The pits of the “Overseas Summer Camp” are the most precious memories

“海外夏令营”的那些坑，都是最可贵的回忆

首先，说说夏令营 ( summer camp ) 与夏校 ( summer school ) 的区别吧：

夏令营 Summer Camp 以玩为主。

每到暑假，很多美国孩子会根据自己的兴趣选择参加当地的夏令营，开心地体验和探索不同的游戏和项目。

夏令营招生年龄从4～16岁甚至更大，涵盖项目十分广泛，包括运动类，如射箭、划船和曲棍球等；还有艺术类，如戏剧、舞蹈和陶艺；以及计算机、生存技能、烹饪等，每个孩子都能找到自己的兴趣所在并能享乐其中。

夏令营的主办方各不相同，有博物馆、学校、俱乐部以及夏令营机构。

每年暑假也会有很多国内的孩子会去美国参加当地夏令营，和各地孩子一起体验很多以前没尝试过的项目，结交朋友，轻松感受美国文化，提高英语能力。

夏校 Summer School 通常指的是美国中学或大学自己开设的暑假课程。

涵盖STEM、语言、工程等多领域，学术性强，由学校多年有任教经验的老师来授课，让孩子和美国同学一起体验真正的美国课堂，培养学生在项目设计，创意和解决问题的能力。对于那些将来计划到美国读中学或大学的孩子，可以提前了解美国的学校生活，对将来的申请很有帮助。高质量的夏校会提前考核孩子的学术能力（比如SCAT/MAP考试）

从价格上来说，由于很多夏令营会请大学生或者高中生担任指导员。夏令营的价格比夏校要优惠一些。同时，正式的夏校项目需要申请F1学生签证，并且使用I20表格在进入学校时做登记。

蘅宝2018年去美国3周，参加了3个不同的夏令营 / 夏校：美国的夏令营从最便宜的大概275美元 / 周（日间营）到2400美元 / 周（住宿营）都有，我们选择的都是价位中等的：一个洛杉矶阿纳海姆小学的夏令营（ 500美金 / 周 ），一个尔湾的STEM夏令营（ 750美金 / 周 ）和一个华盛顿边的夏校（ 约翰霍普金斯大学)。＊以上费用均不含注册费

First, talk about the differences between summer camp and summer school:

Summer Camp is play-oriented.

Every summer, many American children will choose to participate in local summer camps according to their interests, happily experience and explore different games and projects.

Summer camp enrollment is from 4 to 16 years old and older, covering a wide range of items, including sports, such as archery, rowing, and hockey; arts, such as theater, dance, and ceramics; and computers, survival skills, cooking, Every child can find their own interests and enjoy them.

The organizers of the summer camp are different, including museums, schools, clubs, and summer camp institutions.

Every summer, many domestic children will go to the United States to participate in local summer camps, and experience many projects that have not been tried before with children everywhere, make friends, easily experience American culture, and improve their English skills.

Summer School Summer School usually refers to a summer school offered by an American middle school or university.

Covering many fields such as STEM, language, engineering, etc., it is highly academic and taught by teachers with years of teaching experience in the school, allowing children and American classmates to experience the real American classroom together, and training students in project design, creativity and problem solving skills. For those children who plan to go to the United States to attend secondary school or university in the future, you can learn about school life in the United States in advance, which is very helpful for future applications. High-quality summer schools will assess children’s academic abilities in advance (such as SCAT / MAP exams)

In terms of price, because of many summer camps, college students or high school students are invited as instructors. The price of summer camp is better than summer school. At the same time, the formal summer school program requires an F1 student visa and registration using the I20 form when entering the school.

Qibao went to the United States for 3 weeks in 2018 and participated in 3 different summer camps / summer schools: Summer camps in the United States range from the cheapest about 275 US dollars / week (day camp) to 2400 US dollars / week (accommodation camp). We The choices are all moderately priced: a summer camp in Los Angeles Anaheim Elementary School ($ 500 / week), a STEM summer camp in Irvine ($ 750 / week), and a summer school in Washington (Johns Hopkins University ). ＊ The above fees do not include registration fee

WEEK 1 阿纳海姆小学夏令营

当地插班营：荡着秋千就把日子给过了

第一周日子过的是飞快的。第一天校方要求早上8点进校，我们带着孩子7:45到达。领了营服（后来看学校里很多孩子都不穿制服，只有到 field trip 的时候才穿），了解了一日规范以后就把他们送进了学校。

第一天我是对国外的夏令营非常好奇的，好在校园也是半开放式的，我在停车场里几乎就能看到她们大概在进行什么活动，我发现她们在操场上足足玩了1个小时……我闺女就是霸在荡秋千上“随风飘荡”了整场。

WEEK 1 Anaheim Elementary School Summer Camp

Local transfer camp: swinging the swing and passing the day

The first week of life was fast. On the first day, the school asked to enter the school at 8 am, and we arrived with the child at 7:45. I got the camp clothes (I will see that many children in the school do n’t wear uniforms, only when they are on field trip). After learning about the day norms, they sent them to school.

