Camp With Wings 2009

Michanne Aunela

[First published in HomeWork The bi-monthly newsletter of Home Education Network of Canberra And Southern Tablelands Inc. HENCAST is a network of home educating families from Canberra, Queanbeyan, Bungendore and surrounding areas.]

New friends, old friends, fun, laughter, singing, dancing, talking, teaching, learning, growing wings and learning to fly. That is Camp With Wings.

After Camp this year I came home and told my mum I wanted to write something about CWW for the newsletter, but now that I'm sitting here, I find it hard to know what to write. There is just so much I have to say, how to say it is the problem: Ever danced on a tennis court at 2am? Swam in a freezing pool at midnight fully dressed?

Camp With Wings is a week-long home education camp in Queensland run once a year in January by Janine Banks for 13 -18 year olds. Janine has been running Camp With Wings for 5 years now; she first started it based on the home education camp in America - Not Back To School Camp . Janine and her family have been attending the NBTSC for many years and she wanted a similar camp in Australia, a place where home ed teens from all around Australia can meet one another and spend a week together learning new things and enjoying each others' company.

It's such a great experience you shouldn't miss out on it. I taught a 13 year old to play a card game one year... She came back the next year and thrashed me at it. She had practiced all year so that she could surprise me and be better than me. I've been to four camps now; each one is different but just as life changing. All the beautiful people I've met through CWW is just wonderful; all the new things I've learnt and all those I never thought I'd do. Everyone is accepted for who they are: you could be the youngest, most talkative, most energetic, oldest, quietest, an amazing dancer, love sewing, all the little quirks that make you who you are - is what makes camp fun.

Camp With Wings is like one big family. Have you ever pictured yourself helping to run a quest/treasure hunt/obstacle race type activity and making people sit in front of a clock for 3 minutes without letting them move an inch? I did it at CWW.

Each year after camp I am left feeling sad about, leaving all my friends. But I am also happy and excited and can't wait for the next camp, where I will see old friends again and meet new people. It seems so far away, but well worth waiting for. I would love to help camp grow even more, and I really do recommend CWW for any home ed teen. Registrations for 2010 open in June/July: http://www.campwithwings.org/ .

View a YouTube video about last year's Camp With Wings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lak5G10yhg&feature=channel_page

"There is almost a sensual longing for communion with others who have a large vision.  The immense fulfillment of the friendship between those engaged in furthering the evolution of consciousness has a quality impossible to describe."
~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ~