American Summer camps

[Remotecontrolatmyside]

Why have American style summer camps ever taken off in the UK? Is it because it would be unaffordable for the vast majority of the UK population? They always look like so much fun in films (I know that might not be the case in reality) and would solve a lot of child care issues maybe?

[HamBone]

@Foxesandsquirrels Yes, the learning loss is a big issue. They are assigned summer work, but it’s not the same.
I’m a big fan of 6 week summer holidays.

[Twilightstarbright]

There’s loads of day camps here where I am (Home Counties) and most do 8.30-5.30 type hours to accommodate working parents but might be because of our location and the demand for it.

We used to live elsewhere and it was far more limited 9-12 sort of thing which was useless if working.

There are some residential camps around, boarding schools often host them.

[Cantstandbullshitanymore]

@Foxesandsquirrels

This. Masses of learning lost in the US system over the summer. Some states have more than 3 months off. I think the system we've got in the UK is perfect when it comes to holidays. It's far easier on the children that need school for other things than just learning, which in this age is quite a lot of kids.

Not really and as usual there are pros and cons to both, the UK system to vacation is not perfect.

[Oblomov23]

Ds1 is working at camp America just outside New York this summer.

[Suncreamweather]

I have a lot of American family on the East coast (New York, Connecticut & New Jersey? .. Very wealthy, understated & obsessed with education.. Their dc usually go on camps to North or South Carolina for a month at eye watering prices.. The same kids go each year apparently & the kids stay in contact..
They attend U. N camp, debating, music, language etc.. One of my cousins sons wants do law & he's doing a summer law camp in a uni campus to give him a taste (thousands of dollars).
Apparently in these circles that they of extra enrichment during the summer is the norm & is expected. This is on top of their summer vacations.

[Suncreamweather]

In Ireland there are Irish speaking camps in the Gaeltacht region of Ireland. These Gaeilge camps can be 1,2 or 3 weeks but the Irish language is spoken through out. Children sleepover. The Gaeltacht camps are extremely popular with Irish kids & teens but are expensive about 800 euro per week.

[RedRiverSun]

I don't know anyone who ever sent their kids to overnight camp for more than 2 weeks. My friends and I went as preteens and loved it.

Americans just aren't as fussed over "loss of learning" in the summer. They take kids out for term time holidays without blinking. And yet it's almost as if the U.K. holds no advantage on the international stage....enforcing pedantic rules does not give you greatness. I can't think of anything anymore where the U.K. is the leader.

[TastesLikeStrawberriesOnASummerEvening]

I went to PGL in the summer, every year from age 12, starting with a week, then two weeks, this was early/mid 90's.
I'm still in touch with a friend I met there and were in our forties now, I'm off to visit her next week for the third time this year, 5 hours away.
I absolutely loved it.

[TastesLikeStrawberriesOnASummerEvening]

Sorry, that should be age 12 to 17, all UK except for the last year which was France.

[Comedycook]

Sounds awesome....I'd love to pack mine off for a month 😂You could even sneak in a childfree holiday during that time.

[Belmondo]

@WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa I like the look of those - I have a 10-yr old who might be keen for next year. I've had a look round the website and I can't see that there's a hidden agenda/mission?! (He's quite anti-religion 😁)

Also lots of talk on there about how you're only ever a couple of hours away from some food, which would be a massive plus for him...

We live quite near one of the centres too, which might make him feel a bit less homesick.

[Greenfinch7]

Having a long summer vacation makes a whole other life outside of school possible for kids. I was lucky because my mother was a SAHP (50s and 60s), we were lucky enough to have access to a small plot of family land with a cabin on it, and the cost of living was cheap- other times...

I grew up in a big city in the US, but each summer spent 2-3 months running completely wild, hiking, going barefoot, canoeing, playing with a different group of friends (mix of ages), having the kind of freedom that city kids can't even imagine. I also played my instrument for hours and read thousands of books. The long summers made this into a second life for me, rather than a brief interlude between bouts of schooling. It was wonderful.

[WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa]

@Belmondo - if you wanted to try a shorter stay first, they usually do a new years super sleep over, and and Easter one too.

I honestly cannot fault them. Travel is included - they collect them from your nearest train station. They've gone above and beyond to get my daughters lost property back etc.

I signed my daughter up because she was the youngest in the year group and needed a confidence boost before starting high school - it was the absolute making of her.

