Moving to Ann Arbor, need help finding a school and summer child care!
May 3, 2016 10:35 AM
What are good summer and fall school/child care options for a kindergarten-bound child in Ann Arbor, MI?
I'm pursuing an employment opportunity in Ann Arbor, MI, and it will require me to move there within the next 40 days. The most important thing I care about is finding the right school for my son for summer and fall. He's entering Kindergarten this year after several years in a private preschool/kindergarten curriculum. The challenge is that we are moving during summer, and I assume most summer child care/summer camp style programs are booked. Because I work full time, I will need care for him from 8:00 - 6:00 pm in one form or another.
Two major questions:
1. For those familiar with Ann Arbor (and surrounding areas), what public elementary schools are good for the fall? (Yes, I already looked on greatschools.org)
1a. If your child goes to public school in the fall, where do they go all day during the summer in/around Ann Arbor?
2. What private schools with summer programs are good and worth looking into?
2a. Is anyone familiar with Daycroft or Emerson?
I am not interested in in-home child care or a KinderCare style daycare, and I am cool with Montessori.
Please and thank you!
I'm pursuing an employment opportunity in Ann Arbor, MI, and it will require me to move there within the next 40 days. The most important thing I care about is finding the right school for my son for summer and fall. He's entering Kindergarten this year after several years in a private preschool/kindergarten curriculum. The challenge is that we are moving during summer, and I assume most summer child care/summer camp style programs are booked. Because I work full time, I will need care for him from 8:00 - 6:00 pm in one form or another.
Two major questions:
1. For those familiar with Ann Arbor (and surrounding areas), what public elementary schools are good for the fall? (Yes, I already looked on greatschools.org)
1a. If your child goes to public school in the fall, where do they go all day during the summer in/around Ann Arbor?
2. What private schools with summer programs are good and worth looking into?
2a. Is anyone familiar with Daycroft or Emerson?
I am not interested in in-home child care or a KinderCare style daycare, and I am cool with Montessori.
Please and thank you!
Summers knoll is a wonderful private K-8 scho with great summer programs. No idea if they are full yet.
Ann Arbor public schools are generally very good.
posted by leslies at 2:27 PM on May 3, 2016
Ann Arbor public schools are generally very good.
posted by leslies at 2:27 PM on May 3, 2016
There's this Great Start filterable list of all the daycares and preschools with ratings and links to the state inspection reports that might be helpful. Beware that some private preschools have a Summer break!
I'm afraid I don't have a personal recommendation for day care this summer. I think people sometimes cobble together various weekly rec and ed camps or use one of the daycares that open to older children in the summer.
As people upthread have mentioned, public schools seem good. The public schools do have a more academic orientation for kindergarten than might be right for some children. Some of the schools have a Young Fives program for children who could enter kindergarten by age, but might not be ready. This is only available for children turning 5 between May 1st and December 1st. If your local school doesn't have Young Fives, you can request to go to one that does.
Since you asked about private schools, I know parents who have been quite happy with the Steiner School for the early years. It might be a better, less academic, environment for kindergarten, although the flip side is that it might be a tough move out to the public schools later because of the public school's emphasis on early reading. They also have a summer day camp. Also the semi-local heavy-hitter, Cranbrook, has a lower school program, if you are willing to go that far out of town, Brookside. They also have a day camp.
posted by SandiBeech at 7:53 AM on May 5, 2016
I'm afraid I don't have a personal recommendation for day care this summer. I think people sometimes cobble together various weekly rec and ed camps or use one of the daycares that open to older children in the summer.
As people upthread have mentioned, public schools seem good. The public schools do have a more academic orientation for kindergarten than might be right for some children. Some of the schools have a Young Fives program for children who could enter kindergarten by age, but might not be ready. This is only available for children turning 5 between May 1st and December 1st. If your local school doesn't have Young Fives, you can request to go to one that does.
Since you asked about private schools, I know parents who have been quite happy with the Steiner School for the early years. It might be a better, less academic, environment for kindergarten, although the flip side is that it might be a tough move out to the public schools later because of the public school's emphasis on early reading. They also have a summer day camp. Also the semi-local heavy-hitter, Cranbrook, has a lower school program, if you are willing to go that far out of town, Brookside. They also have a day camp.
posted by SandiBeech at 7:53 AM on May 5, 2016
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Options for full-day, all-summer-long summer camp are surprisingly limited here, but the Ann Arbor YMCA has a gorgeous, new facility and provides excellent programming that covers the 8-6 timeframe and caters to pre-K as well as older kids. This is where my public-school-going children go all summer. Some programs are full by now but not all.
Some of the local preschools have 'summer camp' for younger kids and may still have openings - those that cater to academics can have an enrollment dropoff in summer. Here is one we did for both sons in their pre-K year, and it is quite good: http://www.anniescc.com/annieswp/staff-changes/
The public schools are quite good here, Angell and Wines get particularly high marks.
posted by Ausamor at 12:09 PM on May 3, 2016