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Spring Planning for Summer Camp

By: A Tale of Two Mommies

Topics: summer camp, planning ahead for summer camp, list of Sacramento area summer camps
Posted by TaleTwoMommies Thu Apr 16, 2009 09:01:11 PDT
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Kelli (Stay-at-home mom of Logan 9, and Whitney 8): You know there are only seven more weeks until summer break – are you ready?

Jen (Dual-career mom of Jacob 6, Caleb 3, and Abigail 4 weeks): This year, I am. Last year I was a rookie mom at summer scheduling, but I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve got the “secret manual” to summer camp selection out and I think I can survive the sign-ups this time around!

Kelli: Once you become a veteran, there’s no way you can miss the kick-off of planning for summer camps. I’ve been getting bombarded with emails and mailers from our previous camps since February urging me to sign-up because camps are already filling up.

Who are these people who’ve booked their kids for camp in February? Makes my Type A personality seem like an A- !

Jen: This year I’m going into the summer camp season a little more knowledgeable. First, I know that even though summer is less than two months away I realize it’s time to start thinking about this summer’s camp schedule.

Kelli: Whether you want to or not…

Jen: Right. If you don’t want to be left out, it’s best to find out early what types of camps might be offered and then to figure out where your child’s interests lie.

Do they want to be the next Hannah Montana? Then maybe one of the performing arts camps at Fairytale town would work.

Are they interested in bugs, animals, and the outdoors? Then maybe an Effie Yeaw camp would be a good fit.

If they are into sports, there is certainly a wide range of those camps out there.

And, if they are water bugs, one of the camps at Lake Natoma would be a good choice – plus those are all day long!

Kelli: It’s also good to keep in mind that it’s never too soon to get the little ones involved in summer camp fun while giving yourself a small break. Camp Have-A-Lot-Of-Fun starts at three years old.

Jen: This will be Caleb’s first year!

Kelli: At first I was hesitant sending three year-old Whitney to a 3-hour camp without my own personal supervision. But I felt better when they made sure to pair her with her four year-old brother, Logan, and I was comfortable it was very well supervised and organized. Plus, it worked great with our summer schedule.

Jen: I think one of the biggest things I learned is it’s impossible to get the perfect schedule - that is, incorporating everything your kid wants to do, coordinating with your friends so all their friends are in the same camp, and making the timing work. It’s just way too crazy!

And, when you try to combine fitting that in with your family’s vacation schedule and other obligations, it can really get difficult to plan. So, I think I have accepted that it just isn’t possible to get the perfect schedule so you need to sacrifice a couple of things.

Kelli: You’re a quicker study than I am. Last year we didn’t sacrifice anything end it ended up being too much. This year I want to put the leisure back into our summer.

Logan’s doing his favorite two soccer camps; Whitney’s traded camps for swim team with the exception that they’ll both do Buzzardball basketball camp. You gotta leave room for Buzzardball!

Jen: Jacob’s just doing a few camps this summer too since I will still be on maternity leave. I’m letting him pick a couple that he wants to do, but we’ll save the full schedule for next year when I am back at work. He really wants to do another session of Camp-Have-A-Lot-Of-Fun so we’ll probably sign up for that as well as the Sac State soccer camp.

Kelli: You know it’s interesting that of all the economic ways we are trying to tighten our belts this year, camp just wasn’t on the table as a cut-back. I was backed up on this by an email from one of the camps that said in recession years attendance at camp actually goes up not down. Something to think about and plan for.

Jen: Camp or no camp, a kid’s priority for summer should still be time for relaxing and slowing down and not needing to be on a schedule the entire time. I think that’s when some of the best memories are made.

Kelli Wheeler is a Sacramento stay-at-home mom of two registering her kids for summer camp as you read this.

Jen Hall is a Sacramento dual-career mom of three already with her son already signed up for the Sac State soccer camp!

Sacramento Area Summer Camps

Camp Have-A-Lot of Fun (Half-day camp) & CAMP KIDS (Full-day camp)

Mission Oaks Recreation and Park District

www.morpd.com

Buzzardball (Basketball Camp)

www.buzzardball.org

YMCA (Full-day camp)

www.sacymca.org

Sacramento State Aquatic Center (at Lake Natoma)

http://www.sacramentostatea...