Three days a week part time preschool adjustment question

[Anonymous]

Do kids generally do better having preschool three day in a row (T, W, TH) or every other day (M,W,F), or no difference?

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the age. I started DD in daycare at a year and the 3 days in a row definitely helped. She wasn't old enough to understand a one day on and one day off schedule. I would assume a preschooler would be fine either way.

[Anonymous]

We did M-W-F with mine and had no problems. But it's going to depend on the kid and how much they need routine in their schedule.

[Anonymous]

always do in a row. Otherwise confuses kids.

[Anonymous]

Both schedules have advantages and disadvantages.

Three days in a row -- great because they get into the groove and usually do well going on the second or third day. Bad because they go a while without school and have to readjust after a long period off, so the first day of the week can be hard.

Every other day -- great because this keeps school fresher in their minds, since they go more frequently with fewer breaks in between. This can help kids adjust... but bad because for some kids, this creates greater stress because they are going one day and not the next, so it seems less routine once they get into the swing of things.

My kid did a two-day preschool at age 2, and it was two days in a row (TH, F). Going from the end of class F until class again the following TH was a really long time, and it took him longer to adjust at the beginning of the year because he'd kind of forget about school after we did it two days in a row. But three days in a row might be a little better.

If you do every other day, I'd suggest having some kind of calendar where you tell the kid what day it is and help them see whether they have school or not. I think this can help with adjustment and getting used to a variable schedule.

[Anonymous]

My children did every other day and it was fine. They sometimes asked to go to school on the days off because they liked it so much, but transitions were never a problem. As with everything, it depends on the child. Mine never had separation anxiety.

[Anonymous]

We did every other day. Otherwise, you would have a four day break! So then you would always have a big adjustment at the start of the next week. We never had a problem with every other day for any of our kids.

[Anonymous]

Tue-Wed-Fri is better because there are too many holidays and teacher workdays that fall on Monday or Friday!

[Anonymous]

*tues-wed-thurs, I mean.