Franklin waitlist

[Anonymous]

I'm one of the pps and we got in. We are deciding between Franklin and another (non montessori) pre school. Cost isnt a factor for us, although i do worry about a lack of economic diversity among the school due to the high cost.

[Anonymous]

We applied in early/mid December for a spot in the 2s and also heard yesterday that we were accepted. Cost is definitely an issue for us, but we'll make it work if we have to.

[Anonymous]

I worked it out to be $25k including before and after care and summer session. Are there others that need full time care?

[Anonymous]

On our tour they spoke about the possibility of offering after care for 2-year olds. (They do not currently do this.) Do you know if they have plans to do so next year?

[Anonymous]

When I spoke to Randy a few weeks ago, she said there would be aftercare for 2s. But someone else could check too.

[Anonymous]

When we went on our tour in November, Randy said that there were only about 30 kids that stay for aftercare (out of 200+ students). Maybe it will be more next year, if they open the aftercare to 2s. We are deciding between keeping our DD at her current daycare or sending her to Franklin next year. I'm a big proponent of Montessori, and would love to have her at Franklin, but I'm concerned that she would feel bad being only one of a handful of kids that stay for aftercare. Anyone else struggling with this?

[Anonymous]

I guess that I am happy that there are only 30 kids in aftercare. I like that it will be a small group, especially since our son will be 2 and transitioning out of a nanny share situation. I think that he will be less likely to feel "lost" in a large group of older kids. (Of course, this is just a guess. We won't know how it goes until the time comes.)

The other alternative is for us to get a part time nanny/sitter to pick up our child at 3:30 and bring him home to spend the late afternoon there. Our current nanny does not drive, so this would require us to find someone new who we would trust to drive our son home from school etc. I am torn but am thinking that it may be less disruptive for him to stay at Franklin for the full day.

That said, we would probably only need after care about 3 days per week. Not sure if I would look at it differently if it were 5 days.

Just my 2 cents. Thanks to those posting. It is helpful to hear other perspectives on this as we are making these decisions.

[Anonymous]

One question is where pick up occurs. If it's a lot of parents coming into the classroom at 3:30 to pick up, that will be upsetting to the kids, I am sure.

Are most folks considering going? Our options are current daycare, which is are pretty lukewarm towards. DH hasn't visited yet, so I need to wait for that too. What are the options that others are considering?

[Anonymous]

We are considering staying with our current situation (nanny share), Franklin, or another Montessori school. We are leaning toward Franklin.

The other child in our share is moving on to school next year, or else we may stick with what is a very good situation. We do like the socialization aspects of sending our child to school at 2, and given what we have seen so far, we would probably end up sending our child to Franklin at 3 anyway.

We have heard many great things about Franklin and were impressed by what we saw/heard during the tour. Will probably end up going with Franklin, but are giving ourselves a week or so to live with the decision before sending in the deposit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One question is where pick up occurs. If it's a lot of parents coming into the classroom at 3:30 to pick up, that will be upsetting to the kids, I am sure.

Are most folks considering going? Our options are current daycare, which is are pretty lukewarm towards. DH hasn't visited yet, so I need to wait for that too. What are the options that others are considering?

Current Franklin parent here -- pickups are in the lobby, the parents don't go to the classrooms.

[Anonymous]

I got the impression that the after-care program was kind of nice-- trips to the park, etc. Is this true? Or is it supervised "free play" until pick up?

What time do most kids get picked up from after-care?

[Anonymous]

We just got a spot in the two year old class and have a week to decide. We were very impressed with the school but it's really expensive when you factor in aftercare. I'm also worried that all the kids there end up in private schools and we are committed to public.

[Anonymous]

It is seriously expensive when compared to our BH day care. Probably another $10k and that assumes the 2s after care is the same cost as primary (which may not be true given required ratios for 2s). Plus it's for only about 10 mo of care when you include summer and winter and spring breaks (what do working parents do about those??)

But we are really dissatisfied with our day care so I guess you get what you pay for.

We're probably going to do it. Don't really have other options and the school seems wonderful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I spoke to Randy a few weeks ago, she said there would be aftercare for 2s. But someone else could check too.

Randy told me last week that there will defintely be aftercare for 2s.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we will definitely be using it!! Anyone else?