Tell me about school after-care - help me think this through

[Uno-Mom]

Sprog's only two but I've just started thinking about life after she starts gradeschool. Could you WOH parents please tell me about childcare options at that age? I assume the term is "aftercare" and refers to a daycare-type program, right? Or are there other options out there?

If you want to know why I ask:
dh and I love Sprog's daycare and we have no regrets about how our lives are organized right now. She's not overtired when we pick her up around 5:30. She loves her friends, she's learning lots and she's bonded with her caregivers.

However. I just started thinking about this work schedule and elementary school. If I had had to go straight from a full day of school to a 2-3 hour after-school program... I would have burnt out as a kid. I'm suddenly concerned about missing those conversations and homework time that happen right after school. I'm not sure I'll be comfortable with that situation like I am with her current daycare. I'm thinking I might want to be self-employed by the time she hits school age.

Full self-employment for me and/or dh is very possible within the next 3 years. It all depends on what goals we set and how focused we get about building our private practice.

It would help me decide if I had a better idea of after-school options for kids. I might have the wrong picture in my head. Feel free to comment on those options, or any ideas you might have about our situation.

Thanks!

[cono0507]

My DS attends after school care 1-2 days a week on my work days (i'm part time).
School ends at 3pm.
The community college runs the program and it takes place at the school. It is staffed with college kids and there is also a director on site who is a bit older. They have stations set up and the kids pretty much choose how to spend their time - play outside on the playground, structured and unstructured play in the gym (basketball, soccer, etc), arts/crafts, board games. For kids who need to get homework done (my 1st grader doesn't need to do his there), there is dedicated homework area and help if needed.

DH picks him up around 5:45p on the days I work.
Frankly, DS loves it. His best friend goes every day, so it ends up being play time with his buddies.
He also attended the same program over the summer (it is offered year round and on school breaks). He went 3 days a week. The kids brought their bikes and helmets and had lots of outside time, field trips to the zoo, mini golf, swimming, etc.
We've had a great experience with it.

[infomama]

We both WOFT and after school dd's are with family members. My advice is to not worry about it right now. She is only 2 and so much can happen in a few years. You aren't sure where you or your DH will be so unless you *have* to think years ahead I would not get caught up in planning this aspect of her life right now.
That being said there is no way I would put my dd in after school programs following a full day of school unless I *had* to.

[JustMe]

Well, as I am sure you are aware what is available depends largely on what there is local to you. However, many schools have some sort of program (usually but not always contracted out to the Y, a childcare agency, etc), in addition there are sometimes programs that pick up groups of children and bring them to another, usually recreational site. You may also be able to hire an afterschool nanny/babysitter, depending upon how much you can pay. Sometimes moms of other kids or official in-home childcares offer aftercare as well.

Another not helpful answer, is that a lot of how your kid does with this depends on who your kid is, and it can be difficult to judge that until they start elem. school. My dd was in FT childcare until Kindergarten, and then started a full school day Kinder. followed by being transported to aftercare at her former preschool, which was a high quality program.
It was awful for her. It was not the afterschool program, but that the demands of Kinder were different than preschool/childcare. She did well in the actual aftercare, but terribly at home. I eventually was able to cut my hours by 1st grade and both dcs are now in aftercare 2 days a week.

So, basically, for my kids some days are okay but everyday would not work and I could not have used how dd did with being in full time childcare/preschool to have known this (as I would not have guessed it would be problematic for her due to the stressors of being in school all day). Hope that makes sense.

If I were in your shoes, I think I would be looking into the self-employed or, at least very flexible working hours that could be coordinated with your dh. It is not really possible to know if your dd will "need", but the ability to be available to her in case would be important to me, with what I know now. More flexible work hours also allows for you to be present at special during the school day events, not to mention afterschool activities as she gets older. There are just so many perks that, if this in an option for you, I would go for it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Our school has a fantastic afterschool program. The kids in it love it. I have a friend who lost her job but opted to keep her son in afterschool 2 days/ week because they were so happy with the extras they got there (special programming, chance to hang out with friends...).

I am a SAHM and really value being home when ds1 gets home from school. There wouldn't feel like enough hours in the day otherwise once you add in activities, school events, homework, meetings, clubs...The days I pick ds1 up after school at 5 from a club, it just feels like go-time for the rest of the day (dinner, homework, bedtime).

Whatever you need to do will work out though. :)

[AnnieW625]

I started researching elementary school and after school programs for Elisa when she was about Sprog's age. DH thought I was crazy, and in a sense he was right because we ended up choosing the Catholic school DH said we would send her too when she was Sprog's age.

Elisa goes to after school almost every day, the only exceptions so far have been one play date on a half day of school (the first Friday of the month), and when she has Daisy Scout meetings she will only spend about 45 minutes there. She starts school at 7:50 am and school ends at 2:45. I have to have her picked up by 5:30, but most nights I get there between 4:45 and 5:15.

