summer camp Archives - Mom's Guide To Travel

Jul 21 2015

Choosing Summer Travel Over Choosing Summer Camp

Shaving wood at London Town and Gardens — Learning how to shave wood at London Town and Gardens in Annapolis.

Our family is in the thick of our summer travel madness. I knew July would be busy so I had to think hard about choosing summer travel over choosing summer camp.

I opted to keep the boys out of summer camp so that we could focus on travel and learn more being out and about. I’m practicing what I preach about traveling around the corner by finding local activities when we’re not on the road.

Choosing to not do summer camp freed me of the guilt (and financial burden) of missing paid days of camp.

A week ago we all went down to Charleston with my sister and nephews to visit my in-laws. This past weekend just the boys and I spent four days exploring Philly. I wanted to flex my travel solo with kids muscles. Out of necessity, this happens at least once a year. This weekend I realize that if I don’t have to, I’d rather not!

Whew! It’s a lot. I gotta say, I notice a big difference in my attitude when I’m traveling with them during warm weather vs. cold. I have less patience when I’m hot and I don’t like it. Just being real. This is what a day in the heat traveling solo with your kids looks like:

Summer Learning

It’s important to me that I make sure the kids are getting a lesson from wherever we travel. I like to schedule educational outings to balance the fun and ask them questions to see what they’ve learned. For my baby with autism I just try to introduce him to a new word since I know most of the deeper stuff that we’re seeing is over his head.

Annapolis

In Maryland, they visited London Town and Gardens just outside Annapolis. Here they learned about life on an early colonial settlement. We all learned that people didn’t drink water but rather beer, including the kids, because water was contaminated and often made people sick.

Charleston

In Charleston, we visited Emanuel AME church where the tragic shooting of 9 Christians occurred in June. We paid our respects and watched the news unfold, living history out ourselves. We visited a slave plantation that recently opened up on James Island where my in-laws live. We’ve passed that plantation a hundred times, me always asking my husband why we can’t we and visit, him always replying because it’s private property.

Until 1990, families still lived there in some of the old slave houses. My sister, the kids and I were astonished. Shocked to be honest. Although it wasn’t the first plantation I’ve visited, it still was a challenge to walk through as I imagined the back-breaking work our ancestors endured in scorching heat. We got a taste of that weather as the heat index hovered in the 105 area. My sister is done visiting plantations.

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, we learned about mummification at Penn’s Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It’s a fascinating museum with several amazing rooms of Egyptian artifacts, mummies, sarcophagus and more. We saw a mummified cats head in excellent condition as well as the mummies of children, adults, and other animals.

Our Philly getaway also took us to the Seaport museum where we learned about the Delaware River’s past, including the transportation of human cargo. The African American exhibit was one of the most fascinating in the museum. Harrowing in many ways but excellent because of the artifacts there and how the exhibit brings things such as standing on an auction block or sitting in a cargo box to life.

The museum and especially the exhibit is worth a visit.

End of Family Summer Camp

We’ll be heading out for a Carnival cruise (which I don’t plan on doing solo this time around) to the Caribbean and then we’ll round out our summer adventures with a weekend trip to Virginia Beach and/or Williamsburg. I don’t know yet what we’ll discover and learn at our stops in the Caribbean but I’m sure I’ll find something. Without a doubt there’s plenty to learn in Williamsburg so that’s a trip I can count on to deliver some real educational value as well.

What about you? Where has your family traveled this summer? Do you seek educational opportunities when you take your family vacations?

If you’re interested in ideas for creating your own family summer camp, sign up for my travel consulting services and let’s work on an itinerary designed specifically for you and your kids. After all, the world is their best classroom.

Plan My Trip!

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Apr 24 2015

Benefits of Educational Summer Camps When Not Traveling

It’s amazing to think that there are less than two months left in the school year. This time of year is always a hustle for me as I sort out both summer family travel plans and summer camps.

