Daycare/preschool (need to vent)

Kimberly's Mommy

Kimberly's Mommy

New member
The daycare my daughter goes to has for the past 2 years had preschool classes there. The teacher comes to daycare and she has gotten a hour a day 3 days a week. Well they told me a month or so ago that next school term they would not be offering the preschool classes anymore. This is the last school term for her before she starts Kindergarten. I'm really upset about it. I think it's really important and the thought of her missing the year before she starts school, I'm really concerned that she'll be lacking what she needs. She's already ahead of the game and I don't want to see her lose that.

So I've been looking for other options and I think I found one. The christian school offers a preschool class that is full time M-F 8-3. So she would be there most of the day and then go to daycare for a few hours after school until I get off work at 5:30. I even was able to work out transportation to get her from school to daycare since I can't leave work.

I mentioned to my daycare provider (J) the other day that we were looking at our options and that was one of them. And that if we decided to go that route then Kim would be there after school at 3. So today I get there to pick Kim up and J says to me "Kim's going to the christian school in the fall, right? Because I have her spot filled if she is." I said "well we are talking about it and I have a meeting with the board next month but we haven't decided for sure yet. And if we do then she'll be here after school at 3." She looks at me and says "Oh I don't know if we'll have room for her after school, I'll have to let you know."

So I'm a little irritated. It's like they've already moved her out of there. And if they won't take her after school then I won't be able to send her to preschool because I won't have anywhere for her to go for the 2 1/2 hours between school getting out and me getting off work.
 
Ugh! That would irritate me, too.

The Christian school doesn't happen to have any type of afterschool care program, do they?

Or maybe there's another day care center/provider near the school that would have PT openings? Maybe someone at the school could give you some leads?

Good luck!
 
There is another daycare close to the school that I think I will go talk to tomorrow. The thing is that moving her to another daycare and a new school would be completely uprooting her from what she's known. And then next year when she goes to kindergarten I would need her to have an afterschool spot at the daycare she's at now. There isn't another one in our school district. I just hate this. Being stuck between choosing what you know is best for your kid's education and needing a place for their care at the same time.
 
Geesh! Her spot isn't even vacated yet and they're trying to fill it. Just keep thinking - one more year, one more year LOL....

Hope things work out for you. She'll get a great kick start to kindergarten at a Christian school. Nice low kid to teacher ratio!

Keep us posted!
 
That really stinks! Is there any other preschools in your area? Good luck with finding a preschool and daycare solution.
 
I taught day care for two years before my job now and from their point of view I get it...
They will need to fill her spot with a full time kid-If Kimberly is only going to be there for two or so hours a day they have to charge you full time, and I'm sure thought that you wouldn't want to do that. Unless they have part time rates, I know that they day care I worked at did not. You paid for an entire week unless you sub-let your spot out to someone else and split the cost with them.
From a mom's point of view I get your frustration though-If you haven't told them for sure if you are leaving they shouldn't be asking you about your "spot", it should totally be brought up by you!

I hope you get it all worked out hon!
 
I only pay for full day if she's there more then 4 hours. Up to that it's hourly. I understand that if she isn't going to be there full time then they need to fill her spot but I think they should not be so quick to do it before I decide for sure what we are doing.

I was really stressing about this last night. Got just a few hours of sleep. I've been up since 3 (it's going to be a VERY long day). I just need to chill and put it in God's hands. They are supposed to tell me on Monday if they will have an after school spot for her and then I'll know what I need to decide to do.
 
{{HUGS}} It's so stressful. I know after next week things will be clearer to you what options are open to you.

I doubt (I hope that is) that they went out actively seeking to replace that spot. Lots of pre-schools (at least in my city) have a waiting list. So maybe they had someone come to them wanting to enroll their child, but they told *them* that they are on a waiting list, but that there was one child/slot (yours) that may open up.

When DD1 was 3-months old, I signed her up with a pre-school. Yes...the waiting list starts as early as that! I decided (in about March of that year that she was going to start) that it actually wasn't for us. I called around to local pre-schools and even the one I got into wasn't my 1st preference as to time-slot...only afternoons were open and I wanted mornings. Luckily the following year I was able to get a slot in the morning, but that's probably b/c we were already 'in' the school so would have priority over 1st timers. Basically I think schools only have a certain amount of slots for each type of session they offer.

Another thing to consider, how important are the 'pre-school' classes to you? I guess it depends on your plans for her for Kindergarten. I think public schools all have standards for each grade level. I think that for Kindergarten they are prepared to have kids that may come in with NO PRIOR SCHOOL experience. After all, generations ago, Kindergarten was a 'prep' for "school." Not everyone went to Kindergarten (even now). And then after awhile pre-school started as a 'prep' to Kindergarten. Again, not everyone has gone to a pre-school. Actually I think in my city you actually get preferred placement for your school of choice if your child had no prior school experience. I'm not a teacher, but that's my feeling on it. I have a friend who has a 2nd grader (also a 4th grader too, but I was talking about her DD when I was researching schools), and she told me that her daughter was pretty bored with Kindergarten. They go through the ABCs (which her DD knew) and when the teacher was teaching the class to read...the 'already readers' would go to the bookshelf and read on their own.

But if you decide to send her to private/Catholic/etc. school, it'll be different. I know they have 'tests' and interviews during the enrollment process and they need to come into Kindergarten knowing more.

