I was thinking of dropping aftercare from 5 days a week to 2 days a week and signing the kids up for extra curriculars. It looks like a lot though, so I am wondering if it is too much. FWIW, aftercare is only sort of OK and typically DS at least doesn't do his homework there, but DD does.
Mon- Sign language club pick them up at 4:30
Tues- Art Club for DD and Maker Space for DS pick up at 4:30
Wed- Aftercare until 5:30 or 5:45
Thurs- Fit club (physical type games) for DD, and Board game club for DS pick up at 4:30
Fri- aftercare until 5:30 or 5:45 or DH picks them up if not traveling.
This would leave me short on paper about 30 minutes work time. I would work until 5 on the other days to make up time. I don't think my boss would care that much, and I can easily do 30 minute to an hour at home a week just on e-mail.
They also have dance Monday nights and Soccer Tues nights. Not sure if the extra curricular is more brain use and less relaxing than just straight aftercare. Despite pricing for extra curricular, I would save about $1700 over the course of the 30 weeks that they have them. On days they don't have them, they can just go to aftercare although I have to be strategic because it looks like Wednesdays have a wait list, so I have to make sure not to give up days. They would actually be in care less time because typically I get them around 5:15 every night. DD might struggle with the inconsistency of the schedule.
Is this crazy? Because it looks a little crazy, but I have been wanting to flex my schedule to get them off the bus, but that leaves too little work time because off the bus is 3:45pm.
I can afford aftercare for 5 days, but DD wants to do 2 extra curriculars anyway. Not sure what DS wants to do yet, and they are not open for registration yet, so the schedule might change and it all fall apart.
Also, I believe pick up from extra curriculars might be annoying compared to pick up from aftercare, but I could be wrong because I think the teacher brings them out to the cars lined up as opposed to me going in to getting them and getting their backpacks together and signing them out etc. But since they are at 2 different clubs, it could be different lines, but maybe they can coordinate that for me...
We do before and after school care at school. It’s easy and convenient and ds likes it. They help with homework, have recess, lots of friends and is at school and open until 6. They also pick up from other on campus extra curriculars.
Oh and a slight update. The after school program is going to take him to his 4:30 soccer practices twice a week for $25/week. Totally amazing it worked out.
sandandsea, our aftercare picks up too from the extra curriculars. So maybe it makes sense to just pay more and have them do the pick up and not worry about flexing my schedule. I was just wondering since they don't love aftercare that much. Lots of turnover of the teachers and administrators and they got in trouble several times as a group even though individually they didn't do anything wrong (well DS probably did, but DD didn't).
A babysitter is also an option, but the one I was considering might not get there in time for the bus, and who knows if she wants to do it right after her nanny job, plus then she would have to pick up from the extra curriculars, but no pick up would be awesome.
Post by covergirl82 on Aug 6, 2019 11:23:56 GMT -5
We are dropping after care starting this school year. This year the kids will get off the bus M-Th, but will only be by themselves M-W because I WFH on Thursdays. (Fridays my parents or I pick them up from school.) DS is 10 and is responsible and DD (8.5) is ok by herself for at least 30 minutes. I should be home within 15-30 minutes of when they get off the bus. DD will also do Bible Club on Mondays for about half the year, Lego club on Thursdays most of the year, and wants to try Coding Club (not sure of the day yet), so she won't even ride the bus home as much as DS.
For the after school clubs DD has done (Bible and Lego), I don't think it's been too much from a brain use perspective, but they were more relaxing. After care included at least 30 minutes of physical activity, which was good for DD, but DS did not need it, as he is always playing a sport (and sometimes two, when the seasons overlap). I would actually prefer for DS to just go home and eat a snack and work on homework and relax for a little while.
Another reason I'll be glad to be done with after care is that they advertise that they provide a "healthy" snack, except most days the kids tell me that they got chips or crackers. I would have liked to send a snack for after care, but it was just the "one more thing" that I just couldn't do. So at least now with them coming home most days, they'll at least get something actually healthy, or at least healthier than chips.
