Bridging the Learning Gap at Summer Camp

Due to social distancing efforts, over 55.1 million students have been academically and socially impacted by COVID-19 this academic year. With the rise of homeschooling–and appreciation for our country’s teachers and the hard work they do!–many parents are wondering how they will be able to help their children stay on track for the next academic year. While many children across America are in similar academic positions due to school year interruption, finding a blend of academic growth (and catch up on lessons) in a fun, nurturing social environment can be a challenge. 

The uncertainty of missing a spring sports season or an important school field trip might be foremost in the mind of a student. Parents also consider what happens to the missing time of Algebra I or English Literature. As the world normalizes over the coming weeks and months, we are all working together to set up our children for future successes and to ensure that the next academic year is a positive experience. At Camp Sequoia, we believe in the importance of helping our campers become the best versions of themselves, both socially and academically.

Academic Resources Available for Families from Home

At the moment there are hundreds of free resources for parents to utilize during the quarantine in order to make sure your children are keeping up in their academic studies, and we are happy to help our families access these resources to continually enrich the lives of our community. We are thankful for our teachers, parents, and members of our extended Camp Sequoia community for continuing to pass these along and share with each other. Looking for learning technology and programs? Learningkeepsgoing.org has a great list of free resources companies are offering, and they are sorted by grade to help you choose the best fit for your kid’s needs. 

Looking for some interesting Virtual Field Trip activities for your kids that you can do from your kitchen table or couch? Many museums, zoos, and historical sites are offering free virtual field trips, as this article highlights. Looking for more exotic locations? This website offers a great selection of unique historical sites and even some out of this world tours for free!

Camp Offers Opportunities for Academic and Social-Emotional Growth

We place top priority on hiring US staff that hold degrees in related fields and have licensed teachers, counselors, social workers, and a psychologist on campus to support our population. In addition to our social skills development curriculum, we supplement our camper’s learning with science, engineering, technology, and mathematics in a hands-on learning environment to encourage academic growth.

Whether we are talking with the international space station via radio, building rockets, 3-d printing, laser engraving or working with drones, the STEM curriculum has been meticulously crafted to provide incredible camper opportunities. Likewise, our art, music, and theater programs allow campers to work with clay, write and perform music, act in short plays or do improv at the camp talent show.

Licensed Teachers and Individual Instruction (Why This Matters)

There are many benefits to small group instruction and individualized learning, which camp naturally capitalizes on to help our campers develop close interpersonal relationships, we also are equipped to schedule individual tutoring sessions with our licensed teachers on staff to further students with specific academic goals. Through individual instruction, our staff can utilize lessons that cater to every child’s individual learning style.

Individualized instruction also has been shown to increase retention, as a tutor can note what a student has comprehended and where they are in their individual zone of proximal development. This allows instructors to fluidly adjust plans to each pupil and highlight areas of specific interest, which isn’t possible in the classroom. Growth and areas of academic progress are communicated with parents, teachers and stakeholders both weekly and through the end of summer written report.

Opportunities for Inquiry-Based and Curated Curriculum Learning

Camp Sequoia has a built-in academic time period daily, in addition to our activity periods. Camp families can choose 1:1 tutoring sessions with Master’s level educators, specifically trained for work with exceptional populations. With options ranging from utilizing our talented staff to supporting school or home supplied curricula, we are equipped to accommodate individual camper’s unique learning needs.

On top of any supplemental lessons, our STEM program provides an inquiry-based resource for our campers to learn from our interactive science projects under the guidance of our STEM Director. Likewise, personalized Art and Theater projects can be crafted under the tutelage of those staff members as well.  By incorporating learning into the fun activities at camp, we are excited to encourage every camper that joins us this summer to be their best social selves, socially, emotionally, and academically.