how long are sleep away summer camps in your area?

[binny]

I have always read about all summer long camps for kids but have never actually seen one or been to one.


In all of the places that I have lived camp has been a week, M-F usually. I would always go for that one week, DS goes to his week but volunteers at the little kids camps for 2 or 3 other weeks during the summer so he is gone awhile. I dont know that I could go a whole summer though.

 

[englishteacha]

I attended a church camp and now am a counselor/dean there. It's one week, Sunday through Saturday. There are some half week camps for younger kids and some specialty camps that run on weekends. Most church camps, 4H camps, and scout camps are only 1-2 weeks. Many of the private summer camps here in Maine are all summer long. Camp Cobbossee, Camp Weekela, and dozens of others have 2, 4, 6 and 10 week sessions.

 

[luvmyfam444]

This isn't my area - but I went to Camp Crestridge as a kid in Ridgecrest, NC & there you can go for 2 weeks & up (all summer) campers start I think @ 1st grade thru highschool - all girls @ that one the boys is Camp Ridgecrest across the highway.

I know Truett Cathey, founder of Chick-fil-A also has a camp in ROme ,GA (I think that's the city) called Camp Winshape & I think they also have the option for the full summer - can't remember though.

The campes around here are just local church camps that churches go to for 3 - 7 days - there are 2 around here.

 

[claudia]

my son went to camp in New Hampshire and it was for 7 weeks...their full summer season.

 

[janets]

My 11 yo son goes to sleep away camp. He will be leaving in 4 weeks for his second summer away.

Our camp has 3 sessions...3 weeks/3 weeks/2 weeks. You can go for one session or a combination of them. My son does sessions 1 and 2 so he'll be gone about 6 weeks (it's actually a bit less).

We pack him up with a soft sided trunk and a big duffel bag and put him on the bus. We don't speak to him for the first week, then we have a 10 minute phone call from him sometime in the next 2 weeks. Visiting day is July 25th. We will have 1 additional phone call and then he comes home.

He loves it. It's definitely an adjustment having him gone for so long, but I know that he's having an incredible summer doing all sorts of great, fun things. And he meets great friends too.

 

[clarabelle]

Local camps around here are mostly 1 week church or scout camps.
However my daughter went to Camp Meri Mac last year in the mountains of NC and it has whole summer options.

 

[wvdisluv2]

Wow?!?! The entire summer??? When I was young (many moons ago) Summer camp (church camp, girl scout camp ect.) was one week. I can't imagine sending my child away for an entire summer Of course my son is 19 yrs old now and I look forward to ANY time he spends with me

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Wow?!?! The entire summer??? When I was young (many moons ago) Summer camp (church camp, girl scout camp ect.) was one week. I can't imagine sending my child away for an entire summer Of course my son is 19 yrs old now and I look forward to ANY time he spends with me

I could see one or two weeks but all summer or more than two weeks sounds like child abandoment (flame suit on now) I know kids have fun over the summer but sometimes they just need to have nothing scheduled an relax with mom and dd. Summers are for memory making in my house.. we stay up late, go swimming, take short trips and really have fun as a family. We could never do this if I shipped my kids off for most of the summer....

 

[clarabelle]

Well my daughter only went for two weeks -but some kids want to go for the whole summer. I think it is often the kids choice not the parents.

 

[monkey68]

Every time i went to camp as a kid, it was always for around 4 or 5 weeks. The specialty camps, like sports camps, are usually only a week. But the camps weren't that local, they were both a few hours away.

 

[wvdisluv2]

Well my daughter only went for two weeks -but some kids want to go for the whole summer. I think it is often the kids choice not the parents.

At my house "kids" didn't make this kind of choice we (aka the parents) did Just sayin

 

[clarabelle]

I see your point.
What I meant was it is not necessarily a selfish parent trying to get rid of their child for the summer.

some people have histories of going to camps -it is normal for them- part of their culture and family traditions.



One thing that I have learned here on the dis -is that people have VERY different ideas on what makes good parenting. Just because it is different from me doesn't make it wrong.

I can't imagine myself sending a child away for the whole summer -or sending a child to a foreign country for study abroad while they are still living at home.
But I won't say never -or criticize the people who choose to do it.

 

[wvdisluv2]

I see your point.
What I meant was it is not necessarily a selfish parent trying to get rid of their child for the summer.

some people have histories of going to camps -it is normal for them- part of their culture and family traditions.



One thing that I have learned here on the dis -is that people have VERY different ideas on what makes good parenting. Just because it is different from me doesn't make it wrong.

I can't imagine myself sending a child away for the whole summer -or sending a child to a foreign country for study abroad while they are still living at home.
But I won't say never -or criticize the people who choose to do it.

True and good point Didn't mean to come across as snarky Every family is different

 

[ilovejack02]

Longest time around here is 2 weeks, which I did attend. I did have friends gone for up to four weeks at a time to North Carolina camps, but I never was interested. I think If I would have been my parents would have sent me.

