Children Costs - for post daycare parents

[2buttons]

Quick question. In a HCOL area. 2 kids. Paying daycare costs that amount to a big mortgage every month. It amounts to a large chunk of monthly expenses.

My question is, what can I anticipate for a drop in child costs once the kids enter into public school? Will have to have after school care, but no idea what the delta is, and have not heard what those costs may be. Will our costs drop by 1/3rd? 50%? More? 

Any experienced parents, would love to hear your real world knowledge.

Thanks!

[Stachetastic]

Great question! I'm not quite there yet (preschooler), but I've started wondering this as well. In our situation, it would be so easy to ask our sitter what she charges for before/after school, but we've got a whole year of preschool yet, so I don't want to seem too anxious. LOL

[Sibley]

You best bet is probably to do some research, as there's going to be a lot of variables in who provides care, how long, etc.

[skeptic]

In our HCOL area with a young post-daycare kid we pay 225/month for 10 months of after-school (which is run at our school... it would certainly be more if you had to hire a babysitter for those hours) and set aside 3000 for other childcare, almost all of which is summers but a little bit is paying for care on random days off that we can't cover ourselves. We've actually been spending closer to 2000 for the other childcare instead of 3000, but it would be easy to spend that much or more and we just happened to have lucked out and found some cheap decent summer camps.

Spread over 12 months, and using the 3000 number, that's 437.5/mo, compared to the 1250/mo we were spending at a home-based daycare (and still are for our younger one), which is on the low side for our area.

[ETBen]

My child care was your typical $350+ per week. Now that they are in school, aftercare is $220 per week per kid. Before care would be an equal amount. Summer daycamps are about $275 per week. I probably spend 100 per month on activities. Scouts sports etc. I've heard that all goes up as they get older.

I'm not sure if my costs are normal but I live in the Baltimore and DC metro areas.

[crispy]

I live in a MCOL, and we pay $115 week for two kids for aftercare at school.  If we used a private facility, it would be about $160.  In the summer, we use the same program, and it costs $160 per week for two kids and there was $100 activity fee. 

[Stachetastic]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

[Giro]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

This is the cheapest daycare I have EVERY seen.  wow

My kid goes to a private grade school and the before and after school care is held in the school and sometimes the church across the street.  I saved money when we moved her to the private school.  I pay $15 a day for after school care and the biggie....I DO NOT pay if she is not there.  So, the days I pick her up early or there is no school, it's no charge. 

The savings on this alone, paid about half of her tuition for the school.  The tuition is only $4500 a year before fees and such and it's a fantastic school.  I'm very pleased with the cost. 

[MrsPete]

Quick question. In a HCOL area. 2 kids. Paying daycare costs that amount to a big mortgage every month. It amounts to a large chunk of monthly expenses.

My question is, what can I anticipate for a drop in child costs once the kids enter into public school? Will have to have after school care, but no idea what the delta is, and have not heard what those costs may be. Will our costs drop by 1/3rd? 50%? More? 

Any experienced parents, would love to hear your real world knowledge.

Thanks!

You're wise to think about this now.  It seems that most people assume once the child starts school day care expenses will drop to zero.  Not true. 

In my area before/after school care runs 40-60% the cost of all-day care, which is a huge rip-off.  You're only talking about a couple hours, and it's essentially half what you were paying for the whole day! 

Two other things you want to investigate:  First, teacher workdays.  Does your current day care offer care on these non-typical days?  Does your elementary school have "day camp" on those days?  Second, summer care.  Most people seem to patch together a summer's worth of activities:  Two weeks with grandma, a week of dance camp, then a week of family vacation, a week of karate camp, then two weeks of science camp.  Working parents stress a great deal about summer care.

[ETBen]

Oh yes that's another thing. All the days the kids are off during the school year. The day programs here are $50 per day per kid. With two kids, that add up with about 2-3 days off per month plus spring break, winter break, and thanksgiving. So we basically alternate taking off those days or working half day at home with the kids.

[h82goslw]

Your net spending will not change. One thing I've learned raising 3 kids....the costs only shift to other activities, they rarely go away.

[caseyzee]

DC suburbs.  2 kids.  Full time care was 23k a year.  After school care plus summer care is right at 12k for the year.  I use vacation to cover some breaks.  After school care includes teacher work days but not holidays.

