No summer camp for my kids this year....

[DVCBELLE]

Funny you should ask that b/c my DH the lawyer had the same concerns: Since it is a temporary event - it falls into babysitting and not something that needs to be licensed! We are only going to have it for about 4 hours a day - once at my house and once at her home on the other side of town.

Where I live:

Child day camps - Program which operates for less than seven hours a day and only during the vacation of the public schools, cared only for schoolage children, and which is at least 50% outdoor based. Child day camps must register with the department each year. If child care is paid for with public funds, the camp must also meet American Camping Association Accreditation standards, or be approved by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Approximately 250 child day camps register with the department each year.

Some examples of programs which do not require licensure:

■care provided in a child's own home;
■programs which operate two weeks or less a year;
■programs where parents remain on the premises (unless at the parent's employment site);
■specialized training in specific subjects, such as art, drama, dance, swimming, etc.
■programs which operate one day a week for no more than six hours.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Cool! That would be a fun activity.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Not to make a blanket statement -- but it is generally *Girl* scout camps that offer free or reduced fees for parent volunteering. They also offer scholarships for parents who cannot afford camp -- income-based, but with a family of 7, I bet you'd qualify. I don't know the gender of OPs 11-yr. olds. If they are female and not currently Girl Scouts, they would be welcome to register and just attend a summer camp, you do not have to participate in a troop to go to camp.

Our church offers scholarships for camp, but I would never apply and take the chance of another child who's parents really couldn't afford it missing out. Sometimes there are camp scholarships available at a district level -- OP I would check to see if there is something beyond your local church.

If you do decide you want to do an "at home" camp, here's a plug for Flylady.com -- she has instructions on her website for "camp gonna wanna fly", which has all kinds of fun activities and gets your house clean, too!

Maria

 

[dis-happy]

Here's a thought for your kids to earn money for camp.

Have them give a summer day camp for girls. My niece and I want to do this summer - we are going to do an American Girl themed camp for 5-10 year olds (not really sure on the age yet) We are going to have a different theme each day based on a different American Girl - learn about the girl, do a craft and play games based on what she would have done.

You could totally run with this. For several years I ran a book club for girls in our homeschool group and one year it was an AG series. Not only did the girls love it but you can add in the elements of history and the parents will love you for that too. Have fun!!

 

[aprilgail2]

You have been lucky all those years to have someone else paying for your childrens summer camp- I would be hapy with someone giving me even 50.00 a week towards my childs summer camp!
Summer camp is not a must do- if you can't afford it the kids don't go.....plenty of people in the same boat.

 

[NYCDiane]

What kind of camp costs $550???? My DDs camp is costing me a little over $2700 and I have no choice but to send her because if she doesn't go to camp, I can't work. It's costing me a little over $300/wk and it's NOT sleepaway -- it's 9am-4pm, Monday through Friday.

$550... I WISH I could find a camp that cheap!

 

[rentayenta]

What kind of camp costs $550???? My DDs camp is costing me a little over $2700 and I have no choice but to send her because if she doesn't go to camp, I can't work. It's costing me a little over $300/wk and it's NOT sleepaway -- it's 9am-4pm, Monday through Friday.

$550... I WISH I could find a camp that cheap!

Two weeks at my kids' Jewish camp is $1,795 per kid. If anyone reading this has never sent their child to Jewish camp and wants to, go to onehappycamper.org My daughters each qualified for $1,000 off their tuition and it took all of 5 minutes. My son is too young to qualify but is going to camp anyway.

 

[disykat]

I'm also still stuck on how the OP could rent a house in OBX for $550. We are real budget travelers, and spent about $750 for the week five years ago to get a place where we only had a short walk to the beach.

I'm sure it's disappointing to find out the church can't cover your costs for camp anymore since you are used to that, but it's an understandable cut in this economy! I'm amazed they've budgeted so much for camp in the past. I've never attended anywhere (including during my own childhood) where this was even a consideration.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I'm also still stuck on how the OP could rent a house in OBX for $550. We are real budget travelers, and spent about $750 for the week five years ago to get a place where we only had a short walk to the beach.

