Anonymous
03/02/2022 13:16
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Anonymous wrote:We’ve had a great experience in DCPS PK. Maybe we just lucked out but our teachers have been phenomenal. Our child was at a Montessori-based daycare before DCPS and we liked it but in retrospect it was MORE rigid than our DCPS PK.
And ours is definitely at least partially play based. Yes they have specials but the kids just think it’s fun— they play games in gym, make art, sing songs in Spanish, sing songs and play instruments in music. I have not found the math and literacy stuff to be too much— they spend 20-30 minutes a day in small groups where they work on stuff like letter writing or basic math skills. But I think our Montessori does something similar with their 4 yr olds too, so that they will be on a similar level with other kids in K.
The rest of the day is play, either structured or free play. They go outside 2-3x a day depending on weather (very similar to daycare). They do neighborhood walks, hang out in the school garden, do free play in the playground, which is nicer and bigger than our daycare playground.
I guess it depends on your daycare experience, but DCPS has been a step up for us. And we liked out daycare. But I’ve been very impressed with the caliber of the teachers and aids and the curriculum is largely play-based. And perhaps most importantly, my DD prefers it. She liked her Montessori well enough, but she’s really flourished in PK.
Zero regrets.
Can i ask what school this is? Well I can ask, you do not have to tell me obviously, haha. I am curious bc we just submitted our Pre-K3 application and I am wondering if it was one of our schools
Anonymous
03/02/2022 07:30
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
We’ve had a great experience in DCPS PK. Maybe we just lucked out but our teachers have been phenomenal. Our child was at a Montessori-based daycare before DCPS and we liked it but in retrospect it was MORE rigid than our DCPS PK.
And ours is definitely at least partially play based. Yes they have specials but the kids just think it’s fun— they play games in gym, make art, sing songs in Spanish, sing songs and play instruments in music. I have not found the math and literacy stuff to be too much— they spend 20-30 minutes a day in small groups where they work on stuff like letter writing or basic math skills. But I think our Montessori does something similar with their 4 yr olds too, so that they will be on a similar level with other kids in K.
The rest of the day is play, either structured or free play. They go outside 2-3x a day depending on weather (very similar to daycare). They do neighborhood walks, hang out in the school garden, do free play in the playground, which is nicer and bigger than our daycare playground.
I guess it depends on your daycare experience, but DCPS has been a step up for us. And we liked out daycare. But I’ve been very impressed with the caliber of the teachers and aids and the curriculum is largely play-based. And perhaps most importantly, my DD prefers it. She liked her Montessori well enough, but she’s really flourished in PK.
Zero regrets.
And ours is definitely at least partially play based. Yes they have specials but the kids just think it’s fun— they play games in gym, make art, sing songs in Spanish, sing songs and play instruments in music. I have not found the math and literacy stuff to be too much— they spend 20-30 minutes a day in small groups where they work on stuff like letter writing or basic math skills. But I think our Montessori does something similar with their 4 yr olds too, so that they will be on a similar level with other kids in K.
The rest of the day is play, either structured or free play. They go outside 2-3x a day depending on weather (very similar to daycare). They do neighborhood walks, hang out in the school garden, do free play in the playground, which is nicer and bigger than our daycare playground.
I guess it depends on your daycare experience, but DCPS has been a step up for us. And we liked out daycare. But I’ve been very impressed with the caliber of the teachers and aids and the curriculum is largely play-based. And perhaps most importantly, my DD prefers it. She liked her Montessori well enough, but she’s really flourished in PK.
Zero regrets.
Anonymous
03/02/2022 07:12
Subject: Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Anonymous wrote:Well..... most DCPS preschools (both PK3 and PK4) are NOT playbased at all, which the research all shows is much better for children through 5 years of age (actually, our kindergartens should still be playbased but that's another story)
So, if your child's preschool is playbased then don't move and wait for kindergarten.
Of course, if you get into a charter school or DCPS that is outside your boundary and you want to stay there for kindergarten and beyond, then you will need to leave and go there next year because otherwise you may not get into the charter/out of bounds school taht you want. But if you don't get into one you want to stay in through kindergarten and your preschool is playbased then I think you should go. No 3 year old NEEDS specials at this point - yes, for Kindergarten/First grade and beyond all that art, music, gym, etc is wonderful but at 3 years old, they should be using art materials and exploring and playing with music and sound daily, and will be outside daily - so that's gym -
+1
Anonymous
03/01/2022 18:32
Subject: Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Well..... most DCPS preschools (both PK3 and PK4) are NOT playbased at all, which the research all shows is much better for children through 5 years of age (actually, our kindergartens should still be playbased but that's another story)
So, if your child's preschool is playbased then don't move and wait for kindergarten.
Of course, if you get into a charter school or DCPS that is outside your boundary and you want to stay there for kindergarten and beyond, then you will need to leave and go there next year because otherwise you may not get into the charter/out of bounds school taht you want. But if you don't get into one you want to stay in through kindergarten and your preschool is playbased then I think you should go. No 3 year old NEEDS specials at this point - yes, for Kindergarten/First grade and beyond all that art, music, gym, etc is wonderful but at 3 years old, they should be using art materials and exploring and playing with music and sound daily, and will be outside daily - so that's gym -
So, if your child's preschool is playbased then don't move and wait for kindergarten.
