Kindy Hours

[arivecchi]

I was kind of shocked to learn that kindy in my new school district is only from 9-11:30 or 1:00-3:30. DS1's half-day preschool hours were slightly longer than that!

What are your kindy hours like?

[TwinFoxes]

Wow! That is very short. We have full day here, I don't know the hours though. But the hours you posted are even shorter than when I was a kid and full day K didn't exist. Those hours are also shorter than DDs' preschool will be this fall.

[ErinMC]

Wow, that is short! We have full-day here, too. So K is 8:40 am - 3:05 pm. My DS's were exhausted the first month or 2 of K, but they had rest/nap time for the first few months until the kids were used to the longer days.

[egoldber]

I don't think that is unusual for half day K. Maybe a little shorter than usual.

We now have full day in all schools in our district, but that was new last year. When I was looking at some of the schools with half day most of them did have shorter hours than most preschool programs. Every school has slightly different hours because buses are shared between ES, MS and HS and they stagger hours to make it work.

[athompson]

Our hours are 8:15-10:45. I was shocked when I moved from the city to the suburbs and learned this.

[smiles33]

DD1 had 1/2 day kindergarten last year and it ran 8:05-11:20.

[Philly Mom]

We have half day too, but most people I know either go to private kindy or pay for the after school program which provides the second half of a kindy day.

[arivecchi]

We are doing after-care, so that helps, but it still seems insanely short to me as a FT working mom. I guess there are plans to change it to full day. Hopefully, that will be the case by the time DS2 has to attend.

[nfowife]

We have full day k but the pre-k at the public school was 8:20-11 or
12:40-3:20. And the schools here that had half day kinder followed the same schedule- but all local schools have full day k this year.

[joonbug]

9-11.30 here (NJ) as well. Which is even stranger because DD will go to preschool ft 9-2.45 for 2 years and then half day K (both programs are public schools, pre-k being special ed). We ll probably want to do private K in the pm as I want to start school :).

[ha98ed14]

I'm in the same boat you are. We have "early birds" (8 to 11) and "late birds" (11 to 2). The regular elem school day is 8 to 2. DD is an early bird, which means I have to pay for "extra" daycare from 11 to 2 in addition to the after school care, but it's only for a year. It's gonna cost me $500 month for after school care; I'd be curious to know what others are paying for after school K care.

[arivecchi]

Our after care program is $475 a month for 5 days a week from 11:30-6. It includes a snack but I have to send in lunch.

[crl]

Full day here, 8:40 to 2:40.

Catherine

[LBW]

That's about what our hours are, too. My kids take the bus, so the travel time extends the day a little bit, but it was still extremely short.

My middle son was in kindy last year, and the short day was a rough transition for him. He had been used to a longer preschool day. He was very frustrated at how little they were able to do each day in school.

We won't have full day K here for a while b/c the seniors in town turn out in droves whenever there's a local election. They vote down any changes to the school budget that would increase their taxes. This is understandable, I guess, b/c taxes are so insanely high already. But, I just don't understand why 1/2 day K is even an option these days. It's a waste of time IMO.

ETA: It's $382-$593/month to extend the day through the town. The lowest price is to add morning K hours to a child enrolled in afternoon K and the highest price is to extend morning or afternoon K to full day and add before + after care. The ridiculous thing, to me, is that in order to use the extended day services, your child has to be bussed to/from their school to another facility. Then, if you child normally takes a bus to school, you have to either drop off or pick up at this facility. They can only be bussed to/from school to/from home. So, the inconvenience factor is high as is the fact that the child's day is severely disrupted by traveling to/from this site. Needless to say, I didn't choose this option with my middle child and am looking into private full day K for my youngest.

[khalloc]

Kindergarten here is full-day. School started about 8:15 and ended at 2:35.

[mom2binsd]

We are full day but there is the option to do a half day, and the hours would be 8:45 to 11:30.

[lhafer]

Full day here: 8-1:50pm for Kindy. Then from 1st grade on it's 8-3:20pm

[KDsMommy]

Full day here, and the hours are the same for all elementary school kids including Kindy...8:00am - 2:00 pm. Aftercare from 2-6 is $163 a month.

[alexsmommy]

When we were half-day it was 8-11 or 12-3. It's now full day 8-3.

[kerridean]

KD in San Antonio was from 7:45-2:45. We LOVED it!

[wellyes]

Ours is 2.5 hours for free, or "full day" for an extra $3500/year -- if you win the drawing to get full day. Then, many parents pay for aftercare to extend the day.

[KpbS]

8 am - 3 pm. Half day Kindy is very hard to find here--only 3 schools (privates) offer it and it is from 8-12. I'm a fan of full-day K myself.

