Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yes, we have applied to 8 or so charter schools, but again, we could be shut out. Bridges would be a great choice for us--we can probably walk there in 25 min--but now that it is adding grades, it will probably have more applying for it through the lottery, so not as easy to get into.

I have planned to visit shining stars, as I have heard mixed things. But for a variety of reasons, I feel that montessori is probably a poor fit with my child, who has trouble self-directing and self-regulating. I am hoping for a tools of the mind curriculum or something similar.

I am curious about the DCPS co-ops. Are there older (4 year old) kids in them?

Yes, some of them go up to 5 y.o.:

Chevy Chase Community Center 5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW 2 - 5 years
Chevy Chase Recreation Center 5500 41st Street, NW 2 - 5 years
Friendship Recreation Center 4500 Van Ness Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Guy Mason Recreation Center 3600 Calvert Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Kennedy Recreation Center 1401 7th Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Mitchell Park Recreation Center 1801 23rd Street, NW 2 - 5 years
Volta Park Recreation Center 1555 34th Street, NW 2½ - 5 years

Registration opens next Monday (3/18) at 10am, and is online only. The program is September to May. It costs $30 per site to register and another $20 for materials fees, those are non-refundable. The program fee for the entire school year is $1,920, but it is payable in monthly installments, and the first one isn't due until the beginning of September.

You could apply to the one you like best, and put down your $50, and be safe. If by September you don't get into a school you like, you pay the September payment and go for that month. ($1,950/9 mos. = $217) The September shuffle will continue until October 5th, so your DC would still have something worthwhile to do while you wait to hear what schools you get into. If nothing comes up that you like better than the co-op, then for about $2K your DC has half-day PreS/PreK in a nice neighborhood (Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Chevy Chase) at a nice facility, and you have lots of control over the activities. In truth, it's a lot more like the pre-school and Kindergarten that most of us had when we were growing up, back before the days of all-day school for 3 year-olds.

For $50, you can buy yourself a lot of peace of mind.

For clarification, it is not a DCPS co-op. It's through DPR (Dept. of Parks and Recreation). It tends to be at the nicer facilities in neighborhoods where the nannies take their charges to half-day school, before they go home for lunch and a nap, and maybe come back in the afternoons to play at the park on nice days. Very play-based, not academic (or worksheets for pre-schoolers which you WILL see at many DCPS schools which offer PS3).

All the info is here:

http://dc.gov/DC/DPR/Programs+and+Services/Educational+Programs/Cooperative+Play/ci.Cooperative+Play.print

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yes, we have applied to 8 or so charter schools, but again, we could be shut out. Bridges would be a great choice for us--we can probably walk there in 25 min--but now that it is adding grades, it will probably have more applying for it through the lottery, so not as easy to get into.

I have planned to visit shining stars, as I have heard mixed things. But for a variety of reasons, I feel that montessori is probably a poor fit with my child, who has trouble self-directing and self-regulating. I am hoping for a tools of the mind curriculum or something similar.

I am curious about the DCPS co-ops. Are there older (4 year old) kids in them?

Yes, some of them go up to 5 y.o.:

Chevy Chase Community Center 5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW 2 - 5 years
Chevy Chase Recreation Center 5500 41st Street, NW 2 - 5 years
Friendship Recreation Center 4500 Van Ness Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Guy Mason Recreation Center 3600 Calvert Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Kennedy Recreation Center 1401 7th Street, NW 2½ - 5 years
Mitchell Park Recreation Center 1801 23rd Street, NW 2 - 5 years
Volta Park Recreation Center 1555 34th Street, NW 2½ - 5 years

Registration opens next Monday (3/18) at 10am, and is online only. The program is September to May. It costs $30 per site to register and another $20 for materials fees, those are non-refundable. The program fee for the entire school year is $1,920, but it is payable in monthly installments, and the first one isn't due until the beginning of September.

