What to do with the kids this summer? Use AP’s Destination Science Discount!

Figuring out what to do with your children while you work–whether at a home office or one away from home or housework–is a constant parental challenge. During the school year, most of us have structures in place that allow us to get what we need to get done done.

But once school gets out, it’s a bigger challenge to find decent child care–a place that’s affordable and where our children want to spend their summer!

Last spring, I learned about Destination Science which offers science based camps at various locations in California and beyond. Since I was teaching summer school from 10-noon M-Th, I signed my son up for two weeks.  He absolutely LOVED it. He HATED the other camp he went to, the one that was cheap and convenient, so this summer, when I got an assignment to teach two 5 unit summer school classes at Ventura College for 7 weeks, one class from 10:30am-1:30pm and another from 6:30pm-9:30pm (which translates to working 133%), I sighed deeply and said yes I’ll take it. The pay is good enough that I could afford to figure out some summer camp options that would make my son happy.

So that means he’s signed up for THREE WEEKS of Destination Science! And since I worked every angle and discount I could find (become a facebook fan! early reg!  bogopod coupon!)  instead of being $240 a week, it’s less than $200 for six hours a day for 3 four day weeks of fun, educational, challenging and rewarding science based activities.

And, if you act before Friday June 4, you can get those discounts too by using the special “GWENDOLYN” code! Seriously! The Destination Science folks responded to my enthusiasm for their program by offering my readers pretty much the same discounts I got weeks ago by the GWENDOLYN promo code (which I think is just too funny!) Here’s the text of the email from Destination Science:

I am going to give you a “Gwendolyn Promo Code” for any & all of your friends to use,  If they register by June 4th, they will save $10 each week for the May Special, Use Promo Code Gwendolyn & Save an additional $30 off each week, Enroll in 3 or 4 sessions & save another $10 each week.  So potentially they too can save $50 each week.  Right now the promo code is only for the Ventura location, if your friends want another site, let me know & I can set-up the code for that one also.

That means with one easy code at the Destination Science website, you’ll get the same discounts I got! Instead of a $240 tuition, it could be as low as $190. So register NOW because it ends Friday June 4–don’t miss this opportunity!

In addition to going to three weeks of Destination Science, we’ve got quite a summer planned for the 6 year old boy. Our main goal is to turn him into a fish without getting too badly sunburned. To that end, he’s starting swimming lessons next Monday with the City of Ventura and they continue almost every night until September! He’s also going to be spending many of his days at the City pool on Kimball–he’s excited about attending the summer camp there with swimming every morning and crafts and a rock climbing wall in the afternoon.

The boy has also decided he wants to learn how to surf, skim board, and boogie board this summer and since we live near the beach, that makes sense. So he will also be attending Ventura Makos Surf Camp at the beginning and then again at the end of the summer (at $50 a day, that’s all we can afford!)

And while he may be a bit daydreamy to do well on the soccer field, he loves the game (or the idea of the game?) and he’ll do one week of AYSO soccer camp to round out his summer activities.

Now the challenge is to keep track of where he’s supposed to be when and make sure he gets there and gets picked up each day! To help me keep track, and in case you’re curious, here’s the summer schedule:

June 21-24: Destination Science (9-330 M-Th $190)
June 28-July 1: Makos Surf Camp (9-3 M-Th $200)
July 5-9: City Camp (8-5 M-F $125)
July 12-16: City Camp (8-5 M-F $125) or VC Pirate Soccer (9-12 M-F $80 )
July 19-22: Destination Science (9-330 M-Th $190)
July 26-29: Destination Science (9-330 M-Th $190)
Aug 2-6: AYSO (M-F 9-12 $109)
Aug 9-13: Makos Surf Camp (M-F 9-3 $250)
Aug 16-20: City Camp (M-F 8-5pm $125)
Aug 23–back to school he goes!

Whew! Looks fun for him–and over $1500 out of pocket for me! Where will YOUR children be this summer? If you’re still looking, you’d be stop and make some decision because the popular camps fill fast. For more ideas about camps, here’s a list of 140 in Ventura County.

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