Monday Teeny Poll
By Glinda
You might have noticed a distinct lack of Teeny Poll last week, and that was because last Sunday night found me frantically trying to fight a virus that my dear husband allowed into our computer. Thanks hon! Three hours of my life I can never get back.
I went totally personal on the last poll, and most of you (44%) suggested semi-formal, no matching for our upcoming family photo. I’m thinking you guys are right. We will have to ponder exactly how we are going to carry it out, but hopefully it will turn out not looking too cluttered.
Today I want to talk about summer camps. The Munchkin is into science, computers, and robotics and the like. I found a great-looking robotics camp done through a local university. I was really excited about it, until I clicked through to find the price tag. For six hours a day, they wanted me to fork over $800! I about fell off my chair. That doesn’t even include lunch! I’ve looked at quite a few others, and it seems that if you want to do something even semi-interesting, it is going to cost you big bucks. However, maybe I’m being unreasonable?
April 25th, 2011 at 7:43 am
For a week-long camp? It’s a lot.
But is it longer than that? (like 6 weeks?) Then it’s not so bad.
I think summer camp prices are sort of like prices for anything wedding-related. Many parents are so desperate to find something for their kids to do in the summer — particularly two-income households with school-age kids who don’t have a regular daycare to go to over the summer — that they’ll pay a lot to a decent care provider. Especially one that might boost their kids’ academic chances (Tiger Mom, anyone?).
I know you’re not a Tiger Mom, but a robotics camp sounds like Tiger Mom Bait!
April 25th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
It is a week long day camp.
And yes, robotics sounds like a Tiger Mom thing for sure, but that is where his natural interests lie, building things and finding out how things work.
You know, the type who takes radios and phones apart!
April 28th, 2011 at 9:44 am
If it’s any consolation, we could not afford academic summer camps growing up, either, and we all turned out fine. And spending our days running around outside in relatively unsupervised conditions (and building forts out of ropes, garbage bags, and clothespins; reparing slipped bike chains; access to hand saws, hammers, small nails and scrap wood; etc) was probably more beneficial to long-term competence and creativity than organized activities, anyway. Certainly was a fun childhood.
April 28th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
I would say the majority of his summer is spent bonking around the neighborhood with the other kids.
However.
He does need at least a couple of weeks of some sort of camp because he gets extremely bored.
And also, I think (especially now that we are homeschooling) that it is good for him to be on his own somewhere without myself and his sister around.
April 25th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
for a day camp i think that’s pricey. for a week-long overnight camp? not too bad. my middle son goes to a gymnastics camp every summer for a week, i pay about $700, which includes $100 for taking a bus up there (it’s too far for me to drive him up there myself). he LOVES it and looks forward to it all year.
April 25th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Yeah, unfortunately it is a day camp, no overnights.
Not to mention it is a ways away, and with gas being over four dollars a gallon, ouch!
I could totally see paying that much for an overnight camp, but he’s too young yet. But maybe that is just the wuss in me talking.
April 26th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
well, my guy didn’t start going to this camp until the week before he turned 10, and most of his gymnastics team goes as well (plus his coaches). so no homesickness. 🙂
what about getting him the lego mindstorms? he can then build and program robots.
April 28th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I have always balked at the price of those Mindstorms!
I think this year might be the first year, though, where I would seriously consider buying one, just because before I thought he was a teensy bit young and didn’t know if he would stay committed long enough to finish.
I would have to ask him if he would rather have one Mindstorm for his birthday, or a bunch of other gifts, but it could work.
April 26th, 2011 at 9:27 am
building things and finding out how things work.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy him a few old radios and TVs to dismantle instead? (And then pay the high school kid in the robotics club $5/hour to help him put them back together.)
April 26th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Well, the two things aren’t quite exactly the same, and he has already taken apart everything except for a television.
I’m guessing a robotics camp is where they help you build things with actual moving parts as opposed to just reassembling something. We bought him a robot kit for Christmas, but as it needs a soldering iron, he needs to use it under supervision only, which hasn’t happened yet as my husband was in an accident at work and is still recovering.
Of course we aren’t sending him to the camp, but I always figure that it is nice to be guided in activities by people who truly know what they are doing and have all the equipment necessary.