Oh the summer is flying by. Last week was the three of us at Carkeek Campfire Day Camp. David loved it. I mean really loved it. He could not wait to race out the door. His favorite parts were playing at least an hour of scatterball every day, cooking, and science. It didn't hurt that he knew five of the six boys in his group, and he had 1 to 2 ratio for counselors to kids.

Rose was ok with it. She complained that some of the people in her group were teenagish, which meant unenthusiastic and disdainful. I can see how that would not be fun to be around. She was also a counselor in training this year, which came with a lot of prestige but also a lot of learning about developmental stages and how to manage children without shouting at them constantly--great life skills.

She was annoyed that the developmental stage information was written as definitive and yet didn't fit the real kids she knew. Another good thing to learn. She also worried a lot all week--was it inappropriate to laugh when the kids threw rocks at the train? What if the marshmallows aren't gluten-free? What if the other girls didn't like her? In the end, she wrote a nice poem, learned Burn Fire Burn, and felt quite proud leading the council fire.

I also had a so/so time. I am the poetry specialist. I know I wrote about this last year, but let me just gush a little more. Teaching poetry to kids at camp has been a lifelong dream. The fact that I have the skills and opportunity to do it still amazes me. I used some of the workshops from last year and added some new ones, trying to keep refining them for a 40 minutes time slot outdoors. Having the decorating supplies is a great way to expand and contract the time.

The groups can sign up to write poems with you. I am supposed to work half time, but not that many groups sign up. This makes me feel guilty and worried. On the other hand, nothing wrong with hanging out in the sunshine reading Neruda.

I loved teaching poetry to the kindergarteners and first graders. They just jumped in with both feet. The third grade boys were delightful and wrote great poems about grief as a venomous snake. But oh my, I had some attitudinal sixth grade girls. Let me just say how grateful I am to have a sweet polite and enthusiastic child who does not make snide remarks about make out parties.

I want to say one more thing about camp in general. It's kind of amazing in this day and age of high tech, high priced camps. It's definitely low key. The science project is blowing bubbles not dissecting a sheep's eye. You do the old fashioned stuff--cook over a camp fire, go on nature hikes, sing songs. And the kids love it. It was hard to volunteer my week, but it was good to be at camp.