 years old, and in 6th grade. I'd like him to have some structure this summer. He'd love a Junior Counselor-in-Training opportunity, but I realize he may be too young for that.

Any thoughts for kids in DC/Bethesda/Chevy Chase?

Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Um, does a parent really need to be home all day to care for a middle-schooler? Most 12-14 year olds can manage on their own during the day.

My 12 year old was fine with a few days at a time home last year, but beyond that I wasn't comfortable.

None of the other kids in the neighborhood stay home, so he'd get pretty bored. I trust him not to do something awful, but it ended up that he'd go back to bed, and then stay up late playing video games, it just seemed less than ideal. So I sent him to computer camp and he had a blast.

Anonymous wrote:Um, does a parent really need to be home all day to care for a middle-schooler? Most 12-14 year olds can manage on their own during the day.

Said the proud new grandparent

They can do some community service. Montgomery County elementary summer school programs in Title 1 schools use kids as young as rising 6th graders to help out in classrooms, or at least they did two years ago when my daughter volunteered.

My DD has done this (ELO-SAIL) for two summers now and will probably do it again. It's a half day for 2-4 weeks, and at least provides some structure for the day. Last summer, she did it with a friend.

Also did UMD's engineering camp (1 week). That was a big hit.

Add some family vacation, a camp related to her school, and the summer was pretty much spoken for.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they can be home all day..but should they be? Do you trust them and all of there friends who know they are home alone all summer. I don't.

Mine would be bored silly.

I noticed this group offered classes for 13 plus on creating digital art. They may also have summer resources

Brentwood Arts Exchange - exchanging ideas through art

A facility of The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission

@ Gateway Arts Center

3901 Rhode Island Avenue

Brentwood, MD 20722

tel. 301-277-2863 / tty. 301-466-6802

arts.pgparks.com



Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 10am - 7pm

Saturday: 10am - 4pm

Closed Sundays

Maybe they can be home all day..but should they be? Do you trust them and all of there friends who know they are home alone all summer. I don't.

Um, does a parent really need to be home all day to care for a middle-schooler? Most 12-14 year olds can manage on their own during the day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's wrong with letting them park their ass in front of the tube and go swimming every day, as God intended summers to be like?

Could you point out the particular bible verses supporting that belief?

Some parents feel that their kids enjoy and benefit from some more structure/supervision/socialization in the summer.

YOU ARE NOT DOING SUMMER RIGHT. MIDDLE SCHOOL SUMMER IS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL TASTES, EXPERIMENTATION WITH FIRE AND THE OPPOSITE SEX, AND PUBERTY ERUPTION. THESE THINGS CAN BE DONE AT CAMP OR AT HOME, PREFERABLY AT CAMP.

They can do some community service. Montgomery County elementary summer school programs in Title 1 schools use kids as young as rising 6th graders to help out in classrooms, or at least they did two years ago when my daughter volunteered.

Montgomery County Rec. also takes kids who are 13 and over for its junior counselor program (used to be called counselors in training and may have yet another name this year). You have to pay for this, but it's less than the fee for the camps.

These programs count for the Student Service Learning Hours, and my daughter racked up enough hours in middle school to have enough for graduation and then some.

Independent Lake Camp in the Poconos, lots of kids from the area go there, I would say that the peak age range is middle school and early high school and they then transition to CITs and junior counselors. The camp is large and has a huge number of activities, biggest and most popular program is circus, which more than half the camp participates in, but lots of sports (more non-traditional, such as rockclimbing, mountain biking, skateboarding) but my daughter got to be a pretty good basketball and volleyball player there as well. It is however expensive, not surprising given all the "stuff" they have. It is not fancy in terms of cabins or that sort of stuff, the money is in the equipment and staff, many who have worked there for 5-20 years particularly in the circus program. Both my daughters loved the camp, as did most of their friends that went there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids tended to do sleep away camps for at least part of the summer in middle school. It's a great age for it in terms of independence. We did CTY, Overland, even sleep away sports camps (although these tend to only be week long programs and often end on Thursdays so can be logistically challenging.). Those programs would be anywhere from 1-3 weeks and each kid would typically be away for about 3-4 weeks (not straight through). Also second PPs rec of Calleva, which we did for at least 2 weeks each summer.

Hi, can you pls. recommend a sleepaway sports camp? I'm not sure where to start looking. My son will be 12, almost 13, and going into 7th grade.

Ryerson Soccer at Mt St Mary's was good at that age as it was well supervised. Most of them are sport specific so it depends what you are looking for.

Anonymous wrote:Ok, if you cannot afford sleep away camp what are your options? I have used mostly boys and girls club camps for elementary? I know though as a child I just watched lots of tv at this age. Have a good degree and good job so it wasn't too toxic but have to say I feel awful a the prospect of my kid doing the same.

did you watch it at home alone? all day? or was your mom there with you?