My kids are 10 and 6 and prefer to hang at home instead of camp, much rather go to the pool and sleep in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bring in grandma. Hire a neighborhood teenager/college kid.
Piecemeal this summer together with your PTO, DH PTO, babysitter, 2 or 3 week-long camps, Grandma, etc.

You don't give a lot of context OP - not even your kids' ages.

We can afford camps. We don't send our kids to camps just to send our kids to camps. Our kids don't even ask to go to camps. I didn't even know that sending kids to camps was a status thing. Oh well.

Huh?

I agree with the bolded. We’re foreigners and don’t have this camp culture. The kids have done a few, hat were geared to their interests, but mostly stay home and relax. And forget about overnight camp

I was a small town kid with a SAHM. Camps all summer sounded exhausting and I felt bad for kids of working parents who had to do them. When i got older specific types of camps sounded fun, I did a couple weeks of 4H sleepaway camp for two summers and one disppointing day camp at a local college.

I was ruthlessly questioned by both stay at home and working moms alike why I didn’t do camp... everyone here starts sending their 8 year old off to sleep away lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bring in grandma. Hire a neighborhood teenager/college kid.
Piecemeal this summer together with your PTO, DH PTO, babysitter, 2 or 3 week-long camps, Grandma, etc.

You don't give a lot of context OP - not even your kids' ages.

We can afford camps. We don't send our kids to camps just to send our kids to camps. Our kids don't even ask to go to camps. I didn't even know that sending kids to camps was a status thing. Oh well.

Huh?

I agree with the bolded. We’re foreigners and don’t have this camp culture. The kids have done a few, hat were geared to their interests, but mostly stay home and relax. And forget about overnight camp

Lots of camps have scholarships. Check it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look to the rec camps. They are relatively cheap compared to other camps.

$300 a week is not cheap when the summer is approx 12 weeks long.

THANK YOU

I’m only back to work weekends with COVID. We are living very frugally this year. I could prob swing two weeks of 300 max.

We found a sleep away camp that was ~$600 for 2 weeks. I kind of made up for not being able to do many camps.

What sleepsway camp ? That’s a good price

It's very christian so that might be a problem for some even though we are not. It's called Summer's Best 2 weeks. There is bible study.

But my kids loved it.

I just checked it's $800 now.That a huge increase.

NP here - will camps be operating this Summer?

We're doing both the YMCA and JCC this year to let my two kids go to eight weeks of camp at a reasonable cost after having been home and not around other kids for more than a year. I'm not in DMV (another large metro area), but our local Y does by the week, minimum of 3 days that week. And 9am to noon for a full week is under $150. And they have scholarships, too. And they were empty when other local camps were already booked.

DPR poster, I’ve found the link but can’t tell if these are open to VA residents. Do you happen to know? I can call but if you have that info offhand it helps (and likely more than one family). Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look to the rec camps. They are relatively cheap compared to other camps.

$300 a week is not cheap when the summer is approx 12 weeks long.

The DC rec center camps are $110 for a two week session, so $55/ week

Is there availability? Which ones ? Which classes? For non residents the price is? All I can find here are sports camps for older kids or a fishing class which she would NOT like once she realized the worm goes on the hook. Even the park classes are full near us. Everything else is full. A link would be great and appreciated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look to the rec camps. They are relatively cheap compared to other camps.

They are largely booked up or for older children at this point. Will look more. Mostly want to offer some non adult social time for kid.

Are you a SAHM? Join the local moms groups then. They have so many great outings and nearly all are free.

I am not a SAHM mom. This is not helpful even if I were. I tried those groups when we moved here. Not our people.

It wasn’t the stay at home part by the way it was that everyone was vastly wealthier than we are. it’s fine to stay at home but there were significant class issues with our local moms group. Which most people wouldn’t understand unless they have a smaller income.

This is almost certainly on you, not your kid, who is almost certainly much less class conscious. If you are that worried about your kid having activities and socialization, suck it up and deal with the local mom's group, even if you feel a little bit out of your comfort zone or feel that they are not the most welcoming to you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look to the rec camps. They are relatively cheap compared to other camps.

$300 a week is not cheap when the summer is approx 12 weeks long.

The DC rec center camps are $110 for a two week session, so $55/ week

The reason it's such a big thing around here is because it's child care. I never went to camp.

OP, how do you feel about church programs? Many offer camp-like vacation bible school programs for free. In normal times the DC area has a lot of free or very low cost kid-friendly entertainment in the summer - not sure how many of those kinds of things will be around this year but try local listserves and newsletters like Macaroni Kids for events.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look to the rec camps. They are relatively cheap compared to other camps.

$300 a week is not cheap when the summer is approx 12 weeks long.

THANK YOU

I’m only back to work weekends with COVID. We are living very frugally this year. I could prob swing two weeks of 300 max.

We found a sleep away camp that was ~$600 for 2 weeks. I kind of made up for not being able to do many camps.

What sleepsway camp ? That’s a good price