As you create your summer day camp schedule, you likely struggle to find options for the weeks in August. It’s not just you. The data shows that your choices decline dramatically.
With the 4th of July falling on a Tuesday this year, many camps take the week off for their own vacation, and assume that families will do the same. But look at the precipitous drop-off of sessions in August. There are half as many choices per week.
We’re not like France, where the entire country takes the month of August off. So what’s the deal? Why have camp providers left us stranded?
What if we prefer to take our vacation at another time? What if we can’t “work from home” for two weeks? I was determined to get to the bottom of this, so I sent out a survey to the camps listed on Summer Camp Guru.
Feedback from camp providers:
• Facilities: Many camps are either hosted by or located at schools. CMS starts August 28, and many private schools start the week before. Teachers report back a week before school begins, and the schools need at least a week for maintenance and repairs. This is why most school camps only run through July.
• Staffing: A large portion of counselors and instructors are college students and teachers, and they go back to school in early August. In addition, high school sports often start training in August, which means the coaching staff is not available to run camps.
• Prep for school year: Camp providers who run year-round programs like to have a break to either take their own vacation or get ready for their upcoming fall semester.
• Family schedules: Camps said that many families prefer to take vacation in August or take a break the last week to get ready for school, so they would not have enough campers.
For those who do offer August camps, is their enrollment larger because there is less competition? This received a mixed response:
• August sessions fill up faster than others. Parents are notably appreciative.
OR
• Enrollment tends to be lighter and parents tend to wait to register, so it’s hard to plan for staffing.
Some interesting tidbits:
• Many enrollments during the last week are teachers, who don’t need child care the rest of the summer, but do need it the week when they’re back at school and the kids aren’t.
• August sports camps tend to be popular for older students looking to get a jump start on the upcoming season.
• For outdoor camps, it’s just too hot to hold sessions in August.
What parents had to say:
• We like to take a vacation before school starts.
• I go on vacation in August because there aren’t any camp options.
• I like to have down time the week before school starts to get ready.
So who does offer August camps?
Half of the camps the last 3 weeks in August in our database are at YMCA’s. Gymnastics and martial arts studios often hold a full 10-week summer camp program. To search for a camp that works for you, visit Summer Camp Guru and use the filters to select your criteria.
What you can do to generate more options:
1. Help camp providers help you: commit to registering for August camps early so they can plan.
2. Let camp providers know that you’re interested in August camps for next year. If they know people will show up, they’ll hold a camp.
This article was contributed by Victoria Johnson of Summer Camp Guru as part of scoop’s Blogger Submission program. Look to scoop to provide additional summer camp info with availabilities several times over the next few months.