Considerations re: aftercare programs?

[tmarie]

I'm considering/and still interviewing for some WOTH jobs, at full time schedules. These jobs would require my kids to be at school longer than they presently are--since they were born I worked from home PT. I'm most concerned about my soon to be 5yo, who will be entering the public K. We are in a fabulous school district in a small town. The K program is great and will take her from 9-3:30 (am kindergarten and then goes to a different classroom for the afternoon, where it is a program that complements the K curriculum). But if I take one of these jobs she will then need to go in the before and aftercare as well. The before and aftercare program offered at the school didn't impress me, but I guess it would be tolerable. She'd be going to her third classroom for the day!? The other options are hire a sitter/nanny to be home when she gets off the bus (but I worry about the reliability of this person and the hassles that could entail), OR she could take a bus to the Boys & Girls Club (going to tour there tomorrow). I feel awful thinking what a long day this would be for her. Basically, I expect her to get dropped off between 8:00 and 8:30, picked up between 5:30 and 6:00. Is this too long for a 5yo? Or is this normal? Any thoughts on what I should consider when evaluating the before and after school programs? Questions to ask? Experiences? Things you would do the same or do differently?

TIA!

tmarie

[egoldber]

IMO, unless the quality of the program is poor, I think it is preferable and less stressful for them to stay at the school based before and after care than it is to go to a different program. Whether or not you prefer a sitter, is up to you. But *I* find it much less stressful to know that she is at school and stays at school and I don't have to worry about a sitter being late, cancelling, etc. The school based care also gives us coverage for teacher work days, which is a consideration. We had her going to a different program after school for awhile but she found that very stressful, to have to hurry and get her things together and then rush to the after care bus. Whereas walkign down the hall to after care at school is not stressful at all.

FWIW, my older DD's favorite parts of the school day are before and after care. She gets to freely visit and socialize with the other kids, which is generally NOT allowed during the school day.

[khalloc]

My kids have always been at a daycare/preschool from 7:30am - 5pm. I dont think its too long for them. Of course I wish I got out of work earlier, but it is what it is. And I dont think its out of the ordinary for working parents.

[tmarie]

FWIW, my older DD's favorite parts of the school day are before and after care. She gets to freely visit and socialize with the other kids, which is generally NOT allowed during the school day.

LOL. That is such a good point! :) Dd is a social butterfly once she is comfortable with new friends, so hopefully this will be the case for her as well! Thanks so much for sharing your perspective!

tmarie

[JustMe]

I would try to observe the before and after school onsite program if possible. While I agree there are lots of positives to this, the program at my daughter's school is awful..not much supervision, lots of chaos...my daughter would be a mess. Instead she goes to a nearby in-home daycare.

[crl]

My son goes to after school care briefly at his former preschool. I agree that if the after care at the school is good, I would use that. It generally makes things simpler. (We stuck with his old preschool because it was alreadly familiar to him and it is closer for me to pick him up than his school is.)

I would try to find out how good they are at supervising homework. One of my main goals in sending DS to aftercare is for homework. And they aren't quite as on top of that as I would like. Sometimes they let him chose other activities and we end up with a bunch left to do at home. And often they don't really check his homework very well and I end up having to help him fix it (he rushes and gets things wrong a lot.) I wish they were better at this. And if you will be working a full day I think this piece could be really important to you. I would ask the program staff and I would also try to ask some parents about it.

Catherine

[Laurel]

I don't work currently and my DD begs me to get a job so she can go to her school's aftercare and hang out with her friends! I'd stick with the program at the school, less hassle, less moving around.

I have not been impressed with the staff at the B & G club here when I have worked with them (I teach). The program is huge, and they take drop-ins so it is really inconsistent with the number of kids on any given day. I think B & G is better for older kids, YMMV.

[LD92599]

One of the positives of before/after care like Beth mentioned is that there's optional coverage for days off, 1/2 days, etc.

We're trying to get DS to work on his homework in after care but the parent guide clearly states that they will give the kids space and time to work on their homework but will not actually HELP the kids w/ the homework; I think once DS is able to full read his homework, it'll get better.

He has alot of fun in aftercare, but there's definitely days he yearns to be picked up when the bell rings and I do that when I can; i can tell he really looks forward to days I can swing that.

[lalasmama]

For kindy, I picked nanny-share to start. When we moved away from our nanny, we found a SAHM with a DD a year ahead of La. (La tends to behave "up" when with older kids, and behave "down" if with younger kids, so the barely-older kid was a must-have for me.)

My reasons: (1) A 10+ hour "school day" is awfully long when you are 5/6. She would have before care, which was a social time, then kindy, then kinder-day, which was literacy based learning, then after school care, where they did more literacy based learning. That's a LOT to digest for such a little brain! (2) Before and after care started 10 minutes before I had to be to work, and ended 20 minutes before I got out of work. (3) Nannyshare was cheaper than b&a-care at the school, and didn't charge me an extra $35/day for teacher inservice days. (4) La would have supervised small group interactions in the nanny-share, which is something she needed great help in. She will get lost in the crowd easily, and just "flit" around. Nanny encouraged one-on-one and small group interactions where La could work on socialization skills. (5) Homework help! La was "worthless" for homework by the time I got home. She's better at 3:30 or 4pm for homework, but at school, this was still "learning time".

FWIW, the fall, she will be in afterschool care (before care isn't an option at our school now, and aftercare starts in 1st grade). She'll actually start it this summer.... They do half day classes, including breakfast and lunch, for $40 for a month for summer. It shaves off a few hundred dollars from my daycare bill, and keeps La in a routine of going to "school". She's attached to her routines! For the school year, its $20 per trimester, and the classes change each time, so she gets a variety of choices :) I have fun just thinking of the classes she will get to take!

[erosenst]

DD is in K, and gets on the bus at 7:40. School starts at 8:05, and ends at 2:35. After that, she is in after-care at the school until somewhere between 5 and 6p. And she generally loves it.

As PP's have mentioned, having coverage for 1/2 days and breaks is HUGE. Our school also has drop-in care for the inevitable two hour delays. (The custom here is to delay for two hours if it's cold, snowy, icy.) The program looks chaotic at times, but I actually like some of it. There's usually a group in the gym playing loosely organized games, which allows the kids to run around, burn off energy, but still create their own games, social rules, etc. There are 'counselors' in there to make sure it doesn't get TOTALLY out of hand.

They have a wide variety of other choices for the kids to do. All kids get recess, have snack, and have homework time (very short for K, longer as they get older). Since DD is an only, and very social, it's actually been great for her.

Having said all of that, it was an easier transition because she was used to full day day care. If your DD isn't used to that, she may find that, plus K, to be tiring at first...but you'll all adapt.