[cchrissyy]

my experience

full time preschool  $1200/m


for grades K-4

afterschool program  $400/m

summer camps $300/week  most weeks of the summer. a couple weeks with grandma or with me working at home.



then, when I had multiple kids reach elementary, rather than pay the $400/m each for an afterschool program, I hired a babysitter, which was like $500/m to pick them up and babysit at home til I got there. this was ideal not just for cost savings but bc by those ages, the kids preferred to be home.


older elementary and middle - no babysitters or afterschool programs. only cost is summer camps.

[FIRE_Buckeye]

DC suburbs.  2 kids.  Full time care was 23k a year.  After school care plus summer care is right at 12k for the year.  I use vacation to cover some breaks.  After school care includes teacher work days but not holidays.

Dear lord.....
And people wonder why each generation is putting off having kids longer and longer, or not having them entirely.

[Helvegen]

I live in a HCOLA.

Cheapest B/A/V/Summer care around these parts is $340 a month for B/A care and $175 a week for summer care.

The $340 a month does not include teacher work days, school vacation days, random holidays, strike days, etc. Those are $25 a day extra and there are A LOT OF THEM.

$175 a week, we generally also tack on 1-3 specialty camps for her in the summer at around $200 a pop.

[mm1970]

Quick question. In a HCOL area. 2 kids. Paying daycare costs that amount to a big mortgage every month. It amounts to a large chunk of monthly expenses.

My question is, what can I anticipate for a drop in child costs once the kids enter into public school? Will have to have after school care, but no idea what the delta is, and have not heard what those costs may be. Will our costs drop by 1/3rd? 50%? More? 

Any experienced parents, would love to hear your real world knowledge.

Thanks!

My daycare for 1 kid is $17,000 a year.
Next year will be preschool, will be $14,000 a year.

For my school-aged child:
In kindergarten, after school care is $4000 a year ($400/month x 10 months)
In 1st-6th, after school care is $1000 a year.

Summer camp:
10 weeks x $150 a week = $1500 ($2500 is a better estimate)
Other camps (Thanksgiving, etc): $150

Other school costs: (donations, field trips, etc.): $2000/ year.

Note: summer camp costs vary. $150/ week is about the cheapest you can get, but there are other summer options here that are free.  So my 10 year old is enrolled in the free program for 8 weeks in the summer.  He has four camps in addition to that (2 half weeks and 2 weeks during the weeks that the free option is not running).  So:  $150 + $210 + $260 + $155 = $775.  And even our daycare/ preschool have a week off where I need summer camp.  That's another $230 for the little guy.

So, for one kid, we are looking at:
$15,000 for preschool
$8500 for kindergarten
$5500 for 1st-6th

[justajane]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

This is the cheapest daycare I have EVERY seen.  wow

My kid goes to a private grade school and the before and after school care is held in the school and sometimes the church across the street.  I saved money when we moved her to the private school.  I pay $15 a day for after school care and the biggie....I DO NOT pay if she is not there.  So, the days I pick her up early or there is no school, it's no charge. 

The savings on this alone, paid about half of her tuition for the school.  The tuition is only $4500 a year before fees and such and it's a fantastic school.  I'm very pleased with the cost.

Me too. Good lord, I've never heard of care that cheap. What does that work out to? 50 cents an hour - lol?

We don't live in a very HCOL area, and the cheapest I have ever been able to find is $70 a week. And that's from 9-3. Before and after care jack the price up.

[TrMama]

Besides child care costs, which usually aren't much cheaper, there are other costs. Dental/orthodontics can be a big expense for some kids. Hopefully, your kid has good teeth.

We're also shelling out for significant therapy and specialized testing this year. One of my kids likely has dyslexia. The school won't pay for the specialized testing that's required to diagnose her and get her the extra help she'll need. So there goes another $3K. The stress of attending a school that didn't recognize what was going on triggered major anxiety, so more money spent to get her some therapy so she'd quit throwing up every morning ($175/hr). We may, or may not, also be on the hook for extra tutoring and classroom technology to help get her back up to grade level once we know exactly what's required.

Basically, beyond early elementary, costs can vary dramatically depending on the individual child. Also, public school isn't free. There will be ongoing costs.

[2buttons]

All super helpful.  Thank you for all the responses.

[coffeelover]

Here in the midwest, Michigan you can pay anywhere from 150 to 300 a week. The lower prices are usually for in home daycares. I paid 150 a week for an infant. I also paid 250 a week for an infant at a center.