You could apply to the one you like best, and put down your $50, and be safe. If by September you don't get into a school you like, you pay the September payment and go for that month. ($1,950/9 mos. = $217) The September shuffle will continue until October 5th, so your DC would still have something worthwhile to do while you wait to hear what schools you get into. If nothing comes up that you like better than the co-op, then for about $2K your DC has half-day PreS/PreK in a nice neighborhood (Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Chevy Chase) at a nice facility, and you have lots of control over the activities. In truth, it's a lot more like the pre-school and Kindergarten that most of us had when we were growing up, back before the days of all-day school for 3 year-olds.

For $50, you can buy yourself a lot of peace of mind.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yes, we have applied to 8 or so charter schools, but again, we could be shut out. Bridges would be a great choice for us--we can probably walk there in 25 min--but now that it is adding grades, it will probably have more applying for it through the lottery, so not as easy to get into.

I have planned to visit shining stars, as I have heard mixed things. But for a variety of reasons, I feel that montessori is probably a poor fit with my child, who has trouble self-directing and self-regulating. I am hoping for a tools of the mind curriculum or something similar.

I am curious about the DCPS co-ops. Are there older (4 year old) kids in them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on 6 waitlists, all wards 1 and 4 schools, for PS.

Decent shot at a few (numbers in the high 20s) and praying for charters. But if I'm shut out, not sure what we'll do. currently home daycare, but DS is already the oldest (december bday), time to leave. Didn't apply to private preschool (and with another younger kid, can't afford it unless full day, which is super not convenient too). Just hoping something decent comes through by September.

what about you? what are your options?

OP, there will be movement on ALL waitlists from now until Oct 5th (with most of it coming end-of-August through September). They don't call it the September shuffle for nothing. EVERY year DCPS sends out a list of the PS/PK programs that have available seats - and there will be lots of them. They probably won't be schools you like - definitely not long-term solutions (Miner, Langston, HD Cooke, etc.) - but it will buy you a year to get into something better, as a lot of schools expand at PK. Plus, the charter lotteries haven't even happened yet. There will be families who get more than one spot, but they'll hang on to them all summer and not release one (or more) until the first day of school. It happens every year. And of course, there's the DPR co-op, which is a bargain and available at some nice facilities (Chevy Chase, Georgetown, Glover Park, etc.)

http://dc.gov/DC/DPR/Programs+and+Services/Educational+Programs/Cooperative+Play/ci.Cooperative+Play.print

Everybody gets in somewhere. Again, it might not be a first (or second or third) choice, but there are always openings to choose from.

Anonymous wrote:Appletree and Bridges are wonderful options - I have experience at both, and can't IMAGINE paying for a preschool program when both the programs are free, and relatively easy to get into (Bridges went through entire waitlist by September last year, not sure what this year will bring).

Anonymous wrote:I'm on 6 waitlists, all wards 1 and 4 schools, for PS.

Decent shot at a few (numbers in the high 20s) and praying for charters. But if I'm shut out, not sure what we'll do. currently home daycare, but DS is already the oldest (december bday), time to leave. Didn't apply to private preschool (and with another younger kid, can't afford it unless full day, which is super not convenient too). Just hoping something decent comes through by September.

what about you? what are your options?

Anonymous wrote:We are currently on the waitlist at Cheesecake Factory. They gave us one of those buzzer things and told us the wait would be 30-40 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:We are currently on the waitlist at Cheesecake Factory. They gave us one of those buzzer things and told us the wait would be 30-40 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, if I was in your situation, I'd probably start investigating some of the daycares that have preschool programs. The one we're leaving for DCPS (Huckleberry Cheesecake) is great and if the lottery hadn't worked out for us, I would have been perfectly happy to leave her where she is until something else materialized. Their prices are obviously really steep and they may not have space, but I know of a couple spaces that will be opening up due to lottery winning.

May not be a great solution, but it was our back up plan.