One week of sleep away, summer swim team, hanging at the pool with friends, family vacation for 3 weeks, one week summer school(high school prep class). If he’s motivated than maybe tutoring for $$.

My 11 year old woke up on her 10th birthdays and said “in three years I’ll be 13 and can finally volunteer at the animal shelter and be a CIT at nature camp.” She now is excited it’s a year and a half away.

She still goes to some camps, but she has a best friend who is a twin and the twins have a few other similar aged kids in the street and they spend a ton of their summers / weekends hanging out at someone’s house or in the park. The parents work but a few of us work from home (we’re only a mile away but there are two very busy streets). She also does a lot of half day soccer clinics and those run through high school.

What is VIP camp? Fcps has VIP camps for middle schoolers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rising eighth grader will do four weeks of band camp, one week of fishing, one week of Sleepaway sports camp, one week of Sleepaway regular camp, one week of vacation, and two weeks of relaxing.

Who has four weeks of band camp?

Vienna- for FCPS

Anonymous wrote:My rising eighth grader will do four weeks of band camp, one week of fishing, one week of Sleepaway sports camp, one week of Sleepaway regular camp, one week of vacation, and two weeks of relaxing.

Who has four weeks of band camp?

Anonymous wrote:Sailing camp is a great option for tweens/teens. There tends to be various programs through middle and high school.

This. Mine loves it. They are outside all summer in nature with other kids, having a great time.

This summer our child, 12, will do 4 weeks of sleepaway camp, 1 week of vacation, 2 weeks with family members, and we have 1 week where it is mostly errands , appointments, and sports practices before school starts. I think that may leave 1 or 2 weeks where it will be lounging at the nearby pool and having unstructured hangout time with friends. I will have chores and errands for my child to do and kids will be in and out of our house those weeks. I WFH and just expect that those weeks while she is at home may be less productive for me.

If in DC, several of the privates have half-day options. Our friends in MoCo have their kids do half-day camps.

Next year we will likely decrease time with family and focus on volunteering and more hanging out at the pool because grandparents are getting older, less mobile, and have less energy than they once had. Our child also wants to be with her friends more during the summer, which I totally understand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8th graders can stay home.

we know that but it’s boring 5 days a week all summer long.

Depends on where you live. Our neighborhood isn’t shipping kids off all summer to camp so the pool and playgrounds are packed. Capture the flag at night. Lots of bikes and hangouts. Older kids metro to library town center and even the national zoo last year.

Anonymous wrote:Volunteering

I'm a PP and I forgot about volunteering. I had my DD trained last month so that she's ready to sign up for volunteering shifts this summer when/if she gets bored.

My rising eighth grader will do four weeks of band camp, one week of fishing, one week of Sleepaway sports camp, one week of Sleepaway regular camp, one week of vacation, and two weeks of relaxing.

Volunteering

CYT, STEM camps, sports or music camp (blue lake, interlochen), sleepaway camp

You aren't looking very hard. There are tons of specialty camps in this area for 13+.

Mine when that age did sports camps, although they were often half-day, which is tricky if you can't arrange a mid-day pick-up. And didn't fill the summer, so otherwise they just hung out at home.

Yeah, parents are worried about screens all day, but I'm Gen X and we were glued to Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, etc. all afternoon. And on the phone with friends for hours. Leave a list of chores to be completed each day.

Anonymous wrote:8th graders can stay home.

we know that but it’s boring 5 days a week all summer long.