Program Overview

Our primary goal is to help our campers to gain knowledge and develop or improve skills. When knowledge and skills are mentioned many people think of ‘hard skills' such paddling a canoe, shooting a bow and arrow, or becoming a better swimmer. We certainly cover those and more, but Camp Buckskin also teaches our campers how to make and maintain friendships, become more organized, start and finish tasks, and a host of other ‘soft skills.'

All campers participate in each of our six main activities Monday - Friday. Campers rotate through these activities as a cabin group, and this consistency provides for more and better learning.  All activities begin with the fundamentals, particularly safety. Campers then progress - at their own pace - to more advanced skills and concepts. It is important to note that the main activities are non-competitive, as each child ‘competes' only with her/himself. We strive to teach campers in the style they learn best, to maximize their gains.

The campers can readily see their hard skills progress develop in the main activities. It is more difficult to see progress in the soft skills, but our campers are working on them daily from wake up until lights out. The hard skills are good to know, but future opportunities to use them may be limited. However, we all use soft skills every day, and improving these abilities is a priority for our parents. Social Skills like peer relations, interpersonal communication, problem solving, task completion, and many others are addressed in our Personal Growth Program.