ETA: We'll be saving around $210 a month by not doing after care (but we are adding before care two mornings a week, so around $340 (after care) minus $130 (before care)). I'm looking forward to using some of that money to pay a little extra on the mortgage and home equity loan for the land we bought a couple months ago.
We are doing before care at school because it's easy and they can have breakfast at school with their friends. After care we're switching up this year and sending to the Boys and Girls Club instead of using school after care. School after care is terrible and disorganized and the Boys and Girls Club basically costs the same with actual activities and schedules. I'm honestly just kind of relieved to not be using MIL as after care anymore. It was a bad idea last year. I don't care what we do as long as it's not that again.
This will be our first year with a real after school extracurricular, but it starts late enough that I'll just pick up after work and bring them. They won't be able to do the school clubs after school with this plan, but they'll have enough options for activities at the club that I don't worry about it.
DD will be doing before care M-Th. She has gym M, Tu, Th at 3:15 and my mom has been picking her up and taking her and she offered to do W also so no aftercare at least to start the school year. Her gym days will change to MWF eventually and I will add back in aftercare on Tu/Th especially during tax season when I don't get off until 6. DD doesn't like aftercare and I wish we had club activities afterschool at school to do instead.
The gym was really worried about cost increase when we moved up and I just laughed as I'm saving almost 150 a month as gym has become the new aftercare as we've basically dropped aftercare.
Mine are 8 and 6, and will be 9 in the fall and 7 in the winter. So not quite old enough to just drop it.
It will be great when they are 10 and 8, and can be home for 30 minutes by themselves. I let the 8 year old be home for 30 minutes as a training for landline phone use, but I don't want them both together until the 6 year old is older.
They are both pretty good kids so it is more in case of an emergency type thing or them fighting. When DS is home by himself, I set him up in front of the TV and he literally does not move except maybe to go to the bathroom lol.
Post by librarychica on Aug 6, 2019 11:58:06 GMT -5
Are the extras at the school? I would seriously consider it, assuming they don’t have to bus somewhere. I would consider it if we had consistent extracurricular available at the elementary school because their aftercare kind of sucks. In that vein (and because I am tired of two pickups), we are having a college kid pick up DD2 and meet DD1’s bus this year.
waverly , the issue with just doing extracurriculars at our school is that there are big gaps between sessions. So the first session doesn't start until two weeks after school starts, and then there will always be a week or two between sessions. And on conference weeks twice a year our school closes early everyday and then there's a gap until the extracurriculars start.
DD does a paid activity every day for an hour after school, and now DS1 will be too since he's starting kindergarten this year, so it seems wasteful for us to pay for aftercare too, but then I remember all those gaps and early closures and realize it's worth it.
So we do both aftercare and the activities year round. We're lucky that aftercare is relatively cheap ($225 per month per kid). It's not worth it to us to try to rearrange our work schedules to save less than $500 a month.
our aftercare is at school and so are the extra curriculars. essentially we pay more because there are some extras she wants to do, but we don't want to lose our spot in aftercare.
librarychica, yes they are on campus on the school. I assume the kid's teachers or the aftercare program pick them up right from the classroom and take them to the extra curricular which is in another classroom or outside (fit club) when the weather is warm. DS has done fit club the last 2 years.
I have seen the pick up lines, and they can be in 1-3 places: The front of the K-2 school, the front of the 3-5 school or the back parking lot. So I guess I need to ask if I will be in 2 pick up lines depending on the activity and how quickly they go. It's not the whole school, so theoretically quicker than the normal school drop off and pick up. I've avoided them so far due to busing and after care.
librarychica, yes they are on campus on the school. I assume the kid's teachers or the aftercare program pick them up right from the classroom and take them to the extra curricular which is in another classroom or outside (fit club) when the weather is warm. DS has done fit club the last 2 years.
I have seen the pick up lines, and they can be in 1-3 places: The front of the K-2 school, the front of the 3-5 school or the back parking lot. So I guess I need to ask if I will be in 2 pick up lines depending on the activity and how quickly they go. It's not the whole school, so theoretically quicker than the normal school drop off and pick up. I've avoided them so far due to busing and after care.
I’d go for it then though I may pay for aftercare too rather than flex. I pay for morning care but only use it when H is OOT (about 25% of the time) just for the peace of mind of not having to scramble. For me, it’s worth it.
