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Planning Ahead : Be thankful for the opportunities of Summer 2016

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In our 45th year, the consultants at Tips on Trips and Camps are gearing up now to help families find a diverse assortment of summer programs for your children 8-19.
We can help you connect with experiences that offer a lifetime of Thanks…

-Innovative and sustainable service projects for budding environmental conservationists, sight-seekers, and language enthusiasts
-Experiential travel that offers meaningful service and cultural/language immersion to prepare for the changing future
– A vast array of professional internships in major U.S./World Cities
-Academic and career studies at major U.S Universities and Abroad
-Student leadership programs
-Developing Sport’s Enthusiasts
-Enhancing Music, Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts 
-Traditional summer camp for all ages and interests
-Gap Year Service opportunities

Contact the consultant nearest you to learn how your child can discover and be thankful for new opportunities and adventures. Opportunities include trekking through mountains and rainforests  diving or sailing, safari adventure, meaningful service working hands-on with local children and families, animals, farm-to-table culinary skills…. the list goes on…
or just a blissful summer to unplug at CAMP!

Giving thanks to all our new and old TOTS families,

Camp Prepares Children for College

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As a young mother, I was often given the age-old advice “Cherish every moment. They grow up so fast.” What an understatement! As I now prepare myself for the emotional task of sending my daughter to college, I am so glad that I not only cherished every moment, but that I gave her many moments that she will cherish for a lifetime.

Sending a child to college parallels sending a child to sleepaway camp for the first time. It is an emotional rollercoaster of anxiety, excitement, pride, indecision and ultimately pure joy! I find myself looking back to my daughter’s first year as a camper and remembering the changes she went through in just a few short weeks. Her strength, independence, curiosity and willingness to try new activities was astounding. Whether it was waterskiing for the first time, or climbing the rock wall or performing in the camp theatre production, she participated in new activities each year and gained incredible confidence through these opportunities.

Now I have the confidence in knowing that wherever she goes to college, she will be an independent leader and not only strive for excellence in her studies, but also take advantage of all the extracurricular opportunities that are available.

I have spoken with many parents who feel the same way. Their child may not have been to overnight camp, but perhaps went on a community service trip, a language immersion experience, a wilderness adventure or an academic enrichment program. Whatever the experience, these parents feel that some form of summer program, away from home, helped prepare their child for a successful transition to college.

My advice to young parents is to absolutely cherish every moment but to also give your children opportunities that will allow for personal growth to prepare them for college and beyond.

Is visiting a camp fair worthwhile?

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Over the years, I have noticed a decrease in the number of people attending camp fairs. It is understandable given our access to the Internet. After all, why would you want to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon dragging your kids around a camp fair? However, it can be hard to distinguish one program from another by looking at websites. We can all assume that they have hired the best website designers and videographers they can find. A camp fair is a good opportunity to meet Directors and speak with them directly about their programs and see many different options that are available.

As a parent of teenage boys, I have found it is hard to get them excited about anything. However, I do not intend to have them sit on the couch all summer playing games on their Xbox. In order for them to buy into the idea of Camp, it is very helpful to have them talk to the Directors and Camp Reps at a fair. My oldest found a great sailing and scuba program a few years ago, when I dragged him to my fair. The next year he found a wilderness/adventure program that fit him perfectly and I no longer had to drag him to my fair. The trip was a combination of white-water rafting, backpacking, and community service with the Navajo Indians out West. This year he is anxious to go to my fair to see all the options available. He will be bringing my middle schooler who has decided he has outgrown traditional summer camps. I want him to get excited about one of the teen programs available to him: perhaps language immersion or academic enrichment (he prefers air-conditioned dorm rooms to sleeping rough). The best way to inspire him is to bring him to a Camp Fair.

So if you are deciding whether to take the afternoon to go to camp fair, I say do it with your children. You will find it is a great way to get them involved in the process. Going on a trip or to a camp becomes their idea instead of something their parents are pushing on them. At Tips on Trips and Camps summer opportunities fairs there are knowledgeable camp advisors standing by to help you sort through all the choices and give you additional options if you can’t find what you are looking for. Visit our website to see a list of our fairs in various cities or contact us directly by registering at www.TipsonTripsandCamps.com. We are happy to guide you through the process to find a great summer program.

Summer Opportunities for My Middle Schooler

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As an advisor with Tips on Trips and Camps, I pride myself on knowing more than the average parent about summer opportunities for children. Yet, I still struggle with which direction to go for my middle school boy. He thinks he has out grown the traditional overnight camp, and frankly would rather sit in front of the xbox all summer playing with his remote friends. One thing I do know– that is not going to happen! I don’t want a couch potato who occasionally whines about being bored two weeks into summer. As children reach 7th and 8th grade, their options really open up: domestic or international travel with some wilderness adventure or culture thrown in; academic enrichment or study skills to prepare them for the rigors of high school; language immersion if they have completed some language in middle school and want to really learn outside of a classroom environment; community service to open their eyes to the world around them. Even I struggle with which direction to go. My older son did sailing in the caribbean while learning to SCUBA dive. He loved that! However, each child is different, and sea sickness rules it out this time around. The possibilities are endless and the time is now to decide… I must get busy and apply my knowledge and expertise in order to help my own child find the right summer program.

How To Approach Language Learning During Your Tween’s and Teen’s Summer

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There are three distinct categories that Summer Language Programs seem to fall into: Domestic programs; International Language Immersion Programs without a home stay; and International Language Programs with a home stay. All language programs tend to have longer dates since it is unlikely that your child will learn enough in a week or two.
The domestic language programs tend to be geared toward a slightly younger crowd, who aren’t quite ready to venture internationally. They have structured classes in a dorm setting at a boarding school or college campus. A few traditional camps have language (ex. Canadian camps that include French).
Most of the international programs combine language learning with wilderness, adventure and/or community service and provide lots of opportunities for kids to practice their language skills with locals. A few language programs combine sports like soccer with language and cultural exposure. Some have more structured classroom time than others. If they don’t include a home stay, students often live together in hotels, hostels, tents or community centers. A few international boarding schools run language programs in the summer that have classroom time and camp activities in a boarding school setting.
The Immersion programs that include a home stay are for teenagers who are typically independent and willing to go outside their comfort zones to really experience immersion. These programs are very careful to find good families for the children to live with. Sometimes a child is in a host home by himself with his host family and other times with a friend from the program. Often these children learn the most during their summers.
To figure out which language program is the right fit for your child, you should discuss it with a camp advisor from Tips on Trips and Camps who can help you compare the various summer programs and answer questions about the differences between them.

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