Choosing Your Summer Camp

Summer Camp 2011~ Wow, so many to choose from that involve sports as its core.  I am a mother of 4 children...my boys are 9 and 10 and the girls are 4 and 6.  It's amazing how involved this selection becomes. I can tell you due to experience, that Arnold Recreation offers a summer program that is held at Ferd B. Lang Park in Arnold.  My children attended this last year! It was so wonderful as far as cost was concerned~I believe it was $135 for a two week session and that is absolutely cheap for a summer camp. The only problem I had with it was that it was held outside a majority of the time and mid-summer is VERY hot! The nice thing about that is when heat is above the charts, they take the kids to Arnold Rec where they can swim and play inside. There is a creek at the park that the boys loved playing in, odd they were allowed to do that, but supervised so I allowed it.  Overall a good camp for the price for sure. Probably won't send them back though due to the heat and some conflicts the boys had with other boys.  Due to the age difference that is allowed at the camp (all ages in school), my children felt some issues from the older boys. :(

This year, we have decided to split our time with different summer camps to get a feel of other camps. I need full day camp because of my work schedule so I usually can't participate in the half day camps, etc.  So, we are checking out....drum roll...Vetta this year 2 days per week and YMCA South County for a couple of weeks as of now. Vetta was on the top of my list only due to the "sports" concentration.  There cost for the week is expensive in my opinion only because I work from 8-5 so need before and after care as well, where the cost becomes a little much. ($36 for before and after care per child, per week)  The cost for the camp per day is $36 so we chose 2 days per week on days where we wouldn't need before and after care. They get to play sports (different ones) all day and that means learning new ones as well, along with the traditional swim time.  Now the YMCA seems to be a great deal...$142 for the week for each child but if you register early (before April 16th) you get 10% off, plus their before and after Kids club is $12 for the week~WOW! During that time, they will be playing different sports, crafts, field trips, and swimming. The only thing I don't like is swimming is indoors.

I would love to hear others opinions on summer camps they attended in the past or plan to attend this year! Keeping other moms and dads informed and giving advice to others in the same boat will help I'm sure! So feel free to post some advice for all of us moms (or dads) that are trying to locate that perfect camp for the summer!