Recently StudentMum posted about how to entertain the kids during summer, and she lamented that England doesn't make the same use of summer camps that we do here in the U.S. Although our kids haven't done any sleepaway camps, last week they attended their first day camp. Wait, I take that back, a couple of years ago, the Girl did a Mermaid Camp, and she loved it. But last week, both kids did a Critter Camp together at the same time, and they both loved it. They got to see and talk about various critters while hanging out with other kids. And Hubby and I got to have each morning to do whatever we wanted or needed to do, which, for him, usually involved surfing or working on outside parts of the house and which, for me, usually consisted of working on the dissertation or cleaning out inside parts of the house. But one morning, we just sat at the table and read and drank our warm morning beverages (he's coffee, I'm English Breakfast tea), and realized what a win-win this whole "camp" thing is.
I used to poo-poo all of those scheduled summer things. Why can't kids just be free? Typically, we take our month-long road trip to Colorado, and we just hang out as a family all loosey-goosey for a month. We didn't do the big trip year so that we could be more productive around the house, and I have missed the trip. But I am glad that the kids got to do the camp, and I think we'll look for other camps next summer that will work around our summer road trip. Who knows, maybe we can even do a camp while we're at one of our road trip destinations. I still believe in kids having a lot of open free-time to play or draw or whatever, but this whole camping thing is not half bad.
Anyhoo, camp week was great. But this week, I'm going to have to start working since classes start--ack!--in less than two weeks, and I'm also scheduled to lead some professional development workshops next Thursday and Friday. Time to work on syllabi and workshop material. Summer does fly by . . .
2 comments:
Camp is totally awesome. Eldest did six weeks of day camp, and I was so relieved to have some time to myself (while baby napped, of course). Now Eldest is in a year-round school, so it's like summer camp has extended itself. Nice, eh?
Camp sounds great - I think the 'camp culture' is starting up over here, but with all things they cost, sometimes hugely and trying to convince teenagers they want to go, when they are unused to the idea is a challenge, one I am going to tackle next year! (with the younger two anyway). Despite some cris of boredom & a few episodes of shouting from me we have kept busy the last couple of weeks, its all about organisation and sometimes not giving them a choice!
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