Letting Go to Go To Camp

I've got a confession to make, I'm somewhat of a helicopter mom.  My husband says I'm in the 90th percentile but can these things really be measured?  Lets just say I fall somewhere down the middle.  The reason I'm telling you this is because summer camp is rapidly approaching and I will be sending my children off to camp for the first time ever! I've never really been away from them that long unless they've been with relatives.  I help out at their school, stay to watch baseball practices, I even volunteer at VBS to keep an eye on them.  So the idea of sending them to camp with strangers kind of freaks me out a little.  I even almost passed up the opportunity over my protective tendencies.   Here's the story. . .

A while back Galileo Learning contacted me, asking if I would like to review their camp in exchange for a free week of camp for my children.  I checked out the site and really liked what the camp had to offer but was not so sure if I was willing to send my children there free or not.  I tried to stay open minded and decided to meet with the staff at a luncheon. 

When I first arrived at the headquarters I was really surprised by the space.  It was blooming with creativity from two headed lamas made out of newspaper to hanging decorations from the ceiling (picture Anthropologie meets camp headquarters).  It was obvious this was a fun and creative place but I needed more.

Next, I met the staff who were all very friendly.  As they talked about Galileo Learning it was obvious how passionate they were about the camp.  And what really came through was their genuine desire to teach children to be innovators.  This wasn't just another babysitting opperation.

But what really sold me, was their staff hiring process.  All applicants go through a four round hiring process which means only about 10% of the applicants are hired.  Also, all lead instructors are college graduates.  And many of the staff are educators in the school year. This was the reassurance I needed.

And to top it off,  I discovered I could find out online who the staff would be for my child's camp. That's right, they give full names plus credentials.  So now I think I'm ready to let go and let them go to camp.

To learn more about Galileo Learning, please visit the official site. You might also want to check out my post about Galileo's innovation approach.