Single dad moving to DC with 3 year old - recommendations for where to move and preK 3?

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any insight into the Kipp DC schools? She's also off the waitlist at Kipp DC Shaw Campus (Kipp DC Lead Academy) and that's a straight bus ride from my place to the school, and the school is a 10 min drive from the hospital I'll be working at. They also have good before and aftercare options.

My daughter's mom also wants to take care of her for some time so she could go to her place out of state maybe for a week or two at a time when there are school breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any insight into the Kipp DC schools? She's also off the waitlist at Kipp DC Shaw Campus (Kipp DC Lead Academy) and that's a straight bus ride from my place to the school, and the school is a 10 min drive from the hospital I'll be working at. They also have good before and aftercare options.

My daughter's mom also wants to take care of her for some time so she could go to her place out of state maybe for a week or two at a time when there are school breaks.

We have a friend who tried that school and quickly got out, he said they were very very strict with the kids and he didn't like the environment. He ended up getting a spot at a Hardy feeder and was much happier.

[Anonymous]

Ross Elementary in Dupont Circle. Great school and neighborhood close to Columbia Heights. You just have to be very precise in choosing your home because their zone is so small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any insight into the Kipp DC schools? She's also off the waitlist at Kipp DC Shaw Campus (Kipp DC Lead Academy) and that's a straight bus ride from my place to the school, and the school is a 10 min drive from the hospital I'll be working at. They also have good before and aftercare options.

My daughter's mom also wants to take care of her for some time so she could go to her place out of state maybe for a week or two at a time when there are school breaks.

You want a daycare type situation, no charter school. KIPP is a particularly bad charter school, but there is not charter school that will be OK in this situation. You keep coming back to this idea of nanny plus before care, plus after care, plus school, plus camp, plus sometimes your mom, plus sometimes your child's mom, plus maybe you pawn her off on some new friends you will make. Little kids thrive on routine and consistent relationships, and you are proposing the opposite. Honestly, what you are proposing is pretty close to child abuse. Is there any way you could leave her with someone who loves her and will put her first?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, although your comment is mean, I really do appreciate you looking out for the welfare of my daughter throughout this thread, your delivery is terrible but it’s the thought that counts 😂 Want you to know that while it’s easy to type anonymously behind your screen, you’ve hurt the feelings of a single dad in a difficult situation navigating this with no family or friends in the area for support. I do love my daughter, and I am taking your input into serious consideration, and ultimately despite the many public school options she’s got now I’ll probably still be putting her in daycare.

And if you’re single and looking to mingle, my daughter could use someone like you in her corner 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, although your comment is mean, I really do appreciate you looking out for the welfare of my daughter throughout this thread, your delivery is terrible but it’s the thought that counts 😂 Want you to know that while it’s easy to type anonymously behind your screen, you’ve hurt the feelings of a single dad in a difficult situation navigating this with no family or friends in the area for support. I do love my daughter, and I am taking your input into serious consideration, and ultimately despite the many public school options she’s got now I’ll probably still be putting her in daycare.

And if you’re single and looking to mingle, my daughter could use someone like you in her corner 😂

That PP was speaking harshly because while these free public options look appealing from afar, we know them from the inside and your daughter would not be happy (or safe?) at some of them. (Our friends who got out of KIPP believed teachers were slapping the kids). It's a high stakes decision.

[Anonymous]

KIPP is not a good choice. You will hate it.

[Anonymous]

Dude seriously. You need a daycare. Nobody is going to provide you a full business day of childcare at their house including nap. That's way too much to expect of your brand new friends. And even if they did, they would expect you to reciprocate.

Once you get done juggling various sitters and summer and vacation care plans, you will easily spend $10K or more. Stop trying to make a public school option work. It isn't going to work with your schedule and you won't save any money anyway. I'm struggling to understand why at your salary you're this concerned about the cost.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Seriously where are you guys getting the idea I’m going to leave my daughter with random friends? And for an entire day at that! I wouldn’t even do that with friends I’ve known for decades. Is it from the one comment about looking for community friends early in this thread? That was because I read a thread about St Albans daycare and how they have a community and on the rare occasion if someone’s running late they can ask one of the parents to stay with their kid for like an hour. And I’ve already found other parents in the community who are likeminded in thinking that’s not crazy unreasonable every once in a while.