Before and after school care costs around here are usually 500 a month. This is an hour before school and 2 hours after schools 5 days a week. This is what my local school charges per kid.

We are able to get the 4 year old into a free program in our district this coming fall. Before and after care (if I use it, but I'm a sahm so I will not) would cost us just a little over 500 a month.

So yes you may save some money but you are still paying the price of working.

[coffeelover]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

How many hours per day is the kid at camp?

This seems so low to me, even for the Y!?

[cchrissyy]

member pricing for YMCA day camps is $280/week here

http://ymca-cba.org/locations/downtown-berkeley/programs/detail/downtown-berkeley-summer-traditional-day-camps

a single day of camp/care when school is out for a 3 day weekend is about $50. That's why it's ideal to work from home, or have extended family nearby to help, or if you have multiple kids, hire a sitter.

I'm in a happy stage where my kids are old enough to stay at home unattended, so I can easily handle a school's out day by going to work but joining them for lunch, or by working part day in the office and partly from home. Of course it's not ideal but we can't always make it a vacation day and at this age, everybody likes being home much better than going to the $50 per day per kid program. Plus they can walk to friends' houses and the library and have normal kid free time. That freedom and associated childcare savings took off around age 10.

[Pigeon]

You best bet is probably to do some research, as there's going to be a lot of variables in who provides care, how long, etc.

This.  It's going to be hugely variable.  Before and afterschool program availability and costs are going to be local.  Summer camps, if you need them, are all over the place price-wise.  You also have to look carefully at hours because many of them are impossible for people who have traditional work-weeks.  Talk to people in your area who have kids and do a little digging around.

Many costs are optional.  There is also the issue of extra-curricular activities.  I'm sure many here won't pay much or anything for them.  We spent a ton on music lessons, performance groups, dance lessons, and martial arts. 

College may or may not be an issue for you.  We pay, so that's a big expense.

Our costs did not go down after daycare.

[golden1]

I am in a HCOL area.  i was a SAHM when my kids were little, so I paid only a minimal amount for our local preschool, like $300 a month for 3 days a week, 3 hours a day.  I actually paid more when my kids went to elementary and I went back to work - it was around $800/month for both kids then dropping down to $450 when it was just my youngest.  Honestly, this was a bargain - it covered after school hours until 6pm.  They had enrichment activities like yoga and chess and this covered vacation weeks as well which included field trips for several days of the week.   

Don't forget to factor in summer camps.  Our summer camp through the after school program was another $2500K per kid for 7-8 weeks, again a bargain compared to a lot of the skills based camps or sleep away camps which cost 500-1000/week.  Insanity. 

 

[justajane]

again a bargain compared to a lot of the skills based camps or sleep away camps which cost 500-1000/week.  Insanity. 

Yeah, I just heard about a local kid who was at a sleep away camp that cost 1K a week. Granted the grandparents were paying for it, but still.

Our local private university has programming camps that run from 9-2 that cost....wait for it.....$800 a week. But the kids get organic food for lunch, so it's all good.

[golden1]

Your net spending will not change. One thing I've learned raising 3 kids....the costs only shift to other activities, they rarely go away.

Word.   I was so excited to not have to pay for after school care this year now that my youngest is in middle school.  But my dd, who really asks for very little, got into music this year so she started taking lessons. 

[Stachetastic]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

How many hours per day is the kid at camp?

This seems so low to me, even for the Y!?

My son is only a preschooler, so this is for 9am-noon, five days a week. They offer full day for school age, I think around $50-60/week.

Update: I asked my sitter how much she charges for before/after school care, and she said $5 for each end of the bus transport (so $5 for before school and $5 after, equaling $10/day if we need both). We currently pay her $25/day for full time care. I'm looking at my work schedule and I know we won't need after school care, so we should see a pretty big savings when our son goes to kindergarten. I really feel for parents in HCOL areas, though. Some of these numbers are astronomical!

[2buttons]

You best bet is probably to do some research, as there's going to be a lot of variables in who provides care, how long, etc.

This.  It's going to be hugely variable.  Before and afterschool program availability and costs are going to be local.  Summer camps, if you need them, are all over the place price-wise.  You also have to look carefully at hours because many of them are impossible for people who have traditional work-weeks.  Talk to people in your area who have kids and do a little digging around.

Many costs are optional.  There is also the issue of extra-curricular activities.  I'm sure many here won't pay much or anything for them.  We spent a ton on music lessons, performance groups, dance lessons, and martial arts. 

