With t-minus 4 days till the last day of school, my list of "to-dos" before the kids are home for the summer is long. I take things in stride most days, but last week I attempted to get it together and sign the kids up for a variety of summer day camps. <Deep breath.> While slightly bruised from the process, I am victorious - most of the summer is planned.
Thankfully, it is not like the old days when Silicon Valley was booming. Five years ago, if you didn't sign up for camp on the first day it opened, back in March then you were out of luck. Today there are a ton of options and if you tried to sign up today for this summer you should have some decent choices.
In my book, one of the biggests tests of a quality camp is the sign up process itself. One year, I signed my son up for a sports camp at the local highschool. I sent in the form and never got a confirmation of receipt. We got there and found that there was not sign in or sign out process. Just show up and leave when you want. Huh? While that works for older kids, it doesn't really for an 8 year old. Luckily, my son was enamored by the soda machine and snack shack so refrained from wandering off. I shoulda known that it was lax, when the sign up process was sketchy. Clearly, the high school basketball coach was used to working with teens and not little ones.
This year I have signed the kids up to attend Camp Galileo. The sign up process was the complete opposite. From start to finish, the entire process was a piece of cake leaving me confident that I made the right choice for a fun week. You could sign up on line. Fill out all forms online. And even order lunches online. Yes, no trying to call the random phone number and leaving a voicemail, hoping someone will call you back so you can give them your credit card number. (This really DOES happen!)
Galileo Summer Quest has extended care programs so your child can be there from 7AM to 6PM if you need it. After care was booked for my son's age group, so we were placed on the waitlist. (yikes!) They promised to call me back if something opened up. I didn't hold my breath - so started to make plans for an early pick up. As promised, they called back in a day with an opening. They also sent an email to alert me to the open slot giving me 3 days to respond - so professional! This is what camp sign up should be like. Easy, no lines. No fuss. Camp set up around a working parents schedule, with customer service that is better than what you'd expect.
One thing off my to-do list within minutes! Yes. Little victories.
Disclaimer: Galileo Learning is sponsoring a week of my kids' summer camp experience this summer. But my reviews and thoughts about their stellar sign up process are all my own and were uncompensated.