I’m definitely NOT one of those parents who has their kids signed up for camp by the third week of February. Perhaps if I worked in an office with a traditional 9-5 job, I’d be that organized and forward-thinking.

Summer camps — Kit for our helicopter craft

One of the luxuries of working on my own from home is that I have the option to either send the kids to camp for a few weeks or find my own ways to keep them busy. However, when they’re home with me and I need to get work done, it’s a challenge to keep them engaged.

Many parents face the same dilemma: what to do with the kids during the summer to keep them engaged and learning?

Our Summer Camp Experiences

A couple of years ago I wanted to ensure that my oldest was enrolled in summer camps that challenged him to be creative and think critically.

That year he attended a week of circus camp and electronics camp. In the electronics camp he had a chance to tinker with materials and learn how to make functioning objects.

It was fun helping him tinker with the projects he brought home. I was able to encourage him first-hand to create, explore, fail, and succeed without fear.

This is exactly what Galileo summer camps encourages with their preK to 8th grade campers: to be fearless innovators.

That type of learning experience leaves a lasting impression on both kids and parents.

If you’re in the San Francisco or Los Angeles area (or plan to be for a few weeks), sign up for a Galileo camp experience for your child. Use the discount code to save money when you do.

A Galileo Inspired Home Activity

To show you an example of an activity that fosters your child’s innovative spirit, check out this helicopter craft that my son and I created together.

What was so great about this activity was that I stepped in only when my son asked for an extra hand. For the most part he was able to follow the directions, tinker, and complete the craft on his own.

We had fun testing out our helicopter. I enjoyed watching his sense of accomplishment once he was finished.

He tested the helicopter repeatedly, adjusting components to observe the variation in results.

#CriticalThinking skills at work!

Try this craft out with your own child. This is one type of activity that Galileo Camps shares with its campers. You can access four downloadable PDF instructions here for even more craft activities.

Consider a Galileo summer camp for your own child for an even more immersive learning experience. Just in case you need more encouragement, enjoy a $50 coupon for the LA camp (code: 2015GALILEOCAMPSLA) and a $30 coupon for the San Fran camp (code: 2015GALILEOCAMPSF).

Here’s to an engaging and innovative summer!

Many thanks to Galileo Summer camps for sponsoring today’s post and encouraging my son to think like an innovator.

Mar 20 2015

Combine Brain Chase And Travel For Kids Summer Learning

March is quickly coming to a close. Many of us parents are already thinking about Summer plans, most of which involves a balance of travel and summer learning.

I have a problem that I deal with every year once June rolls around: summer learning loss.

Earlier this week I received an email from a learning center that we’ll be enrolling my oldest son in starting next month. I subconsciously rolled my eyes as I thought about the struggle I’d have keeping him motivated to attend full-out through the summer.

I’ve already started constructing the mental bribes.

Like all other children, mine want to forget about books, forget about snow, and forget about schedules. Their ideal day would be a balance of travel, online gaming, and running outside under the warmth of the sun.

I think I may have found a wonderful solution: Brain Chase!

What is Brain Chase?

Brain Chase summer learning — The characters in the game.

It’s a 5-week online summer learning challenge for 2nd through 8th graders, though technically kids can be between ages 6 and 16. It involves a massive global treasure hunt that’s powered by a child’s reading, writing and math on a personalized online learning platform.

Kids have four tasks that they need to complete each week:

Read for 15 minutes per day
Write one journal entry
Earn 10,000 points on Khan Academy
Do a bonus challenge

After they complete their tasks they can unlock the next webisode which contains hidden pictures, numbers, and riddles that will help them guess the treasure’s location.

How fun.

The program encourages and motivates kids to do online academic work during the summer time in hopes of winning a $10,000 scholarship and trophy. Oh, and bragging rights too of course! They will spend 5 weeks hunting for a golden mechanical treasure. This year the treasure is called the Sunstone of Cortes.

The program is in its second year. Last year 500 adventurers participated in the hunt for the scholarship money and the treasure.