College may or may not be an issue for you.  We pay, so that's a big expense.

Our costs did not go down after daycare.

Someone in my area already posted the exact answer I was looking for in terms of regional pricing and they were pretty much identical to our current daycare costs.

[Gin1984]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

I went to the Y over 20 years ago and it was $200/week, now in a lower COLA it is $170 for a member and $220 for a non-member.  I'd love to know how you got those prices.

[Stachetastic]

Summer daycamps are about $275 per week.

Wow! My son is in summer camp at the Y this year, and it's only $30/wk (plus 10 bucks off for registering early). I think it was $45 for non members. It's a bit more for the older kids full day, so I think around 50-60?

We signed him up for all five weeks for a grand total of $100.

I went to the Y over 20 years ago and it was $200/week, now in a lower COLA it is $170 for a member and $220 for a non-member.  I'd love to know how you got those prices.

The prices were posted on the YMCA website, along with a flyer. I don't know how to post a screen shot, but here is the copy/paste:

FEES:
Members:
$30 per week   
Program Participants:
$48 per week
Registration Form must be completed
Financial Assistance with camp fees is available

Again, we got $10 off per week for registering in April. It's only offered for 5 weeks total, alternating weeks throughout the summer. I wish it were all summer long!

[Chris22]

Our costs did not go down after daycare.

I find this hard to believe, unless your kid is in a gold-plated activity (horseback riding lessons or something) or you are counting college savings.  I do intend on diverting daycare costs to college savings once daycare has ended, but I look at that as "savings" rather than "costs".

I currently pay about $1200/mo for daycare*, plus we do 1-2 activities a quarter for about $150-200/class (gymnastics, swimming, soccer, etc) through the park district.  I would expect to lose the daycare payment, pay about $300-400/mo in before/after care, plus incur about the same $1200/mo for "camp" during the summer which is what I pay now for summer camp.  Activities pricing might tick up some, but certainly not $1200/mo worth.

*Daycare, my daughter used to go to an actual daycare facility, that started at $1600/mo for 4 days/wk for infant care, and slowly ratcheted down to about $1200/mo as she aged.  Now she attends a preschool, for $865/mo, plus before/after care that costs $5/hr, and we average about $250/mo.  In the summer, she attends camp at the preschool for about $350/wk including unlimited before/after care.  I expect she will continue to attend this camp in the summer even after she goes to the public school (probably in 1st grade as they do not currently offer all-day kindergarten in our district).

[golden1]

The amount of money for infant childcare always blows my mind.  It was the main reason I quit working while my kids were very little.  With just one kid in full time daycare I would be working for $10-15K a year.  With two kids, it was more than my take home salary.  I would have had to have been working in software engineering or finance to make it worth doing.

[mm1970]

again a bargain compared to a lot of the skills based camps or sleep away camps which cost 500-1000/week.  Insanity. 

Yeah, I just heard about a local kid who was at a sleep away camp that cost 1K a week. Granted the grandparents were paying for it, but still.

Our local private university has programming camps that run from 9-2 that cost....wait for it.....$800 a week. But the kids get organic food for lunch, so it's all good.

We have those too.  It's pretty fascinating.

I've got friends who are going in on a sitter for the summer.  $100 per kid per week.  Two families, 5 kids, so it will vary from $200 to $500 a week, depending on vacation schedule.

My friend with 3 kids says "it's cheaper than camp for $1200 a week for 3 kids!"

Yes, a typical educational 9 to 3 camp can be $400 a week per kid.  But, do you have to fill the summer with those?

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).  Should be able to get it for $185 as residents, but never did figure out how to get that. 

Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

Thing is, if you go for the $150-$250/week camps, your kids will be with *those* kids.  You know, not the rich kids.

[Chris22]

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).
Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

I mean, that's awesome if it works out for you, but you can understand why those things are priced differently, yes?  This isn't "instead of paying $2/apple at whole foods I paid $.50/apple at Aldi", you're just buying a different product that happens to be cheaper.  And that's fine, but let's not pretend the benefits are necessarily the same. 

[tonysemail]

I'll happily fork over $350/wk for summer camps.

For after school care, we pay $550/month.
This includes pick up, homework help, "enrichment" activities, and most of the school in-service days.
I love coming home with the homework already finished.