Hoping next week comes quick b/c I know I would be losing sleep over it too {{{HUGS}}}
 
private catholic (what our Ethan is/will be attending) does NOT have required testing...

But ... I worry about the same stuff! Ethan will be starting full day Kinder this september and will get out at 3pm...not viable for me to leave work and take him to daycare and then back to work only to get off at 5pm... so he will most likely have to do an after school program they have and well I am putting off BIG TIME telling him that he will only be going there on no school days (hopefully we don't run into the same no room situation you are)

but back to your situation... for preschool in this situation I might leave her out if the school doesn't have a after school program... all those changes can be soo hard and work w/ her at home some?? is that an option?

GOOD LUCK...these are the really hard decisions we have to make
 
In our school district the kids that don't have preschool are considered behind. I wonder what ever happened to Kindergarten being the grade where you learn your ABC's, colors, shapes, etc... I know I didn't go to preschool and I learned all that stuff in K. Now here the kids have to know all that prior to starting K. They have testing to make sure they know everything in the spring prior to the fall school start. And that's in the public school. She is already a bit ahead of the other kids her age on most things and working with her at home in the evenings would be fine but there just doesn't seem to be the time. Getting home at 6, getting dinner together, then bath time and then it's suddenly bedtime.

I did go and check out another daycare that is close to my work and they said to bring her tomorrow if I wanted to. They have room for her and would be happy to have her. I'm going to talk to J tonight more when I pick Kim up (if she's there) because I almost felt this morning like she was trying to get me to move Kim to another center (and of course that may be my emotional lack of sleep reading more into things).
 
The shift on putting academics in Kindergarten has a lot to do with state standards and federal funding.

You probably learned Algebra in 8th or 9th grade. Now it is 7th or 8th grade.

It used to be that you learned to read in first grade, we are now trying to get our Kinders reading by the end of the year. By the end of 1st grade students should be reading fluently and able to write 3-4 sentences on topic.

In several states Kinder isn't even mandatory, however that doesn't change the requirements for standards.

School is very different that it used to be.
 
Ugh, what a pain to have to work out! It's so hard to find good part time care for kids younger than elementary school age.

If your DD is going to go to daycare after preschool, does she really need to be in a full day preschool program? What about a traditional preschool program that runs 3 or 4 days a week, usually from 9-12 or thereabouts? It would probably mean paying for full time daycare, but that preschool schedule would probably be a lot less expensive than a full time program so maybe it would be easier to swing the daycare plus preschool payments. If you're comfortable with moving her entirely, another daycare that includes preschool would probably be the easiest option. I'm surprised her daycare is phasing it out--all the daycares I know of in our area do a half day preschool and then 'regular' daycare the rest of the day.

As for the change in standards, a friend's son just finished K in a public school, and they were doing double digit addition and subtraction by the end of the year! Most of the K's here have gone to full day, but even so I'm surprised they're doing that level of academics in K.
 
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they just had a big article in the newspaper about kindergarten curriculum...i guess what used to be the 1st grade cirriculum is now K (in public schools)...my son is 3 and will most likely start pre-K in the fall...i went to talk to the director of the school (christian school) and she told me what they were working on and i was amazed...i left there thinking geesh my baby is only 3 and he should already know all that...
 
Kimberly's Mommy said:
In our school district the kids that don't have preschool are considered behind. I wonder what ever happened to Kindergarten being the grade where you learn your ABC's, colors, shapes, etc... I know I didn't go to preschool and I learned all that stuff in K. Now here the kids have to know all that prior to starting K. They have testing to make sure they know everything in the spring prior to the fall school start. And that's in the public school.
Click to expand...

Wow! What happens if a kid doesn't 'pass' their assessment test?

I know the testing for the Catholic Schools here were recently moved up (earlier)...even though I wasn't considering Catholic Schools, most families at the pre-school do. I remember the teachers complaining that they thought the test was too early...like almost an whole year before they would be starting Kindergarten. That the test wasn't really accurate b/c the child can learn a LOT between the time they are tested to when it's time for them to enter Kindergarten.

I'm also noticing a trend that some parents are holding their child back one year before entering Kindergarten. There's a local pre-school (not the one DD went to) that there were so many eligible kids staying back one more year they really didn't know what to do with that many kids. The want their kids to be really ready when they start and would rather have their kids be a leader (head of the pack, more advanced) than struggling behind. I totally understand their thinking...especially if they have a summer baby. So the age gap in one grade may be widening...like there may be both 4-year-olds (birthday deadline for public is Dec something and for private most are around August) and 6-year-olds in the same Kindergarten class. I think that's a big difference when they are so young.

haha...so sorry for rambling off topic :p
 
Hom74 said:
Wow! What happens if a kid doesn't 'pass' their assessment test?
Click to expand...

If they don't pass the assessment test then you have to wait another year before they will enter them into K.

I did go and talk to another daycare yesterday. They were very nice and said that if I wanted to bring her to them tomorrow I could. I'm going to wait till Monday and see if they will have an after school spot for her or not and go from their.

The new school doesn't have any after school programs. The reason her daycare isn't doing their own preschool next year is because they didn't have enough kids signed up for it so the teacher won't come. They said they were planning on doing preschool activities with them but when they have 20+ kids ages 2 months to 6 years, how much time will they really have for the 2 care givers to do that? Really? I just really want Kim to have what's best for her education. I want her to be able to stay ahead of the game and for school to be easy for her like it was for me and not such a struggle like her dad had. KWIM
 
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