Biggest Highlights

What I like is that it gives kids motivation to achieve two big goals: winning and traveling! It’s like the academic junior version of the Amazing Race.

Face it, if our kids aren’t continually practicing their reading and math skills during the summer, they lose one to two months of the previous school year’s brain power. A 2011 RAND study revealed this in its findings.

In addition to participating in a massive global treasure hunt for the golden trophy and the $10,000 prize, this is what else kids get when they participate in Brain Chase’s summer learning program:

5 weeks of structured challenges on external reading and math websites.
Weekly writing exercises with feedback from credentialed teachers.
Exclusive access to an original animated adventure series that’s loaded with hidden puzzles and clues.

Parents are emailed weekly progress reports and 3 adventure tools are mailed to the house to help kids solve special bonus challenges. I have a plan together on how to seamlessly incorporate it in our day-to-day schedule.

So how can you participate? This is what you need to know:

Check out this video to see how the program works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xciDyoHXz0&feature=youtu.be

The chase starts on Monday June 22, 2015 at 9 a.m. EST. Once the race starts, adventurers can log in every 24 hours to guess where the real treasure is located. The first child to guess within a two-mile radius travels with his/her family to the treasure site to claim the gold.

To participate, sign up at www.brainchase.com. The Limited Early bird price is $149 until April 15, 2015. Each additional sibling is $100. Use the code MOMSGUIDE15 to get 15% off your total purchase. The challenge is open to students ages 6 to 16 in the the 48 United States & D.C. (excluding CO, MD), Mexico, UK and Canada (except Quebec). Entries close 7/5/15.

Are you excited? I am. See you on the Chase!

This post is sponsored by Brain Chase in conjunction with the promotion of their 2015 scavenger hunt.

Feb 03 2015

Galileo Summer Camp: A Recipe For Learning Success

Yes, it’s only February and I’m already thinking about vacation planning and summer camp. It’s cold and my family is craving warm weather and fun activities.

What about you? Are you thinking about your summer plans yet? What’s your annual mix? Ours is part family travel, part camp for the kids.

Although it seems like we just took down the Christmas tree, the school year is halfway completed and now’s the perfect time to start planning. Prices are low and we’re recuperating from the consumerism of the holidays.

The first thing that I ask myself is: how do I keep the kids engaged and learning over the summer break?

The Annual Summer Camp Challenge

Every year, I deal with the same issue: what type of camp am I going to enroll my 11-year old? I want to keep things fun and exciting for him. I know how he learns and what he enjoys learning but it’s not always easy to find a camp environment that will keep him engaged, learning, and growing.

Other parents face this same challenge. And unfortunately, not everyone can afford (both in time and resources) to travel all summer long with their kids while managing summer learning.

This is why summer camps like Galileo learning camps are so valuable. They have deep and lasting educational impact that parents appreciate.

Galileo Camp Offerings

Galileo summer camps offer several themes/curriculum options which include:

Music and Art
Destination San Francisco
DIY Art and Real-world Inventions
Mount Everest Expedition
Arts Academy (painting, filmmaking, photography, fashion design)
Technology (mod, website and video game design, 3D modeling / printing, music production)
Culinary Arts (International cooking, dessert making)
Building/Inventing

In-Home Camp

My boys are like many other kids – they excel in hands-on, interactive learning experiences. When my oldest was first learning about fractions and measurements in school, he had trouble grasping the concept. So, I did what any mom would do who needs to explain measurements to her child: I made him bake!

Ok, well maybe not all moms do that but I thought it would be a fun, educational, hands-on experience for him. In one of our in-the-kitchen math lessons, he helped me measure oil, water and batter for brownies.

This exercise taught him fractions and the metric system.

Another time he helped me make sugar croissants. The exercise required measuring ingredients like brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. We used smaller measurements like teaspoons and tablespoons.

Here are some pictures from the activity we did, complete with steps on how you can make your own cinnamon bites:

Aside from being fun (and yummy), these activities were lessons for him that not only help to develop life skills but also teach him a thing or two. After a few hands-on experiences in the kitchen, the concept of fractions was clearer to him.

