this is the first summer we will have with a child out of school (kindergarten). my husband and i both work. camps are expensive and often only last one week. what do other parents do who are in this situation?
I believe that almost all of the public schools in Colorado have a BASE (Before After & Summer Enrichment) progarm. It's usually pretty reasonably priced. You can also check out Kindercare. They have summer (day care) camp that's pretty well priced. Both programs take kids on field trips and fun things. These programs probably aren't as great as summer camp, but they'll be more cost-effective for an entire summer.
I don't know if they have it in your area but here in nevada a lot of parents put their children in a parks and recreation program. It is something like $50 a week or something but they register early because it gets full soon. They have field trips and stuff to keep them busy all summer, also sometimes open on staff development days to keep the kids.
AS someone mentioned the YMCA offers camp all summer, and they do a lot with the kids. The newspaper will run a summer camp edition in the Spring. It lists all the Summer Camps available and many of them are for the entire summer. You should also check with your children's school becasue they will know of any local camps. You might also check with some of the private schools because there are several that offer summer camp for school age children. Good Luck
I am not sure where you live but in Casa Grande/Coolidge area there tends to be summer program NOT camps. I know that parks and recreation ALWAYS have fun things to do in the summer for kids. I know the director at one of the parks and rec. and she constantly feed me information. Also I am a teacher and you will see as the school year comes to an end - lots of teachers will offer services in their homes to make an extra couple of bucks in the summer. Keep your eyes open :)
I am in AZ but I'm sure there are YMCA's across the nation. i dont know if all of them offer the same services butt.. my sister is regional director in Phoenix. they have a program that my 17 yr old did volunteer srevice last summer at. they have like a summer school type camp. it started at 5 AM and was over at 6PM. the kids did crafts remedial reading and math , swimming, sports etc. my son wants to be a pediatric nurse so this was a great expereince for him. it reinforced his career choice. he taught swimming and wrestling and also had the kids that wanted to run. they provided breakfast and lunch and snacks. i dont think it was too expensive. you might want to look into that
My mom sent me to day camp at Colorado Academy. There should be something similar close to you. I loved it and made life-long friends after a couple of years. They had lots of great activites, horse-back riding, swimming, crafts, electives, etc. I'm sure it was expensive, but I'm glad my mom did it for me. It made for great summers!
