Week 1A • June 21-25 | Hit the Trails (must enroll 9:00-4:00)
This session is a favorite that is worth repeating every year. Join us for a week of trail riding on the Rails to Trails system around Traverse City. We'll ride between 8 and 20 miles a day. Adult support is available to accommodate a variety of ability levels - beginner to expert. Time is spent daily learning basic bike safety and maintenance. Parents are welcome to ride along.
Steve Maas, instructor
We follow the children's interests - stories, poetry - in a format that includes writing time, followed by a mix of one-on-one conferences with Catherine, peer "consults", mini-lessons, groups where students can share their work, and groups where they can share a book they're reading from a "writer's perspective".
Catherine Turnbull, instructor (Parents: Sign up for Marcia Borell's Beading and Wire Work art class this week while your children enjoy camp. Click here for details.) Week 2A • June 28-July 2 | Beginning Photography
Make a pin hole camera and use it to understand the basic concepts behind photography. Experiment with light and photographic paper to create images from around the campus and then develop them in our school darkroom. Campers will create mosaic picture frames to display their pin hole images.
Meryl Estes, instructor
Week 2B • June 28-July 2 | Kids With Keyboards
Campers are introduced to electronic music through hands-on techniques in synthesizers, computer-generated music, sequencing, and mastering. Campers are encouraged to help write and play electronic music resulting in a published song on CD.
Mike Kazmierski, instructor
Week 3A • July 6-9 (closed July 5) | Crafts That Last
Join us in making crafts that children have enjoyed for decades. Campers will enjoy rock polishing, bead work and jewelry making, leatherworks, burlap weaving, and basket making. The assortment of projects provides variety designed to appeal to all campers.
Meryl Estes, instructor
Week 3B • July 6-9 (closed July 5) |
Mountain Biking (must enroll 9:00-4:00)
Trail rides move to more intermediate trails such as the Lake Ann trail, Sand Lakes Quiet Area and the VASA Trail. Participants should be comfortable riding in the dirt and sand and on hilly, rough terrain. Parents are welcome to come along and ride with their children.
Steve Maas, instructor
Week 4 • July 12-16 | Wilderness Living - Paleolithic Skill
Learn about wilderness living right in our own backyard. Basic survival skills taught to campers include shelter making, natural fiber cordage, stone tool making, track identification, leather work, bow making, knife use (care, sharpening and safety), and fire by friction. Campers are divided into groups according to maturity and ability.
Alex Brydges and Meryl Estes, instructors
(Parents: Sign up for Marcia Borell's Painting and Print Making class while your children enjoy camp this week. Click here for details.)
Week 5 • July 19-24 | Outdoor Survival & Wilderness Camping Prep
Learn the basics of backpacking, camping and orienteering as a prelude to an end-of-the week camping trip to South Manitou Island. Lessons include how to pack a backpack, map reading, plant and track identification, meal planning, tents, footwear, back country health and hygiene, weather prediction and safety. Campers are divided into groups according to maturity and ability. Parents are welcome to join the Manitou trip. An alternative activity is available at the school on Thursday and Friday for children who do not go to the island.
Alex Brydges and Meryl Estes, instructors
July 22-24 | Wilderness Camping on South Manitou
(in conjunction with Outdoor Survival and Prep Class)
Campers depart from Leland on Thursday morning and return Saturday at 5:30 PM. The Manitou Transit ferry takes them to South Manitou Island for 2 overnights of backpacking and camping. Parents are welcome to come along. A ferry fee of $18/child and $32/adult is charged. Campers need their own gear. Food, cook gear and a few group tents are provided by the school.
Alex Brydges and Meryl Estes Instructors
Week 6 • July 26-30 | Yoga Camp
Combine beginning yoga postures and activities with a week of preparing healthy snacks to experience the benefits of lifelong healthy behaviors. Activities are offered in a variety of formats to keep the week interactive, instructional and fun.
