Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion camps and other summer ideas

I have two children, an eight year old girl and soon to be seven year old boy. We live in the St. Louis area and I'm looking into camps/activities for the summer. I'm particularly looking for something math/science oriented for my son. They are both social kids and also enjoy sports.

Have you looked into the Science Center's Science Blast Camps?
http://www.slsc.org/Just4Kids/SummerScienceBlast.aspx
My DS6 went last year and was very upset that he couldn't do that year round!

If you / your kids are up for overnight camps, I've heard wonderful things from my HG niece about Cub Creek Science and Animal Camp (www.bearriverranch.com) in Rolla.

Thanks CynthiaL!

Hi, I'm new here and not sure if you'll get a notice that I'm replying to this old post... Hope so! I'm finally figuring out camps for this summer, and have found that College for Kids, for gifted children, has many great options. Also the Gifted Resource Council has many options too, but is more expensive. Let me know if you find other good options!

Chelle

I'll put in a plug for Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps. They are generally VERY affordable and even if you aren't in the group you can join a local group before the camp generally at a prorated fee and you don't have any further obligation to participate (but you might consider it because it is fun). They aren't generally math/science based, but they are a ton of fun and there are a lot of real life learning opportunities.

Cub scout sleep away camp is very expensive. We are going to a 4 day sleep away camp in the Monterey Bay area. We bring the tent and they provide meals, all for $250 for an adult plus sou. Not cheap.

Girl scout sleepaway camp costs about 60% more than the park department day camp around here, which seems reasonable when you consider that they have them 24 hrs/day and provide all the food. DD8 adores it. She needs to bring a sleeping bag but not a tent.

It sounds like some parents here have had good experiences with scout camps. I am going to put in 2 cents on the opposite side. In our area, Girl Scout camps are set up so the counselors do NOT share a tent or cabin with the girls (some warped sense that the kids are safer without an adult...). So it is sort of Lord of the Flies, especially at the middle school age. Both of my kids had trouble with that. On top of that, our local Girl Scout camps hire almost all foreign counselors. It helps keep the cost down... but the counselor's English is not great... and again, they have trouble dealing with "mean girls" because they don't really get the language nuances.

I am sure some locations may handle this differently, but for our kids it was not a good experience. I was a troop leader for a lot of years, and am all for troop level activities and ones where parents go along. But not so much the camps run by the councils, at least in our neck of the woods.

Wow, that's nuts! Our cub scout day camp (not overnight) is literally 1/3 the cost of any other program in the area. All the weekend overnight camp events are maybe $10-$15 bucks a head.