Mom's Talk: Two Approaches to Picking a Summer Camp

It's hard to believe that in February we need to start thinking about summer camp, but the truth is, many camps in this area opened their registrations in early January.  We are so blessed to have an embarrassment of riches went it comes to resources and opportunities for our kids - from specific sport and dance camps to general outdoor activities; math and reading camp to horseback riding and nature walking and of course all the museums and marvelous “tourist attractions” - you can find it all in the DC Metro area. 

Our McLean Patch moms have a wide variety of experiences with local camps and summer activities and are here to share their expertise with you.  Definitely chime in and let us know your favorites!

Anne Wydler and her family definitely take some time to just relax during the summer.  But the girls miss their school and some structure, so we do a bit of camp.  We always look for camps that have a lot of outside time, some time spent in the pool and some arts time (music, crafts, etc).  The camps we like and have had a lot of experience are:

Country Day School: camp for ages 2-7 in 3-week sessions.  Kids swim everyday at this wonderful camp starting at age 4.  My girls loved the sing-alongs, the nature walks and of course the pool.

Langley School Summer Studio: This camp is open to the public and is offered in one-week sessions.  There are many academic options as well as yoga, golf, cooking, Mad Science, etc.  Camp is available starting for age 3. 

Camp Greenway at Madeira. This is one of our favorites, and where both girls will be going this summer. This co-ed camp, offered in two-week sessions, is the closest thing we’ve found to being camp in the old-fashioned sense.  That is, kids go, spend all day and come home absolutely exhausted. They swim (twice/day some days), play soccer, do archery, sing songs, paint faces, do crafts, tie-dye, and just generally have a sweaty grand ole time. 

I also like that this camp offers flexible busing options - our girls take the bus home but you have the option of taking the bus to and/or from camp, or not at all.  This year Greenway is offering a half-day option for age 4 (called Tiny Snails) and the half-day is a generous offering - the kids have lunch at the camp and then come home around 1:00.  I wish we’d had that option last year as little sister was crying sending big sis off to Greenway.  This is a popular camp, filling quickly, so register soon if you’re interested. 

Alison Senold has this to say about her family’s experience with summer camps:

My kids have gone to several camps in the areas over the years:   Rodef Shalom, Country Day, “Little” Langley and The Potomac School.

To be honest, during their preschool and early elementary years, summer camp was mostly for me. The boys always enjoyed their camps, but I’m pretty sure I needed it more than they did.

During those years, I chose camps for them based on criteria such as, convenient location (Rodef and Little Langley), available transportation (Potomac) and, most importantly, did the camp offer activities that both boys would like (all of them).

I knew that scrambling to get the boys to different camps at different times would not give me the kind of break I needed. As they have gotten older and their individual interests have become more defined, they look forward to summer camp as a social outlet and as an opportunity to explore their affinities in a way they can’t during the school year.

This year they took a more active role in planning their own summer schedules.  We discussed what type of activities they were excited about and together we looked at a few camps online that I thought would be a good fit for each child.

My 9 year old chose a week of Headfirst Multi-sport Day Camp at Saint Lukes’s in McLean. My 12- year-old decided he was ready for his first week of sleep-away camp (gulp!) at an ID Tech Computer Camp at William and Mary.  So this summer, for the first time, they will be going their separate ways for camp.  But, because Mom deserves a little fun of her own this summer, I still made sure to sign them up for the same week.