Thursday, March 31, 2011

Camp

Raising any child involves the process of letting go. With a special needs child that process becomes a lot trickier. We are considering sleep away camp for GB. Since the Cons are easier, I will start with them.

Cons 

  • GB has never slept anywhere without me except  a few single nights at my sisters.
  • Hope would be home and she wouldn't.
  • It is expensive- $10,000 for six weeks, $2200 for the one week I would agree to.
  •  A lot of new experiences, packed into one week. (Not GB's strong point)
  • Would have to trust someone else with GB's medication. (Not my strong point)
  • She is only eight!
Now for the harder to articulate Pros

Pros

  • It is a special needs camp, with a counselor to camper ratio that varies from 1:3 to 1:1
  • It is only 25 miles away.
  • GB is social- she loves friends!
  • It would give her a chance to stretch her wings and see how capable she really is.
  • The camp offers her kind of activities- swimming, campfires, horseback riding, arts and crafts, singing and dancing, drum playing and putting on plays.
  • Her disabilities would be approximately in the middle.
  • I have to start letting go sometime.
GB and I are hoping to go visit the camp this weekend, weather permitting. She will get to see the campus and the director will get to see her. After that I can speak with him again about how good a fit this camp would be for her.

5 comments:

Kathy said...

Wow. It sounds like a great opportunity if it works out!

Miz Kizzle said...

It might be just the thing, especially is she makes friends.
One thing, I don't know what the weather's like where you are but camps tend to look a bit dreary in the off-season when there are no leaves on the trees and the cabins are boarded up and the pools are empty and there are no horses in the barns.
Maybe there's a video they can show you that gives a batter idea what things look like when the campers are there. If there's a website, you might be able to get in touch with some of the parents of former campers.

FosterAbba said...

Summer camp is the BEST. I love summer camp because it's fun for the kids, and it gives us tired old grownups a break.

PRO: At least a partial break for you.
CON: Hope might be jealous.

Can you find another (hopefully cheaper) camp where you could send them both?

GB's Mom said...

@ Miz Kizzle- There was a website for the camp, that GB and I looked at before we went. It had a lot of great action shots. Not only did GB get a picture of what the camp looked like in the summer, she now knew what she wanted to see during our visit.

@Foster Abba: Hope really hasn't been here long enough to go to camp- RADishes take a looong time to transition. She would also need a camp for behaviorally and emotionally disturbed kids- the camp GB and I looked at wouldn't touch Hope with a ten foot pole. Fortunately,Hope is eligible for EYP (extended year program) through our school district and will be attending summer school with her current teacher. Hope is jealous of GB every minute of every day, anyway,so that really doesn't enter the decision process. I am concerned that GB might be jealous of Hope getting to stay home, but I am hoping a lot of conversations ahead of time will help.

Kristine said...

Is this the camp you sent me the information for?

I'm now constantly daydreaming about summer camp!