2 1/2 hour upk in the public school my kids will attend or 4 hour nursery they already go to?

Just curious what you guys think. My district only gives half day upk. My kids will attend the public school with the upk for years to come. The other option is private nursery (where they already go) and the day is 1 1/2 hours longer. Upk doesn't have any meal times, private nursery does. Upk is free, and of course I like that, but I'm trying not to factor it too much. I feel like upk is a head start to real school. My mom thinks they'll get more out of the longer day where they are already comfortable.

Re: 2 1/2 hour upk in the public school my kids will attend or 4 hour nursery they already go to?

My district has half day UPK. Chloe did it last year and I made the right decision. She did UPK in am and then I drove her to her nursery school for the afternoon. There were 12 other kids doing same thing so it worked out. They all ate lunch as soon as they got to the afternoon school.

I would check if your private nursery school HS something like that they would do for you. Mine worked with us...

UPK was great, she got to know the school, she learned a lot and she knew many kids going into kindergarten....

I will say it was a lot of driving back and forth but to me worth it. It was only a year and I think Chloe was better situated when kindergarten started this past September..

In my opinion 2.5 hrs of school is not enough so I opted for more at our nursery school .maybe your district has extensions or you can find a place that does enrichment for children in your district...

Message edited 2/27/2014 8:49:41 AM.

2 1/2 hour upk in the public school my kids will attend or 4 hour nursery they already go to?

I've been looking into UPK for my son and went to some info sessions in my area which I found helpful.

The main advantage they listed, on top of the ones you said already (free and intro to school district) is that they provide screening and assessment.

We applied - if we get it, DS will spend most of the day in daycare and will be transported by daycare to/from the facility. The facility I chose is the one where he'll be attending for kindergarten enrichment (we have 1/2 day still) so it will help him get used to that and potentially meet more kids he will be heading to K with.