https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:25:45 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856131 Sun, 11 Nov 2018 14:22:11 +0000 hitchhiker 2856131@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pachamama: freeforestschool.org. it's basically child-directed playing in the woods with snacks and a couple songs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856130 Sun, 11 Nov 2018 14:16:51 +0000 pachamama 2856130@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hitchhiker: free forest school?!! What is that?? And FWIW my in-laws are like "geez, for what you pay (🤑🤑), you should just have him come up to our house and play in the freakin woods"(they live in 7 wooded acres🤣). It's kinda sad one of our area's most expensive childcare options is the most bare bones you can find (outdoors, no toys, no lights, super simple food, etc) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856118 Sun, 11 Nov 2018 11:32:17 +0000 hitchhiker 2856118@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pachamama: thanks for sharing your experience! I'm envious that your son goes to an outdoor school. My daughter would love that, but we can't make the logistics work. So we try to take her to Free Forest School whenever we can. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856081 Sat, 10 Nov 2018 15:34:26 +0000 pachamama 2856081@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son is exactly your daughters age and we are in a similar position! We love it :+) He goes to a play based, (overcrowded) in-home daycare 3 days a week (now just 1 day actually bc I took leave from work) and a super crunchy outdoor Waldorf preschool 2 days a week. And also my mom watches him a lot. Not only is he fine, he seems to like the change up! The two philosophies are fine and he adapts easily.<br /> One thing I do is run through his day ..."ok tomorrow is Waldorf then Nana picks you up, then you nap, then mama picks you up!" He likes knowing "the plan".<br /> The only challenge is keeping track of his many many items of clothing at the 3 different places. Lots of name labels!!🤣 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856028 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 20:47:31 +0000 Pollywog 2856028@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think she'd be fine. I really encourage play based learning. All the research points to it making the kids so much more engaged and ready to learn. I'm sure she'd adjust to the two schools easily. Most of my son's friends have no problem with two different schools </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856022 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 19:24:01 +0000 hitchhiker 2856022@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lioneyes: great to know. Thanks! I suspect once she got used to it it would be fine. It's funny, because we are also talking about getting an au pair and sending her 3 days a week to the neighborhood preschool. DH doesn't think she would be confused by that, but it's not really any different! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2856008 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:19:19 +0000 lioneyes 2856008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hitchhiker he had just turned 3. I thought it would be too much for him doing 5 days/week bc beforebthat he was only in school 3, but after like a 2-3 week breaking in periodhe was really fine and the switching between the 2 (last year he did M/T/T and W/F) never bothered him. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2855966 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:50:49 +0000 hitchhiker 2855966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lioneyes: Thanks for your experience! How old was he when he started going to the 2 different places? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2855965 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:44:52 +0000 lioneyes 2855965@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son goes to 2 different preschools- M/W/F is about 15-18 kids, play based, lot of art projects and free play. They do story and snacktime daily. T/Th he's at a very small program (6 kids, 3 teachers) for kids with speech delays. They do a lot of worksheets and it's run by a speech therapist. The 2 are very different but he can definitely handle the changing between the places, now that he knows that's his routine (he has been in the 2 different schools since last Christmas). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/experience-with-two-different-daycares-at-the-same-time#post-2855958 Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:32:13 +0000 hitchhiker 2855958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are trying to decide whether we should put DD2 (2.75 yo) into a preschool near our house two days per week so I could work from home. She would go to her current daycare the other 3 days. The daycares are pretty different - the one near our house is locally run, heavily play-based, child-directed, and just a little "looser." When we toured today the director gave us the example of a months long "unit" based on the kids' interest in dogs (e.g., counting dogs in the park, going to the library to check out books on dogs, etc.) Her current daycare is a national chain, definitely has a focus on play, but has a set corporate curriculum. We like both - so that's not an issue. But we are a little worried that she will be confused by the different people and the different paces. My husband is vaguely worried that she will not get the full benefit of either experience. </p> <p>Have you sent your child to two different daycares at the same time? How was your experience? </p>