| Author |
Message |
    
Wilkanoid
Citizen
Username: Cseleosida
Post Number: 87
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - 1:55 pm: | 
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It's that time of year again, and I'm wondering whether to send my 8 year old to sleepaway camp. I know it's been done for kids as young as 6. This is a sociable but not independent (when it comes to personal care) kid. Any recommendations for a first-time sleepaway camp, preferrably running only a week or so and relatively close to Maplewood? |
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 1261
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - 2:16 pm: |
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I send my kids to Camp Sloane, in Lakeville, CT. It's about a 2.5 hour drive, which may be too far for you. The kids love it. It's a YMCA camp and costs a lot less than comparable camps. As far as I can tell, the only things that seem less than other camps are: (1) they are in large tents with wooden foundations rather than cabins and (2) the food is awful. Since the kids are all in those boats together, they don't see these as unbearable problems.
http://www.camp-sloane.org
Tom Reingold
There is nothing
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Michael Janay
Citizen
Username: Childprotect
Post Number: 94
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - 2:26 pm: |
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Boy or Girl?
My sister in law runs a fabulous all girls camp in Maine called Walden.
They have a bunk for 8 year olds and are very attentive to first timers needs.
They have 4 and 8 week sessions.
Not close to Maplewood, but the experience the campers have there seems to be second to none. |
sac
Citizen
Username: Sac
Post Number: 806
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - 4:33 pm: |
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My 8-year old daughter has attended 3-day first time camper sessions at both Girl Scout Camp Hoover (when she was 7) and Presbyterian Camp Johnsonburg (when she was 8). My older child started out with a week-long session at Johnsonburg (at "almost" 8) as well as a week-long session the same summer at Girl Scout Camp Eagle Island. All of those experiences were successful and the older one (now 12) routinely spends 4-6 weeks at two or all three of these camps each summer. I can recommend both Hoover and Johnsonburg as excellent choices for first-timers for either the 3-day or 1-week session lengths. Eagle Island is farther away (6 hour bus ride) but also great for more adventurous children of that age. These camps all have both cabins/lodges and platform tents. Typically, the first-timers are in cabins.
Kids vary widely in their readiness for sleepaway camp, so it really depends a lot on the particular child. I think the main concern would be the separation from home/family as opposed to personal care. The younger kids at camp tend to have their possessions in a mess by the end of the week, and I'm sure that their hygiene isn't the greatest, but the staff is pretty good at helping them to manage the basics and get their things gathered up at the end. (Of course the laundry afterwards is an experience, but that's just part of the game.) |
millie
Citizen
Username: Millie
Post Number: 80
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2003 - 2:27 pm: |
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There are a couple of camps around that take kids during the week (Mon - Fri) and they come home for the weekend. Campus Kids comes to mind. They have a program in Hackettstown NJ, one in CT, and one somewhere else. You drop-off/pick up locally.
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bella
Citizen
Username: Bella
Post Number: 406
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2003 - 3:33 pm: |
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Sac - ask your daughter if Lolli was one of her counselors. That's my younger sister. She is a walking, talking Camp Lou Henry Hoover brochure. She started going there as a camper in 1986. She went on to become a counselor and then a unit leader. She even went there this summer for a reunion.
I am not the camp type. But I did go to Hoover and would recommend it to others. |
lizzyr
Citizen
Username: Lizzyr
Post Number: 86
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2003 - 10:41 pm: |
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I know some moms who went to Hoover as girls and now send their girls. While the dining hall is new, they say the feel of the place is the same as it was 30 years ago. Another plus is that it is just 1+ hours away in case of an emergency. |
mck
Citizen
Username: Mck
Post Number: 624
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, December 6, 2003 - 9:52 pm: |
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Another vote for Hoover. Very well run, my daughter has gone there for four years with no glitches at all. and she always wants to return. Location in Sussex County is a plus, just far enough and just near enough. |
R S
Citizen
Username: Rollins23
Post Number: 13
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Monday, December 8, 2003 - 4:16 pm: |
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I went to http://www.campcayuga.com/ Camp Cayuga as a child, and had a great time. They had 4 and 8 week sessions and have been run by the same family for several generations.
I also worked at Camp Green Lane http://www.greenlane.com/ as a counselor, and that was also a good experience, but they only have 8 week sessions.} |
columbiastudent
Citizen
Username: Columbiastudent
Post Number: 51
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Friday, December 12, 2003 - 6:17 am: |
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Check out Camp Kinder Ring.... www.campkr.com
I've been going for 13 years now, next summer will be my 14th. |
umich92
Citizen
Username: Umich92
Post Number: 7
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 11:58 am: |
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My closest friend's family owns/runs a wonderful sleep away camp in Starucca, Pensylvania called Camp Island Lake. I know it is further than Maplewood area but it is an unbelievable camp. It is not anything like the camps I remember growing up. The children can pursue any interests they already have or would like to experience. They fill up extremely quickly but you might want to check them out. |
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