[elektra]

I wish ours was full day too. There is an early bird and late bird session but each is ~3.5 hours. DD will go 8-11:23.

[icunurse]

Our K classes are 2 1/2 hours long for both am and pm classes without an option for full-day. We send our kids to private preschool and K because of the smaller classes and longer days. DD will be attending from 8:30-2:30.

[ett]

Our K is half day from 8:35-11:05. It is less hours than our preschool. There is optional full day for a fee so DS2 is doing that for 3 days. That goes until 2:35.

[cono0507]

When DS had half day it was 12:25p-2:50p
DD is going to be in full day 8:10a-2:50p.

[lablover]

Ours is 7:50-10:50 or 11:35-2:35.

[malphy]

Dd's kindy is 8:15-11:30.

[pinkmomagain]

Wow. That is short! We have full day kindy here.

[AnnieW625]

Our school district has a variety of start times, and most kindergarten classes are only 3 hrs. long, including the school DD1 would have gone to, which was 9 to 1:15, including a 45 minute lunch, so figure 3 hrs. of instruction time. There is one charter school that I know of that has 9 to 3 kindergarten. At our home school I would have paid close to $175 a week (about $6300 a yr) for before/afterschool care so we opted for the cheaper Catholic school tuition and aftercare which was $525 per month ($4725).

DD1's kinder. class was the second year of all day kindergarten, and honestly I think if the kinder. teacher had her way it would still be split day kindergarten, but she is just thankful she has a full time aide, as well as release time where the kids do music, computers, and PE and do at least one of those activities once a day so she never had all 32 kids at the same time.

At DD1's school it was 8 am to 2:30 last year, and will be 8 am to 2:45 this year.

[ahisma]

This will be the first year of full day K here. It's 8:15 - 3:25. Lunch is at 11:27.

Last year the half day ran from 12:18 - 3:25.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

When my older DS (3rd grade this year) was in K, they had 1/2 day. It was 8-12. The next year they went to full day. My younger son will be in K next year. 8:25 to 2:30, so an extra 2 hours 5 min.

For afterschool care, we pay $515/month for the afternoon - 2:30 - 6. This includes no inservice days. We can pay $680 and it will cover inservice and holiday breaks. We used to do this, but this year we already have vacation plans for fall break and spring break the entire week, so it seems like paying per day will be better for that.

When they had 1/2 day K, the cost for the 1/2 day K kids was more than the others.

[brittone2]

We HS so I had to look it up.

AM Kdg: 8:30 to 11:15 a.m. PM Kdg: 12:15 to 3:00 p.m.

[bisous]

Wow. What an incredible range! DS is attending Kindy and will go from 8 to 1 or from 9 to 2 depending on his placement. The do early birds and late birds grouped by ability.

[elliput]

Kindergarten is full day- 9:00-4:10.

[MamaMolly]

Full day k so 8:00 -2:45.

[noodle]

We have half-day that's two and a half hours. Our school starts so early that "afternoon" kindergarten starts well before noon.

We do have a popular extended-day (tuition-based) program that's both good and a good deal, but it usually has a long wait list.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

KD in San Antonio was from 7:45-2:45. We LOVED it!

i guess this is the standard for TX public schools? No BTDT yet but I just checked and in our school district (Dallas area) kindergarten is full day, 7:50-2:50. I am so glad bc I plan to be working FT by then, and i will only have to pay for aftercare for DS for a few hrs. Not only that, but the year after when DS is in 1st grade and DD is in kindergarten the pickup/dropoff time will be about the same.

No BTDT but 9-11:30 seems incredibly short, even for a half-day. THat is shorter than all the pre-school programs around here, even Mom's Day Out programs for 2yos (which are typically 9-1pm, or even later).

[m4nash]

Full day here, 9:25-3:55.

[wellyes]

Kindergarten is full day- 9:00-4:10.
Our elementary school goes to 3, and I thought that was unusually late. I've never heard of one that goes past 4 pm!

[m4nash]

Our elementary school goes to 3, and I thought that was unusually late. I've never heard of one that goes past 4 pm!

I thought the same thing! I hate that ours runs until 3:55. In the winter it's practically dark when the bus comes just after 4pm. Also, my DS is an early riser, so the 9:25 start doesn't mean he gets any extra sleep. After school practices are generally until 7 or 8 which is rough on my early riser. I didn't let him doing anything on school nights in Kindy b/c he needed to be in bed by 7pm to have enough energy to make it through the school day. I would have preferred half day, but longer than 2.5 hrs. His preK was everyday from 9:25-1:25 at the same school which was perfect IMHO.