I’m having difficulty understanding why a daycare is necessary. AppleTree Columbia Heights for example (among others) has before and aftercare hours (within the same facility, it’s just a different classroom, not a major transition) that fits into my schedule allowing me to drop her off and pick her up on 6/7 days of the week, and one day of the week I’ll need help with pick up only. I won’t be working 2 weeks of the month on most months. There’s no daycare on weekends so I’ll need help on weekends regardless. And my daughter can go to her mom’s on weeks I have nights or I can find a regular night sitter. I’m seriously failing to understand why daycare is an absolute necessity and that I’m a poor parent bordering on child abuse for considering DCPS an option. My job offers significant flexibility in switching shifts with colleagues who have told me they very regularly do it, 3 months advance scheduling allowing me to plan and have days off when DCPS is off. Yes camps are expensive, and I definitely expect to be spending at least $10k, but that’s less than the $25k/year I’d spend on daycare, and you have 0 insight apart from my salary to wonder about why I might be concerned about cost (no insight into any debts, other family I might be supporting, any health related costs etc).

I guess the main reason I should be considering daycare is to avoid having her have to switch from school to camp in winter and summer break. And like I said I’m considering that, but it’s not clear to me that’s a compelling reason to definitely avoid DCPS - are all the other kids who go to DCPS and do camps traumatized?

Other PP have said to come back to the thread and give updates on what schools extend her an offer so I can rule out red flag ones (like Kipp, clearly) and that’s all I’m doing. I’m not coming back to re-evaluate if public school is possible for her, I just wanted to know about Kipp, and I won’t be enrolling her there. And I’m definitely not asking friends to watch her while I go work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Seriously where are you guys getting the idea I’m going to leave my daughter with random friends? And for an entire day at that! I wouldn’t even do that with friends I’ve known for decades. Is it from the one comment about looking for community friends early in this thread? That was because I read a thread about St Albans daycare and how they have a community and on the rare occasion if someone’s running late they can ask one of the parents to stay with their kid for like an hour. And I’ve already found other parents in the community who are likeminded in thinking that’s not crazy unreasonable every once in a while.

I’m having difficulty understanding why a daycare is necessary. AppleTree Columbia Heights for example (among others) has before and aftercare hours (within the same facility, it’s just a different classroom, not a major transition) that fits into my schedule allowing me to drop her off and pick her up on 6/7 days of the week, and one day of the week I’ll need help with pick up only. I won’t be working 2 weeks of the month on most months. There’s no daycare on weekends so I’ll need help on weekends regardless. And my daughter can go to her mom’s on weeks I have nights or I can find a regular night sitter. I’m seriously failing to understand why daycare is an absolute necessity and that I’m a poor parent bordering on child abuse for considering DCPS an option. My job offers significant flexibility in switching shifts with colleagues who have told me they very regularly do it, 3 months advance scheduling allowing me to plan and have days off when DCPS is off. Yes camps are expensive, and I definitely expect to be spending at least $10k, but that’s less than the $25k/year I’d spend on daycare, and you have 0 insight apart from my salary to wonder about why I might be concerned about cost (no insight into any debts, other family I might be supporting, any health related costs etc).

I guess the main reason I should be considering daycare is to avoid having her have to switch from school to camp in winter and summer break. And like I said I’m considering that, but it’s not clear to me that’s a compelling reason to definitely avoid DCPS - are all the other kids who go to DCPS and do camps traumatized?

Other PP have said to come back to the thread and give updates on what schools extend her an offer so I can rule out red flag ones (like Kipp, clearly) and that’s all I’m doing. I’m not coming back to re-evaluate if public school is possible for her, I just wanted to know about Kipp, and I won’t be enrolling her there. And I’m definitely not asking friends to watch her while I go work.

Because of all the random off days and vacations that public schools have, plus summer. Daycare will be way less hassle for you, by far.

[Anonymous]

That’s a very fair point. I’ll most likely be going with daycare this first year because of that. For preK 4 she’ll be inbound for Eaton and I might consider placing her there but I’ll still have the same issues of hassle then. What will I do come kindergarten time when I won’t have the daycare option lol.

Yeah for now I’ll just do daycare lol.

[Anonymous]

If you are raising a kid in DC, get a nanny share and enroll in school. Nanny helps with pick ups and days off. Make sure your nanny is happy and bonds with kid. In the summer, nanny helps with camp. Bonus if nanny wants to help with housework or dinner.

Daycares also close for holidays, and you still have to deal with transport. Save the money for flexible, long term after school help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s a very fair point. I’ll most likely be going with daycare this first year because of that. For preK 4 she’ll be inbound for Eaton and I might consider placing her there but I’ll still have the same issues of hassle then. What will I do come kindergarten time when I won’t have the daycare option lol.

Yeah for now I’ll just do daycare lol.

This makes sense and Eaton is an excellent school.

Not all PK3 are awful -- my own kids went to PK at a Title 1 school (Seaton) that was an absolute dreamworld. But for good PK programs, you need to apply in the lottery. the kind of PKs that are available post lottery are not going to be very good.