Not Back To School Camp

[incorrigible]

Does anyone else have kids going? If so, will it be their first year or have they been before? Ds12 will be 13 in Sept, and is attending the last session in Vermont this year. He's been waiting to be old enough for years now, and is really excited...but totally nervous too. =) I think it's right up his alley and just about exactly what he needs at this stage in his emotional growth. He's teetering on the verge of becoming too negative and jaded about the world. He needs to know that there are people outside of his family that love and accept others for who they are...and we've really just had a heck of a time finding such people over the years! lol That seems to be the thing former campers talk about the most, so hopefully this year will hold up to the reputation. ;)

[zebra15]

There isn't one offered in AZ.  DS is only 11 this year anyway... but I think he would love the camp when hes older... They need to offer more of these (geographically)!

[incorrigible]

Oh, that would be great, if they had more. They are slowly expanding with demand. It's not just in Oregon anymore. They have 2 sessions in Oregon, and 2 in Vermont now. If demand continues to grow, I could totally see a winter one somewhere southernly where it's still warm enough for a camp in winter. =D We're in AZ right now too, and it's a major strain to figure out how to pull this off. The only session ds will be old enough for is in Vermont this year, and we're making a big family vacation of the journey (and staying with friends all over the country on the way) to make it work. It's more than just a fun camp for us though...this is a perfect opportunity for ds to heal some emotional trauma from his recent past and is likely to be a very life altering experience for him. We all agreed that it's worth whatever it takes to give that to him.

Aside from Crash's personal issues though, dh and I totally envy him. lol I wish I'd known about the unschooling movement when I was a teen. I was part of it...I just didn't know there was a name for what I was doing, or that I wasn't totally alone in my choices. The first NBTSC was the summer I turned 17...and near enough to relatives that I would have even had help getting there. I was living on my own in a beach town, pursuing my goals and interests in unconventional ways, totally unsure of how to live this different path I was on - but knowing I was better off stumbling along it than suffering through high school. Dh would be kicked out of school in the next school year (and glad of it by the time if finally happened), and end up unschooling himself into adulthood...thinking I was the only person he'd ever met that was working toward something without being in school to get there. What would life have been like if either of us had access to even a homeschooling magazine back then? Let alone attending one of these camps???