What Summer Camp Is About

This is what summer camp should emulate for kids: creative learning opportunities that will have educational impact. Camps like Galileo camps do just this. These hands-on camps teach pre-K-8th graders to be innovators who explore, create and fail without fear.

Being able to create without fear of failure is important to a child’s growth, esteem, and enjoyment. This is why kids love Galileo summer camps.

We all know that camp can be expensive. Try Galileo camps out for yourself and save $30 off per family for 1 session. Click the link to check out their offerings and use code: 2015INNOVATE to save. When a child is interested in what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, that is when they’re most successful and when they excel.

Thanks to Galileo Learning for sponsoring today’s discussion.

May 18 2010

Five Fun Family Vacation Activities Your Kids will Love

Summer camp

As summer quickly approaches, many families are finalizing summer camp and family vacation activities for their kids. Most kids if given the choice would probably opt for family vacation time over camp any day of the week. And why not? It is an opportunity to spend fun quality time with their parents and create new memories, and perhaps, regular traditions.

The thing I love about children in general is, for the most part they are easy to please – especially when it comes to vacation activities. Show them some sun, some water, an amusement park, summertime food, and they’re pretty happy. They’re not too picky on how they get there, as long as they get there. They may complain a little about travel time, however, if you keep the anticipation up, they can’t help but squeal in their pants.

Here are 5 family vacation activities that your kids will love:

At-home Water Park: As much as we’d like, we can’t get away to a water park every weekend of the summer. So why not create a water park at-home? Buy a couple of water slides, hook them up to your water hose, invite a couple of your child’s buddies, and watch your home turn into the local water park. If you’re one of the lucky souls to already have a pool in the backyard, that’s even better! Fire up the grill, turn on some music, throw some water toys into the pool with your kids and their invited guests and watch their faces light up. You will instantly be “Cool Mom of the Week” and your house will be known as party central.
Themed Day Trips: Kids love to role play. Try dressing them up according to the theme of the day trip you’re embarking on and take their day trip to a whole other level. For example, take a wilderness walk/hike or a trip to nearby caves or caverns. Have your child pretend to be an explorer, complete with an Indiana Jones inspired hat. Dress them up like a farmer and visit a local fruit and vegetable farm that allows you to pick your own produce. If your child loves race cars, dress them up like a race car driver and have fun with Go Karts or take a trip to a race. If you’re looking for something even more educational, take your kids to a nearby battlefield and give them a history lesson, complete with some sort of military inspired paraphernalia..
Weekend Trip to an Outdoor/Indoor Water park: So If you’re really not interested in the hassle of set up and clean up and you have the funds to make it happen, take an overnight trip or a weekend trip to a local water park. If you’re lucky enough to live near Orlando, FL or Williamsburg, VA (or any other location fairly close to a Great Wolf Lodge), you can enjoy both worlds – indoor and outdoor water fun. Near the Williamsburg area, you can visit Bush Gardens or Water Country USA and then hop on over to Great Wolf Lodge for your accommodations and continued water park madness.
Annual Family Cruise: Cruising is by far one of my favorite ways to travel and enjoy family vacation time. Everything is right at your finger tips: water fun, entertainment, restaurants, childcare, and photographers. All you have to do is get to the ship. Theme-cruises such as Disney Cruises probably top the list of fun cruise ships as they have the most child-friendly offerings. However, many cruise lines have programs designed for kids and chaperones to help tailor the fun.
Packing party: To ease some of the stress from mom’s shoulder, try having a family packing party complete with music, pizza, and other treats. Packing becomes a fun family affair where the whole family packs their suitcases together and prepares for an upcoming family vacation. This exercise teaches kids at an early age that they too are part of the vacation preparation process. When they are older, they’ll be better equipped to independently pack because you’ve already made it a family tradition. This takes the stress off of mom and makes packing a family event.

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the Williamsburg Tourism and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $50 gift card.