We attended Estrellitas summer camp. It's $350 per week.

Free by attending a DC summer enrichment program during the day--and DS can self-monitor until I get home from work.

Anonymous wrote:We do full day because we work FT and always stay inside DC for commuting reasons.
Cheapest option is to go back to your daycare if they will let you come for just the summer. Many will because they lose kids in the upper grades as they go on to preschools.
This year we need 9 weeks (DCPS)
3 weeks private school camp 400-500/week/kid
2-3 weeks vacation
2-4 weeks cheaper in-town camp, LEGO, STEM, karate, YMCA aquatics $200-350/week
We have two kids so it gets pricey. Spent $8000 the year before last on 8 weeks at private school camps for 2 kids with aftercare.
We do not do DCPR camps, I have seen them in action when they are not properly supervised, the bathrooms are universally gross, a friend of mine's kid got heat stroke once. But might work esp. for younger kid in controlled setting.

None of what you say above about DPR camps bears any relation to my experience with them.

We're doing school based this year for about $1800 for two kids for six weeks. Then a vacation for two weeks, then back to school.

In previous years we've done DPR for $50 a week.

There are lower cost options out there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a JKLM and everyone does the $350+150ish for aftercare camps like Sidwell, Barrie, Casa, Calleva, Valley Mill, Glen Echo, Home Run baseball, etc, etc, etc. To a person.

We have 3 kids and the older 2 do these and the youngest does DCPR because she's in PK and doesn't care.

We spend about $5K for 6 weeks of camp total (we don't pay for aftercare because I work part-time). Then we take 3 weeks of vacation.

Do some of these camps have buses from the JKLM area? Some of them are pretty far away...

We do the Potomac school camps. They have a bus from Mann.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a JKLM and everyone does the $350+150ish for aftercare camps like Sidwell, Barrie, Casa, Calleva, Valley Mill, Glen Echo, Home Run baseball, etc, etc, etc. To a person.

We have 3 kids and the older 2 do these and the youngest does DCPR because she's in PK and doesn't care.

We spend about $5K for 6 weeks of camp total (we don't pay for aftercare because I work part-time). Then we take 3 weeks of vacation.

Do some of these camps have buses from the JKLM area? Some of them are pretty far away...

Yeah, all the ones out of the city do.

We do full day because we work FT and always stay inside DC for commuting reasons.
Cheapest option is to go back to your daycare if they will let you come for just the summer. Many will because they lose kids in the upper grades as they go on to preschools.
This year we need 9 weeks (DCPS)
3 weeks private school camp 400-500/week/kid
2-3 weeks vacation
2-4 weeks cheaper in-town camp, LEGO, STEM, karate, YMCA aquatics $200-350/week
We have two kids so it gets pricey. Spent $8000 the year before last on 8 weeks at private school camps for 2 kids with aftercare.
We do not do DCPR camps, I have seen them in action when they are not properly supervised, the bathrooms are universally gross, a friend of mine's kid got heat stroke once. But might work esp. for younger kid in controlled setting.

Anonymous wrote:We're at a JKLM and everyone does the $350+150ish for aftercare camps like Sidwell, Barrie, Casa, Calleva, Valley Mill, Glen Echo, Home Run baseball, etc, etc, etc. To a person.

We have 3 kids and the older 2 do these and the youngest does DCPR because she's in PK and doesn't care.

We spend about $5K for 6 weeks of camp total (we don't pay for aftercare because I work part-time). Then we take 3 weeks of vacation.

Do some of these camps have buses from the JKLM area? Some of them are pretty far away...

We're at a JKLM and everyone does the $350+150ish for aftercare camps like Sidwell, Barrie, Casa, Calleva, Valley Mill, Glen Echo, Home Run baseball, etc, etc, etc. To a person.

We have 3 kids and the older 2 do these and the youngest does DCPR because she's in PK and doesn't care.

We spend about $5K for 6 weeks of camp total (we don't pay for aftercare because I work part-time). Then we take 3 weeks of vacation.

I would say we spend on average $500 per week per kid, if even a bit more. That's in part because we always need the camp before and aftercare, so even if the "list price" looks more like $350-400 per kid it ends up being more like $500 per kid, or even a bit more.

(This is for camps like Sidwell, CASA, Barrie, TIC).

We usually do 5 weeks of camp, 2 weeks of swim camp with the grands, a week long family vacay and 1 lazy week. That covers our summer.

As you can see from above, it depends on if you do aftercare, if you need care for every single week of the summer, and which camps you choose.

There are roughly 10 weeks to the summer. The most expensive full-day camps usually top out at about $550/week (including aftercare and transportation, if needed). Seems like DCPR are the cheapest, but I have heard mixed things about quality. So, it is somewhat up to you. If you need full-time care count on a max of $5500 for the entire summer, but you can get away with much much less if you would like. Also, a lot of camps have sibling discounts, so if you have 2 kids, you usually won't be paying double.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS summer is 9 weeks. One year a while back it was 10 weeks, but normally is 9 weeks.

We do 6 weeks of camp for two kids. Day camps vary a bit, but usually average $500/week per child with either aftercare or transportation. We do a mix of traditional camp and arts or sports camps.

Sleep away camp is $1000/week and we are adding that to the mix as our kids get older.

This is not typical. This is in the extreme scale.

I answered the question honestly. I do not have my kids in aftercare during the school year so I save there, but I pay for programs my kids will enjoy that are convenient to me because finding programs that work and we can handle the drop-offs and pick up can feel like a complex problem, having them at the same location is worth a premium to me. And I do sign up early for the discounts.

Oh trust me, I'm not knocking you at all. I just want OP to know that there are many good options for under $300 too so she didn't think this was representative.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS summer is 9 weeks. One year a while back it was 10 weeks, but normally is 9 weeks.

We do 6 weeks of camp for two kids. Day camps vary a bit, but usually average $500/week per child with either aftercare or transportation. We do a mix of traditional camp and arts or sports camps.

Sleep away camp is $1000/week and we are adding that to the mix as our kids get older.

This is not typical. This is in the extreme scale.

I answered the question honestly. I do not have my kids in aftercare during the school year so I save there, but I pay for programs my kids will enjoy that are convenient to me because finding programs that work and we can handle the drop-offs and pick up can feel like a complex problem, having them at the same location is worth a premium to me. And I do sign up early for the discounts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With DPR or camps that are $50-$100/week, you get what you pay for. $10K is unrealistic for a 3 year old. Probably closer to $3k at the better camps (~$350-400) for 9 weeks

My kid did DPR and a whole bunch of more expensive ones. Granted he's only 6, but he much prefers DPR over Sidwell, Lowell and a few others.

I think the thing for me is that I get worried that I won't get spaces at the good DPR ones, which open up long after the private ones offer disounts. So I hedge my bets.

Also, FWIW, Sidwell is among the cheapest of the private ones with all their discounts.