Things That Are Bothering You, Got You All Hibbeldy-Jibbeldy, or just downright pissed, RIGHT NOW!

[ValidusLA]

What’s JPK? Junior Pre-kindergarten?

Yes, used to be called Nursery in my day.
3 year olds basically. She will actually turn 4 the first month of school and I'm happy to have her be oldest in class, but the prices in LA for 3 year olds to go play and color are insane.

 

[Fueco]

We have universal pre-k for four-year olds here in Colorado. Next year, it’s going to be five half days per week, and we’ll pay for the other half.

It’s going to be nice to have three kids at school during the week.

 

[Texasmade]

Yes, used to be called Nursery in my day.
3 year olds basically. She will actually turn 4 the first month of school and I'm happy to have her be oldest in class, but the prices in LA for 3 year olds to go play and color are insane.

Isn't that just called daycare? I can't believe kids have to be accepted into JPK like they're applying to an Ivy League school.

 

[double00]

We have universal pre-k for four-year olds here in Colorado. Next year, it’s going to be five half days per week, and we’ll pay for the other half.

It’s going to be nice to have three kids at school during the week.

which is great if you happen to like the available public programs . although perhaps the public option straightens out the private options that seems possible .

Isn't that just called daycare? I can't believe kids have to be accepted into JPK like they're applying to an Ivy League school.

we have friends back in the sf Bay area who sent their kiddos to a Chinese language immersion daycare and it sounds like that went great but then they couldn't get into the one area charter school where they could continue the language learning . I think the list was very impacted . so they might have opted for a private school ? not sure .

anyways point is the issue doesn't stop at daycare . my kiddo is an amazing learner but didn't get the consideration he needed with social learning so he ended up flaming out of the local public school by 2nd grade . this was after the pandemic and they just didn't want to deal with him but he does speak Spanish now so w/e . he's much happier at his charter school and we will be there through 5th grade but then it all starts again .

 

[Texasmade]

And I thought China’s Gaokao was absurd…

 

[brokencycle]

Isn't that just called daycare? I can't believe kids have to be accepted into JPK like they're applying to an Ivy League school.

For styleforum middle-class, they need to send their offspring to extremely selective, extremely expensive daycare. Sure there is zero evidence it has any impact on socio-economic or educational outcomes, but it helps them signal to the right people that they're in the same class as them.

 

[mhip]

For styleforum middle-class, they need to

not have kids.
It's nice not having anything cut into my wine subscription, clothes, eating out everyday funds.

 

[Fueco]

.

 

[venividivicibj]

Got my daughter's acceptance today for her JPK for next year....its 3k more than the already exorbitant price I thought it was.

'acceptance' - do they reject kids?

 

[brokencycle]

not have kids.
It's nice not having anything cut into my wine subscription, clothes, eating out everyday funds.

Bro, this makes you sound like you're not even NYC middle-class much less styleforum middle-class.

For styleforum middle-class, they need to send their offspring to extremely selective, extremely expensive daycare. Sure there is zero evidence it has any impact on socio-economic or educational outcomes, but it helps them signal to the right people that they're in the same class as them.

I say this with nothing but love for folks like Validus, and I get the impulse.

Before I had kids I listened to the Freakonomics podcast where they interviewed economists about having kids and they almost universally spent vast sums on their kids on stuff that they admitted the research says has no impact (but what if it does and the research is wrong?). I couldn't believe it. Here were well educated and extremely successful and well respected economists who are supposed to be completely data driven making purely emotional decisions.

As I look for a new house, I start looking at places and get an emotional response "well, this house is in the district of only an 8/10 school..."

 

[ValidusLA]

'acceptance' - do they reject kids?

Yes.
It's fairly competitive. It's a JPK-8th private school.

 

[venividivicibj]

Yes.
It's fairly competitive. It's a JPK-8th private school.

I'm assuming somewhere in the San Marino/Pasadena area?

 

[double00]

C’mon, man, I live in Boulder. The public schools here provide the pre schoolers with free range organic crayons and acid free paper to color with, just like the private schools.

sure . but that doesn't mean that your kiddo won't run into some issue in their actual experience . that to me is the reason to look at alternatives otherwise I would readily agree mainstream public route is great . it's the reason we bought in this neighborhood a few years before kiddo was of age , all of the public schools are walking distance etc .

we just got his scores and my kiddo consistently tests 99th or 98th percentile ( he's in 3rd grade fwiw ) . and it's true : it wouldn't make a difference where he was ; he would 'perform' at a similar level regardless b/c people in essence teach themselves . the autodidacts are the ones who naturally intuit that and my kiddo's just built like that .

otoh he was having a terrible time at his public school b/c his teachers were frankly bad and didn't care about kids . so now what ? it's not about results it's about facilitating a person building themselves and really about quality of caregiving / instruction . if the adults dgaf it's a problem . and this was supposed to be a good district .

and especially at 3 and 4 years old , as the first 5 years really are important to a kiddo's development , i'd say there are benefits beyond * socio-economic or educational * outcomes to the environment a kid spends ~40 hours a week of their very young life in ( if we are talking daycare ) and ~30+ hours a week in a school schedule .

 

[ValidusLA]

I'm assuming somewhere in the San Marino/Pasadena area?

That is correct. Pasadena public schools are....not great. B

 

[Fueco]

sure . but that doesn't mean that your kiddo won't run into some issue in their actual experience . that to me is the reason to look at alternatives otherwise I would readily agree mainstream public route is great . it's the reason we bought in this neighborhood a few years before kiddo was of age , all of the public schools are walking distance etc .

we just got his scores and my kiddo consistently tests 99th or 98th percentile ( he's in 3rd grade fwiw ) . and it's true : it wouldn't make a difference where he was ; he would 'perform' at a similar level regardless b/c people in essence teach themselves . the autodidacts are the ones who naturally intuit that and my kiddo's just built like that .

otoh he was having a terrible time at his public school b/c his teachers were frankly bad and didn't care about kids . so now what ? it's not about results it's about facilitating a person building themselves and really about quality of caregiving / instruction . if the adults dgaf it's a problem . and this was supposed to be a good district .

and especially at 3 and 4 years old , as the first 5 years really are important to a kiddo's development , i'd say there are benefits beyond * socio-economic or educational * outcomes to the environment a kid spends ~40 hours a week of their very young life in ( if we are talking daycare ) and ~30+ hours a week in a school schedule .

Teaching my kids that if they have any problem they should throw money at it and run away is the last thing I want to do.

Our public schools aren’t the top in the state, but they’re close. All of the teachers and administrators my kids or I have interacted with have been great.

My oldest boy has ADHD and is, to say the least, a handful. The most recent report from his teacher is that he is excelling at math (97%), doing well in reading, and is a model student. He also has a good group of friends.

If we’d given up on the school when he was in pre school, who knows what would’ve happened.

And then there’s diversity, investing in the entire community (not just the wealthy folks sending their kids to private schools), and the fact the school is at least within easy bicycling distance.