Does anyone have experience with both of these? Did you/your kids like one better than the other? I'm trying to decided which to use for my 7 1/2 year old rising 2nd grader son this summer. Thanks for any input you have. -K
My son really liked the YMCA at mcgees elem. He just went a few weeks during the summer for fun. He has not tried Clubhouse, sorry. He said his 'MOST' favorite place to go is the roller rink summer camp in Clayton. That may be too far out of your way, but they do something very cool every day and one big thing a week. Good luck!!
They are very different camps. I've never done the kid's clubhouse, just because they go all over the place, and that makes me nervous. I like to know where my child is, kind of protective that way i guess. But I have heard that it's great, and I think for older kids it would be. We've done the 1/2 day sports camps at the y and liked it, and i know the full day camps (non-sports related) sound pretty good too, with alot of activities. They also do swimming once a week, or that's how it was when my son did it 2 years ago. Just fyi: Morgan's Gymnastics is also doing summer camp, I was looking on their website yesterday if that's something you'd be interested in.
YMCA... we have done both summer camp and after school there. Now we do teen camp during the summer. Have never had a problem with staff or programming. They keep the schedule busy and are always informative. Thought about going to Kids clubhouse one year, however when I went to meet with the staff, I was not impressed at all. There was one staff member and kids everywhere. The one staff member actually even had her back turned toward the kids and was carrying on a conversation with a parent. Did not like what I saw at all. The first impression was all I needed to know that I did not want my child there.
YMCA all the way. My kids have gone to their summer day camps, after school care and week long over night camps. Outstanding organization. Good diverse group of children and counselors. They learned to swim. They keep them busy. Johnston County YMCA is outstanding. My boys are 11 now and they started with the YMCA in Kindergarten. They loved it. Still do. They will attend their 'Upward Bound' (for preteen's) day camp this summer too!
My daughter went to the Kids Clubhouse last year for the first time. She loved it! The staff there are really good with the kids and really take care of them. She cried when it was time to leave and when her week was over. I'm sending her back this year and her little brother will go this year as well. I trust my kids with Mark and his staff, never heard a bad work about them. As far as them going places it's not that big of a deal to me. All drivers have CDL licence and clean driving records. It's like them riding the bus to school and back everyday. Well in my case I take my daughter so she thinks riding the bus is an added bonus. LOL
I forgot to add, that in addition to the YMCA being wonderful, they also offer financial assistance to those who struggle to meet childcare fees. There are no private daycares that offer that. Some kids get full scholarships. It's great if you are a single mom, or dad, or just need a little help.
I do not have personal experience with the Y Summer program but have friends with children that have gone there. The kids really enjoyed it and the parents that I know were satisfied. The only complaints that I personally have heard were that the one here in Cleveland - the building is not air conditioned and can get quite hot. As far as Kid's Clubhouse, I think that it is a wonderful program for OLDER children. They will tell you themselves in the open house that it is not set up as a traditional daycare. The kids are not managed the way they are in a traditional daycare - they kind of just run around and do their own thing. For my child - almost every day there was an issue - due to older children and him not being able to defend himself. So, having said that if your child is a tough 2nd grader he/she should be fine... If not you may want to consider a more traditional summer program.
The main building (behind the gym) is air conditioned. The Gymnasium is NOT air conditioned. Usually that concerns the parents more than the kids, the kids could care less.
It's not so much the driving I'm concerned about, it's them losing my child. And the swimming scares me to death. My baby drowned 2 summers ago (he survived, thank goodness) so I'm very nervous about that kind of thing.
Thank you all so much for your input! It really does help. I'm leaning towards YMCA. Still not sure as a third option has come into play now. ljk mentioned that her son said "his 'MOST' favorite place to go is the roller rink summer camp in Clayton" So I looked that up, and found it is at Interskate and they have something called The Great Adventure Summer Camp. It sounds very much like the Kid's Clubhouse program. Does anyone else know anything about the Interskate Summer Camp? Good/Bad. Do they also have less supervision of the Kids as some have described about Kid's Clubhouse? Thank you again! -K
My rising fifth grader has been going to Kids Clubhouse for 2 years now. The staff is excellent. Many of the same children come back year after year, so its not like your child is walking in to a bunch of unknown children, which is cool. The security for the children when they are on field trips is excellent. The children are required to wear a Kids Clubhouse t-shirt everyday, so they are all look alike and can be spotted better. They go on a field trip every single day and good ones too ! For the cost, you cant beat it ! I did, last year, check out the Interskate Camp, and sorry but was not impressed at all.
I do not have personal experience with the Interskate program, but I believe the guy that owns Kid's Clubhouse started the Interskate program before going out on his own. The only thing that I can tell you for sure about the Interskate program is that it would bother me as a parent that they open it to the public during the time that the summer camp kids are there. I can tell you that we had a little one following us around and eating my daughters food without a counselor noticing or saying anything the summer before last. I had to go and get a counselor and ask her to speak to the child. So, I guess my point is that they didn't appear to be supervised very well. And the fact that they let the public in at the same time - it would be easy for someone to wisk a child away....
Interskate Guy and Kids Clubhouse guy are two different peeps, but they are brothers from what I understand. And I know that when my son goes skating with Kids Clubhouse, they do NOT go to Interskate, for whatever reason.
Yes they are brother, Ron and Mark Gannon. I think that is the name. I have been at interskate many times and have seen the kids clubhouse bus pull up and drop kids off for a field trip. Unless this is just something they have very recently stopped doing, they do skate at interskate.
I have done both, and my vote is with Kid's Clubhouse - they have more adult supervision. Basically you have kids watching kids at the Y. The teen counselors tended to side with the older kids (since they were closer in age and would "buddy-up"), leaving the younger ones to fend for themselves - in other words, some younger kids felt like they were not being heard and were being treated unfairly. My experience with the Y was about 5 years ago.
