Fall Literacy Programs for Children

6 pm is dinner here. and no one in my house does well if that is late. (the crabbies start then the whinies and following that is the oh so fun tantrums. dh included) so that time does not work for us. 4-5 is what would fit MY family. or 7-8 but 8 is bedtime so we would have crabbies the next day if we did that.

we could swing a 6 if dinner were to be served as well or even 5-6 if a dinner was offered after, but we have several food allergies and cooking for us is not easy

Right after school is best and the absolute best would be arranging a school bus to take the kids directly from school to your program. If it was any other time, we would not participate.

That's tough because even though making it later will be better traffic wise you will then be cutting into dinner/family time and may lose some people because of that.
Honestly the only literacy program my kids participated in happened after school and was connected to the after school program so there was no getting them there, they just went directly on their own and I picked them up after. I don't think we would have driven to something for just one hour a week.
Good luck I hope it works out!

I think the very best time is the hour right after school...and meet at the school. That is what works for most people I know. So here where I live it would be from 4-5pm. If you cannot do it at the school then it would probably be too hard for a lot of people to make it. I guess 5-6pm might work. Our kids are starving at this time though! I could give them a snack and then afterwards we could come home for dinner. Good luck.

The 6 pm time would work much better for me. I get home by 4 30 fix dinner eat between 5 or 6 depending on activities. I think 3rd-6th could handle a 7 pm end time.

This conversation would not be an issue if this was a dance program or sports program that parents were paying for. they would be there when ever you decided. dinners would be eaten in the car, betimes would be adjusted.

I would be curious about how far many parents come, I can't imagine most people get out of work by 5 to make it from the 5-6 range. I guess it depends on your clientele... wealthy Stay at home moms? underpriveledge mom's who don't work? 9-5's with day care close by?

just an idea, i know you said you can't change the location, does that include moving to a building on campus closer to the entrance or with better parking? sometimes there are empty rooms in other buildings that could suite your purpose and make it a little easier for parents

eitehr way good luck and i hope you have a successful program

Well, I would say no. Wednesday is typically an evening for church. We've had dance on Wednesday evenings for years but it is over before church starts. Otherwise we'd not take that class.

I think that half an hour right after school, at school actually, twice per week in the most it should be needed.

Why?

Because if kids are needing more time than that, out of school, for tutoring in reading then it's likely they have a learning disability and the school needs to step in and do testing so these kids can get an IEP that will provide special services and accommodations for them.

A friend of mine had a tutor for reading for her daughter. Even 2 hours a week wasn't enough to bring her F up to a C so she could pass her grade. She also had special reading group during her school day.

They paid this tutor something like $40 per hour.

This child was not learning anything so they stopped spending their money. They did the evaluation through school and she has an information processing issue. No matter how much tutoring they'd have done it wouldn't have changed anything. This child is in 6th grade and they JUST stopped the tutoring and did the evaluation.

SO if special reading help in school and half an hour once or twice per week of specific tutoring isn't fixing the problem 100% then it's not fixable with extra focus.

Are parents required to be there? Could you have it immediately after school and have a transport van take the kids from school to the campus? I agree with you that it's pretty much impossible for parents to get home from work and turn around to be anywhere by 5:15.

But, 6PM also doesn't work, because when things are at 6, there is no time to eat beforehand, and it's too late to eat after - unless you are planning to have pizza at the program. That would be a big plus - literacy program AND I don't have to worry about making dinner that night. :)

If it's not right after school and you can't provide dinner, I'd suggest 7-8pm.

I would think that early evening (6-7 pm) is going to run into the problem of kids being tired out from a long day at school and really needing to get home to rest. Probably your 5:15 time is the outer limit for an after school activity. I think any time when parents need to transport kids to an activity on weekdays, there will be issues with convenience and timing. NO time will be easy, given that most parents have work obligations. Ideally, if there was a young kids' service organization which had established transportation to it from the schools, that problem would be solved. I know you said you can't move the location (or day), but frankly, I think the only way you are going to resolve the problem is if parents don't have to transport their kids there because it's occurring at the school immediately after school ends or transportation is provided by the school/city/whatever to the location.

I think the later time is problematic due to people trying to get dinner into their kids, then throw them in the car and drive them to the university. I'm not sure what the program entails, but perhaps you could turn it into a picnic (so kids bring sandwiches or wraps for a no-cook dinner) as long as they aren't touching the books with sticky hands. Maybe extend the program by 15-20 minutes for "picnic" and then 55-60 minutes for "reading"?

Perhaps you could have a few volunteers at the door so parents could drop the kids and then find parking while the volunteers escort the kids inside?

I would think this is a big age range for both the reading subjects and the time frame though, but it might be helpful for parents with several children in the program. Little kids could even come in their pajamas so they'd be ready for bed when they got home, just needing a quick toothbrushing.

But if the kids have after school activities, then need dinner and a reading program, it's a very long day, even for 6th graders.

6:00-7:00 is probably the most frustrating time of all for activities, in my opinion. You have to make a very early dinner to get there on time, or have the kids eat afterwards, which then usually means getting them to bed late. I prefer activities to be over no later than 6:30 and ideally before 6:00. When my son has sports practices, we have no control over times and often run into scheduling problems. However, I would never choose a class that went from 6-7.

If parking and walking to class is an issue, can you create a dropoff zone where a staff member will wait for the children? This would probably save the parents anywhere from 5-15 minutes and might make it easier for them to get there on time. You could have the class from 5:00 - 6:00, with a staff member waiting at the drop off zone from 4:45 - 4:55. Make sure parents know that the kids will be walked to class five minutes before starting and that a staff member will not be there for any late arrivals.