Summer Camp 2024

Driving question: are adolescents more like kids or adults…or are they an alien species?

Why Montessori Work-Based Learning at Summer Camp?

Camp is a place unlike any other — where students grow into themselves, where they make sense of the world and find their place in it, challenge themselves socially, and learn to succeed and to fail. Work-based learning is a strategy for engaging young people in physical, personal, and social growth that supports all these goals.

Social and personal development is a significant part of the fabric of summer camp. Students find out who they are in a place completely outside of their home and school, developing relationships that could not have occurred anywhere else. 

Montessori Work-based learning supports these kinds of discoveries and bonds. By encouraging campers to work in groups on community projects, they have the chance to create new bonds or deepen existing ones. 

More significantly, campers who may have struggled in traditional academic settings now find themselves in charge of setting the standard for their own success. Work-based learning in summer camp is a low-stakes way to cultivate a positive sense of self-efficacy ― that is, a sense that one has the skills to be successful and one’s accomplishments are limited only by effort expended (Gutman & Schoon, 2013).

The Driving question for our Adolescents to figure out– Are adolescents more like kids or adults…or are they an alien species???

Logistics once accepted: 

Campers fill out a joint application form with their parents.

% of camp fees is deposited in a work bank for each camper to earn with the “work” portion of their camp life. $25 ($5 a day) or $50 ($10 a day) or $100 ($20 a day)

3 hrs of camp like is work and 3 hrs is play

WBL – campers will work in AM under the guidance of an adult to perform service tasks to support camp life and care for campus; repair equipment, paint fences, gardening, jr counselor work with younger campers, game design…

Play – campers will have daily PM activities to play – larping/field games, drama, art, cooking, water play

End of session Project – week 4: small groups or individual choose a project to complete that addresses their driving question…Are adolescents more like kids or adults…or are they an alien species?

Camp counselors will have weekly discussions with campers on the value of AM sessions vs the PM sessions. Inquiry based discussions that help the campers analyze how they are feeling, what the impact of each part has on them as a person, and on their camp experience.

Last day of camp- Presentation day.  Parents join to experience the final projects of the campers and enjoy a celebration of their camp life experience. 

Montessori Work-based learning has a great deal to offer summer camp programs. The structure supports many of the personal and social growth goals of camp. Further, there are very real self-efficacy gains from giving campers the power to assess their own success. Perhaps most importantly, the reflection on and concrete expression of their experience makes the effects of camp last far beyond their session. 

Montessori work-based learning is a powerful tool for ensuring that campers get the richest camp experience possible. It is a reimagination of camp that helps the camper through the most awkward stage of humanity - Adolescence.

Montessori Work-based learning empowers students to seize control over their camp experiences, following their interests and passions as they address a driving question. As students work with one another to create projects to share, they become responsible for the assessment of their work. 

Project-based learning frees students from the anxiety of meeting the expectations of school while allowing them the agency to create using the meaning they’ve developed from their experiences. This is a powerful reimagination of what is possible within camp, and one that camp professionals should consider.  

Camp-based work-based learning can choose to address imaginative and fantastic problems, infused with the magic of camp, as their foundation. A great deal of student choice is involved in this project. Students choose whom to work with, what they present, and, most importantly, how they present their projects. Students can build landscapes, create posters, perform skits, make videos, write stories, etc. In expressing their work through a medium that has meaning for them, they engage with the material in a way they may not have otherwise. 

They also have the time and collaborative opportunities to discover what drives their need to work like an adult but play like a child…is that conflict or is that the magic of being an adolescent?

Enjoy games, team building, and trail explorations, where STEAAM learning is always present. Learn in our outdoor classrooms, get hands-on with nature, bugs, animals and science, and unleash your inner artist. Explore nature's wonders, discover hidden trails, and meet new friends in our 9-acre campus.  Where curiosity meets excitement and lifelong memories are made. Join us for a summer of splashing, discovering, and growing!

Work n play for middle schoolers,  enroll below. 

Unleash your child's creativity and curiosity at our STEAM summer camp! Dive into hands-on projects that bring science, technology, engineering, art, and math to life. With many weekly projects, our camp ignites innovation and imagination. Collaborate with new friends to design and build, create mesmerizing art, and uncover the secrets of the natural world in our 9 acre campus. With outdoor adventures and challenges, guest speakers, water and bike days, and color fun, your child will discover new passions and develop skills to last a lifetime. Join us for a transformative summer of STEAM fun!

FEW SPOTS LEFT - Session 2: July 22 – August 16

Open to campers 3 years old* - 14 years old 

At the Rochester Hills Campus (3976 S Livernois Rd)

Thank you for another  amazing Summer Camp Experience. 

Enrollment for Summer Camp 2025 begins March 2025.