The Advantages of Afternoon Classes
Sometimes the thought of sending your child to an afternoon class can catch you off guard, but there are a number of
advantages to that schedule.
A lot of children like to take their time in the morning. They get up and stay in their pajamas for a while, have a relaxed morning schedule, eat a leisurely breakfast, read some books with an adult, and then get dressed for the day. For a lot of these children, to get them up, dressed, fed, and ready to leave for school by 8:15 or 8:30 would feel like a huge rush. Racing around increases the potential for conflict and can often create anxiety or a knot in a child’s stomach, all of which
gets the day off to a poor start. Some children are just not morning people. Children are often full of their own ideas in the morning; it’s in the afternoon that they become bored and start to look to you for ideas and entertainment. When they are in an afternoon class, they get to come to school where the learning is fun and interesting, and they are never bored.
Some families are concerned about an afternoon schedule because their child naps. Most children drop their naps between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old, and, if they haven’t, it is usually because a parent makes them nap for a particular reason of their own. Children that are dropping their naps just as school is starting in the fall will often fall asleep in their car seat on the ride home for the first weeks of school.
In our 41 years of afternoon classes, only two or three children have had trouble adjusting to an afternoon schedule due to tiredness. Some families seek out an afternoon class, since it fits their schedules so well or because they live further away and won’t have to deal with morning rush hour traffic. Many of the families that go into an afternoon class with some doubts fall in love with the afternoon schedule, because it is so family friendly.
If any of this applies to you, please give it your consideration when choosing your class.