[Ponderingwindow]

There are ways to combat learning loss. It requires parent and school planning, but it can work. My child’s school requires summer homework in higher grades. We also make sure to include a mix of academic oriented camps.

[Suncreamweather]

Tbf many (not all) American kids are very outdoorsy & sporty. The us school system offers a great variety of teams plus many states have proper seasons which make winter sports a possibility too.

[Fleebags]

@coxesorangepippin

I live in Canada and one of the best things is the fact that we have day camp (where your kids don't sleep overnight) which my kids adore.

I do not know how UK parents manage to find childcare for the entire summer, begs belief

I’m in Scandinavia and we have 10 weeks of summer holiday. I have 7 weeks paid holiday weeks and dh the same, so we altered a bit. Nurseries, pre-schools and schools are all open and free though and they do fun free activities with the kids all summer. Free food all day as well.

[Suncreamweather]

@Fleebags Scandinavian children are much more outdoorsy & active than UK ones though.
And also feature very highly in the education ratings so obviously don't suffer from the summer slide as much..

[Belmondo]

@WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa

@Belmondo - if you wanted to try a shorter stay first, they usually do a new years super sleep over, and and Easter one too.

I honestly cannot fault them. Travel is included - they collect them from your nearest train station. They've gone above and beyond to get my daughters lost property back etc.

I signed my daughter up because she was the youngest in the year group and needed a confidence boost before starting high school - it was the absolute making of her.

That's really useful, thanks 👍 will investigate the shorter ones!

[Fleebags]

@Suncreamweather

@Fleebags Scandinavian children are much more outdoorsy & active than UK ones though.
And also feature very highly in the education ratings so obviously don't suffer from the summer slide as much..

Maybe, I’ve never noticed any disadvantages with a long summer holiday tbh. We also always took our children out of school when they were younger for 10-14 days to go to America or Australia and it was never a problem. In fact they probably learnt more in those 2 weeks than they would have done in school.

[MrsCarson]

@HamBone

@Foxesandsquirrels Yes, the learning loss is a big issue. They are assigned summer work, but it’s not the same.
I’m a big fan of 6 week summer holidays.

Our US school district had 6 week summer holidays. Finished in time for 4th of July and went back to school in August when it was close to 40 c Christmas holidays were good the kids were off for 3 weeks and lots of families traveled then.
Local summer camps were religious based only so we didn't join in (biggest one was Awanas and very popular) We used to come to UK for a few weeks instead.

[Fleebags]

@Suncreamweather

@Fleebags Scandinavian children are much more outdoorsy & active than UK ones though.
And also feature very highly in the education ratings so obviously don't suffer from the summer slide as much..

I remember when I was 14-15 and went on one of those 3 weeks language courses to England (Torquay) during summer. My friend and I stayed with a family and they asked how we got to school every day, because she drove her son. We cycled, like everyone else. The mother was amazed. Then she asked if we at least were driven by our parents during winter, and we said nope we still cycled or used our kick-sledges if there was too much snow. Or walked. She couldn’t believe us and we couldn’t believe her. 😂 This was about 28 years ago..funny what you remember.

[Grumpyfroghats]

@Ponderingwindow

There are ways to combat learning loss. It requires parent and school planning, but it can work. My child’s school requires summer homework in higher grades. We also make sure to include a mix of academic oriented camps.

Yes but for younger children it requires parents to be engaged in education and because many aren't, it widens disadvantage.

I think the compromise that many American school districts are moving towards - 8 weeks - is quite a reasonable balance.

There's pros and cons to every system, I am not a ridiculous patriot about the British system but summer learning loss is a real phenomenon and has to be considered

[Bunnycat101]

Although the holidays are tricky to manage here, realistically a lot of people can get buy using annual leave, some grandparent care and some day camps. There probably aren’t enough people that need a really solid long stretch to make the mega camp concept work. I quite fancy doing a week of PGL or something similar for my daughters when they’re older though- they love being outside, being active etc and I think they’d love it. Will also have a look at the superweeks link posted above.

[TastesLikeStrawberriesOnASummerEvening]

@Comedycook

Sounds awesome....I'd love to pack mine off for a month 😂You could even sneak in a childfree holiday during that time.

My parents went away when I was away.
They wanted to go on walking holidays which didn't remotely interest me as a teen.

[goodkidsmaadhouse]

@Teeheehee1579 Which company do you work with?

I loved camp so much and would love to
give my DC the opportunity I had, I wouldn’t be able to afford to send them to camp in the States though.