This is compared to $1350/month for pre-K.
I'm super happy to be done with daycare :)

[Pigeon]

Our costs did not go down after daycare.

I find this hard to believe, unless your kid is in a gold-plated activity (horseback riding lessons or something) or you are counting college savings.  I do intend on diverting daycare costs to college savings once daycare has ended, but I look at that as "savings" rather than "costs".

I currently pay about $1200/mo for daycare*, plus we do 1-2 activities a quarter for about $150-200/class (gymnastics, swimming, soccer, etc) through the park district.  I would expect to lose the daycare payment, pay about $300-400/mo in before/after care, plus incur about the same $1200/mo for "camp" during the summer which is what I pay now for summer camp.  Activities pricing might tick up some, but certainly not $1200/mo worth.

*Daycare, my daughter used to go to an actual daycare facility, that started at $1600/mo for 4 days/wk for infant care, and slowly ratcheted down to about $1200/mo as she aged.  Now she attends a preschool, for $865/mo, plus before/after care that costs $5/hr, and we average about $250/mo.  In the summer, she attends camp at the preschool for about $350/wk including unlimited before/after care.  I expect she will continue to attend this camp in the summer even after she goes to the public school (probably in 1st grade as they do not currently offer all-day kindergarten in our district).

We were lucky in that our daycare was provided by a fabulous woman who ran a small, in-home daycare at reasonable rates.  Once the kids got old enough for afterschool care, it was provided by an organization that ran it out of the school and it was not much cheaper than we'd been paying for daycare. 

We were lucky in that we didn't have to pay for summer camps as dh is a teacher, but if we'd had to do that, our costs would have been considerably higher than the annual cost of daycare.  All of the inexpensive camps around here only run from about 9-3, which would make them a non-starter with my job.

And the kids did take private music lessons that were pretty expensive, as well as dance and TKD.  One of the kids is a pretty high level musician and she got into a competitive youth orchestra that was also very expensive.

[golden1]

Yes, a typical educational 9 to 3 camp can be $400 a week per kid.  But, do you have to fill the summer with those?

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).  Should be able to get it for $185 as residents, but never did figure out how to get that. 

Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

Thing is, if you go for the $150-$250/week camps, your kids will be with *those* kids.  You know, not the rich kids.

This summer, I did a mix of ghetto camp (;)) and "educational" camp.  My 12 year old son is mostly doing the town day camps which run $150/week, and that includes some sort of field trip every day - great deal.  He is also doing a week of programming camp in August running $350 that week (ouch).  My 14 year old is sort of at a weird age where she isn't that interested in camps and isn't really hireable by any place near enough for her to bike to.  She is doing a photography camp through school and then one or two weeks of a music camp but then is basically free for the rest of the summer.  I tried to get her to volunteer as a camp counselor but she dug in her heels. 

One time we had the kids do something called "Wizards and Warriors camp" which is basically nerd camp - lots of gaming and LARP.  :)  With extended hours it ran $500 for one week, per kid.  Ouch.  The kids didn't even like it that much.  Lesson learned. 

The most annoying thing about most of the day camps is the hours.  8-3 or 9-4 - not very two parent worker friendly.  If you want "extended hours" you have to pay even more.  It's like they just assume that someone is at home to pick the kids up.  The town camp doesn't have extended hours so DH and I stagger schedules so one of us drops off and the other picks up. 

It is true that there is a stigma attached to the day camps.  My kids definitely are starting to sense it.  It's a shame.

[Gin1984]

Yes, a typical educational 9 to 3 camp can be $400 a week per kid.  But, do you have to fill the summer with those?

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).  Should be able to get it for $185 as residents, but never did figure out how to get that. 

Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

Thing is, if you go for the $150-$250/week camps, your kids will be with *those* kids.  You know, not the rich kids.

This summer, I did a mix of ghetto camp (;)) and "educational" camp.  My 12 year old son is mostly doing the town day camps which run $150/week, and that includes some sort of field trip every day - great deal.  He is also doing a week of programming camp in August running $350 that week (ouch).  My 14 year old is sort of at a weird age where she isn't that interested in camps and isn't really hireable by any place near enough for her to bike to.  She is doing a photography camp through school and then one or two weeks of a music camp but then is basically free for the rest of the summer.  I tried to get her to volunteer as a camp counselor but she dug in her heels. 

One time we had the kids do something called "Wizards and Warriors camp" which is basically nerd camp - lots of gaming and LARP.  :)  With extended hours it ran $500 for one week, per kid.  Ouch.  The kids didn't even like it that much.  Lesson learned. 

