does your kindergartner ride the bus?

[VBMama]

Just curious. Ds is really excited about riding the bus next year for kindy, and I'm trying to figure out if it would simplify my child care so that I could add one more morning at work. Dh thinks it would be no problem, but I'm hesitant. 5 seems pretty young to send off on the bus! Also we live in a rural area, so it would likely be a long ride. I'm thinking about one day/week. Anyone have good/bad experiences with kindergarten and the bus?

[cchrissyy]

My boy loves it. The bus is cool and it's a clear transition point to mark the start of his school day. It's also the safest way to get to school and better for the environment and traffic, so we're big fans
his ride is 20-25 minutes and he goes every morning.

[Drummer's Wife]

mine does. He has his big sis, who is in 2nd grade, with him but honestly, I'd be okay with him riding it alone if he had to. The bus-stop is right on the corner of our road and I know the kids who ride it with him.

I agree that it's safer than driving a car to and from school everyday (and gosh, have you seen some school's pick-up circle nightmare?)

I love that we aren't responsible for transportation. Love it. Makes my life a million times easier than in the past where I drove to and from two different schools.

[Alyantavid]

Mine did. He only rode in the afternoons. Now that he's in first grade (and dh can't spend afternoons with him) he rides morning and afternoon.

[meemee]

my dd sooooo bad wanted to do the bus last year in K. but it wasnt doable for us. there were a few glitches during start up. but all the students who took the bus (over half of them) all had a great time and i heard no one complain. this year unfortunately she goes to a school that doesnt have a school bus.

my only concern would be could your child get bus sick.

i also found with most of the 4 year olds i know 4 1/2 is a magical point. suddenly they grow up out of the blue and are ready for school.

one thing to consider. for my dd and her friends and almost all kids in general, their favorite time in school is recess. to my dd's friends who took the bus - riding the bus was like recess time for them. they loved riding with their classmates and formed a closer bond than just spending lunch time and recess together. so i would say just go for the whole deal. and then see how he does.

once scheduled i have found its v. difficult to change the bus schedule. so it would be easier to go from 5 days in the bus to later changing your mind to one day in bus. but if you chose one day a week and then wanted to change it to 5 days or even 3 days a week it might not be that easy.

i volunteer in the school and last year i helped with the bus route and got that going so i learnt a lot about buses without having a child ride one.

[VBMama]

Thanks for the positive stories, that helps me feel better about it!

I think he would like the social aspect, especially since we don't have many immediate neighbor kids out here in the country, so he would get to see who else lives out in the sticks like us. Meemee, I had no idea I would have to schedule our bus days! I just thought it would be like when I was a kid and it would come by, and if you were there on time you hopped on. The good news is that since we are country dwellers, it would come right to our house. Guess I'll find out the details at kindy roundup in a few weeks.

[BCFD]

I rode the bus in kindy and it was my favorite part of the day! We lived in a semi-rural/semi-suburb, but it was also the early 70's. My mom said she followed the bus to school on my first day to make sure I was ok (and probably for weeks, but she won't fess up!). The school we are planning on sending our children to is a charter school with no bus service, but as a mom I would be out of my mind with worry to send my child alone on a bus. I'm just neurotic like that tho. I will also have young kindy students (4 y.o.), so if they were a little older I might feel differently (like 25! Heh.)

[midnightmommy]

My son rides the bus. They aren't strict about having a schedule, but they do take role of who rode the bus. They seem to keep a good eye on making sure someone knows where they are all the time from your door to school and back. I really like that.

[VBMama]

He has a Jan birthday, so he will be on the older end of the class. He does have some trouble following directions, so I would need to feel confident someone at the school would make sure he got on the bus at the end of the day, like you said, midnightmommy. Since the bus would come right to our house, it's only the school end of things I would have to worry about.

[cedoreilly]

My two oldest are in kindergarten and ride the bus both ways. They do great and it even includes having to change buses at the neighborhood school before going onto the kindergarten building (they had aides which make sure the kindergartens do the change and ride on the kindergarten bus). It is a long ride for them in the morning. From the time they leave the bus stop until they get to the school is 45 minutes (we are the first stop).

[meemee]

VBmama - the teacher walks the kids to the bus and puts them on herself. she also HAS to go and get them from the bus to the class. i know two other schools who do that. but i dont know if that is the norm or not.

she keeps tabs on who is riding the bus or not. and it is SHE who reminds the children that they are supposed to take the bus today. the kids line up at two entrances in the bus and not bus group. it was funny you would see the non bus children yell 'hey simon arent you taking the bus today?' it was so funny. everyone kept tabs on everyone. it was so sweet. its something they do. i notice with the different school too. someone else always picks up someone's jacket, lunch pail when the owner has forgotten about them. it so cracks me up to see the whole knows whose jacket it is. or the rolled eyes when they see whose jacket is still there 'oh its nicole's. she ALWAYS forgets.' it so cracks me up.

it seems if that is your concern a call to the school of what their bus pick up and drop off from school policy will answer your question.

lots of kids here ride the bus. so to make sure everyone has a seat (coz they have different buses that take different routes) you couldnt just hop on and hop off.

[cchrissyy]

Yeah, our school's K teacher personally takes the kids to the bus and watches them get on. Also, the driver knows which kids belong on the bus, so between the two of them they truly know if everybody who was in school that day made it on board.

[lnitti]

my dd will be 5 in March and starting kindy in Sept. She has wanted to ride the bus since last summer when all her day care friends were leaving day care because they were going to start Kindy in the fall. She has been begging ever since to go to school and rider the school bus.

I have no concerns about her riding the bus when school starts.

