Summer

With Sadie's school year coming to a close, I'm getting a bit nervous about our plans for the summer. Last summer, I sent her to camp at the JCC. It was a miserable experience for her, for a number of reasons. In light of that, I've decided to kind of patch together bits and pieces of daycare coverage for her (my mom, my father in law, Eden's sitter, a reduced work week schedule for me...) to make it though the summer. We'll have to see how that works out. The plan is totally relying on the goodwill and availability of a lot of people, but if we can pull it off, I think it will be wonderful for her to have a last summer completely at home before her big transition to kindy in the fall.

I may look into other Summer Program options for her for next year, though. As much as I would love to have her home all summer, it isn't realistic to think that we can do it every year. I know I wasn't happy with the JCC program, and I have similar concerns about some of the other, like-themed day camps in the area. I may look into some sort of academic camp for her, since I really do think she'd enjoy spending part of her summer learning. And, as much as I believe that kids should be kids and that summers are for fun, part of me does feel that kids lose a lot after 10 weeks without any sort of academic stimulation. I have read about a program offered by a company called SCORE. I'm interested in any experiences or feedback anyone can offer. Am I nuts for thinking of this as an option?