If everything is at the school, then I would actually consider it. If your kids are complaining about aftercare being boring and not enjoying it, then I'd want to try and give them something more interesting to do (Especially if it saves me $$!!).
I do worry about overtaxing kids mentally. I feel like we're in a time where people seem to feel their kids should always be doing "something" and always challenged. I personally am a proponent of working in downtime/freetime as much as I can! I wouldn't send DS to a lot of extra curriculars just in order to "keep up with the Joneses", so to speak.
But from what you described, and that everything is on campus - I'd talk to my kid first and see if he was interested and if he said he was, then yes, I would do it.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Aug 6, 2019 13:31:02 GMT -5
I let DS sign up for 3 things of his choosing last year. It's all on campus and when it's over they take the kids to after care if their parents don't pick them up. DS always goes to after care, but I only pay for the hours he's actually there.
Because of the set up I'm like...the more the merrier. I think I commented earlier that if homework becomes an issue this could change, but I'm not really expecting a difference this year.
I don’t think your plan is crazy but it would be too restrictive for me.
DS (11) is old enough not to be in aftercare and has communicated to me that he doesn’t like being the only kid from his grade there. DD (7) is not old enough to be on her own (or with her brother). Plus, we live a 35 minute highway drive away from the school so a standard bus isn’t an option.
I asked DS if he would prefer an afternoon babysitter who would pick him up and take them home. He chose aftercare. He has been doing it for six years and makes it his own. Reads most of the time which is his jam. Helps teachers sometimes which he loves to do. DD loves playing with her friends from other grades. One of the teachers taught them both how to sew and they love to wind the day down with that.
If I pay upfront for 5 days a week for the entire year, I save thousands of dollars. I think I paid 2800 for the entire school year for two kids last year.
Both kids love doing their homework at aftercare and have dedicated library time for that and a teacher to help. Snacks are basic but fine.
There are extra curriculars throughout the year that are actually discounted for the kids in aftercare. They usually chose a few throughout the year but then just transition to after care till I pick them up.
I couldn’t commit to picking up at 4:30 all the time but did do it once a week most of the year last year to take DD to gymnastics. It was tough but I logged back in at the gymnastics class to make up the time. Meetings are my problem. They are frequent and pop up all the time.
Yeah I think DH might be returning to consulting so everything on me again so I might just pay for the more childcare. It will still be cheaper than last year because we are past the half day K expense.
Adding to this childcare mess... I thought we were in pretty good shape, but apparently our town does not believe in offering any kind of childcare the first week of school. School starts on a Thursday. Boys and Girls Club and school before/after care are not available on Mon/Tues/Wed that week. There is no where open those three days before the school year starts. Boys and Girls Club actually doesn't even start offering before/after care until the following week. So we're stuck piecing together a mess of coverage while trying to kick off the school year. It's so frustrating!
twinmomma , We have a gap too. Mon and Tues next week there is no camp and no school and no aftercare. School starts Wednesday and luckily aftercare does too.
We had the gap at the end of the school year too. We had snow/ cold days so school ended on Wed for DD (half day K) and Thursday for DS full day and aftercare.
Aftercare for half days doesn't open until 11 am, so I had to drop DD off on Thursday at 11 am and then come to work and then take Friday off. Luckily I don't have to deal with the half days anymore now that DD is in full day 1st grade, but I still have days where there is no childcare available in the entire town unless I drop them in at the daycare centers which seems silly to do that.
I don't leave until my kids are on the bus each morning. My oldest (11) has swim practice immediately after school each day until 6:15. My middle rides the bus home and my MIL meets her there 3 days a week. The other 2 days, I WFH in the afternoon and I get her off the bus.
We're really lucky that our YMCA does camps during pretty much any school breaks, including the random 1-day things and smaller holidays like Veterans Day and that sort of thing. Of course, my youngest's daycare provider closes for all of those smaller holidays so we end up having to take off or hire a babysitter anyway.
Luckily we start school on a Monday and aftercare starts that same day (though I'll pick the kids up the first day on time and take them for fro yo or something since it's DS1's first day of K).