Types of overnight summer camps include people that have a focus on self-improvement, weight loss and grief counseling. You can find camps with activities as traditional as model rocketry and riflery, to those nontraditional camps such as aviation, computers, language studies, golf, martial arts or community service. An overnight summer camp is also referred to as a sleepaway camp when campers spend their nights at the camp; some camps allow both daytime and overnight campers.
Camps are usually divided by gender – girls only, boys only, or co-ed and again by generation. Planning very early is important and you should be diligent in your efforts to visit camps through the peak season to make plans in advance of the next camping year. Many kid campers are enrolled in summer camp by their parents early in the year, thus camps can fill quickly but there are lots of camps still with unfilled spots, so check around.
Camps often focus on specialties that include: adventure, art, computer, dance, music, religion, horseback riding, sports, theatre, and many, many others. The more artistically minded might consider arts and crafts, clowning, drama, photography, or dance to be important elements for having a well-rounded camp experience. Each summer, a lot more than 10 million children and counselors attend day camps and overnight summer camps or sleepaways across the country.
Most camp counselors come in their late teens or early twenties and are high school and university students from their summer break. Will there be a particular topic (e.g. religion, sports, educational, performing arts, arts and crafts) you want your son or daughter will gain ability and experience in? Children will always get more individual attention and supervision with a lesser number of campers per counselor.
Try to determine if the director incorporates a similar philosophy for running the camp as you do in parenting your child or children. Children or teens could typically explore subjects new to them like marine science, photography, creative writing, community service, drama, magic, scuba, video production, comic book design, crime scene forensics, cooking, yoga, rappelling, tennis, etc. summer camp experiences can be expensive sometimes; similar to travel insurance, there are now insurance policies for families sending their children to overnight summer camp which will cover last minute cancellations, homesickness, medical emergencies and emergency evacuations.
Specialty overnight camps can range between $500 to $1000 weekly with respect to the program you choose. Non-profit camps can range between $1200 to $3000 for four weeks and $2500 to $5000 for eight weeks. There are lots of forms of overnight summer camps with a focus on education that cater to students of differing ages and academic interests.
Although camp counselor jobs don’t usually pay very well, usually minimum wage or less, counselors receive do free room and board; many take the work primarily for the beautiful camping experience. Do you think, if you have more than one child, they would reap the benefits of attending exactly the same summer camp together? Some camps tend to be called adventure camps – having an extremely specific theme or interest; many of these programs emphasize skill development and personal growth through the adventures they offer.
If you find a normal overnight summer camp or sleepaway camp that’s not the proper fit, or an expense that isn’t possible right now, rest assured that there are plenty of additional options that can keep your son or daughter occupied throughout the summer. Typically an overnight summer camp experience will leave plenty of wonderful lifetime memories for the child or teen camper. Look over and evaluate the brochures and promotional materials thoroughly; read the fine print. If you believe there exists a possibility you may have to cancel an overnight summer camp reservation, camper’s insurance would be a very good idea.
