WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

My son will be 4 in September and for the past 2 years he's been attending a wonderful daycare appx. 10 minutes away from my house. They're open 7:30am-6pm, don't follow the school calendar and are open most of the time with exception of major holidays. They provide breakfast, hot lunches and snacks, the facility is beautiful and super clean. I love his teachers and they absolutely ADORE my son.

I registered him for Pre-K at a parochial school down the block from my house and the tuition is appx. 1/3 of what we're paying right now. The problem is that the program ends at 2pm everyday and we currently have someone that can pick him up at that time but only 2 days a week. I would have to figure out what to do with the remaining 3 since my husband and I both work full time and sometimes we work a lot of OT. At his current daycare, we have until 6pm to pick him and my nephew also attends this daycare and a lot of times my brother-in-law just scoops him up for us. We would not have this flexibility in the parochial school. The pros of him attending the parochial school is that it is a block away from my house, it is much cheaper and he would be exposed to the religion factor and would be exposed to the "school setting" early on. The con is that I have to figure out care for him for the remaining days and catholic schools have so much time off, and since we have amazing public schools in my area, most likely he will end up attending the public school from Kindergarten anyway. I would also have to provide lunch for him everyday.

I'm leaning towards keeping him at his current daycare and just bite the bullet and continue to pay this ridiculous tuition for the next year (they just increased it too). I want him to have stability and comfort and not change schools every year. Other than the distance part, it is convenient for me bc of the schedule and bc I dont have to worry about the lunches...

I'm just curious what others would do...would you make the change to save appx. $300-$400 a month (considering the after-school care)? Or would keep things as they are and just pay the extra?

Re: WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

I think, for convenience sake, I would stay put.

Re: WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

Do they do busing? Then you can just pay for after care to the day care?

That's what we plan to do when DD is in kindergarten.

Message edited 6/15/2011 12:08:17 PM.

Re: WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

The Catholic school doesn't do busing for Pre-K; does your daycare?

Re: WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

I would keep him in the current daycare (that's how it is for my son).

For all that it looks like you will save on paper the reality is that you might break even or lose money on the new arrangement. You may have to get someone to pick him up and that might cost you. You might have to lose out on the OT and that might cost you.

Does the school open at 7:30am like your daycare or is that not an issue?

Re: WWYD? Daycare/Pre-K related

There is no busing but they do offer an after-school program. I think the drop-off starts at 7:30am. My thing is that he is still so young and I don't want him to go to an after-school or take the bus. I would have had it to where someone would pick him up and 2pm and care for him at my house (since I live a block away). I know thats what will happen eventually (when he goes to Kindergarten) but I just don't want to rush it. It would be nice to save a few hundred but I think I would break even (with extra lunch food and after-school care).