On the first day, I was very curious about summer camps abroad. Fortunately, the campus was also semi-open. I could almost see what they were doing in the parking lot. I found that they were playing on the playground. Hours … My girl is “floating with the wind” on the swing.

接着是分班进行活动，有手工制作、话题讨论、音乐课程等大概一小时，孩子们又像一群快乐的小鸟被放出来吃零食了，接着又是操场体育活动，然后午餐开始了……

下午4点（其实是5点接）我装着记错时间进校接娃，看看她们在干什么。我看到课表最后一个小时是数码时间，孩子们三个一群五个一组，有的看教室里播放的电影，有的就在一起玩手机或者pad。哇，原来这就叫数码时间哦，仔细想来竟也无力反驳。

After that, there are activities organized by classes. There are handmade, topic discussions, music lessons, etc. For about an hour, the children are released like a group of happy birds for snacks, followed by playground sports activities, and lunch begins …

At 4 pm (actually 5 o’clock), I pretended to pick up the baby at the wrong time to see what they were doing. I saw that the last hour of the timetable was digital time. The children were in groups of five and some watched the movie in the classroom, while others played on their mobile phones or pads together. Wow, this is called digital time. I can’t refute it if I think about it.

Day 2 和 Day 4是他们的 field trip 时间，这两天校园里突然出现了很多高年级的孩子，后来参观过很多学校后我知道了其中缘由：美国法律是不允许12岁孩子单独留在家里的，所以一般当地家庭会把较小的孩子送到学校去参加夏校，而12岁以上的孩子，他们有更多自由选择的余地，学校在进行 field trip 的时候也会邀请这些孩子作为 JC（ junior counselor ）起到带领与管理弟弟妹妹的作用。

Day 2 and Day 4 are their field trip time. In the past two days, many senior children suddenly appeared on the campus. After visiting many schools, I learned the reason: US law does not allow 12-year-old children to stay at home alone Yes, so local families usually send younger children to school to participate in summer school. For children over 12 years old, they have more freedom to choose. They will also invite these children as JC when they make field trips. (Junior counselor) plays the role of leading and managing brothers and sisters.

WEEK 2 尔湾STEM营

MINECRAFT 游戏的世界

知道这个营是当地朋友推给我的网站，这是尔湾一个小有名气的工作室，他们在学期中的周五晚间及周末提供编程、科技等 workshop，在暑假里，则按年龄分成高年级编程、低年级科学活动及简单编程两个主题开展活动。

蘅宝还在第一个营的时候，我们就先前探访了这个地方。映入眼帘的是 “哇，全是华人及印度人”。等蘅宝和她的小伙伴进入这个营后我们才发现，这的确也是当地孩子的夏令营。我们看到的所有的华人孩子都不会讲中文，但看他们玩电脑的水平，简直就是尔湾的IT星星正在冉冉升起。

WEEK 2 Irvine STEM Camp

The world of MINECRAFT games

I know this camp is a website promoted by local friends. This is a small and famous studio in Irvine. They provide workshops such as programming and technology on Friday evenings and weekends during the semester. Grade programming, lower grade scientific activities, and simple programming are two themed activities.

We visited this place earlier when Lu Bao was in the first camp. What caught my eye was “Wow, all Chinese and Indians.” We did not find out until Lu Bao and her companion entered this camp that this is indeed a summer camp for local children. All the Chinese children we saw didn’t speak Chinese, but judging by their level of playing computer, the IT stars in Irvine are rising.

