Summer camps for 2021

[mommyoffive]

What are your thoughts on summer camps for 2021? 

Do you have plans to do them or not?  Are you planning on in-person camps or virtual?   Indoors or outdoors? 

I have to decide this weekend on summer intensives for my dance kids.  I know that nobody has a crystal ball, so I feel it is so hard to decide about things this year. 

[hippymamato3]

I don't feel like I can even think about it until we see what happens this spring with new viral strands and vaccines. We probably won't do any camps this year.

[MEmama]

DS only does one. It’s a very popular running camp for in-state high school students only. If it runs, I suspect they will give dibs to the recently graduated seniors since it’s their last opportunity.

IF enough young people are vaccinated by then, it might have a chance of happening—with a few tweaks (no sharing tents, etc) and proof of vaccination I could see it, but of course it’s far too early to have much hope. 

[vonfirmath]

17 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

What are your thoughts on summer camps for 2021? 

Do you have plans to do them or not?  Are you planning on in-person camps or virtual?   Indoors or outdoors? 

I have to decide this weekend on summer intensives for my dance kids.  I know that nobody has a crystal ball, so I feel it is so hard to decide about things this year. 

We will be doing at least one.

Outside camps are good for getting energy out and this particular one I liked how they ran last year.

[Miss Tick]

I feel like I have to plan on them to give my dc something to look forward to. Non-refundable deposit may become an additional cost of the pandemic. Scout camp is probably a go - individual tents, outside eating and activities, small groups. For my non-scouts I'm considering foreign language camp. They are dancers, but there are so many variables to juggle for summer intensives and neither seem interested in making a career out of it so I'm making an executive decision to change focus this summer.

[SeaConquest]

We will be doing them -- at least, the outdoor day camps for sure. My kids went to outdoor day camps last year and there were zero issues at any of the camps over the entire summer in San Diego. Overnight camps were all cancelled last year. We are waiting to see whether they are cancelled this year and what the protocols will be before weighing the pros/cons. I am fully vaccinated and my husband should be in the next tier released.

[mommyoffive]

18 minutes ago, SusanC said:

I feel like I have to plan on them to give my dc something to look forward to. Non-refundable deposit may become an additional cost of the pandemic. Scout camp is probably a go - individual tents, outside eating and activities, small groups. For my non-scouts I'm considering foreign language camp. They are dancers, but there are so many variables to juggle for summer intensives and neither seem interested in making a career out of it so I'm making an executive decision to change focus this summer.

We lost some money on that last year.  

[Miss Tick]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

We lost some money on that last year.  

So did we. I consciously classified it under "cost of the pandemic" and then I could stop obsessing about it so much. I feel like we are going into this summer with more awareness of the non-refundable aspect of deposits, but it would still really hurt to lose that.

If I told my dc now that, "we aren't going to sign you up for anything this summer because of the virus." I think at least one would really spiral down emotionally. Instead I am taking a calculated fiancial risk to go ahead and commit to one big thing for everybody, and trying to be casual when I say, "we can back out later if we don't feel safe."

[ScoutTN]

Yes, camp! Ds MUST get out and have adventures for the mental health of everyone in our family! 

My kids went to church camp in NC last summer. Fewer campers and typical covid precautions. Zero transmission or cases there. Dd will be an intern there for half the summer and Ds will go for a week.  

Ds will also go to two weeks of BSA camp and on a youth group trip with church. He will do a short football receivers day camp too,  just four days for a couple hours. 

 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

Yes. My two youngest went to church day camp last year and it was well run. I am hopefuL there is overnight camp but I’m not holding my breath.  Regardless they’ll be going to as many weeks of day camp that I can afford.

[SKL]

This is the first year I'm not really into that.  I am hoping my kids' high school will offer them summer classes, marching band, and sports practice.  If I find good camps that don't conflict with the school stuff, then I will consider them, but I won't know the school's dates until spring.

[prairiewindmomma]

I think this summer will be like last summer, TBH. 

[Loowit]

I seriously doubt that my boys will go to any camps.  They have done scout camps since they were Tiger scouts (1st grade).  Last summer was the first time they couldn't go.  My older DS ages out of scouts in a couple weeks, and he doesn't want to register as an adult leader.  My youngest doesn't want to go with his troop because many of them don't take covid seriously.  But even if he wanted to, we are in a border council and all the camps are in another state, so that we would have to do a two week quarantine when crossing the border, and then a week at camp, and then another two week quarantine when they got home.  Now, realistically I don't anyone will be doing this, but it is the rules right now.

DH and the boys are planning some camping for just them though.  It is not the same as summer camp, but at least they will get out and camp.

[mlktwins]

No camps here, but I'm praying they can get back in the pool for swim team!!

[Tenaj]

I'm sure my high schoolers will go (at least my rising senior).  It's a church camp and they went last year with the then required covid precautions in place (no mask mandates at that time).   They made it through the camp with no incidence though the camp did have an exposure the very next week.  We don't really have to make a decision until a lot closer to the time (like a week or two) so we'll be able to see what's happening in our state by then.   

[Forget-Me-Not]

We are planning on it with caveat that things settle down and events actually happen. I give it a 50-50 chance at this point. The one event I’ve actually paid for was cancelled (and fully refunded) last year, and we were given priority registration this year as a result. I’m confident that the organization in question has the safety of the kids as their first priority and will cancel/refund as needed. 

[athena1277]

My kids will go to camps if they are not canceled.  Ds will go to Bible camp with our church.  It’s almost entirely people that we are already doing things with at church and most activities are outside.  There’s another camp that both of my teens will go to that’s at a teeny college campus.  That one isn’t until later in the summer, so even thought it has more indoor activities, I hope that things will have improved enough that we don’t have to worry much.

[SKL]

Yep, I'm reviving this thread because I decided to go for it.  I signed my kids up for Jr. Medical Camp, and I'm thinking of some others.  Looks like a lot of camps will be in-person this year.  Hopefully they have figured out how to make it work, like the many schools that have been in-person all year.

My kids' favorite, "culture camp," hasn't decided if it will be in person or not this year.  I really hope so.  Last year's online version was a dud for my kids.

Turns out my kids' school won't offer summer academics, except to kids who failed their classes.  They will have marching band and sports, but I want to do some things that are more academic also.  I am also wondering if I should put them in "leadership" / "conselor-in-training" type stuff.  Or is that overkill?

[Drama Llama]

We aren't doing any camps this summer, but I'm cautiously optimistic about summer swim. 

Last summer, i thought they did a very good job.  1 kid or a pair of siblings to a lane,  six foot spacing.  We didn't do it anyway, because DS's risk was so high, but maybe we'll do it this summer.  

We'd paid for the pool all summer last year, because we want it to be open when covid's over.  

[JustEm]

Dd11 is doing 3 weeks of summer intensives at her dance school. We have been incredibly happy with how they have been handling covid precautions.  Everyone is masked the second they enter the building, dancers have 10 feet between each other while in class, each room has a really good air filter, and only one guardian is allowed in the building at the time their dancers class is going on. Teachers aren't allowed to correct positioning so there is no physical contact, which sucks for the learning experience but good precautions.

[LAS in LA]

I'm hoping (but not very hopeful) for overnight camp this year. My sister is the program director for our church camp and says they are waiting to hear from the state (ie the health dept. which licenses them) before hiring staff and planning the summer. Hard times for camps . . .

We do plan to have "cousin camp" again this summer! We host eight cousins (incl. our kids) for a few days of hanging out and doing camp-like activities (cool crafts, hiking, tenting in the backyard). The age range is 4-17, but they had a great time together last summer. (This is our Christmas gift to the families).