Your last paragraph shows you’re not nuts!
I think a good bootcamp style workout would be very good for kids. I know of a private baptist high school in Everett, WA where they really work the boys. A mother told me she’s so grateful that her boys are exhausted and go to bed right after supper and sleep well all night long.
I remember my brother not being able to stay up past 11 on weekends, because of football practice, football games, maybe it was the paper route after school, or the pickup basketball games we always were into if not goofing off riding bikes to the lake. We were tired, and it was because my Father set the pace, and my Mother enforced it.
Summer vacation? More like pick the weeds out of the lawn, mow the lawn, paint the house with a brush, drive yourself on bikes to activities at the lake, or to friends. My mom NEVER gave us a ride to school. Jr High was 2 miles away, she would just tell us to take “shanks mare”. It was not out of the ordinary, our friends also walked everywhere, or rode bikes.