[JBaxter]

Our kindy is full day. Same as the rest of the elementary. I put him on the bus at 7:38 and got him off at 3:20

[mctlaw]

Wow, that's short. If you're still having difficulties dealing with the logistics of daycare, that might be worth giving up for a nanny with those type of short school hours. Just a thought, though hopefully you've got your routine down by now.

[KrisM]

We are full day here 8:50 to 3:50. I wish we started and ended earlier.

[Kindra178]

7:57-2:55 here. Hard adjustment at first, but am generally happy it's a full day.

[carolinamama]

We have full day here - 8:20-2:50. Maybe you have the same number of instructional hours though since I know most of the instruction occurs in the mornings here with lots of time for bathroom breaks, lunch, recess, snack, and specials are in the afternoon. Still seems short though and hard for working parents.

[ha98ed14]

Wow. What an incredible range! DS is attending Kindy and will go from 8 to 1 or from 9 to 2 depending on his placement. They do early birds and late birds grouped by ability.

Does this bother you? I would be surprised if the "gap" between the "ahead" kids and the "behind" kids is not WORSE by the end of the year that it is when they start in the beginning of the year. I guess I'd be happy if I had a high achiever, but ticked if she was in the slow group.

[DualvansMommy]

Very short! That's our Pre-K hours in our district! Actual kindy hours is 8:50 to 1:30 or 2:10 which is perfect.

[belovedgandp]

1/2 day K here is 3 hours and 10 minutes long - morning 8:20 to 11:30 or afternoon is 12:30 to 3:40.

All day is an option; about 2/3 of the district does that which is 8:20 to 3:40.

[Indianamom2]

Wow...that's short! DD's preschool was from 9-11:30 and that was for 3-4 year olds.

Our kindy is full day, from 8-3. Not sure that's great either, but that's what it was and we survived.

[smilequeen]

Ours is 8:15-3. DS1 did great with it. DS2...well, we'll see, but it's better for me not to have to do 2 pick ups.

[georgiegirl]

Full day, which is 8:50-3:40. It's a super long day.

[trales]

We are 2.5 hours, so it was $25 more per week for me to do full day private than half day public plus and after care program. She is in the same school she has been in for 2 years rather than a new kindy and a new afterschool.

[mjmamma]

Most communities up here are moving to full days. We are 8:45 - 3:00. In prior years it was 2 full days and one half day. Full days are long but they cant be learning much in 2.5 hours!

[mom3boys]

We have free public full-day PreK and full-day K, so DS1 has been full day since just before he turned 4. For PreK the hours are 8:45-2:35 and K is 8:40-2:45 (PreK at the same location as K, but different building). FWIW DS1 also had homework every night in K.

So I was kind of shocked to find out a town we are considering moving to (in Northern NJ) is 1/2 day (considering the property taxes, you'd think they could afford full), their sessions are 8:35-11:20 or 12:20 to 3:00. That is shorter hours then my own K class 32 years ago! Thank goodness though, they also have virtually no homework (unnecessary in K, IMO). Personally I think DS would have been much happier with the shorter K, but as a WAHM I am not exactly thrilled with it--when DS3 is finally ready to go, I will be less thrilled to not have him in school same amount of time as his brothers.

There is an aftercare program you can pay for to either extend to full school day or for a full workday (6pm-ish)

[essnce629]

Full day here-- 8:15-2:40 except for Thursdays which is 8:15-1:00.

[pinay]

We have full day K 8:00-2:20 but the first month is "transitional" so they get out an hour earlier. DD is used to a much longer day from preschool so it'll be a step back for us, but we'll make it work.

[KHF]

Our K was 8:40 to 11:30 or so...I can't remember exact times because DD's daycare dropped her off and picked her up. There is also a PM session.

[hillview]

private school here (Montessori) runs 8-3 every day

[mommylamb]

Full day here. 9:15-3:55. But unfortunately, we still have to get before and aftercare. I wish it started earlier and ended earlier so that we would only have to pay for aftercare.

[elbenn]

Full day kindy here, from about 8:00-3:00.

[ast96]

Full day -- no one even does half day -- 8:20-3:00.

[KDsMommy]

Our full day Kindy is 8-2, with no real recess. I REALLY wish they'd extend the day and add in at least 30 mins of recess. I just can't imagine my newly turned 5 yo DS being able to focus without any "free" time.

[squimp]

Ours is 8:15 to 11:15 and 11:45-2:45

We squeaked in as the last full day year, thankfully.

[o_mom]

Only full day here unfortunately. :( I was hoping we could get DS3 through before they eliminated the part time option (which was alternating full days). Only two days in, so we shall see how he adjusts.

[brgnmom]

8 am to about 3 pm. We paid extra for the full-time option at the private school, and felt that it was worthwhile.