Summer day camp options for a 4-year old? (Indiana, Carnegie: day care, school)

[eschaton]

Hey all,

We're not having our daughter enroll in the Waldorf School again next year, and sending her to public Kindergarten in the city as planned. However, the school year at the Waldorf ends on June 4th. I'm not sure the exact date that PPS starts for 14/15 (I don't think it's posted online yet) but I presume it's the last week of August.

So we've been researching summer care options, and we are kind of at a loss. The Waldorf said she could stay there for their summer program, but it only starts on June 16th, ends on August 8, and runs no later than 4PM even if you pay for "aftercare". I know the Carnegie Science Center has some sort of summer camp, and you can pay extra and have them stay until 5:30, but I have no idea how many weeks it lasts during the summer.

My wife and I do not have very flexible schedules. We both get only three weeks of vacation per year. My wife doesn't work most Fridays, but when she goes to work, she is there for like ten hours a day, because she must use her own time during the work day for pumping breaks. She also drops our 4-month-old child off at day care in the morning at 7, and picks him up at 6 each night, so there's really no possibility of one or the other of us starting work really early so the other could pick her up early. My employer is a bit more understanding than hers, since I am not on billable hours, but I don't think I could just start working six-hour days for three months, or just decide to take more weeks off vacation.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Remember we live in Lawrenceville, I work downtown, and my wife works in the Strip District, so we do not want to go super far out of this area in terms of a summer care option.

[robrobrob]

The JCC has summer camp options. Not sure when the start.

Also, Camp Deer Creek in Indiana Township has been around forever. However, you may have trouble with the start date there.

Our old daycare, The Alphabet Tree in Blawnox will take older kids as "campers". It is very easy on and off of 28 so it wouldn't be that far from you assuming you can get to 28 quickly.

Have you asked your current daycare? That would probably be the easiest option for you.

Lastly, have you discussed with your employer starting very early so you can still work a full day and end in time to pick up at? I have friends who do this. I also have friends who split the drop offs. Basically, one parent does it (drop off and pick up) for a week and works less and the other kills himself/herself and then they switch.

[Moby Hick]

In addition to the Carnegie Science Center camp, the Carnegie Natural History Museum has them. Hello dinosaurs. Also, the zoo and the art museum at 5th & Shady. Lots of people run soccer camps or tennis camps, but I think those start older.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by eschaton

We're not having our daughter enroll in the Waldorf School again next year, and sending her to public Kindergarten in the city as planned. However, the school year at the Waldorf ends on June 4th. I'm not sure the exact date that PPS starts for 14/15 (I don't think it's posted online yet) but I presume it's the last week of August.

Last week of August should be about right. PPS starts kindergarten a couple days after the older kids (this year main start date was Aug 26th, kindergarten on Aug 29th).

We found alot of the camps for that age group were half day rather than full day...

[Stijl Council]

Originally Posted by scrapp

We found a lot of the camps for that age group were half day rather than full day...

Yes, that's exactly what we found. Gymkhana was one of the few options that was not (although in my case I didn't have a lot of notice: I got hired for a job in July and needed to start August 1, so there may have been other places I'm forgetting that were full). You might also check Center for the Arts. Carnegie Museum camps are definitely not full-day for that age or at least have not been in the past.

We ended up splitting the end of that summer between Gymkhana and a full-day babysitter, which worked out very well.

I am pretty sure Chatham recently started accepting rising kindergarteners as campers if they'd been in full-day pre-K or day care before. They usually run from late June to early August, and they're a great program. Really well run, cannot recommend them highly enough. One thing my kid particularly likes about them is that they run in three-week sessions, so they're not getting used to a whole new group of kids every week. The only downside with them is that there's a lot of walking around campus and a very full day, and I think the level of activity would be a bit much for many kindergarteners.

We've tried all the camps listed in this post plus some others around the area, so feel free to PM for more of the scoop...

[Hopes]

It will probably be cheaper if you hire a summer babysitter.

[mountainlove]

Did you ever check out the options at CYA in Larryville?

Child Services - Catholic Youth Association (CYA)