Of course, if you get into a charter school or DCPS that is outside your boundary and you want to stay there for kindergarten and beyond, then you will need to leave and go there next year because otherwise you may not get into the charter/out of bounds school taht you want. But if you don't get into one you want to stay in through kindergarten and your preschool is playbased then I think you should go. No 3 year old NEEDS specials at this point - yes, for Kindergarten/First grade and beyond all that art, music, gym, etc is wonderful but at 3 years old, they should be using art materials and exploring and playing with music and sound daily, and will be outside daily - so that's gym -
Anonymous
03/01/2022 14:42
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
I would consider where your child will go for K and beyond. Is the PK program at your inbounds school? Will they be changing schools yet again? We moved our child to a PK4 program in DCPS after a year at a daycare preschool and I do regret it because now we're moving and she'll have to change schools again. Yes they're young and adaptable but it can be tough on a kid not to have those consistent relationships. Teachers are hit or miss from what I've heard and experienced through subs. My child enjoys school but we get almost no feedback from the school or facetime with the teacher.
Anonymous
02/28/2022 23:11
Subject: Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Our PK3/PK4 experience in DCPS (at 2 different schools--PK3 inbounds, PK4 upper NW school--lucked out with lottery) was good. This was a number of years ago, so may have changed a bit, but at that point, DCPS was pretty math/literacy focused. I think kids who stayed in private had less direction in the program; which is better depends on your preferences. (We have a pretty flexible kid who did well in a variety of settings.) In DCPS, we did have to pay for after-care and for camps for days off of school (e.g., professional development days), and of course for summer care--but overall, it probably saved us 50% on our expenses, which was totally worth it for us.
If convenience is more important than saving money, I'd stay in your current program. You won't have to deal with aftercare, finding care for days off, summer care, etc. Otherwise, though, I'd switch to DCPS particualrly if you like your neighborhood school and plan to stay there.
If convenience is more important than saving money, I'd stay in your current program. You won't have to deal with aftercare, finding care for days off, summer care, etc. Otherwise, though, I'd switch to DCPS particualrly if you like your neighborhood school and plan to stay there.
Anonymous
02/28/2022 10:08
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
No regrets, but there are more days off as others have mentioned. If you have a good back up care/camp option that is not a problem, but they do tend to fill up quickly. We are at a charter and think it was a good move (but we also switched from a non-Montessori daycare to Montessori).
Anonymous
02/28/2022 09:39
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Anonymous wrote:This was pre-covid, but I regret sending my 3 year old to a charter PK3, though we weren't coming from a daycare situation. We jumped ship for PK4 to a small half day program. The PK3 day was too long and rigid for my kid. If I were in your situation, I'd stay where you are for another year, especially if your K school might not be the same as the PK4 school.
I will say even though i have not yet put my kid into PreK yet, (submitting Application soon!) I think the adjustment will not be a much of an issue if your child has been in daycare. My friends with kids with nannys just have a tougher time when they start school bc they are not used to that type of environment/structure etc. This will obviously not be true for every kid obviously, but it seems to be more then norm from my observations/what teacher friends have told me. I am not worried about my kid adjusting to school, i am more worried about taking them away from their current 'friends'. Which i understand is more my own issue with change/growing up and she will likely not even remember. haha
Anonymous
02/28/2022 09:33
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: Perhaps this won't be as much of a concern next year, but the COVID protocols at DCPS are much less restrictive than at daycare.
New to the area. Is this true? Per general regulations or more individual/variable? Wondering if it should affect our choices for next year.
I'm the PP who wrote that COVID protocols are less restrictive at DCPS. I have two kids at DCPS and one in daycare. As an example, at DCPS, PK classes have a test to stay policy after an exposure. At daycare, if there is an exposure in my child's class, the classroom shuts down for 10 days. I believe this is true for all DC daycares as DCPS changed its protocol, but OSSE has not implemented test-to-stay guidance for daycares. I've also observed that there is much more imposition of social distancing at my youngest child's daycare than in my child's DCPS PK-4 class; this may be program-specific and may not be true of all daycares.
Anonymous
02/28/2022 08:57
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
This was pre-covid, but I regret sending my 3 year old to a charter PK3, though we weren't coming from a daycare situation. We jumped ship for PK4 to a small half day program. The PK3 day was too long and rigid for my kid. If I were in your situation, I'd stay where you are for another year, especially if your K school might not be the same as the PK4 school.
Anonymous
02/28/2022 08:45
Subject: Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Don't feel regret but it wasn't worth our time to do immersion pk3 virtual over half the time
Anonymous
02/28/2022 08:40
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
We definitely regret it. The quality of teacher you get is a toss of the coin. Also, DCPS is always closing for some reason. My kids daycare was open for the most part. The programming was not up to par to the daycare we left as well. I felt bad that we basically lost a year of learning. I guess you get what you pay for.
Anonymous
02/26/2022 20:21
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Anonymous wrote: Perhaps this won't be as much of a concern next year, but the COVID protocols at DCPS are much less restrictive than at daycare.
New to the area. Is this true? Per general regulations or more individual/variable? Wondering if it should affect our choices for next year.
Anonymous
02/25/2022 13:33
Subject: Re:Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
Zero regrets. Our four-year old moved from a daycare preschool to our neighborhood DCPS PK-4 this school year and she has thrived. We were very happy with our daycare preschool, the lead teacher was excellent, and the individualized attention she got was great. But there is no comparison between the daycare and DCPS PK-4 in terms of the community, the specials (art, music, Spanish, PE, library), outdoor time, and the interaction with a larger set of children. Perhaps this won't be as much of a concern next year, but the COVID protocols at DCPS are much less restrictive than at daycare.
Anonymous
02/24/2022 22:14
Subject: Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?
If you moved your kid from a daycare to a DCPS PK program or a similar PK program? Do you regret it at all? Trying to assess whether it’s better to just leave a kid in the PK class at their daycare center. DS likes it there and has been successful in that environment. Wondering if we should just let him enjoy that bubble for another year, or whether we should move him to a program at a school.