Thank you for registering for Belle Vie Farm's Teacher Workday Camp. You should have received an emailed confirmation of your registration. If you did not, click here to request one. Below you will find our Family Information Letter which is emailed to all registered families one week prior to your camp day.

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Thank you for choosing Belle Vie Farm!

Where to Drop Off
Campers will drop off and pick at Belle Vie Farm. BVF’s address is 3000 Damascus Church Road. If you will be later than 8:15am dropping off, please text Shelley at 919-360-3280 to find out where to drop your child off.

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Belle Vie Farm is located at 3000 Damascus Church Road in Chapel Hill. Google Maps does not often display our location accurately. If you are coming from Smith Level Road, we are the third driveway on the right, and our driveway is a gravel farm road. If you are coming from the Meachum Road direction (south coming north), you will notice a small white windmill tower on the left right before you arrive at the farm. We will be the next driveway on the left with the large wooden barn.

Campers can be dropped off at 8am and pick-up is at 3:30pm unless you registered for extended day. Extended day allows students to stay until 5:30pm.
 

What To Wear
Our dress code requires close-toed shoes (Keens, for example). Boots are best. Please don’t send your child to camp in flip-flops or any other kind of sandal. You should definitely provide your camper with sunscreen and bug spray if the weather will be warm. Make sure to apply sunscreen and bug spray before drop-off in the morning. For rainy days, rain gear is required (ideally, rain pants, rain jacket and rain boots).
 

What To Bring
Campers should bring a main lunch and at least two snacks. If your child is staying for extended care, please pack a second meal. Snacks should be substantial (granola bar, fruit mix, yogurt, etc). Make sure to put a freezer pack in your child’s lunch to keep contents cool. Please mark your child’s name clearly on his/her lunch box. Campers should also bring a water bottle clearly marked with their name and completely filled with cold water. We have lots of places to refill water bottles as needed. Please keep in mind that your child will be very active throughout the day. Packing more food than you think might be needed is ideal!
 

Sickness Policy
If, within the 24-hour period prior to camp, your child has a temperature of 100.4 degrees or greater, is vomiting, or has diarrhea, please keep them home! If any symptoms develop during the camp day, we will contact you right away to pick up your child. We ask that parents keep in mind that one sick child can get lots of children sick quite easily.
 

Communication
Either Shelley (farm owner and director) or Hailyn (or both) and other staff will be teaching Teacher Workday Camps. Shelley can be reached at all times at 919-360-3280. We have noticed that when we are down in the back forest area, we can receive text messages, but not phone calls. They just don’t come through. If you are calling and don’t reach Shelley, send a text instead. If you plan to pick up early, you must let Shelley know at the start of the day. Planning the day is more effective when we have all the information.
 

Quick recap on what to bring each day in a tote bag or backpack (no plastic grocery bags or shopping bags)
-Full water bottle
-Bug spray/sunscreen applied plus both in bag for later re-application
- Hearty Lunch
-At least 2 hearty snacks
-Proper clothing for the day’s weather – please check the forecast and plan accordingly!
-A change of clothes (including socks, underwear, etc)
-Boots are best
-Rain gear if applicable

A Word About Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance and Relationships
We want to share a bit about how we handle relationships between the campers. For Belle Vie, this is not a side issue, but a crucial part of every program we offer. Research shows that children (and adults – looking at you, Elon Musk!) who struggle to regulate their emotions, tolerate distress, cooperate and collaborate with others never reach their true academic or career success. We have probably all worked with that one person who is just difficult. Our goal at Belle Vie is to create a safe space – both physically and emotionally.

 

Below are some of the tools we use to do that:
-We never require children to share. Once a child has an item, he/she can use it until done. If another child wants it, we teach the whole group at the start to say “When you are done, could I have that?” The child using the item must say yes unless the item has already been promised to another child.
-We do not require children to say, “I’m sorry!” We have al

l been the recipient of the hollow apology. Not fun or effective. Instead, at Belle Vie, we teach children about relationship repair. We encourage the child who has been wronged to speak up to the child who made the mistake (“I did not like that. Don’t do that again!”). At that point, the child who made the mistake can offer a “bridge” of sorts – “I won’t do that again” or “Can I help you fix what I messed up?”

-We are very matter-of-fact about whining or seeking for an answer other than no (which sometimes must be said and heard). We authentically acknowledge a child’s disappointment/anger/sadness, but we do not allow the entire group to get hijacked because of a child’s response to “no”. We never shame, judge or demand a child to stop crying. We have no idea how long a child needs to cry until he/she feels finished, so we allow their emotion as long as they need it. Periodically, we will do a quick check-in but won’t interrupt or try to get them to stop. We believe trying to make someone stop feeling something or expressing something is manipulative, and we do not do it. At times, we might say, “It is okay for you to cry, but if you also need to scream, I need you to move a bit away from the group, so the other children do not feel overwhelmed.”

-We do not allow bullying of any type (overt or covert). We let children know they are competent to make great choices that reflect respect for others. We also let children know one of our most important rules is that no means no. No child needs to say “No” twice. Other children must listen immediately and stop the offending action. Of course, if the problem is bigger than any child can handle, we let them know that we want them to come to us for help. We are also vigilant about observing the children’s relationships to ensure there is never a power imbalance (age or size) that could create a silent victim.