Active Learning - Chess and Computer Camps

My daughter attended a beginners camp in school between October 2024 and Jan 2025, once per week. I noticed that she made good progress in understanding the basics and the rules. I was able to solve some basic puzzles with her after the camp. Overall a positive experience.

Amazing after school program. My kid loves it! Every kid should play chess!

My daughter has learned quite a lot in the short time she has been in classes(once a week) would recommend!

I sent my 6 and my 8 year old to this camp and for the most part they both loved the class. I actually wasn't 100% sure what they would learn as currently they use Minecraft on creative and just build randomly. I'm not sure if anyone started with 0 experience with Minecraft but they definitely did build things. They were more daily assignments and then group exercises where they would play hide and seek or team building. Would absolutely do again. My only regret is that they couldn't do the video game creation camp as well.

We were checking with our son about the camp after every session and we observed that there was no coaching it was only about playing with other mates which could have been done at other chess communities at no cost. The interaction with the instructor was minimal and not many techniques were taught during the entire course.

My son loved this program. I wasn't sure how thrilled he would be about an after school activity but he always had positive things to say about it on pick up. He enjoyed his experiences and what he learned, and it's clear he learned a lot because he plays a much stronger game of chess. I am impressed by what can be taught at this age!

This was a fun camp and we are looking forward to participate in the next one.

Other than playing chess, he is not getting any tricks in chess.

My Kindergartne son loved this after-school class and learned so much! Jason Doss and his coaches are beyond amazing with the students. I got to volunteer a few times and saw what a great class it is. Thank you!!

My son says he liked to do it but I could not get more details from him. I wish instructors would share some feedback on how the kid is doing in these classes. Maybe they should have some assessment guidelines in place that can be shared back with parents.
Also, I did not find anything regarding inclement weather policy when class gets canceled due to bad weather. If the class got canceled due to bad weather, we should be given a refund or another make-up class.

Our son looks forward to the days that he has chess after school. He always comes home happy and excited about the new skills that he has learned.

Check in and out was very organized. However, I do not feel my child had the complete video game design experience. He came home daily and told me the computer crashed and the instructor couldn't figure out why.

Yes my daughter liked it. Thank you, we will sign up next school year too.

Max loved the class and came home and taught me things every week!

My son did not enjoy his first experience with chess. His instructors were mean, strict, and spent more time disciplining the group rather than teaching. When addressed with the instructor, she denied any responsibility for making my child upset and I pulled my child out of the program.

I had saved this camp experience for my son as a surprise. I told him the day of. He was so excited!!! We got there and it had been cancelled. He was extremely upset. The fact that you even sent this survey email shows the extreme lack of organization within the company. Is this what we can expect from you?

My son really enjoyed the in-person chess camp! He learned a lot and it seemed to be well run.

It was very stimulating and good for my 11 year old child. She found it fun and it was a good learning experience and she made some friends along the way!

My son loves attending the classes after school and looks forward to learning new opens and strategies at Active Learning - Chess and Computer Camps.

My son, Matthew Price, is 10 years old (5th grade) at St. Anne Catholic school in Houston, TX. Last year he took chess and enjoyed it. The class was a lot of younger kids and the teacher was new. He stopped going after only a few classes. I sent an email asking if you would consider a partial reimbursement but I didn’t get a response.

My daughter attended the Make Your Own video game class at St. Mark Lutheran in Houston TX. I do not recommend the computer coding class. On a weekly basis, my daughter asked me to sign her out of this class. She was not engaged and didn't like that she was forced to create a bad guy for her video game. When there was free time, she was apparently ignored and didn't receive help to learn about the video games. The only good thing I experienced with this class is that they came to the school, so it was convenient for me.
This class was not fun. An after school program is supposed to be a fun first of all and a learning experience if the class is designed to teach something. Otherwise, what is the point? This class was not either.

My son is 9 and he attended class at Maryknoll School in Honolulu, HI. The Minecraft class didn't teach him anything. The instructor basically let them play for the entire 3 hours. Very disappointed.

My 6 year old son attended the all day chess camp and absolutely loved it! I worried it would be too long of a day, but the very encouraging and engaging instructors provided a fun & educational environment. He can’t wait to attend the camp again next summer.

The councilors were awesome. My son Owen had a great time. We would love to do it again next summer!!

What a fabulous one week program! Kids all wish the camp could last for more weeks. Coach Mike and Daniel are very professional and nice. Kids learned a lot from the chess camp. Thank you both for creating the best educational environment for the kids!

My son was very disappointed in the video game creation camp. He had hoped there would be coding involved, but the class used a very simplistic program, much more suitable for the young kids in the class than for a 15 year old. He also felt there was too much difference in the ages of participants. There is a big difference between 8 and 15, and he was the oldest by at least 2-3 years. He enjoyed the chess camp, even with the much younger kids. The instructor was excellent.

My 9 year old son really enjoyed the half day of chess for the full week. He was able to learn how to do chess notation. It really threw his game off at first because he was not used to doing it. It will take some more practice, but it was a very good thing to expose him to and that he will need to continue to practice to master.

We were very impressed with the enthusiastic and passionate teacher who truly took the time to provide input to the parents and encourage each child. We WILL be sending our 6 year old to another camp!

We always enjoy Active Learning's chess camp! A great way for kids to work their minds in the summer. My 11 year old son participated.

