WOHP: Talk to me about your after-school care provider!

[smiles33]

I realize DD1 won't start kindergarten until September, but I'm starting to worry now about whether I should shift my work schedule to part-time as I'm not very happy with the idea of putting her in the on-site after-care program (250 kids, K-5th, all in one multipurpose room for 4 hours!).

When I was a kid, we had a number of situations over the years: my grandmothers took turns living with our family for a year at a time; I walked to a home-based daycare center 2 blocks from my elementary school; my mom hired a grandmother to walk us home from school, supervise homework, and cook dinner; and then by 5th grade I think we were just latch-key kids.

WOHP: how are your school-aged kids cared for after school?

Poll coming!


ACK: I forgot to add the poll. Sorry.

[LD92599]

My ds goes to after care, approx 50 kids, k-5, all in one room. I am planning on hiring a sitter to get him 3 days per week after winter break and ten after care for the other 2 to keep our spot.

[jillc]

A friend of mine who has kids the same ages as my kids picks up my kids along with hers after school. She then takes them to her house to play and have a snack until DH or I come to pick them up. I am so thankful that I have her.

[lalasmama]

DD goes to the after-care program through the school. 25 kids right after school, down to about 10 kids by the time I get there (at 5:30). She loves it! They do an hour to 90 minutes of large-motor activities--balls, jump rope, jungle gym, just playing on the playground stuff--and then inside for quieter activities like homework, computers, and crafts. Two snacks are given as well.

[daniele_ut]

DD goes to the after-care program through the school. 25 kids right after school, down to about 10 kids by the time I get there (at 5:30). She loves it! They do an hour to 90 minutes of large-motor activities--balls, jump rope, jungle gym, just playing on the playground stuff--and then inside for quieter activities like homework, computers, and crafts. Two snacks are given as well.

This sounds similar to the after care at DS's private school. They spend at least the first hour outside, unless it's below 32 degrees or actively raining. If the weather is bad they play in the gym during that time. We only use aftercare a couple of days a week for an hour or so.

[jse107]

DS goes to after-care onsite. There are about 100 kids I would guess. K-5, mostly all in the APR. K starts off in a smaller room, mostly during the time the other kids are doing homework. Ours is a really well-run program and it's one of DS's favorite parts of the day. He loves the activities and he loves getting to know all the other kids.

[bubbaray]

Offsite aftercare, they bus. K - 7 officially, though I don't think there are any 7's there currently. IIRC, there are about 40 kids, not sure of the exact numbers. Current room set up is K-1, 2-3 and 4+. VERY happy with the program. Highly sought after, long wait list.

[Cam&Clay]

DS1 goes home alone now for about an hour before I get home, but in years prior he walked to a woman's house about a block from school until I could pick him up. He loved it there. Our school is one of the few in our county that does not have an aftercare.

[JustMe]

I did go to part-time mid-way through Kindergarten. Despite having been in full-day childcare since she was a baby, dd did awful going to a whole day of Kindergarten followed by an afterschool program (and she actually did fine in the afterschool program which was based in her preschool...its home and school that suffered). She still needs 2 days of afterschool care, as this is the best I could do with my schedule and b/c 30 hrs was the least I could get away with working. Last year she went to an in-home afterschool childcare that was close to the school (the afterschool program in the preschool only takes full-time afterschool kids so that was no longer an option). However, the in-home childcare was never able to get more afterschool kids there so they were pretty much all babies and toddlers and dd was bored.

This year she gets picked up by a mom whose child goes to the school and whom I pay. It seems to work the best for dd. Its okay for me. The stressful things about it are that I feel the need to chit-chat with the mom (who is very nice) when I pick dd up, when I really want to get home and get started on the nighttime routine, that I worry the mom or her child will be sick and I really dont have a back-up plan, that it doesnt include "no school" days (and we have a lot of them)..so I am always figuring out what to do. The school does have an afterschool program but it is not good (not true of all of them, but true of ours).

[wimama]

DD goes to the after-care program through the school. 25 kids right after school, down to about 10 kids by the time I get there (at 5:30). She loves it! They do an hour to 90 minutes of large-motor activities--balls, jump rope, jungle gym, just playing on the playground stuff--and then inside for quieter activities like homework, computers, and crafts. Two snacks are given as well.

This is similar to our set up.

OP - 250 kids really? Wow that sounds like a lot.

