Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

Yeah, I watch the Certifikid deals and try to utilize those as much as possible. I also like the Fairfax County camps at Frying Pan Farm Park, and I know they have others at Colvin Run Mill and a few other locations.

I'm a SAHM and we do a mix of vacation, camps and free weeks (at home). In the past it worked best to do two weeks planned (either vacation or camp activity) and one week off. But, this year we have a couple of two week free periods just b/c of when our other plans fell into the calendar. The kids do camps b/c, like the prior poster, I don't want them on Wii and computer games all summer. It's good for them to relate to people other than a sibling, and it's good for them to try new things (social + activities). DD is going to a week of sleepaway camp for the first time. That will be a big step for her to be in charge of herself for that long. As kids hit the mid-elementary years, camps are more about fun than child care.

If you or your DH is a SAH parent, do your DCs go to camp in the summer? How much do you spend? I'm curious because I will be home most of the time during the summer so DCs could stay home. In fact, I'm having a hard time justifying spending the $$$ for summer camp. BUT I'm also afraid DC will get incredibly bored being home all summer long. Thoughts?

I think it really depends on the child and the neighborhood. Most of the kids in our area go off to camp or have summer helpers that take the kids out of the neighborhood everyday, so there really aren't any kids to play with in the summer during the day. We have an only who is extremely social (opposite of us), so we have found camps are really the only way to make the summer bearable (unless we want DC on Minecraft all summer!) We'll usually take a vacation right after school, and then July is full of camps. August is open with maybe one or two camps depending on DC's interest, but I definitely leave at least two weeks alone for downtime before school starts. It makes DC more excited to head back to school to see friends. Now, if the kids in the neighborhood were actually here or he was more of a loner, then I might do one or two camps in the summer only to break it up. My husband never did camps and I only did one sport camp, but neither of us were the extreme social types. Get a feel for who will be around in the summer and what your DC is like and then choose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

YMCA camps all have before and after included in base price. Most are around $180-220/week.

Thank you! Do you know if they offer before/after care?

I'll look at their website as well.

The before and after is included in the base price. So the answer is "yes".

Not sure which YMCA this poster is speaking of but in the DC metro area the before/after care is extra and NOT included in the base price (this is in Arlington, DC was the same). It is about $100 extra per session. Call them, they will tell you.

Wow--that stinks. It's included for Reston YMCA camps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

YMCA camps all have before and after included in base price. Most are around $180-220/week.

Thank you! Do you know if they offer before/after care?

I'll look at their website as well.

The before and after is included in the base price. So the answer is "yes".

Not sure which YMCA this poster is speaking of but in the DC metro area the before/after care is extra and NOT included in the base price (this is in Arlington, DC was the same). It is about $100 extra per session. Call them, they will tell you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

YMCA camps all have before and after included in base price. Most are around $180-220/week.

Thank you! Do you know if they offer before/after care?

I'll look at their website as well.

The before and after is included in the base price. So the answer is "yes".

10:05 here. My kids are 3 and 6 so I feel like I will become the main source of entertainment. 6yo DD has requested gymnastics camps so I'll probably sign her up for a couple weeks of that, but other than that, it's going to be a whole lot of me coming up with things for them to do. Ugh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

YMCA camps all have before and after included in base price. Most are around $180-220/week.

Thank you! Do you know if they offer before/after care?

I'll look at their website as well.

Anonymous wrote:If you or your DH is a SAH parent, do your DCs go to camp in the summer? How much do you spend? I'm curious because I will be home most of the time during the summer so DCs could stay home. In fact, I'm having a hard time justifying spending the $$$ for summer camp. BUT I'm also afraid DC will get incredibly bored being home all summer long. Thoughts?

I SAH and I think you will find there will be an initial boredom adjustment. Kids who are used to being scheduled and structured all day every day usually don't have the skills to really be able to have fun on their own. So be prepared to teach some of that - how to be creative, how to have fun in an unstructured environments, how to create your own fun etc... I don't know how old your kids are (Mine are 8-12). My kids are usually bored for the first couple weeks when school ends as they transition out of that structured, scheduled environment. Then they get into the swing of building tree forts, and hanging out with friends and biking up and down the road, and swimming in the neighbors pool, and creating their own plays and by mid July their days are very 'busy' - all at their own doing. They dash in and out of the house and I barely see them, except for food!

We do a week at a lake in a family beach house, a long weekend of camping, and kids spend a couple 3-4 day stretches with grandparents and cousins. Last year my DD asked to go to camp for a week because she was horse crazy at the time so she did a day horseriding camp. My son did a sports camp for a week a couple years ago for a sport he was very into at the time. So we do camps more at the request of the kids if there is something they really want to do.

Anonymous wrote:How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

YMCA camps all have before and after included in base price. Most are around $180-220/week.

If you or your DH is a SAH parent, do your DCs go to camp in the summer? How much do you spend? I'm curious because I will be home most of the time during the summer so DCs could stay home. In fact, I'm having a hard time justifying spending the $$$ for summer camp. BUT I'm also afraid DC will get incredibly bored being home all summer long. Thoughts?

How are people finding camps under $200 for a week with before/after care? I'm in MoCo and it's impossible.

I found a deal on certifikid that will add up to around $200 per week/child, but most of them are $285+before/after care.

It's our 2nd year putting kids in summer camps. It's expensive!

I just added everything up.

For one DD, age 6: $2154 for 8 weeks of care.

That averages out to approx. $270/week.

Two of these weeks were using a deal I found on Certifikid, so it could have been more (that was 45% off).

Just finished enrollment and added up: $2150 for 1 child.
That is 7 weeks of camp in total, with one 'base' camp at $285 per week, and one special camp of $440 week. That includes before/after care.

5,500 X 2 for 2 kids = 11,000
Plus airfare 800
Plus dh and I flying for visiting day 2,500 that includes hotel flight and car rental. It's a 4 week camp in Maine called waziyatah. I went as a child and loved it. The rest of the summer visiting family in California and the last 2 weeks nothing.