Traveling Players Ensemble. Multi-week options for teens. For high schoolers there are audition and non-audition ensembles. It is classical theater in the great outdoors. No screens, weekly campouts, and higher level language acquisition. What could be better. www.travelingplayers.org

I agree with that wholeheartedly! Let the kid be a kid and stay home with his friends, if that's what he wants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do they need to do anything? At 13 they are old enough to stay home alone, I assume in this day and age they have a phone and we have a good public transit system. They can go hang out with friends or hang out at home.

Because at 13 many kids don't want to stay home alone all day for 8-10 hours/5 days a week for weeks on end.
Their friends are either on vacation or at summer camp. And if they are not, no parent wants their kid coming over to a house where there are no parents for more than an afternoon.

I didn't mean they had to stay alone all day, just meant they don't require an adult at home. They can come and go as they please, depending on transportation. I spent most of my 13-14 year old summers at my friends' houses, sometimes there were parents sometimes not, we biked up to shopping centers, parks, the beach, etc. and hung out. I'm assuming they are in the DC metro area so there's transportation options for most of the area or they can bike to things, that's how I got around my town before I had a car (my hometown had little public transit). I understand the issue of 'all their friends' are away, but I can't imagine EVERY single kid they know are away at the same time for the entire summer. Plus, it's probably not a bad thing for a kid to learn how to be idle and how to pass time without being governed by a schedule or camp or their parents.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of any academic-type summer camps for an older kid (14, entering high school) in MD or DC? I know about the Univ. of Maryland camps (https://oes.umd.edu/middle-high-school-students) but the one for high schoolers sounds a little too intense because it is similar to college classes and includes who are older than 14.
I'd be interested especially in a science or writing camp that also has some fun thrown in, but at this point, would like to hear about anything that'd keep the teen brain working for at least a week this summer.

Montgomery College has camps, but I don't think the schedule is out yet.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of any academic-type summer camps for an older kid (14, entering high school) in MD or DC? I know about the Univ. of Maryland camps (https://oes.umd.edu/middle-high-school-students) but the one for high schoolers sounds a little too intense because it is similar to college classes and includes who are older than 14.
I'd be interested especially in a science or writing camp that also has some fun thrown in, but at this point, would like to hear about anything that'd keep the teen brain working for at least a week this summer.

Check out community college summer programs too. They're not intense but they tend to have more of academic-y options and take place in a classroom setting.

Look at CertifiKID this week. There are a quite a few options for teens.

Don't know where you live but there's stuff in MD and VA.

Anyone know of any academic-type summer camps for an older kid (14, entering high school) in MD or DC? I know about the Univ. of Maryland camps (https://oes.umd.edu/middle-high-school-students) but the one for high schoolers sounds a little too intense because it is similar to college classes and includes who are older than 14.
I'd be interested especially in a science or writing camp that also has some fun thrown in, but at this point, would like to hear about anything that'd keep the teen brain working for at least a week this summer.

It's symptom of the times, kids are way overscheduled.

Anonymous wrote:Why do they need to do anything? At 13 they are old enough to stay home alone, I assume in this day and age they have a phone and we have a good public transit system. They can go hang out with friends or hang out at home.

Because at 13 many kids don't want to stay home alone all day for 8-10 hours/5 days a week for weeks on end.
Their friends are either on vacation or at summer camp. And if they are not, no parent wants their kid coming over to a house where there are no parents for more than an afternoon.

Anonymous wrote:IDTech camp has a teen option (but it is very expensive)

Any sports camp to recommend that go past 14?

Most university athletic programs have summer camps for high schoolers (like Univ of Md or Naval Academy on the Maryland side). They're more training-geared than fun-geared, but I think they're great and often have overnight options which give kids the dorm experience.

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for Calleva. My 13 year old will also be doing Kids After Hours Travelin Teen camps that start/end at our local elementary school, as well as a two-week camp at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC. I was also looking at the Traveling Players ensemble, www.travelingplayers.org for her.

Traveling players is great.

Round House Theater also has a teen camp.

Another vote for Calleva. My 13 year old will also be doing Kids After Hours Travelin Teen camps that start/end at our local elementary school, as well as a two-week camp at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC. I was also looking at the Traveling Players ensemble, www.travelingplayers.org for her.

Yeah as young teens we hung oit at home with friends, sometimes babysat. We didn't cause trouble so our parents trusted. We just hqd to check in with them at work from time to time. I vote let tge be a kid

Calleva has camps to 17. Many to 15.

Imagination Stage has acting and filmmaking camps for teens.