Our district however has very strict rules. The bus schedule MUST be the same all 5 days of the week. We need child care 3 afternoons a week, but that won't work with busing. One child care option is at the school, so she would need to be bussed just two afternoons per week, but they refuse. It has to be all 5 days or no days. So if we only do childcare 3 afternoons, then I have to pick her up from school on the other days - right in the middle of dd2's nap time. Or I have to put her in childcare all 5 days so that I can pick her up at my convenience (after dd2's nap) on those two days.

So we are looking at most likely having to pay for extra child care that we don't need and can't afford because the bus schedule MUST be the same all 5 days.

The transportation department told me the concern is that if the school accidentally put your kid on the bus on a day they were supposed to transfer to child care, then the kid would come home with no one at home.

[cchrissyy]

"The transportation department told me the concern is that if the school accidentally put your kid on the bus on a day they were supposed to transfer to child care, then the kid would come home with no one at home."

somehow my big urban district gets this right without problems. At the begining of the school year, each family simply fills out a sheet of where the kid goes on which week days after school. And then the driver, teacher, and office all know it. Changes are made by calling the office and transportation dept, that way both driver and teacher will know about the update.

My boy rides home 2 days and rides to aftercare 3 days

[FondestBianca]

well, 5 would be fine so long as your ds has someone at pick ups and drop offs so he is not left alone at the bus stop. Aside from that the only thing that I think could make it a negitive experience would be the other kids on the bus. If it's an all ages bus that transports k-12 I might be a bit hesitant as there is quite a bit of unsavory behavior and conversation on the bus with older kids. If it's a gradeschool only bus I'd only be concerned about bullying situations. If your ds doesn't have problems at school it is likely he won't on the bus either.

however, in my case the last statement wasn't true. I grew up out in the country a ways and had a relitivly long bus ride. My gradeschool was the only lone school in that district that was away from town so there were only k-6 then k-5 when they changed attending grades. I was not bullied at school on more than 2 occasions but, was frequently bullied by older kids on the bus. I was quiet, shy, and kept to myself on the bus until I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Prior to 3rd or 4th grade I was targeted for some unknown reason and tormented with either ludeness from one older boy in particular (to which everyone else thought was quite funny : ) or had my physical appearence made fun of by another older boy (this boy also ate chapstick for sport so I know now that I shouldn't have taken his words to heart so much ).

so, if there isn't a huge age range on the bus, if he can be accompanied at the bus stop, and your ds does well socially I'd say let him ride!

[lnitti]

Originally Posted by cchrissyy

"The transportation department told me the concern is that if the school accidentally put your kid on the bus on a day they were supposed to transfer to child care, then the kid would come home with no one at home."

somehow my big urban district gets this right without problems. At the begining of the school year, each family simply fills out a sheet of where the kid goes on which week days after school. And then the driver, teacher, and office all know it. Changes are made by calling the office and transportation dept, that way both driver and teacher will know about the update.

My boy rides home 2 days and rides to aftercare 3 days

Lucky you! that is exactly what we wanted - 3 days after care and 2 days on the bus. But they refuse to do it.

Our district is quite large too, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.

[meemee]

Originally Posted by lnitti

Lucky you! that is exactly what we wanted - 3 days after care and 2 days on the bus. But they refuse to do it.

Our district is quite large too, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.

initti that SUCKS!!!! i am in a capital city but i have never heard that any bus system here where you HAVE TO GO 5 days a week. wouldnt work for most parents.

of course now my dd goes to a school which doesnt even have a bus system. so no buses to that school.

[mumm]

My kids love the bus. I never rode as a child AND my son's preschool teacher said he would never be able to handle it in K. He loved it from the second week on. Now I don't even go to the bus stop with my 2nd grader and Kindergartner. I've given them the choice of staying home longer in the morning (by about 30 minutes) and then driving them but they'd rather ride the bus.

I think it is good because it is pure socialization time. They are with kids of all ages, gender, etc and it puts them out of their comfort zone a bit, socially.

The bus drivers are over cautious imo so I don't worry about their safety.

The most fun though is taking the a different bus to someone else's house. :: They just LOVE that.

[Kristine233]

Originally Posted by cchrissyy

"The transportation department told me the concern is that if the school accidentally put your kid on the bus on a day they were supposed to transfer to child care, then the kid would come home with no one at home."

somehow my big urban district gets this right without problems. At the begining of the school year, each family simply fills out a sheet of where the kid goes on which week days after school. And then the driver, teacher, and office all know it. Changes are made by calling the office and transportation dept, that way both driver and teacher will know about the update.

My boy rides home 2 days and rides to aftercare 3 days

Ditto. All 3 kids did the bus and the only time one of them didn't was my DS who was having some social-bus-overstimulation issues and took the spec ed van for a year.

My kindergartner even rides by herself when siblings are sick with no issues. They do a funky schedule of afterschool care and going home as well. Some days they stay at school, and that means my 9 year old has to take a bus from her school to the other elem school or siblings go to and during basketball season she takes yet a different bus to another school for practice. I was really nervous with all the bus swapping and funky schedule but the school has only made one mistake, they sent my youngest to afterschool care instead of home. (which, if they ever have any doubt, to afterschool care they go) No big deal, I just picked her up. Kids get walked out to the bus by the teachers or aids and the younger ones sit in front. The kids know if they end up at home by accident they just go to a neighbor's house and call me.

I was also a bus driver for 2 years and that probably helps with my anxiety about the bus. I knew I always watched out for the kids on my bus and expect the same of my kids' drivers. I keep an open line of communication with the school and transportation office and have never hesitated in calling them if I think there is an issue to be resolved. Yes, I'm "that" parent. lol

[lnitti]

Originally Posted by mumm

The most fun though is taking the a different bus to someone else's house. :: They just LOVE that.

Another thing not allowed in our school district! I bet that it would be fun for the kids!