Another Kindergarten Question - Aftercare
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Anonymous
| I've heard that our rising kindergartener's school has great aftercare (Kids After Hours), but I don't know anything about what they do, especially in K. Are all the grades mixed into one giant aftercare room, or are they in many rooms? What rooms do they even use? Is there snack? Do they do homework with the younger elementary kids? (I know K'ers receive homework at this school). I'd love details! Also, how many parents use them on the days they're open but the school isn't? My DS keeps asking what the day will be like and I'm not sure what to tell him. |
Anonymous
| Call or email them. |
Anonymous
| We love KAH! At our school the ages are mixed together in the all-purpose room but there are usually a couple of activities in other places for them to choose too, i.e. a group that goes out to the playground, a group that goes to play sports in the gym, etc. The main area in the all-purpose room has books, legos, cars, etc. for free play, and then there is usually a group craft/cooking/etc. they can join if they want. Periodically they have bounce houses, water balloon fights outside. If they want to free play with legos the whole time or sit quietly on a couch with a book the whole time they can do that. There is also apparently a time when they are encouraged to do homework, but I must say my son did it maybe twice a week, so they must not push them hard to do it. |
Anonymous
| Oh and very many of the parents use it, very gratefully, on snow days. |
Anonymous
| I would really think it thru using aftercare for a K student. It is very intimidating with the older kids rough housing, bullying, talking grown-up. They are all mixed together in cafeteria with the same stuff daily. I think you are better off getting a college student to help him/her off the bus and have her do homework and play with neighborhood friends or take to activities. |
Anonymous
Ignore this comment and just find out more about the program at your school--talk to the director. We only have 1 kid, adore him to pieces and ended up for various reasons using our school's before- and after- care in kindergarten. It's been great for him to mix with other kids, they kept the kindergarteners separate, have a homework time, clubs and yes, on those random days when they are open but school is closed it is an absolute godsend--even without that, I still feel our son has benefitted. As an only child, it's been good for him to learn to share and to socialize with a broader group of kids. Of course, the place I am talking about is particularly well-run. |
Anonymous
|
My child loved aftercare from the very first day, and absolutely adores KAH. Not sure the experience is identical everywhere, but here is ours:
Aftercare takes place in the cafeteria/all-purpose room, so all grades are together. But the are also separated by groups. In my son's school, K-2 is together, and 3-5. One group goes outside while the other has snack, and then they switch. After that, everyone does homework, still separated by groups. Once homework is done they can play. Even in K, my son LOVED to stay at aftercare and would get mad if I picked him up too early. It is great play time. |
Anonymous
So why she should she ignore the comment? Your place is well run and separates K students. My school does not do that. Thy also don't truly help ith homework or organize thought-out activities. They have tv's and video games which is awful IMO. it is nice to get various opinions of locations. Some are good and some are bad. |
Anonymous
| DD cried when I picked her up too early from aftercare. For the first few months of kindergarten. It's true that it can be a little wild to have bigger kids in the same room, but they do a good job of segregating the K's for most of the time, then they combine for clubs. And it's good for a kid to get used to a little wild. |
Anonymous
| My school has Kidsco, but I think it is similar to Kids after Hours. All the kids are together for most activities. But they are separated for homework time (I think K and 1st are lumped together in ours). The 'staff' help with homework if a kid asks, but they are often high school students. So it always best to double check homework when you get home. My kids love it. It allows them time to play and choices for which activities/groups they join. They did not get this when they were in an in-home aftercare. Ours does offer video game time at the end of the day when most of the group activities are over. I would call KAH and ask your questions. |
Anonymous
| KAH does a great job...my DC is going into 4th and has been doing it since K. Sometimes still hates for me to pick her up, even when I get there at 6:00p!! |
Anonymous
|
When my child started K, I was wary of the mixed grade levels of KAH. But it turned out to work out fine for my kindergartener, there were never any problems of being overwhelmed by the big kids. My kids love it at KAH, they enjoy it there a lot.
They handle the kindergartners somewhat separately at times at KAH. The counselors go pick them up from their classroom to bring them to KAH. They do the homework time separately in an empty K classroom - the K kids aren't expected to do their homework at KAH as the older kids are (I guess because they can't work independently yet?), and the counselors read them a story or something similar in that time period. I think its possible that a very timid kindergartener may be sensitive to the big group of kids, so it may depend on the kid. But generally, I have seen many K kids do just fine, have not heard from another parent that it was a problem for their child. Also, the KAH staff are rock stars about keeping track of your kid! my child goes to KAH some afternoons per week and rides the bus on others, which can be confusing for a kindergartener. One time the teacher accidentally sent my Kindergartener to ride the bus home on a KAH day, but the KAH director noticed immediately, and has an action plan for such a mistake, jumped in his car, went to my house and picked my kid up and brought him back to KAH in minutes. I was impressed with KAH's handling of this potentially scary school mistake. I talked to another parent who had the same situation come up (kid sent on bus who should be at KAH that day), and the KAH director got to her house before the child even got home on the bus! |
Anonymous
| Honestly, most parents do not send their K students to aftercare. I would say 5-10% max of the after club are K students and most have an older sibling. It is just too much/too long for 5yr olds. And historically in our school, the kids going thru 6yrs of aftercare are not the brightest or well behaved. |
Anonymous
Oh good lord. OP, call KAH at your school and ask approximately how many K students they have and whether their activities are different. For your amusement, I suppose you could also ask whether 6 years of afterschool care makes children dumber and less well behaved than the children who spend those 2 hours at home with their mothers. I expect this may be a class issue. I suppose at some upper class schools, it is uncommon for children to have 2 working parents so not many parents make use of aftercare. At our school, fully a quarter of the student body uses KAH, so there are lots of 2-working-professional families. I'll be sending my kindergartener to KAH this fall from 3:30-5:00 and he is SO excited. |
Anonymous
A quarter of the kids? Wow. That would be over 200 kids in our school. Ours maybe has 40 kids total and I am glad. |