 

[Laurabearz]

My 11 yo son goes to sleep away camp. He will be leaving in 4 weeks for his second summer away.

Our camp has 3 sessions...3 weeks/3 weeks/2 weeks. You can go for one session or a combination of them. My son does sessions 1 and 2 so he'll be gone about 6 weeks (it's actually a bit less).

We pack him up with a soft sided trunk and a big duffel bag and put him on the bus. We don't speak to him for the first week, then we have a 10 minute phone call from him sometime in the next 2 weeks. Visiting day is July 25th. We will have 1 additional phone call and then he comes home.

He loves it. It's definitely an adjustment having him gone for so long, but I know that he's having an incredible summer doing all sorts of great, fun things. And he meets great friends too.

This is how camp was for me... 3 week sessions, and we wanted to stay for more than one. I went to that camp for 5 years. Good times, Bad times and bug bites. Love it

Now, my kids signed up for a week at Girl Scout Camp, but if my old camp was still running, I would force them to go there.

 

[krcit]

My dd's best friend(10) leaves the day after school gets out and is gone for 8 weeks. She loves it. My dd on the other hand wouldn't leave me for 1 week never mind 8. If I could afford it and my kids wanted to, I think I would give them the opportunity to go for 2 weeks.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Most of the camps I went to were week long. My "main" camp mixed week and two week sessions. However, there were some girls that would stay over multiple sessions...some for a month, some for the whole summer. Lucky ducks.

 

[frndshpcptn]

Camps that kids around here go to are in the Poconos or Upstate NY - usually 4,6 or 8 weeks.

I started at 9 years old and went for the summer - same as a previous poster, my parents packed me a duffel, put me on a bus and sent me on my way. I went to Camp Timber Tops in Greeley, PA.

No calls for the first two weeks, then a 10 minute call, but letters were ok! I went for 5 summers (until we couldn't afford it any longer). I LOVED IT. It was my idea to go, I asked my Mom to help me with the research and chose my camp (all girls, with a boys camp next door for socials, etc) and was very happy with my selection. We had art, nature, rifelry, archery, canoeing, swim, gymnastics, tennis, adventure course, kickball, kyaking, overnights in the woods, dance and theater). We also took field trips to the local baseball stadium and canoed down the Delaware River in the rapids. It was the BEST!

I hope to send my own kids one day...

 

[golfgal]

Camps here range from a couple nights to all summer. Most kids go to sports camps which are generally a week. We also have the Concordia Language camps where you can go for a week or the entire summer. Our kids have gone to the week-long camps for the past several years. This summer DD14 and DS14 are going to a week of basketball camp and a week of band camp. DS16 is not going to any camp.

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

My dd's best friend(10) leaves the day after school gets out and is gone for 8 weeks. She loves it. My dd on the other hand wouldn't leave me for 1 week never mind 8. If I could afford it and my kids wanted to, I think I would give them the opportunity to go for 2 weeks.

My daughter may be your dd's best friend, lol. My kids (now 10 and 16 - oldest is 21 - too old for camp) go for eight weeks each summer. The first summer she went (she's our youngest - so we were experienced camp parents) when she was 7, turning 8, she stayed for four weeks. She loved it so much, she begged for the full eight weeks the next summer. Her brothers started at 8 weeks when they were 10 years old.

They love it. That's all they talk about all year. They have their home friends and their camp friends. This particular camp is actually two camps: a boy camp and a girl camp, run by the same foundation.

There are no electronics, no computers, no tvs, etc. It's "all natural": hiking, canoeing, archery, sports, arts and crafts, tetherball, etc. Each month, every child in the camp is expected to take a trip, either canoeing or hiking, usually lasting 3-7 days, depending on their skill level. They learn skills each year to build up to more challenging trips, such as plotting the route, packing the food, determining how much they will need, packing their gear, etc. This is my middle son's (he's 16) "senior year" where they have their wilderness trip for three weeks and then he ages out.

They don't allow staffmen who are not high school graduates, so for the next two summers after this one, he plans to go to DC and participate in Presidential Classroom and travel to Europe.

I am sure my children will spend at least a portion of every summer of their adult lives at their beloved camps, as so many of the alumnae do. And, I am quite sure my grandchildren will end up attending these camps as well - it's had such a positive impact on my children's lives and on our family. Our camp friends are our other family.

The opportunity to go on adventures, be independent, learn skills they never knew they had, live life the "old-fashioned" way and realize they can make it without facebook or cellphones, make friends from around the world who become lifelong friends, etc. is something we wouldn't trade for the world. We are so thankful and sacrifice a lot so we can give them these opportunities.

Summers are for memory making in our family too...just of a different sort.

For the record - I know for some people it's difficult to understand that some families do things differently than they do - but to say camp is "child abandonment" is a bit of a stretch. To criticize something you know nothing about or have any experience with is really simple-minded.