The most annoying thing about most of the day camps is the hours.  8-3 or 9-4 - not very two parent worker friendly.  If you want "extended hours" you have to pay even more.  It's like they just assume that someone is at home to pick the kids up.  The town camp doesn't have extended hours so DH and I stagger schedules so one of us drops off and the other picks up. 

It is true that there is a stigma attached to the day camps.  My kids definitely are starting to sense it.  It's a shame.

That is interesting, I never went to the town camps just the Y but I never felt a stigma. 

[justajane]

I haven't noticed much stigma associated with the day camps versus the educational camps, but then again, I live in a community in which the parents can't afford more than one or two weeks of the educational camps. And I'm not talking about the $800 university camp. I don't know a single kid who goes to that camp, and it's 10 minutes from our house. I mean the $200-$300 Science Center camps and zoo camps. Even that adds up over the summer, so most families combine those with the $75 community center camp.

Stupid me waited until the last minute to sign my kids up to the community camp. I don't know why I thought there would be space last minute for next week. It doesn't really matter, since I'm a SAHM. I just wanted a week break from the begging for screen time :).

So far this summer we've done a Water Park camp ($220) and the school camps. Those are absolutely incredible, but they are only two weeks in June. They cost around $125 (7:30-3:00) and are taught by the talented teachers in our district. All educational -- cooking camps, art camps, blogging, sports. I absolutely love it, but alas, only two weeks. You have to sign up the day registration opens, since everyone knows that it's a good deal.

I'm not convinced some of the other "educational" camps are worth the money. I read about some science camp at another school for $250 a week, but it's a franchised camp (Camp Invention, I believe) and other parents expressed that it wasn't worth the mark-up. Even at our school's educational camp, I found out the kids usually watch at least one movie during the day. I made my peace with it. Kids need down time too.

[coffeelover]

This post about daycare costs and then the comments regarding the YMCA got me curious to look up my prices to the closest Y.
I copied and pasted all the following information.

-Meals / Food
A healthy, USDA approved breakfast and lunch will be provided free of charge through our partnership with Meet Up and Eat Up. A monthly menu will be posted for parents. -
Field Trips and Visitors
Each week provides a unique experience for campers. Part of the experience is taking part in field trips or learning new experiences from visitors. The age group of your camper
determines the special activity of that week.

CAMP AGES & PRICING
Pee Wee ½ Days- Ages: 3-5
Facility Members: Community Participants:

$93/5 day              $111/5 day
$73/3 day              $81/3 day
$53/3 day              $61/3 day


Pee Week FULL Days - Ages: 3-5 Challengers - Ages: 5-11
Leaders - Ages: 12-15 CITs-For Campers - Ages: 15-17
Facility Members: Community Participants:


$186/5 day           $221/5 day
$146/3 day           $161/3 day
$106/3 day           $121/3 day


Inclusion Camp
$301/5 day
$201/3 day
$141/2 day--

Sports & Specialty Camp

Younger campers receive introduction in the fundamentals of the game, and
older campers focus on raising their game to the next level. Campers also go
swimming, participate in literacy activities, and attend weekly field trips.
Basketball Camp: Week B Flag Football: Week C

Floor Hockey: Week D Basketball: Week E

Baseball/Softball: Week F Flag Football: Week G

Floor Hockey: Week H Basketball: Week I

Soccer: Week J Baseball/Softball: Week K

Facility Members: Community Participants:

$196/5 day             $231/5 day
$156/3 day             $171/3 day

All of these prices seem to be in line with what other daycare CENTERS charge around me. Most of these centers will do a field trip once a week or so as well, but that is usually an additional charge.

There are also camps run though our local parks and recreation and they too as well are around the same prices but they do not offer free before and after care, which the Y does.

I'm not sure what the inclusion camp is, or why the price is so high. I can't see an explanation for it on the Y's site.

[Gin1984]

This post about daycare costs and then the comments regarding the YMCA got me curious to look up my prices to the closest Y.
I copied and pasted all the following information.

-Meals / Food
A healthy, USDA approved breakfast and lunch will be provided free of charge through our partnership with Meet Up and Eat Up. A monthly menu will be posted for parents. -
Field Trips and Visitors
Each week provides a unique experience for campers. Part of the experience is taking part in field trips or learning new experiences from visitors. The age group of your camper
determines the special activity of that week.