（ 插播一下，作为对孩子学习能力很自信的老母亲我经常希望个头特别大的蘅宝能够混迹在高一个年龄段的孩子当中，我想很多人跟我有一样的想法 ）

然而参观过这个 camp 后，我确定让蘅宝进他们的低龄班就好。因为我领教了高龄组的孩子编程的那个难度：老师简单说一下要点，然后整段程序编码（是这样叫吗？）就被投屏到墙上，孩子们根据自己的领会进行下一步的程序编写。嗯，我们家这个 ICT 还停留在 C 阶的同学，我还是让她感受下氛围就好了。

同时，每天放学我们都会被邀请进教室，参观当天的成果。对于比较偏文科的女生能够有滋有味地说明自己当天在科技前沿学到的知识，我们也“老怀安慰”。

我们这次选的都是价格适中的当地营，并没有去类似 iDtech 这样在国内很火的营。一方面我们不想让孩子又用着母语与大家一起拼命打游戏中度过一周，另一方面，iDtech 由于校区众多，部分校区是请大学生授课的。他们的确会与大一点的孩子有更多的共鸣，但在我们小学低龄组来说，还是有经验会启发的老师来的更适合一些。

(Interview, as an old mother who is very confident in her children’s learning ability, I often hope that the particularly large cymbals can be mixed with children of an older age. I think many people have the same ideas as me

However, after visiting this camp, I was sure that it would be good to let Bao Bao enter their young age class. Because I taught the difficulty of programming for older children: the teacher briefly said the main points, and then the entire program code (is it called that?) Was projected on the wall, and the children proceeded to the next program according to their own understanding write. Well, my classmate whose ICT is still in the C level, I just let her feel the atmosphere.

At the same time, we will be invited into the classroom every day after school to see the results of the day. We are also “old comforting” for the girls who are more liberal arts to be able to explain the knowledge they learned at the forefront of science and technology that day.

We chose local camps at affordable prices this time, and did not go to camps like iDtech that are very popular in China. On the one hand, we don’t want our children to spend a week playing games with everyone in their mother tongue. On the other hand, due to the many campuses of iDtech, some campuses invite students to teach. They do resonate more with older children, but for our younger primary school group, teachers who have experience and inspiration can be more suitable.

WEEK 3 Maryland

与全世界的天资生同行

全球的营地非常多，包括 day camp（日间营）和 boarding camp（住宿营），低龄段的孩子基本只提供日间营（走读），同时，我们发现持中国护照的学生不能申请香港地区的营地。基于蘅宝第一次参加这样的营会，我们也是做尝试，所以我们选了离华盛顿特区很近的 Sandy Spring Friends School 的日间营，主题选的是“TOYOLOGY”。

” TOYOLOGY ” 是针对小年龄段学生的课程，课程内容介绍一看就非常有趣。如蘅宝所说，她们学习了玩具的传承，并且设计制作自己喜欢的一款玩具；结业典礼上蘅宝与营会上结识的新朋友演出了她们设计的玩具的小短剧。相对目前很多借高大上的大学场地，开设的热门营会使用兼职大学生的情况，我看到蘅宝参加的这个营会老师还是比较专业且有从教经验的，她们在营前、营中都会积极发送邮件与家长进行沟通细节事宜，并且受到孩子的喜爱。

WEEK 3 Maryland

Travel with talented students worldwide

There are many camps around the world, including day camp (boarding camp) and boarding camp (boarding camp). Children in the younger age group basically only provide day camps (day). At the same time, we found that students with Chinese passports cannot apply for Hong Kong. Camp. Since Baobao participated in such a camp for the first time, we also tried, so we chose the day camp of Sandy Spring Friends School, which is close to Washington, DC, and the theme was “TOYOLOGY”.

“TOYOLOGY” is a course for young students. The introduction of the course content is very interesting at first glance. As Lu Bao said, they learned the inheritance of toys and designed and made a toy that they like; at the closing ceremony, Lu Bao and the new friends they met at the camp performed a short play of the toys they designed. Compared with the current situation of many borrowed college campuses, part-time college students are used in popular camps. I saw that the teachers in this camp attended by the professional are more professional and have experience in teaching. They will be active in the camp before and during the camp. Send emails to communicate details with parents and be loved by children.

不得不说 已经是全球非常成熟的夏令营（及线上课程）的商业执行机构了，从签发F1签证开始，到夏令营说明会，以及入营前的现场 orientation，直至每日接送学生的流程及营会结束的小结和邮件反馈，都严谨、人性化；当然，习惯了国内夏令营每日在群里海量图片发送的家长可能会有小失望，因为营会里并不会配如此多的助教处理这些内容。我在营会结束的邮件里找到了2张蘅宝的照片，已经非常满足了。

It has to be said that it is already a very mature business executive agency for summer camps (and online courses) in the world. From the issue of F1 visas, to summer camp briefings, and on-site orientation before entering the camp, to the daily process of transferring students and camps. The conclusion and email feedback are rigorous and humane. Of course, parents who are accustomed to sending a large number of pictures in the summer camp in the country may be disappointed because there are not so many teaching assistants in the camp. content. I found 2 photos of 蘅 宝 in the email after the camp, and I was very satisfied.