Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Rachel Johnson, 9, sings in the back of the car Tuesday while mother Jeanne Johnson drives her to an art class, one of Rachel's summer activities.

Child Care Link referral service

Finding responsible and reliable care providers can be a challenge when schools are out.

• The Council of Community Services’ Child Care Link can connect parents with child care providers, mentors and tutors.
• Parents can submit an online form describing the kind of child care they need, when they need it and other specifics at www.councilofcommunityservices.org.
• Call Child Care Link by dialing 211 or call the office directly at 985-0131 ext. 300.

The final bell has rung and school is out. Let the fun begin.

Well, the camps and the baby sitters and the dropping off and picking up, and the pool membership and ... you get the point.

It's something children often don't understand: Their elaborate summer plans can be a headache for mom and dad.

Children spend anywhere from 35 to 40 hours a week in school, so finding something for them to do in the summer really is a full-time job.

Take Jeanne Johnson, 47, of Roanoke.

She began one day last week cooking breakfast and knocking out some small-business accounting. Then it was off to take her daughter Rachel, 9, to a volunteer program. Back home to do office work. To the store to buy food for the church pantry.

Then, pick up Rachel. Lunch at home. Haircut, which was rescheduled because the business was closed. Errands around town, including an earring run and art visit before Rachel's orthodontist appointment. To the post office to send mail but (whoops!) home again because the mail was left there. Deal with voice mails, phone calls, e-mails, help run small business. Pick up son, Joey, from after-school program. Dinner as a family.

And Johnson considers that an easy day.

Johnson and the rest of her clan, including her husband, Steve, and her son, Joey, 12, have made a choice: Jeanne Johnson will work from home as a customer service representative/office manager for a small company, largely because of the craziness that ensues at schools' end.

Steve Johnson, who works in industrial sales, will travel when he needs to. Rachel and Joey will spend their summers sleeping in, attending camps and being respectful when their mother is on the phone.

"Right now it's tons easier than just even two years ago," Johnson said one recent evening, sipping red wine with her husband on their porch in Old Southwest.

"We have chosen this, and this is much better."

The Johnsons are just one of the many families who deal with the struggles and craziness of summer. They know it's not all fun in the sun, as moms and dads around the Roanoke Valley balance jobs against keeping their children occupied after school lets out.

For Johnson, that required a decision: Work at home and free up time to take care of her children, or juggle her mom duties, constantly leaving the office for pickups and drop-offs.

For others without the luxury of working from home, ensuring children's safety and keeping their minds from becoming dormant can be an even bigger challenge.

One way to do that is camps, camps and more camps. The Roanoke Valley offers plenty.

Each summer, Rising Star Sports and Adventure Camp in southern Roanoke County has hires new staff and prepares its 20,000-square-foot indoor arena for sweaty kids, said Robert Polluck, whose son owns the camp.

"Ninety-nine point five percent of them just drop their kids off and leave," Polluck said.

The camp opens at 7 a.m. to allow parents enough time to get to work.

Some of the families are regulars, he added, and some come sporadically.

If sports camps don't suit your fancy, there is always art and science.

Many child-friendly institutions around the Roanoke Valley, such as Mill Mountain Zoo, offer weeklong learning and adventure camps.

The Science Museum of Western Virginia has dissection camps for older children, and Amazing Animals, where younger children interact with live animals.

"We just do those things that we love and hope to convey that love of science to the children," said Nancy McCrickard, executive director of the museum.

The museum still has some camps open, which run during the day for a week each.

Camp costs run the gamut. You can find them for free, in cases of some school-sponsored groups, or you can spend an arm and a leg.

A typical day camp might run somewhere between $100 and $200 a week.

Honeytree Early Learning Centers in Roanoke, for example, has a weeklong summer camp for $125. An additional activity fee of $75 allows children to travel to recreation centers and pools. The day care center has more than 450 summer campers, plenty who are dropped off by busy parents.

"Our idea is to try and fill in where they need the care," said Brenda Samson, spokeswoman for the center.

Cathy Jennings, a nurse, has been with Honeytree since 1995, when her son Paul, now 17, attended the summer camps.

Now Jennings sends her daughter, Laura Kate, 11, to Honeytree for the summer, where the family gets a discount through her job.

Laura Kate asks to switch locations every summer for a little extra spice.

"She's a very motivated, self-directed child," Jennings said. "She likes the change."

If camps aren't your cup of tea, there is always a baby sitter, which the Johnsons say can be costly in money and time, especially if you have to pick up and drop off a sitter who doesn't drive. If you're having trouble finding a good one, the Council of Community Services' Child Care Link may be able to help -- just dial 211 on your phone.

For those moms who like lounging in the sun while their kids do a flip off the diving board, there are two public city pools and numerous private ones throughout the area.

"Some moms, you know, will get frustrated" dealing with rowdy kids at the pool, said Richard Hughes, assistant manager of the Roanoke Elks Lodge swimming pool. "But most of the time, they seem pretty carefree."

The city is also home to 650 recreational programs in eight community centers and 373 youth athletic teams in eight different sports.

There are plenty to go around.

For the Johnsons, the addition of "mommy central" as the family calls it, where Johnson works and takes care of her two children, will make things easier.

They have a special system, too. Rachel and Joey can place a note under their mom's door when they have a request -- ice cream, for example.

Summer living, although frenzied, works well for the family of four. The kids can sleep in, Johnson plays super summer mom and Steve Johnson works and comes home at lunch to cut the grass.

The only problem, according to Rachel, "is you have to be quieter."