I really liked it and learned a lot. It was great!

Carlos and Segun were amazing instructors. The kids loved them and are already asking to go back next year. They are very professional! Every class started and ended on time and they are very organized. The kids learned a lot and had a great time plus walked away with a trophy and a complete chess set. Thank you and See you next year!

Our son had a wonderful week at the video game design camp. Dropped him off eager for the day in the morning and picked him up with a smile every afternoon. He made a very cool game that he was able to bring home and play with us. Would definitely do it again.

He loved it and he has complained about every other camp he’s gone to!

My daughter had a blast! Stepwise approach to learning. Her understanding of the game is much more solid after her week at chess camp. Thanks!

Thank you for a great chess camp! My kids absolutely love it and look forward to it every year!! The instructor is fun, engaging, and motivating.

Excellent instructor. Highly likely to recommend to others. Fun experience. My son loved it.

My daughter really enjoy her video game class, the coach is very nice and patient.

My 10 year old son went for the computer part of the camp and had an awesome time. He learned how to make his own video game. The instructor shared how to download the material at home so he can continue to enhance his "world". It was a fantastic week full of fun and education. Two thumbs...way UP!!

Thank you for the great camp! My son really enjoys it. Every night, he actually talked about the fun events happened during the day, which doesn’t always happen for the camps he went (he has gone many).

We expected some training on the basic strategies employed while playing the game. Instead the camp turned out to be just a practice session with no coaching. Maybe this is just our experience but I hope it is heard and the camp curriculum is improved.

My 4th grade son had a blast. He always looked forward to the coding class. Thanks for a great semester.

The chess teacher is outstanding, this is an incredible program!

The learning experience was incredible! 5 stars for that. My kids were engaged and challenged and loved it. The only part that could use improvement is the administrative side. The registration updates I requested weren't updated - even though I got an email saying they would be. Check-in was a bit chaotic. But the learning experience was TOP NOTCH.

Its good camp. My kid liked it a lot. Its very motivational and I liked tips and tricks. Whereas, there need to be some sort of motivation (provide some continuous learning channels) for kids to keep learning Chess until next summer camp.

My son truly enjoyed the camp. The only negative thing I would report is that we are still waiting for the T-shirt in his size.

Caden enjoyed the camp very much! The facility at St Stephen's & St Anne's was wonderful, and the instructors were experienced in their fields, and supportive and nurturing.

While my daughter thought the class was much too basic, she thought the teacher was “pretty cool” and enjoyed the class.

I don't want to take away from the camp at all. The camp leads were great, the camp itself seemed to be well worth it. I would have given this 5 stars, except that online signup was sub-par.

I had looked at the listings earlier in the year, and the signup site was difficult to navigate and filled with conflicting information about pricing, times, and camps. I sent an email to the support email, and highlighted my difficulties, mostly due to the conflicting information and that I wasn't sure what was true and what wasn't.

I returned maybe 2 months later, and nothing had been fixed. Everything was still super confusing. Honestly if there was any other similar camps I would have booked through them. I ended up booking the more expensive camp, even though it said it was a 1/2 day (because I assumed that it wasn't). I figured that I could always get my money back due to the website being a mess.

In addition, the website said full day camp was 8am until 2pm. It wasn't until the day before that we were notified that it was actually 9am to 4pm. As working parents, this certainly threw a wrench into things since we went out of our way to make sure we had coverage for 2.

My son went to four summer camps this year, every camp would send out notices and communications before camp (some even annoyingly so). This camp was radio silent until 24 hours before the first day.

My complaints are 100% on whoever was in charge of managing the online signup. The camp itself was excellent and well worth the trouble.

We sent my son for game platform ong which is something he is very interested in learning. He said that there was one instructor for several classes happening at the same time. I would have expected a dedicated instructor for the class we paid for him to take. Because of the amount of kids in the morning, he spent half a day in the chess class. I will ask detail questions on these items if we choose to do this again.

Teacher was great. My 6-year old grandson enjoyed the class and it taught him to focus, which he really needs. He would come home and teach me how to play. We thoroughly enjoy our games.

My son loved his minecraft and videogame arcade camp. He said it was fun and he learned different things everyday. He wants to return next year. The teachers were very nice and helpful.

Great chess program. The teacher was enthusiastic and positive. My son enjoyed the camp and gained new skills.

The chess teacher was unpleasant and it was a expensive for what was offered.

Our kindergarten son loved this chess camp! Each day he came home excited to tell us what he learned. We will definitely be signing him up again next summer!

I enrolled three of my children hoping to keep them busy and teach them chess. All three of them enjoyed it immensely, practicing what they learned every evening. At the conclusion, one of my kids exclaimed, "That camp was so awesome!" That's high praise for a chess camp.

The video game introduction camp is awesome. It takes you through the entire process of video game creating in a fun way. The best part is when you finish your game and give it cool updates. When you take breaks you play kickball with kids from chess camp. If you or your child like video games and computers,this is the camp for you.

My 3 kids attended their Chess Camp and they enjoyed it and learned so much. They felt so accomplished after the week. Chess is such a valuable strategy building game so I know it will help their thinking skills, but they had fun doing it too.

This was my then 6 year old's first introduction to chess, and he learned more than I expected. He continues to play and is looking forward to going back this summer.

It's an excellent way to learn chess and stuff computers with funny people. I enjoyed it. It's great!!!