• supporting the physical health and wellness of our wider community
• maintaining the joy and connection of CFS Summer Programs

After surveying families and teachers and processing information from reliable government agencies and other organizations, it seems that virtual programming offers the best way to maintain the well-being of our community while keeping us all connected. Given the ongoing uncertainties, we think we can all be better served if we're able to plan definitively rather than thinking we can deliver on weeklong programs in person only to have to cancel on a moment's notice based on external circumstances or developments within our Summer Programs community . We appreciate your understanding.

And, we're excited about the new possibilities this format brings. Our teachers are ready to have some fun!

You can read the communications to families regarding Summer Programs 2.0 on this page.

As usual, a program will last for five days ( Monday through Friday). Each program is two hours per day, one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. Dance/stretch breaks will occur every 30 minutes.

We're using "blocks" so it's possible for children to be engaged for up to four hours each day, two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.

If your child is enrolled in a Block A program, the schedule will look like this:

Morning Hour: 9:00 am-10:00 am
Afternoon Hour: 1:00 pm-2:00 pm

If your child is enrolled in a Block B program, the schedule will look like this:

Morning Hour: 10:30 am-11:30 am
Afternoon Hour: 2:30 pm-3:30 pm

You can see the relevant course descriptions:

• Weeks 1-3
• Weeks 4-6
• Weeks 7-10

Many programs are creatively using supplies that will be found in the home. Others will include a list of supplies that can be ordered or purchased locally prior to the start of the program.

Every child has different needs, but we hope that most students will be able to participate in their programs independently with relatively few exceptions so parents/guardians can complete their own work. A small number of classes, like I Built I (a woodworking course), may require more prep in advance and/or more support during class meetings than most offerings.

Of course, parents/guardians are welcome to monitor and assist in ways that make them more comfortable and help ensure a more positive experience for students.

The majority of programs will utilize Zoom and a shared Google Folder. Others might involve specific software programs, such as Minecraft.

We've integrated the policies and practices outlined in this EduRisk resource into our handbooks and policies to reflect the new territory of virtual programming, including comprehensive steps to protect your child's safety and privacy. For more questions or to offer input on this topic, please feel free to email us at ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org.

We've learned from the early weeks some of the hiccups that might arise.

• Little things like a laptop or iPad that isn't charged and the charger isn't readily available to the student.
• One Middle Schooler slept through the alarm for his 9:00 am class, when both parents were already at work. We emailed and they were able to rouse him by phone.
• A student got locked out of the laptop and didn't have ready access to his parents to know the log-in, so he missed an entire morning session.
• A glitch at the instructor end meant a Middle Schooler couldn't get admitted to the class. His family was at work and he didn't know to email us at ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org for assistance.

Please know Summer Programs Leadership Team members are regularly visiting classes and constantly monitoring the Extended Learning email address during class hours so we can respond immediately to a tech or other issue for a student, family, or instructor.

Thanks for letting us know if you encounter other difficulties. We want to help you and all families so students can maximize their experience in Summer Programs 2.0!

Unfortunately, given our timeline and resources as well as the sometimes different online learning circumstances for younger students, we've made the difficult decision to serve only ages seven and up this summer.

We have compiled a list of area institutions that are offering programming for children in this age range and other appropriate activity resources (from National Geographic to the Smithsonian). We hope this updatable Google document is helpful to you. If you have an option to recommend, please share it with us (ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org) so we can add it to the list or comment directly in the document.

We're excited to welcome students of any age and their families to join us regularly for our free Summer Story Time each Thursday at 4:00 pm. Summer Programs and CFS school-year staff and perhaps even some of our CITs will be reading a favorite each week, starting June 25 with Carolina Friends Head of School Karen Cumberbatch.

We also invite you to consider online music lessons, open to children and adults from within and beyond the CFS school-year community, with more than a dozen instrument options.

As you see above, in the interest of simplicity of operation and quality of experience, we're limiting our virtual offerings to ages seven and above.

No guarantees, but if there is a program open to seven-year-olds in which you feel confident your six-year-old would do well, please feel free to email us (ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org) to discuss the possibility of enrolling your child.

Additionally, we have compiled a list of area institutions that are offering programming for children in this age range and other appropriate activity resources (from National Geographic to the Smithsonian). We hope this updatable Google document is helpful to you. If you have an option to recommend, please share it with us (ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org) so we can add it to the list or comment directly in the document.

We're excited to welcome students of any age and their families to join us regularly for our free Summer Story Time each Thursday at 4:00 pm. Summer Programs and CFS school-year staff and perhaps even some of our CITs will be reading a favorite each week, starting June 25 with Carolina Friends Head of School Karen Cumberbatch.

We also invite you to consider online music lessons, open to children and adults from within and beyond the CFS school-year community, with more than a dozen instrument options.

Our CITs are a wonderful, integral part of our traditional programs. Throughout the years, we've seen CITs grow in their leadership and we love our connections with these counselors-in-training. We've had conversations with a small number of CITs and teachers to determine how our CIT program fits in to Summer Programs 2.0. At this point, we don't see a feasible way to continue the CIT program in any similar way to past years.