Kristina Weidenfeller, instructor
Week 7 • August 2-6 | International Sports: Beyond Baseball
Rugby, cricket, bocce ball, Gaelic football, lacrosse ... Expand your athletic awareness and skill as you play sports that are popular around the world. Each day will host a different game, complete with rules and actual play. Steve Maas, with guest instructors Stephanie Kehrer, Steven Ursell, Raymond Minervini , Enda McGonigle, and Liberty Provst
Week 8 • August 9-13 | Simple Recipes to Make and Take
Learn cooking basics and prepare food that will delight your parents and friends. Produce something on most days to take and serve at home.
Meryl Estes, instructor
Week 9 • August 16-20 | Creative Problem Solving
You are stranded on an island and you want to get home. You see many trees. You have a saw, some rope, 3 books, a bag of clothing, and enough food to last a week. What will you invent? Solve this problem and others like it over a week of brainstorming, critical thinking, expanding ideas and spontaneous games with your friends.
Meryl Estes, instructor
(Parents: Sign up for Keil Moshier's cooking class while your children enjoy camp this week. Click here for details.)
Week 10 • August 23-27 | Cooking From the Garden
Spend a week gardening and cooking with vegetables and herbs straight from the gardens of The Children's House. This class helps children learn the art and science of growing food and the importance of fresh foods as a healthy alternative to packaged and fast foods. Children work in the school production gardens and in the kitchen, and learn basic food preparation skills. A picnic buffet prepared by the class is served on Friday to the entire school community.
Keil Moshier, instructor
AFTERNOONS FOR TRAILBLAZERS
Campers staying past noon enjoy a schedule balanced with free time, rest time and planned activities. An abundance of materials are on hand in the craft room for creative endeavors. Extensions from the morning classes are available for those who are interested. Outdoor games, sprinklers, and physical education equipment are standard and bring diversity and choices to the day.
FRIDAY FIELD TRIPS - 6 to 12 year olds
Trips off campus to area attractions that support our learning and sense of adventure are offered throughout the summer. Parents are notified 2 weeks in advance of the trip. A $5.00 transportation fee is charged when a school bus is used.
Meryl Estes, Elementary Camp Director
Meryl received an associates degree from Le Cordon Bleu Western Culinary Institute in Portland, OR and a B.F.A. in photography from Northern Michigan University. She is a certified lifeguard and CPR certified. Her work experience includes training on an organic farm near Portland; cooking at Portland area local food restaurants, Wildwood Restaurant and Aqua Riva; summer program assistant at The Children's House for 5 years; and a lifeguard and counselor at Pathfinder Summer Camp. Meryl grew up in Traverse City and recently moved back to reconnect with the community and start an organic farm business of her own. Meryl directs all Elementary Camp activity, including morning sessions, lunch, afternoon programs, and field trips.
Staff Biographies
ALEX BRYDGES holds a B.S. degree in Art and Design and Outdoor Education from Northern Michigan University. He is a certified lifeguard, certified as a Wilderness First Responder and trained in CPR. He has worked as an Outdoor Educator at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Clear Lake Education Center and Northern Michigan University and as a ski instructor at Timber Ridge in Kalamazoo and Aspen Snowmass.
MIKE KAZMIERSKI teaches Upper Elementary music at The Children's House. He has extensive training in composition and recording from The University of Colorado. Mike's 2009 summer class resulted in a CD of original compositions by all of the students who participated.
STEVE MAAS has taught at The Children's House since 1992. He currently teaches physical education to all of our students throughout the year. His training is in Montessori education with a teaching philosophy that embraces personal fitness and promotion of lifelong health and fitness. He has taken summer campers on bike trails for the past 6 years.
KEIL MOSHIER is a classically trained chef from New England Culinary Institute with over 20 years of cooking experience. He worked from the east coast to New Orleans before landing in Traverse City. Kyle plans to open Chez Peres Restaurant on Lake Street this spring.
CATHERINE TURNBULL has a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire and a MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has taught writing at The Children's House since 2000.
KRISTINA WEIDENFELLER teaches Kitchen Classroom at The Children's House during the school year. She is a certified yoga instructor and has worked at Yoga for Health and The Leelanau School. She holds a B.A. from Michigan State University in Special Education K-12 and a M.A. in Curriculum and Testing from MSU.
