Not sure where to post this question

[luv8tir]

Is summer camp an "extracurricular expense"?

[Kitty C.]

Yes, because it is not mandatory.

[MomofTwo]

Not always true...if the parent works and daycare/camp are necessary to keep the parent working, it may not be considered extracurricular.

[Kitty C.]

Yes, but daycare and camp are two different things.  Daycare is for the purpose of having a place to go while parents are at work.......camp is strictly for the benefit of the child to learn new things.  Now, if camp is the ONLY alternative (no daycare available in the area) and strictly a daytime camp, then it's a different story, but it's likely that it will be much more expensive and probably wouldn't last very long, like 2 weeks to a month at most.  And if we're talking about a camp with overnights, then it absolutely is extra-curricular, especially if it is out of the area far enough that parents would not be economically able to go there twice a day (p/u, drop-off).

As a whole, I would consider camp viewed as daycare as a rare exception, rather than the rule.

[Davy]

KITTY My last post which apparently deleted was far more pertinant that your post.

A 5 yr olf boy walked out of a daycare and crossed 6 lanes of traffic apparently looking for

his mother.  Beautiful !   So why fid you delete it.

[Kitty C.]

.......ask Waylon...........

[Momfortwo]

Is summer camp an "extracurricular expense"?

Depends.  My kids will be going to summer camp (daycamp) next summer as I need to work and have no one else to care for them. 

In this case, it isn't an extracurricular expense.  It's childcare.   And given my kids' ages, my ex's portion of the cost will be added on to the child support. 

Now if I was a sahm and was sending them, then that's an extracurricular expense. 

[Momfortwo]

Yes, because it is not mandatory.

Actually, that is not entirely an accurate statement.  My kids are too old for daycare but too young to be left home.  My regular babysitter is not available next summer.  I have to work, my kids have to be at a safe place and properly supervised. 

The only choice that I have is summer camp while I am at work.  In this case, it is not an extracurricular activity, its childcare.

[Kitty C.]

MomofTwo, I take it that they would be home every night, right?  If that's the case, then yes, it should be considered daycare.  But I've always been led to believe that summer camp was something you sent your children away to and had themed activities (religious, outdoor skills, horsemanship, tech., etc.), with overnights included.  In that instance, it's extra-curricular.

[amymarie]

So I guess the question here is whether this is 'summer' camp or 'day' camp.

Around here, a lot of the daycares have day camps for the older children.  The YMCA offers different camps every week, however, a lot of people use them as daycare because they are just during the day (the child comes home every night).  I think they just don't call it daycare because older kids would be opposed to going to a 'daycare'. 

There's horseback riding camp, adventure camp, hiking camp, kayacking camp, etc. 

It is about the same price as daycare and I would not consider it extracurricular if I was sending my child there in lieu of regular daycare.  However, if the camp that op is talking about is considerably higher than regular daycare, then I can see how the ncp may have issue with paying for half of it if they don't see it as necessary.  If that is the case, then I would say the ncp would only be required to pay half the cost of regular daycare instead of half the cost of the camp.