We're encouraging CITs to participate in programming that's open to older students. We've purposefully included more programs for older students to have the capacity for CITs to engage in programs together, connect with some favorite teachers, and have fun as a participant.

And, we're developing a free CIT meet-up program to help these young people stay connected socially with one another and CFS Summer Programs. Sophia Cleghorn, a UNC student and member of the 2020 Summer Programs leadership team, will host and facilitate the weekly gatherings. Please stay tuned for details.

Leadership Challenge will still be offered at some point(s) in Sessions 4-9.

Similar to CITs, we love our wonderful Interns. For these first three weeks, the Internship Program is not incorporated within Summer Programs 2.0. As we adapt to this new territory, we may be able to find meaningful ways for Interns to engage with us later in the summer if we continue virtual programming beyond Session 3.

We've purposefully included more programs for older students to have the capacity for many Interns to engage in programs together, connect with some favorite teachers, and have fun as a participant.

We're excited to invite students of any age and their families to join us regularly for our free, virtual Summer Story Time, Thursdays at 4:00 pm!

Summer Programs and CFS school-year staff and perhaps even some of our CITs will be reading a favorite each week, starting June 25 with Carolina Friends Head of School Karen Cumberbatch.

If you'd like the Zoom invitation and other details via email, please complete this two-question Google form.

We invite you to consider online music lessons, open to children AND adults from within and beyond the CFS school-year community.

The more than a dozen instrument options include drums, flute, guitar, oboe, piano, trumpet, tuba, ukulele, violin, and voice as well as composition and conducting.

Lessons--depending on age, experience, and interest--can range from 15 to 90 minutes each week.

We hope to be able to resume on-campus lessons as soon as possible in 2020-2021, but also anticipate continuing virtual lessons for any student whose family finds that safer or more convenient.

You can view the courses on our website here.

Yes! You can enroll in one block for two hours per day, 10 hours per week or both blocks for four hours per day, 20 hours per week.

Registration for the revised Week 1-3 offerings is open via CampInTouch.

Enrollment for the Week 4-10 classes and the new Adult and Family Courses opens at 6:30 pm Thursday June 25.

Online enrollment can be completed with an account at our CampInTouch site, the same platform you used to register for traditional, on-campus Summer Programs.

If you already have a CampInTouch account from Summer 2015-2020 or another CFS Extended Learning program, please go to your current account.

Just as with our traditional Summer Programs, you can be added to a waitlist if the program in which you'd like to enroll your child is full. If a spot becomes available in that program, we'll contact you and you'll have the option to enroll.

You're also welcome to email us to register your student for an alternative class that block while remaining on the waitlist for the first-choice class.

We're also open to adding more courses if our current programs fill quickly.

You don't need to take any action to receive a refund of your positive balance. We we will processing refunds automatically. Because of credit card processing limits and the turnaround time in launching new offerings, these financial transactions may take up to three weeks. If you require your refund more quickly, please indicate so here.

Please note that your positive balance may or may not equate to all payments made when you registered depending on your enrollments in Summer Programs 2.0 (if you enrolled in a new program while your account holds a positive balance, the cost of the new program will simply be taken from the positive balance, reducing the number of transactions).

Yes! We are processing refunds for the cancelled enrollments after opening registration for Summer Programs 2.0 so if you have a positive balance from the cancelled weeks, that credit will be automatically applied to a Summer Programs 2.0 enrollment.

You'll also have the invitation to donate even a small portion of your refund as a tax-deductible contribution to help other families access CFS Summer Programs for their children. Thank you for considering this possibility as your circumstances allow.

All child programs are $95. This is inclusive of one week-long program that meets for one hour twice a day. Our Adult and Family Programs vary in cost due to different durations.

Please note there is a $15 per family per summer registration fee that underwrites the substantial year-round cost of our CampInTouch system.

We'll send in advance of a course any supply list of items that can be found in the home and/or purchased.

As always, we're happy to provide tuition assistance whenever and however we can. The amount is limited, so we cannot guarantee support.

Please complete the 2020 Tuition Assistance Request (which can be emailed to the Extended Learning Office). We want to work with you to see what might be possible.

For families who'd received a tuition assistance grant for on-campus classes, there's no need to submit a new request. We'll gladly apply a proportional amount towards the lesser cost of relevant virtual courses. Just email us at ExtendedLearning@cfsnc.org to confirm your intentions.

Over time, we hope to increase our tuition assistance resources and to forge more partnerships with local, youth-serving non-profits.

We invite families during the online course enrollment process to consider if they might make a tax-deductible contribution to CFS to help provide a Summer Programs opportunity for another student. Thank you!

If you need to cancel a 2.0 (i.e. virtual) class, we're glad to do so up to seven days in advance for a full refund if we have someone on a waitlist who chooses to accept the vacancy. Otherwise, we're unable to provide a refund of the $95 tuition.

We want to be as flexible as possible to support families, especially during these unusual times. At the same time, we're operating on smaller than usual margins and have to make a decision far in advance if we have enough enrollment for a class to be financially and experientially viable. One cancellation could be the tipping point where we aren't realizing enough revenue to cover instructor compensation and overhead costs. Thank you for your understanding.