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Do you count summer camp as school days?


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We don't need the days, just wondering if anyone counts summer camp as school time? It is a one week, overnight Christian camp with a very oganized daily schedule (Bible study, sports, art activities, etc.)

 

No. I would only even consider counting it as school if it were an intense academic camp.

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We don't need the days, just wondering if anyone counts summer camp as school time? It is a one week, overnight Christian camp with a very organized daily schedule (Bible study, sports, art activities, etc.)

 

Most definitely it counts! It's art, socializing, bible study, PE, etc. Yep, it counts.

 

:001_smile:

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DS did an intensive fire-arms safety camp one year and we coupled that experience with some bookwork at home and counted it for his health & safety credit for 7th grade.

 

DD did ballet summer intensives every summer for 5 weeks each, and I counted those hours into her "fitness" credit for ballet.

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We count science camp, motorsports camp, and art classes as school days. My son wants to have a career somewhere in the racing field, and he is getting an education from the drivers and professors at camp that I can't give him.

 

If the public school sixth graders around here can all go on a field trip to see Because of Winn Dixie simply because it was a book first, then I can count these days.:)

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Dd attended horse camp last year and will attend again this year. I didn't count the whole day, but I did count the intensive 3/4 hours in the morning as P.E. If she took riding lessons, I would count that as P.E., so I see no difference in counting the camp hours.

 

Angel

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If it were an intense music, sport, academic or trade based camp...then I would count it if I really needed to. If it were just a fun summer camp then I would have to really, really need the hours before I would count it. I can see this in a situation where there has a been a difficult year to account for hours like when there is a family illness, or major move.

 

I would speculate though that most camps that would be rigorous enough to count for true school hours would be because the child already has a passion for that particular activity. Because of this, I would suspect that the child's school calendar or log would already be grossly over in hours in that particular skill.

 

If you live in an are where it is hard to get in PE (live in the arctic or in an apartment...) and they go to a sport camp, I would be more inclined to agree with hours being counted. I guess it also depends on the subject! Technology is another subject that I could see being a beneficial camp. It is a subject that requires special teachers and equipment that a lot of parents may not have at home.

 

But to your original post.....church camp wouldn't (and doesn't) get counted here.

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I wouldn't not for a regular camp.

 

However, one summer for a week, my older son was in a science program at the science museum. He was taught by science teachers. He did a lab and learned a lot about the human body. I counted that as school days because he learned academics.

 

My husband says that the Lego class that my sons are taking on Memorial day should not count. I think it should because my younger son will learn simple machines. I don't know what bot-to-bot communications will teach. So, I don't know yet.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

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I count art/drama camps, but we have always met our 180 days by then, and I don't send in att sheets over the summer, so I guess It only matters to us. If it was during the traditional "school" year, I would if I felt the kids were learning skills that they would not otherwise learn on their own. But then that's learning too.....urgh.

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I wouldn't. Public schools can't count days like that as school days, so I wouldn't do it for a homeschool.

 

Our public school did count a camp like this. In third they took us to a camp and to the same camp again in sixth. Anyone who was not allowed to go stayed behind to do book work. It was free and not really academic. We did nature hike and similar camp type things, which you could definitely argue as science, but no "academics" per say.

 

That said, I probably would not count them as school days unless I needed extra days. Then, I wouldn't bat an eye and would just record it.

 

My oldest dd did a summer camp one year that included art. I kept some of her artwork in her portfolio for the year. We didn't count the days, because we were over the required amount anyway. I had no problem counting the work as done that year, though!

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If I lived in a state that required PE, I would count camp because we don't do formal PE, just like I would count ds's summer baseball as PE, but we don't live in such a state.

 

But, to count it just to count it? Or take days off of my school year? Not unless it was academic and comparable to what I would do at home with them.

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I would take a look at what normally happens in our home and see if a week at camp provides balance or tips the scales towards too much time spent on non-academics.

 

Frankly, I don't spend nearly as much time on art and PE as my kids would get if they were in school because we have a strong academic focus that tends to take most of our time together. So, sending the kids to a camp that provided a lot of art, group work, maybe some drama, singing, and PE would be ensuring our education was a little more balanced.

 

I don't need to count school days, but I definitely consider our VBS as "school time". I don't think we "need" more Bible, but it certainly doesn't hurt and the kids definitely do not have enough arts and crafts, music (as in singing), and group work. VBS helps to round out their year and provides some balance.

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It seems that everyone has a very definate opinion on this issue. Thank all of you for your take on this. It is always good to get a different perspective. Although I truley believe that this camp would help "round out" dd's education with art, sports, Bible and group activities I probably won't count it since we don't need the days.

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