It is the same 8-5 schedule that we followed when she was in full time daycare. It may not work for some families, but it is necessary for us at this time in our lives. I don't feel like I lose a lot of time with my daughters even though I spend less than 4 hours a day with them. We make up for that on the weekends, holidays, and days off from school.

If I had my way I would work part time, probably 3 days a week, but unfortunately it is not an option right now.

[lalasmama]

You know what area/neighborhood I'm in, I think.

Our school has an aftercare program. It's ran by the same 3 women every day, is well scheduled, and DD's friends go there too. We're a "no homework" school, but they still do a quiet homework time (usually reading time for 30 minutes).

Their schedule is something like:
"Recess"
Snack
Quiet Homework time
"Recess"
Self-directed play until parent pick up

During the self-directed play, they have TONS of craft things, TONS of books, 2 computers, tumbling mats, a puppet theater, white boards with markers, and half of a gym for more "wild" endeavors (usually, paper airplanes lately). It's always a controlled chaos, which is good for DD, because there's not much running once we get home!

They try to open for summer too. Last year, it only lasted 3 weeks :( But they went to the splash pad daily (even in the rain, hee hee hee, which was also one of my favorite memories from my aftercare program during the summer), they spent tons of time in the park, and still also did reading, computer time, etc. DD REALLY loved it.

Even if I could manage to be home after school for her everyday, I would still sign her up for this aftercare program, because she has so much fun, gets "playdate" time with friends, and gets a HUGE area to run and play (which doesn't happen at our house, where we don't have a yard).

[jse107]

Haven't fully read all the PP, however we LOVE our before/after care program. They just do an amazing job and O usually begs me to let him stay longer when I pick him up. They also do summer camps which have a great reputation. If your DD is going FT now, she'll have no trouble (or anymore than other kids her age) making it through the day.

[bnme]

My kids (2nd and 3rd grade) go to before and after care. It is a difficult schedule but more for me then for them. I was a SAHM until Aug '11 so this is their first year. The first place we tried did not work for us, so I will say alot has to do with the place. The people are very warm and caring. They mostly open play but are very well supervised (small group in one room). They have board games, computers, crafts, and TV. They have snack and do home work in after care. They are very good with the homework help and know how to work with kids (my younger DS was reallly having a hard time in the first place because of the teachers 'style' of helping with homework).

My kids arrive at 7:30ish, get on the bus about 8:40 for a 9am school start. School ends at 3, they arrive at aftercare arounf 3:20 and are picked up by DH at 4:40. I work until 5 and could not get there until 5:30. I think the 4:30 pickup makes a huge difference, but again, it would probably effect me more then them.

It is amazing how you make things work. I think it has turned out really positive for us. We've always had a lot of struggles with DS2 and homework and I think he is doing better then ever due to doing it in a peer environment with a teacher as the homework helper (though it was a disaster at the first place, where the woman in charge was over-correcting everything he did and basically barking orders to finish it at him...). They have friends that they see everyday socially, which is even difficult to do as a SAHM on school days.

[Simon]

I don't think you're crazy at all. Ds1 is not currently in aftercare, but we looked into them for after K care and I had planned to go with an in-home provider who did pick-up at the school.

My concerns:
School ends at 1:30 on Mondays, meaning he'd have 4 hours in aftercare, and that is a loooong time. Other days were close to 3 hours.

The staffing ratio for these programs is really high/very different from day care and I was concerned about having my Kinder student in with lots of older/bigger kids with little close supervision.

Around here, each school is contracted with a specific company to do after care and you don't get a choice. I was not impressed with our local program but its a take-it or leave-it thing. The staff were not exactly dedicated, long-term specialists with any expertise in child development, iykwim.

[Uno-Mom]

Thanks for all your replies. You're providing exactly the type of input I needed. It's lovely to hear about your positive experiences with after school care. I had been flashing back to this dreary babysitting set-up that my parents made me do in 4th grade, briefly, before I rebelled. (It depended on me being willing to walk there with some other kids after school and I just stopped cooperating. Yep, I was THAT kind of kid.)

I tend to be an obsessive over-planner, but in this case the planning ahead has to do with developing our private practice home business into a full-time concern, which does take a few year's preparation. I feel so lucky to have options because I know that most people don't!

[sadie427]

Just echoing what others have said, it's not just about the aftercare. It's just so much easier with some flexibility: to volunteer in the classroom, go on field trips (especially when it's a "carpool to the museum downtown" field trip and you may not be comfortable having others drive your child), go to afterschool classes, deal with a snow day if that's an issue where you live, etc. We did do the aftercare for a while (DH works from home so didn't need it strictly speaking) and quite liked it, it was well-run and he enjoyed it, but really like the flexibility of having a part-time work-at-home parent. It's also good to think about this in advance, as some of the aftercares have waiting lists.

