Palisades-News-March-18-2015

Page 4 Palisades News Special Section — Summer Camps & Schools March 18, 2015
Camps Should Be Fun
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
As the school year came to a close last
year, my then-nine-year-old son
announced that summer would be
his rest time, so he wouldn’t be participating
in any activities.
When I list the number of activities he
had been participating in, you might think
that he had a point that it was all a bit much.
He did gymnastics, chess, saxophone,
drama, chorus, Chinese, strategy games, art,
soccer and an occasional nature class.
On the other hand, he didn’t have to go
to school, because he’s a homeschooler. At
home, we took a laid-back approach to
homeschooling. We read books, did some
casual math when he was in the mood,
played board games and explored science
kits. He also had lots of time to draw, make
his own cards and otherwise engage in activities
that called to him. In addition, we
went on field trips to plays and museums.
He was also tired of the field trips,
though, and was insistent that he just want -
ed to hang out at home. So we did . . . for
a while, and it was nice. He listened to audiobooks
and made cards. He created an
origami animal game where he was the
game master, and he made teams of animals
and special power boosts for them.
We also watched some movies and continued
to play board games. We didn’t
even plan a vacation.
I have to admit that I was exhausted, too,
and cherished the down time. We both
needed a break from driving all over the
L.A. basin to so many activities. But what
about camp? I had loved camp as a kid and
didn’t want him to miss out on the fun.
He turned down my suggestion that he
might like the camp that his chorus director
had created. Even though he enjoyed
chorus, he thought a singing and acting
camp would be too much for him.
He eventually agreed to try the same
Chinese camp that he had attended the year
before. He enjoyed it, and he was ready to
try another camp. He did so, and we also
decided to travel a bit, venturing to San
Francisco and Yosemite for a laid-back vacation.
Both the camps and the trips
seemed to inspire him to want a bit more
in the way of activities again.
Not too many, though. For the fall, we
scaled back. He dropped chorus and
drama. I decided that the drives I had been
making for chess, art and saxophone were
just too long for me, so those were dropped
too. Instead, Chinese, gymnastics, soccer
and the occasional nature class or field trip
became the remaining regular activities.
Suddenly our lives were more manageable.
In the process of overdoing it and perhaps
at times underdoing it, I discovered
Linus Busby Thompson works on his gymnastic skills.
that for both our sakes, we needed to pick
and choose activities with a bit more attention
to burnout. As spring approached, my
son realized that he was missing chorus,
while soccer came to an end. So he rejoined
the chorus. He also was ready to add back
chess and was intrigued by the gymnastic
sport, Parkour, so he began sporadically
attending a class.
The whole family did a bit of volunteering—working
at a state park to help remove
invasive plants and install native ones, and
we all felt enlivened by it. Over the holiday
break, my son tried a winter camp, which
was a big hit with him. He has already asked
to attend more summer camps this year.
Strangely enough, during the previous
school year, my husband had been experiencing
the same thing at work—too
much work and too little downtime—and
the combination was affecting his health
and well-being.
So, now we all are on the lookout for
burnout. We cherish our moments at
home, and we take more time just to be together.
We also take care to pick and choose
our activities with more thought, so that
we choose those that we really want to do.
My son was right. He needed a rest time.
We all did.
(Editor’s note: Laurel Busby, a veteran
newspaper writer, lives in Culver City.)