I woke up bright and early and ran to my computer. Today was the day. Beads of perspiration lined my forehead as I perched my fingertips atop the keyboard and repeatedly glanced at the clock. At the stroke of 8, I began typing rapidly. The screen froze- I screamed! Max’s admission into an afterschool program was at stake!

It is that time of year when parents must register their children for afterschool programs. It is stressful. My fingers did not type fast enough. Max got into an afterschool program, but not our first choice.

As I contemplated Max’s remaining afterschool options, I realized it was also time to finalize his summer plans. I want to enroll him in a summer program that he really enjoys. A program that is challenging but also fun and exciting. I am tired of begging him to get out of bed for school, church, and weekend extracurricular activities. Just once I’d love for him to jump out of bed, raring to go.

Max loves cooking as evidenced by his bite-sized cakes (courtesy of his Easy Bake Oven), and, more recently, homemade chicken nuggets. I would love for him to spend time further honing his cooking skills. Culinary arts are not my specialty, so when I heard about a summer camp that incorporates them, I was ecstatic.

The Galileo Summer Camp curriculum is based on science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (“STEAM”). It focuses on cultivating innovators: campers have the opportunity to create new and exciting things. They are encouraged to explore their creative side without the fear of failure. Kids are inspired to think about making contributions to better the world and are provided with the tools and instruction necessary to make those contributions. They are also guaranteed lots of individualized attention from highly qualified teachers: for Max’s age group the camper-teacher ratio is 6:1.

The Galileo program I am most interested in is Chefology. Campers in the Chefology program learn specialized cooking techniques and create international cuisine and delicious (fat and calorie free) desserts. Okay, the delicious desserts are not fat and calorie free. Do delicious, fat, and calorie free desserts even exist?

Camp Galileo has programs geared toward children in Pre-k through 8th grade. There is something exciting for everyone. In addition to refining his cooking skills, Max can learn about space exploration, the national parks, and how to make toys. Older children spend their summers designing video games, making digital films, designing and creating go-karts, learning fashion design, and much, much more.

In addition to all of Galileo’s amazing offerings, they also provide nutritious lunches and offer extended hours for parents, like my husband and I, who work traditional hours.

Camp Galileo has 50 locations throughout the Chicagoland area and California. Max and Myles Style readers are eligible for an exclusive discount of $40 off with the use of the code 2016BOLD.

Through the Galileo camping experience Max will create new dishes thereby expanding his repertoire beyond chicken nuggets. The sky is the limit-he may even design and build a robot who can cook his culinary creations!  Below is a robot Max made with Kwabs; unfortunately, it can only move.  However, by the end of the summer we might welcome our very own Rosie (The Jetsons) or Vickie (Small Wonder).

If you live in the Chicagoland area or California, I strongly encourage you to check out the Galileo Summer Camp.

What are your kids doing for the summer? What do you look for in a summer camp?