[elephantmeg]

I've considered after care (at school) for DS and may look at it again for next year or the year after depending on how my schedule works out then. But for now I'm working night shift so I can be home when he gets off the bus. I have really enjoyed the 1:1 time with him (really the first since he was 2 and DD was born!) after school/before DD gets home from daycare. He can process the day, we work on reading, talk about issues etc and that has really helped him. DD is a little overwhelming to an introvert (DS and me) after a long day.

[AnnieW625]

Their schedule is something like:
"Recess"
Snack
Quiet Homework time
"Recess"
Self-directed play until parent pick up

During the self-directed play, they have TONS of craft things, TONS of books, 2 computers, tumbling mats, a puppet theater, white boards with markers, and half of a gym for more "wild" endeavors (usually, paper airplanes lately). It's always a controlled chaos, which is good for DD, because there's not much running once we get home!
.........
Even if I could manage to be home after school for her everyday, I would still sign her up for this aftercare program, because she has so much fun, gets "playdate" time with friends, and gets a HUGE area to run and play (which doesn't happen at our house, where we don't have a yard).

This is very similar at Elisa's after school care. They get recess right when they get there, and some kids stay outside for most of the time they are at after school care. The kids like to bring microwave popcorn for snack. They get to draw names or something to determine when they get to have it; it seems a little unconventional, but it works for them.

[niccig]

DS is in aftercare 2 or 3 days a week because I'm in school. This semester I only need one afternoon, but we have a 2 day minimum with out aftercare. I'm taking 16 credits, so I will probably need the extra day.

DS will complain on the days he has to go, but when I pick him up, he tells me it's too early and he hasn't finished playing yet. What I like:

* homework. DS gets all his homework on a Monday and he finishes it in aftercare - he doesn't get much, so he can finish it. I still go over it with him, but I know he did much more easily at aftercare as everyone is sitting down to do their homework.

* plays with older kids. DS is grade 1 and he'll play with kids up to about grade 3. He knows older kids, I've seen 5th graders saying goodbye to him. I know this freaks some parents out, but we haven't run into any issues with DS playing with older kids. Our school is small and has a very good sense of community, and I like that he knows older kids.

* much better at playing board games, any games with rules - older kids won't tolerate "do-overs" or changing the rules.

A con. of aftercare is organising after school activities like sports practices. DS is signing up for Little League, and I'm crossing my fingers our assigned practice is on one of the days I can pick him up when school is finished. Otherwise, I need to see if we can swap to another team, or get a babysitter to take him to practice. A lot of afterschool activities for this age group is from 3.30 to 6.30pm.

I don't like how rushed we are on afterschool days. We got home at about 5.45, so it is a rush to do things at home, thankfully we have very little homework or DS did it at aftercare. I still need to get better at spending this time in the afternoon.

ETA. One reason I choose this career to retrain for was the possibility of part-time, flexible work. At the moment, there is enough of a demand, and many positions are not full-time staff. I have to work full-time for first year to get licensing (or part-time and take 2 yrs to get enough time), but then I could see myself working 3-4 days a week, or a job that starts early and finishes early. There's after school activities to arrange transport for, and also volunteering in his classroom some days. As kids get older, there is less in school volunteering, friends with a middle schooler say they don't do much in class time, but that's an age when I want to be picking him up from school etc. Our school does have after care through middle school, so we could be good until then. I may not work a full-time staff job until DS is in college, as long as DH has the benefits, we can manage that.

[Gena]

Last year, DS attended aftercare at all cal daycare center. The daycare had a bus and picked him up at school. Their program was semi-structured. It was very convenient for me because the program provided full-day care for no school days such as snow days, in-service days, holiday breaks, etc. They also had a summer program.

At the start of this school year, the daycare staff decided they could not accommodate DS's special needs anymore (complicated story). So now DS attends the aftercare program at his elementary school. DS likes the program. The kids play on the playground or in the gym every day. The childcare staff is willing to work with DS's special needs and his special ed teachers are able to help them develop strategies. DS seems to benefit from being in an environment with all school-age kids, rather than the daycare setting that included preschoolers. However, the school aftercare does not cover no school days or snow days. So DH and I are using all our vacation days for DS's days off. I don't know yet what wea are going to do for the summer.

[Uno-Mom]

At the start of this school year, the daycare staff decided they could not accommodate DS's special needs anymore (complicated story). So now DS attends the aftercare program at his elementary school. DS likes the program. The kids play on the playground or in the gym every day. The childcare staff is willing to work with DS's special needs and his special ed teachers are able to help them develop strategies. DS seems to benefit from being in an environment with all school-age kids, rather than the daycare setting that included preschoolers. However, the school aftercare does not cover no school days or snow days. So DH and I are using all our vacation days for DS's days off. I don't know yet what wea are going to do for the summer.
I remember your post about that whole situation and it's so nice to hear a positive update!
I'm glad he found a place to feel comfortable and thrive. I hope you come across a great summer option soon.