I think, realistically, this is going to be kinda “Magic Schoolbus”-y, in that Time Travel is clearly how you get to where you’re going, but the camp itself is not focused around it. Instead, there are Topics of Learning (which happen to be history-flavored). For that matter, the comparison could be made to Doomsday Book. I mean, it’s almost like I could be a history department or something. Since this should be the case, I should stop worrying and fussing about getting kids involved in Time Travel, and focus more on setting up a camp where kids can learn something valuable. And setting up a camp I can actually run.
So…
I definitely think my first attempt at this should be only 1 week, and only a day-camp. Let’s start nice and slow. I think I’ll aim for kids ages 7-13… that age range may shift a bit, but it seems a good target. Also, I have solidly decided on Norse culture as my first theme.
Some sample “courses”:
Mythology
Jewelry making: craft and wealth
How to Be an Explorer: Prepare for adventure! (building & provisioning)
How to Be an Explorer: Where do we go? (navigation, cartography)
How to Be an Explorer: What do we have here? (how to make camp)
A Cooking course
Introduction to Defense (or weaponry… I’m a bit iffy on how to spin this one)
Runes
Swimming! Could they swim? I mean… people on boats learn to swim, right?
Downfall of the Norse
Were there competing tribes? That might be good.
Something on daily life, community structure, clothing, how they appeared to others, how they influenced today…
That’s 10-ish classes, just based on my limited knowledge. Most of these could easily be over multiple days, and a couple of them are already active. I should review other camp structures to see how many activities they generally have, or if it’s just, like, 5 activities broad enough to include everyone. I know boy scout camp had a few activities kids rotated through, and Camp Wolochee had classes you signed up for. Wolochee’s classes were repeated some, if I remember correctly, so part of the plan was to make a good schedule for yourself.