Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to design your own camp. Kids don't
Speaker 1: have to be the only ones who get to do
Speaker 1: deep dives into their interests over the summer. You can
Speaker 1: think through your own summer fun too. Four of my
Speaker 1: five children are old enough to go to camp, and
Speaker 1: to keep track of where they need to be, I
Speaker 1: have built a camp spreadsheet with the weeks of summer
Speaker 1: and what they'll be doing. I will admit that looking
Speaker 1: at the summer spreadsheet for my kids has me feeling
Speaker 1: a wee bit jealous. One child is going to a
Speaker 1: four week fiction writing workshop. Another has two rounds of
Speaker 1: theater camp where they will learn a whole musical in
Speaker 1: two weeks. Someone else's building drones and learning c plus
Speaker 1: plus getting to spend time totally absorbed in an interesting
Speaker 1: topic and watching your skills grow sounds like a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. You probably also won't be surprised to learn
Speaker 1: that much of my summer will not be spent at
Speaker 1: theater or drone camp. It will be spent speaking, podcasting, blogging,
Speaker 1: preparing for the launch of my next book, I love
Speaker 1: my work, but I wouldn't mind a camp like diversion too.
Speaker 1: So alongside my professional pursuits, I have been fantasizing about
Speaker 1: camps I could create for myself. I could design a
Speaker 1: flower photography camp just for me. I could read books
Speaker 1: to build my skills and flower photography. I could find
Speaker 1: a nearby exhibit of photos or paintings of flowers. I
Speaker 1: could visit different places to photograph flowers, perhaps long with
Speaker 1: gardens or my favorite running trail through the woods. I
Speaker 1: could even publish a portfolio of my best flower photos
Speaker 1: on my block, or have some of my photos printed
Speaker 1: to hang in our new home. I could also design
Speaker 1: an Aaron Copeland camp, one focused on the works of
Speaker 1: that famous composer. I could listen to lots of Copeland's music.
Speaker 1: I could read about his ballet compositions and find some
Speaker 1: videos of dance performances of Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, and Billy
Speaker 1: the Kid. I could play some of the pieces he
Speaker 1: wrote for piano. I could wrote a documentary about his
Speaker 1: life and work. Unlike my kids, I am not going
Speaker 1: to be exploring flower photography or Aaron Copeland from nine
Speaker 1: am mentil three p m. Every day for a week,
Speaker 1: but I can carve out enough time to enjoy myself.
Speaker 1: Maybe Friday afternoons in July could become flower photography camp time,
Speaker 1: and Friday afternoons in August could be set aside for
Speaker 1: Copeland camp. Now, you probably don't share my very specific interests,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure that you have many interests that your
Speaker 1: professional work doesn't fully sated. Do you have ideas for
Speaker 1: a topic that you'd like to pursue and a do
Speaker 1: it yourself camp this summer? You could focus on a creative,
Speaker 1: artistic or craft project, like needle pointing a Christmas stocking
Speaker 1: for your new niece, creating an inspiration board for your
Speaker 1: kitchen renovation, or writing the first draft of a children's book.
Speaker 1: You could design a skill building camp. Maybe you take
Speaker 1: several private sewing lessons and set aside time to practice
Speaker 1: your skills, or take a cooking class and then perfect
Speaker 1: the recipes at home. You could focus on a hobby
Speaker 1: you love. Perhaps take your paints and an easy to
Speaker 1: a local botanic garden every Sunday afternoon this summer and
Speaker 1: paint whatever captures your attention. Logistically speaking, you could do
Speaker 1: a post work camp Monday through Friday for a week
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, or maybe do it after
Speaker 1: the kids bedtime. You could schedule a weekend intensive for camp,
Speaker 1: say Friday evening in most of the day Saturday, or
Speaker 1: you could do camp every Sunday afternoon for a month.
Speaker 1: If you have kids, you could swap off with your
Speaker 1: partner so each of you gets a little time off
Speaker 1: this summer to pursue something of personal interest. Ten or
Speaker 1: fifteen hours of camp, we'll let you explore something meaningful
Speaker 1: in a rewarding way. What's key is to have some
Speaker 1: basic ideas for what you would like to do while
Speaker 1: at camp. You could even write a marketing description of
Speaker 1: your camp, like what you might see in a catalog
Speaker 1: of summary offerings at a local school or the y
Speaker 1: m c A. This could help you get excited and
Speaker 1: focused on what you will do. Also, be sure to
Speaker 1: get your supplies in advance. With plans and supplies prepared,
Speaker 1: when your camp time rolls around, you will be able
Speaker 1: to dive right in. If you design your own camp
Speaker 1: this summer, I would love to hear about it. You
Speaker 1: can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkamp dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four than breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.