Reply to Moving back to daycare after public preK3?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We did this, and it was a great choice!  We had to pull our kid from a highly regarded DCPS in the middle of PK3 and we sent him to a federal daycare for PK4.  (In fact I wonder if it was the same one, because ours also only had 8 kids.)

It was seriously the best choice ever.  The DCPS was just a bad mix of overly structured and overly unstructured that did not work for him. Plus the class size was 20+.  Another factor that I only really realized in retrospect was that the schools are not really set up administratively do deal with the issues related to ECE - so when we had problems, they treated our 3 year old like he was a 10 year old (interrogating him in the principals office!). They were unable to address the behavioral issues in a way that was appropriate for a 3 year old.

Another factor is that daycares are set up to cater to working families, and to keep kids well-rested and happy.  Public schools (because they are public and you are not paying directly) are not set up that way.  For better or for worse, in a public school you're part of a collective and have to surrender some things to the public good.  Daycares on the other hand can give more personal attention, and care more about overall well-being and happiness.

The test- and assessment-heavy environment of DC schools absolutely trickles down to PK classrooms.  One issue we had in our PK3 class is that the teachers were supposed to be constantly assessing the kids on some dumb standard that involved like 26 different variables for each kid.  They were constantly inputting data, and this really impacted their time and energy to manage the classroom.  They were also held professionally responsible for kids' progress on standardized instruments.  In comparison, daycare workers' jobs are just to keep the kids and parents happy!

There is also a regulatory aspect.  Daycares in DC have to follow the OSSE rules for naps and outdoor times.  DCPS do not.  My kid got WAY more outdoor time at the daycare than at his DCPS.  \

Finally, DCPS/Charter + Aftercare can really be exhausting for a 3 - 4 year old.  The daycare day is set up to sort of wind kids down as the day gets longer.  But in the DCPS, the kid has to transition to a whole new, often chaotic setting right when they'd be winding down at daycare.  [/quote]

OP here. Absolutely agree on aftercare- that is where it feels like he really falls apart some days. And unclear what they do there every day...[/quote]

sounds like my kid :) our happy ending is that we sent him back to the same school for K and he did GREAT.  This was with an IEP.  I just feel like the school concentrates its resources on the K-5, and not so much ECE.  ECE is fine if you have a kid who can roll with it; but they aren't really equipped to deal with issues.  however, we also had the luxury of a good in-boundaries DCPS option.  if you are worried about the lottery for K, then there may be reason to stick things out for PK4.  [/quote]

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