DS goes to a private school and he goes to their after-school care. I would guess that he has anywhere from 20-40 kids on any day right after school gets out. But, by the time we typically pick up there are usually 5 or less kids and DS is either happily playing with one or two other kids or playing with one the after school caregivers. All the kids love the one caregiver, he is a grandfatherly type and plays games with them pretty much everyday. Every time we try to play a game with him now he says "I play that in after-school care" The kids all drop off their bags and stuff and head outside for another hour of free recess time then come in and do homework and play. They have a bumper crop of K4 kids in after-school care so a bunch of DS's friends are there and he has a blast.

Our after-school care was part of the reason we chose DS's school.

[smiles33]

Thanks, everyone. I know my jaw dropped when I heard 150-250 kids are there every day. 250 are enrolled, so that's the absolute maximum, but it's a scary number nonetheless. They have a 15:1 student/teacher ratio, but cramming that many kids into a multipurpose room with such a wide range of ages makes me very uncomfortable.

They only have a 1/2 day kindergarten at this school, so 8-11:20 she's in kindergarten, 11:20-2 she's in a small after-care of just the kindergarten kids, and then all the older kids come in from 2-6:20 (but I'd pick her up earlier since I never work that late).

I am fine with the 11:20-2 time period but I'm debating whether I want to arrange to pick her up at 2 pm. FWIW, this is our local public school, which has a beautiful campus (less than 10 years old), is a 5 minute drive/20 minute walk from us, and has a pretty good reputation. We're not 100% sure DD1 will be going there, but I figure it's too early to really be neurotic and ask to meet with the principal and tour the kindergarten rooms, but I'd like to do that later in the spring/summer. Our other options would be private schools.

[egoldber]

My older DD is currently in before care at her school and then takes a school bus to after care where my younger DD is in all day care. So I inly have one pick up, which I love! It is a large facility with a pool, dance studio, and the after care program is very popular. Every day they offer homework help, crafts, games, etc. Honestly, the program is almost too large for us and it is very loud. But one day a week she has piano lessons, another day she was free swim and a third day she does swim team. The other 2 days I pick her up about half an hour after she arrives, so it works out well for us.

Last year she was in the after program at her elementary school. It was OK and teachers there were nice, but her current program is much better IMO.

Being enrolled in 2 places (before care in one place and after care another) means I have coverage in at least one place for her on teacher work days and snow days, which relieves a lot of my stress.

[Gena]

DS goes to aftercare at a small childcare center offsite. He's been going for about 6 weeks and is doing very well there. (DH had been unemployed for about a year and a half and was a SAHD during that time.)

We considered the school's on-site program, but the set up wasn't good for DS: too many kids and not enough structure. Also the school program doesn't cover days when there's no school, such as snow days, inservice days, and holiday breaks.

We spent a lot of time looking at off-site programs. The one I really liked (at the Y) turned out to not transport from DS's school. A couple of the others had too many kids, or a the classroom set up was bad for DS (one put him in sensory overload during the visit), or the staff seemed reluctant to take DS because of his special needs.

The center we went with is more expensive than others in the area, but to us it is worth it. There are fewer kids in the after school program (12), the staff has very good credentials, and they have experience with kids who have high-functioning autism. It's a very supporting environment for him. We have been very happy with this center and DS enjoys going.

[ncat]

DD is bussed to her after school program. It is the same place she went to preschool and DS is there full day.
I think there are about 30-40 kids K-5 in the same room. They play inside/outside, do homework, and other activities like cooking. Everyone knows her there. When she started last year, some of the big kids helped make sure she got on the correct bus, etc. - we were so thankful to have someone looking out for her! We are generally pretty happy with it.

[smiles33]

DD is bussed to her after school program. It is the same place she went to preschool and DS is there full day.
I think there are about 30-40 kids K-5 in the same room. They play inside/outside, do homework, and other activities like cooking. Everyone knows her there. When she started last year, some of the big kids helped make sure she got on the correct bus, etc. - we were so thankful to have someone looking out for her! We are generally pretty happy with it.

This would be ideal if DD1's current preschool offered this option as we really like them. Sigh.

[carolinamama]

Our local elementary school has aftercare through the YMCA - not sure if we will be using that next year or how I will work out my work schedule when DS1 starts kindy since we will hopefully have a new baby in the mix and DS2 will stay at their current preschool. Friends who use it are very happy with it. I also know that many local child care centers offer before and after care for elementary aged kids where they bus them to and from their schools. That may be something to look into since I'm sure the programs have fewer kids.