I'm sure it's disappointing to find out the church can't cover your costs for camp anymore since you are used to that, but it's an understandable cut in this economy! I'm amazed they've budgeted so much for camp in the past. I've never attended anywhere (including during my own childhood) where this was even a consideration.

You can find them that cheap.. I was looking over spring break and found them for $$500. There is such a huge differences with houses in OBX. From your mansions oceanfronts to the little houses on stilts with no extras. It can be done.

 

[LisaNJ25]

What kind of camp costs $550???? My DDs camp is costing me a little over $2700 and I have no choice but to send her because if she doesn't go to camp, I can't work. It's costing me a little over $300/wk and it's NOT sleepaway -- it's 9am-4pm, Monday through Friday.

$550... I WISH I could find a camp that cheap!

I took it as 1 week.. so with the church covering $50 per girl than $300 per week per girl.

 

[NYCDiane]

Two weeks at my kids' Jewish camp is $1,795 per kid. If anyone reading this has never sent their child to Jewish camp and wants to, go to onehappycamper.org My daughters each qualified for $1,000 off their tuition and it took all of 5 minutes. My son is too young to qualify but is going to camp anyway.

Not trying to be funny but why are Jewish camps, schools, etc so expensive????? When my DD was younger, I was going to send her to either Hebrew Academy or to a Solomon Schechter school and the cost was unbelievable.

Glad you qualified for the 1K off the tuition!

 

[NYCDiane]

I took it as 1 week.. so with the church covering $50 per girl than $300 per week per girl.

That's still cheap for 24/7 supervision, meals, etc. My camp is only 7 hours a day and we have to provide or pay for meals (last year, it was $6/day for lunch plus $1-$3 for snacks)

 

[Dancemom03]

Have them give a summer day camp for girls. My niece and I want to do this summer - we are going to do an American Girl themed camp for 5-10 year olds (not really sure on the age yet) We are going to have a different theme each day based on a different American Girl - learn about the girl, do a craft and play games based on what she would have done.

Our community college has a program exactly like this and all three sessions fill within a week or two of registration opening. I hear the wait list is also very long for those who didn't register early enough. That sounds like a terrific idea for summer fun with your niece to me. I'm sure she'll remember it for years to come.

If I remember correctly, the community college's AG day camp here was either $225 or $250 a week and that's just daycamp...

 

[Evi]

Just wanted to clear that up right away. This is a Christian camp where churches from all over send their children for a week of camp. It is a good experience for the kids to learn things and to have fun, but we just don't have the money on our own. For the past ten years our church has always paid for the whole thing or a good portion of it. Last year we paid $200 ($100 each) for them to go and we were able to swing that.

Hrm its funny you took so much offense to what I wrote... I think you should reread your original post I'm not the only person that read it that way. I think its nice of them to offer you help but to be truthful your post didn't make it sound like you couldn't afford it. It made it sound as if you thought it was to much to pay. Either way it was just an opinion not everyone's will be the same as yours and people are not in your head trying to figure out what you meant by what you type......

 

[rentayenta]

Not trying to be funny but why are Jewish camps, schools, etc so expensive????? When my DD was younger, I was going to send her to either Hebrew Academy or to a Solomon Schechter school and the cost was unbelievable.

Glad you qualified for the 1K off the tuition!

We are non-members of this Temple but if we were it would have been $1,395 per child. I don't know why they are so $$$. Not sure if it's because we are in Utah, minimial Jewish population, and the camp is in Colorado, another not super dense Jewish area?

 

[DVCBELLE]

Our community college has a program exactly like this and all three sessions fill within a week or two of registration opening. I hear the wait list is also very long for those who didn't register early enough. That sounds like a terrific idea for summer fun with your niece to me. I'm sure she'll remember it for years to come.

If I remember correctly, the community college's AG day camp here was either $225 or $250 a week and that's just daycamp...

