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Pre-School and Daycare
RobinSparkles214
member
XP: school sending home extra activities to pay for (long)
RobinSparkles214
member
We have our DS1 in preschool full time. It's costing a pretty good amount of money, but is totally worth it because we do really love the school. It is his second year there, so we have become familiar with how they do things.
This year seems to have brought a lot of changes as far as extra money for activities in/outside of the classroom. We paid the initial classroom fee for the year (no big deal) on top of our monthly tuition. Then they send home a brochure for a computer class through a program called Compuquest (an extra $40 per month) that the school is participating in. We decided to go ahead and let DS participate in that every Wednesday for the 30 minutes it's offered.
Today DH comes home and hands me another brochure for some random sports instruction that is offered each week (an additional $37 per month). DS "wanted" to participate today and of course he liked it, so they sent home the brochure with a note about joining. DS already plays a sport outside of school every season (soccer/ t-ball). I really don't want to pay more money for this.
Does this seem weird? All of these things are of course optional, but it seems as though all of the other kids are participating. I don't want DS to be sitting out of the activities while all of the other kids are participating. The money isn't really a problem, it just seems excessive.
Is this something worth talking to the other parents or teachers about? I don't want to be weird, but really with all of the other random things we send money in for every month (special lunches, feild trips, etc) it is adding at least $100 extra on top of what we pay monthly. With an infant in child care plus DS at preschool it is making things a little tighter than we would want.
Is this just the norm for preschool now?
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Re: XP: school sending home extra activities to pay for (long)
DS's school doesn't do that, fortunately. I would get together with the parents and discuss it and then bring it to the school principal.
I agree, tuition is already enough money spent, on top of other "optional" things offered during the school day---that doesn't seem very fair.
It is a daycare based preschool, so I am sure they are profiting somehow from the activities. I can see how it probably is really helpful for some families to have these activities offered.
Thanks so much for all of the responses ladies : )
I guess I'm odd man out. This is completely common around here. There are always extra classes being offered after the 1/2 day preschool (in the preschool itself). And yes, they DO learn in preschool, but these are "extra" or "enrichment" classes.
Each class is $50/month. No one has ever said anything about it. They are "optional". You do not have to participate or feel bad if you don't.
Last year I had both girls in 2 classes each, and that was an extra $200/month on top of tuition.
I get it being offered after the school program is over, but not during the regular program. I feel like that is a little like double dipping. Pay up or your kid gets left out.
Many of my working Mom friends think this is the best thing since sliced bread.
The kids get exposed to things like dance or karate but the parent's don't have to give up any of their valuable family time in the evenings because it takes place during "down time" (like free play or recess) during the regular day care / school day just a couple of days a week.
If this is a pubic school I'd have issues. If it's a full day day care I think it's a smart idea to offer additional things that the staff can't provide while maximizing the kids' time away from their parents. If it was the regular staff members doing a half-asssed job just to bring in extra revenue that would chap me too but in our case it's a dance studio owner and a karate place owner. They know what they're doing and have experience teaching to such a young audience.
FWIW I didn't put my kids in karate or dance this fall and they could care less. A couple of the kids get called out of their class room to go do these activities and they think nothing of not going because they're busy doing free play which is one of their favorite things at school.
If asked I'll explain that we do one special activity (ie: sport) each season and right now one's doing football and the other soccer out side of school hours.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
I guess I get it more now, but my kids go to a smaller DC so they would feel left out if I could not afford the class.
I get that. It would be tough if like 75% of the class disappeared to go do something fun and I was telling mine "no".
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
Yes, it seems weird. DD's preschool has activities built in during the school day- yoga, soccer, music and art. The people who teach the yoga and soccer try to promote their weekend programs, but there's not really any pressure since it doesn't take place at a time that DD sees everyone else doing it except for her.
Might it be because the school hours don't cover the regular working day hours and the school is trying to keep kids busy until parents can pick them up? In this case, it would seem legit. The other pre-school in our neighborhood gets much more of the traditional working parent business than DD's school because they have a ton of after-school programs and it's pretty seamless for the kids. (DD's school caters to the WAH/SAH/kids with nannies/grandparents/family in the area to pick them up early crowd.)
Mine is a preschool and daycare as well. They offer ballet, soccer tots and piano lessons as extracurriculars. Soccer is during the "school day" of 9-3. Ballet starts at 2:45 and goes past the 3pm end time for preschool. Piano pulls kids out individually.
DD has always done ballet, but has never done soccer or piano. Last year her class had 6 girls and 2 boys - so during dance, the boys were alone with the teacher! But I think that some kids might like that extra one-on-one time with the teacher, more time to play with any toy they want, more time to paint or play outside, etc. DD tells me that her friend Christine goes to soccer but she doesn't ask to go or complain. She went to the free class and said it was fun, but she doesn't seem to feel left out.
At my children's daycare it is the norm- has been for years and I love it! Like the PP said....as a working mom I don't get home until late so it is hard to do activities and I find alot of places only do programs for 2-3 years old during the day or weekends- it has been hard to find programs for the kids to do. Our old daycare had Soccer Shots, Fun Bus (tumbling), computer class, and Music. My kids did all of them- but then I made them pick between soccer and tumbling so it was only one "sport".
We are at a new daycare this year and so far we have only gotten info about a music class.
This is a normal thing here. I know a lot of pre-schools do it. In fact, I was the outside dance teacher that came in at one point :-P
It is an OPTIONAL activity. Chances are, your child would not be the only one not participating in every single activity. I also think it's important for them to learn that sometimes others do things that they do not. They do have to learn that at some point, yes? IMO, you'd look pretty silly complaining about an optional activity that you have no obligation to take part in. I really don't know what the person in charge would tell you if you said something about it. The obviously offer this because some people are interested. If you're not interested, don't participate. Simple.
Cam 6.6.10 - Autism, Global Developmental Delay, Mixed Receptive/Expressive Communication Disorder
I think this is pretty common. My son's 1/2 day Montessori preK offers music, art, and Spanish classes once a week as part of the regular curriculum, but they also offer extra music lessons lessons by non-staff people for an extra fee and it's during regular school hours. They get a cut of the funds for hosting.
I also work for an agency that runs two preschools. We also happen to run a performing arts academy. For an extra fee, kids are bused to our performing arts center for classes there and then brought back to their preschool. For many parents, this is a nice service because it is a full-day daycare center - 6:30am-6pm - and this adds a little variety to the day and exposes kids to dance, gymnastics, martial arts, music, etc. without working parents having to give up valuable evening time. This is during regular school hours, so you are essentially paying the organization twice, but you are definitely getting services above and beyond the normal if your child does participate in the arts programs.