“My child is struggling in writing but…”
No. Our camps are not for them. We do not provide slow, scaffolded learning of basic skills. This is an accelerated learning environment for lovers of writing. Putting your kid in our camp because you want them to not suck at writing anymore isn’t going to solve that problem and it’s probably only going to make them hate writing more. Yes, this is strong definitive language. Why? Because we are writing teachers who love writing holding a camp for kids who love writing for the sole purpose of making them love it even more. The last thing we want is to see the opposite of all that love in our midst.
“My child is really great at math and science but doesn’t love writing yet…”
This can be a tough one, depending on the kid. First, review the answer to the question above. Even though your gifted child might not need remedial writing education, our camp still might be too much for them. Yes, a lot of what we do is fun and inspiring and different from the kinds of writing they get to do in school during the year, but we’re talking about two full weeks of nothing but writing. If you’re child isn’t jazzed about that idea, this probably isn’t the camp for them. So, I suggest asking them: “Do you want to go to writing camp?”
How much does camp cost?
The tuition for I.C.E. is $400.
WIND and EARTH are $300.
W.A.T.E.R. is $200.
What are camps age ranges?
Officially: I.C.E. is rising 3rd graders to rising seniors, W.A.T.E.R. and E.A.R.T.H. are middle and high, and W.I.N.D. is 16 years old to 25 years old.
Unofficially, we’re a little flexible, so if you’re on the cusp, ask!
Who conducts camp?
TBAWP Teacher Consultants, phenomenal Language Arts and Writing teachers from around the Bay Area who have graduated from the local chapter of the National Writing Project’s summer institute. These are highly educated, well-trained, passionate professionals.
Is lunch provided/available?
Usually no, but it depends on the site. Please contact the site director.
When the application asks for a “writing sample,” what do you mean exactly?
Though we prefer to see something creative and something the camper is proud of, it really can be anything. It can be a school assignment or something they wrote for fun. It could be a poem or a short story. What we’re looking for is that the child has age-appropriate writing ability and enjoys creative writing. A few parents try to slip in kids who need help with their writing despite our many warnings that we are not a remedial camp, so the writing sample is mainly to weed those out.
We just submitted our application… what happens now?
If you submit your application in the months of January, February or March, congratulations! You are awesome. However, you should not expect to hear back from the site director until April. That being said, please feel free to email them to be sure the application was received.
But how do we pay?
Just sit tight. We don’t normally open payment up until sometime in April. You’ll receive a payment link in your acceptance email.
Can my child attend just one week of I.C.E.?
We strongly encourage people to attend both weeks. The camp is set up and designed that way. We do have a couple of one week camps that take place at USF, though they are for middle and high school students. All that being said, you can do one week if you’d like though once you apply our site director will reserve the right to give campers able to do both weeks priority in placement.