That is awesome....

maybe you all woudl be a good place to ask about the price!! We were thinking about having it from 10-2 each day. It would really be more for people just looking for a fun summer activity for their daughters.

We would have a simple lunch each day, a craft - a spa day where we will do the girls hair and their doll's hair. And on the other 4 days feature a different girl and her time period. We want to give each girl and their doll matching t-shirts. We would like to have 12 girls and charge $100 for the week. Does $100 sound too high, too low or just right?

 

[klj27]

That is awesome....

maybe you all woudl be a good place to ask about the price!! We were thinking about having it from 10-2 each day. It would really be more for people just looking for a fun summer activity for their daughters.

We would have a simple lunch each day, a craft - a spa day where we will do the girls hair and their doll's hair. And on the other 4 days feature a different girl and her time period. We want to give each girl and their doll matching t-shirts. We would like to have 12 girls and charge $100 for the week. Does $100 sound too high, too low or just right?

I would decide the price buy figuring out all of your costs for supplies, food, etc. Then I would add in the amount of profit you are planning and that is what you would charge.

 

[sk!mom]

We are non-members of this Temple but if we were it would have been $1,395 per child. I don't know why they are so $$$. Not sure if it's because we are in Utah, minimial Jewish population, and the camp is in Colorado, another not super dense Jewish area?

I don't see that the Jewish camps are more expensive. I've checked into many sleepaway camps and the majority seem to be in the $750-$1000 per week range. The Jewish camp falls right in there.

Last year we paid $750 per week. This year we're paying $4500 for 5 weeks plus a plane ticket for transportation. I don't have the fee list yet for all of the extra excursions but expect to spend at least $500 more for extras and spending money. My DD does dance intensive camps but the cost for these is in line with other types of sleepaway camps.

In my experience church sleep aways- the type where the church youth group travels together and the churches provide their own chaperones are the cheapest. We paid $300 for that camp last year. She won't be going this year as it falls into the time frame of her 5 week camp.

I think that some are being a bit unfair with comments that the OP wants someone to "pay" her kids way. My take is that she likely gives offerings to this church and in the past a portion of those offerings have been allocated to pay member's children's camp tuition. I still think that the OP should just use what she might have given in offerings to pay the camp fees. Look at it this way, you're supporting your denominations camp. Most denominations consider this a ministry. I'd do that, if necessary. I consider camp to be a valuable, maturing experience.

 

[moongirl]

OP, we had a similar situation happen to us where the price of a beloved activity was raised beyond our means to pay. To compensate, I took the kids on a 2-week trip to visit various relatives which cost us just gas money. I am a SAHM so I could do this. We went to visit Grandpa for 3 days, then Grandma for three days, then boy cousins for 4 days then girl cousins for 4 days. We helped out with chores and groceries. It was incredibly upsetting at first to the kids that they could not do the activity, but they enjoyed the visits too. I also designated one day a week invite-a-friend-over day. Every Tuesday, they would invite one friend each over for the afternoon. This is free. If you work, these alternatives are no good for you.

 

[lillygator]

I just found out that the church we belong to is only paying $50 each towards my kids summer camp tuition. Years ago, they used to pay the whole thing. Then we had to pay $50. Then $75. Last year, it was $100 each (two kids). This year with the church only paying $50 each, we would have to pay $550 for them to both attend.

I like the summer camp and my kids have all attended there since dd21 started going in 6th grade, but I am afraid that is too much money. We could rent a house in the Outer Banks for a week for the whole family for that much!

With the economy being what it is, we had no intentions of taking a family vacation this year. It won't be the first year we did not go away. Last year we went away for an extended weekend in the fall, but we've had other years when we just did day trips.

Now to break the news to them. They are only 11, so no chance of getting jobs to pay for it. I don't know if they could collect enough soda bottles and cans to collect the deposits from them. That's a lot bottles and cans!

We ended up going to Namco. We got a 24 foot 52 inch pool for $1499.00.
Compared to other stores which were $2500 for a 18 foot pool! Now to keep dreaming until it is up and filled with 78 degree water.....July maybe!