Child Care for Year-Round Students?

[mrsfrenchy]

Ok, I know that school is a long way off for my DD (she's only 1) but since our top pick for school for her (at the moment) is a local charter school that's year round, this is something I'm curious about.

For those of you that work (or even if you don't, I'm sure your kids have friends whose parents both work), how do you handle child care during the breaks throughout the year (for this particular school, it's 3 weeks off of school, 9 weeks in school).

I know that with a traditional schedule, there are summer camps, etc to enroll kids in while parents are at work, but I'm not sure what to do during a 3 week fall or spring break.

What do you (or your kids' friends' parents) do?

[crl]

Our district has one year-around school. It also has child development centers (cdc), which offer after school care and care during school breaks. One of the cdc's has a bus that runs from the year-round school to the cdc and offers after school and school break care for those kids. I'm not sure exactly how the school break care works, because my child is in a regular school year school that the cdc also serves. Since the number of kids in the year round school is smaller they may be grouped with a wider age range during their breaks? I just don't know.

Catherine

[The Hidden Life]

I would guess that if there are several charter schools in your area on the year-round schedule that local child care providers have adapted to meet those needs, perhaps offering three-week camps during breaks instead of just traditional summer day camps.

If not, why not suggest to one of them that they start such a program? By the time your 1yo is ready for school, perhaps a better system will be in place.

[Peony]

The schools around here are not year around but the town's park and rec dept has day camps every day that school is out for holidays, during the summer and after school. It provides cheap, fun care for school aged children.

[Ceili]

We don't have year round school here, but almost every place in town that does a summer camp also have "holiday" camp for when the schools are out for winter/spring breaks.

[mrsfrenchy]

OP here:
all the other year-round schools in our area are within larger schools who also have a traditional schedule for the majority of their students. So the year round kids who need a 'day camp' of sorts are just condensed into a few classrooms at their school.

This school is the only one that is year round without being part of a larger, traditional school system.

It's good to know about "holiday" camps for regular breaks though, even if our kids ended up going to the regular county public schools **shudder** those could come in handy if they're in our area.

[crl]

You might just call the school and ask. They probably know what families do. Or they might be able to hook you up with the PTA president who would almost certainly know.

Catherine