CAMP AGES & PRICING
Pee Wee ½ Days- Ages: 3-5
Facility Members: Community Participants:

$93/5 day              $111/5 day
$73/3 day              $81/3 day
$53/3 day              $61/3 day


Pee Week FULL Days - Ages: 3-5 Challengers - Ages: 5-11
Leaders - Ages: 12-15 CITs-For Campers - Ages: 15-17
Facility Members: Community Participants:


$186/5 day           $221/5 day
$146/3 day           $161/3 day
$106/3 day           $121/3 day


Inclusion Camp
$301/5 day
$201/3 day
$141/2 day--

Sports & Specialty Camp

Younger campers receive introduction in the fundamentals of the game, and
older campers focus on raising their game to the next level. Campers also go
swimming, participate in literacy activities, and attend weekly field trips.
Basketball Camp: Week B Flag Football: Week C

Floor Hockey: Week D Basketball: Week E

Baseball/Softball: Week F Flag Football: Week G

Floor Hockey: Week H Basketball: Week I

Soccer: Week J Baseball/Softball: Week K

Facility Members: Community Participants:

$196/5 day             $231/5 day
$156/3 day             $171/3 day

All of these prices seem to be in line with what other daycare CENTERS charge around me. Most of these centers will do a field trip once a week or so as well, but that is usually an additional charge.

There are also camps run though our local parks and recreation and they too as well are around the same prices but they do not offer free before and after care, which the Y does.

I'm not sure what the inclusion camp is, or why the price is so high. I can't see an explanation for it on the Y's site.

Camp for the disabled, requires more camp leaders and training.

[bonjourliz]

This is so contingent on where you live.  Here in metro atlanta, i have friends who pay anywhere from $7/day for after school care (and only on days they use it) to $150/wk. The latter because their particular county doesn't offer after care at school, not because the parents are being picky.

For us, our daycare/preschool costs have averaged about $900/mo, which is on the low end for our area but just how it worked out for our kids.  For my first grader, we have been paying $7/day for after school a few times a week .... so say $90/mo x 10 months. Plus in the summer, camps at approximately  $225/wk x 8 wks.  So that comes to, what, $2700 for the year total. A substantial savings over daycare. It decreases some once you account for school expenses (school supplies, field trips, that kind of stuff) and more if we include the fees I pay for enrichment programs during the after school time. Weekly chess club, science club. Still those extras add up to less than $1k a year... a nice "raise."

But for families the next county over, they are paying $600+ each month for after school. Plus over $1000/mo for summer camps and plus school supplies, field trips, etc.  So their costs might not go down much when their kids start school.

[mm1970]

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).
Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

I mean, that's awesome if it works out for you, but you can understand why those things are priced differently, yes?  This isn't "instead of paying $2/apple at whole foods I paid $.50/apple at Aldi", you're just buying a different product that happens to be cheaper.  And that's fine, but let's not pretend the benefits are necessarily the same.

Well, it depends.  This was just an example, but many of them are very similar.  There are more than one surf camp, with a variety of prices.  There is a 6 hour per day camp at the Natural History museum.  Zoo camp.  The camps run by the city are quite good and are often comparable in quality to the privately run camps.  I mean, if you are a baseball phenom, then yeah - maybe pay for the UCSB baseball camp.  But 95% of the kids who want to take a baseball camp don't need that.

If you wanted to make the summer full of *only* educational, fun, and ... luxurious camps, you could.  At $400-800 per week (6 hours per day).  (You know, organic food provided and all that.)  I prefer the method of choosing one or two that my kid REALLY wants to go to, and going with those.

[mm1970]

Yes, a typical educational 9 to 3 camp can be $400 a week per kid.  But, do you have to fill the summer with those?

Instead of the $800/ week camp at the uni for programming, we found the city camp at $204/ week (3 hours/day).  Should be able to get it for $185 as residents, but never did figure out how to get that. 

Instead of the $450/week surf camp, we found a $230/week softball camp.

Thing is, if you go for the $150-$250/week camps, your kids will be with *those* kids.  You know, not the rich kids.

This summer, I did a mix of ghetto camp (;)) and "educational" camp.  My 12 year old son is mostly doing the town day camps which run $150/week, and that includes some sort of field trip every day - great deal.  He is also doing a week of programming camp in August running $350 that week (ouch).  My 14 year old is sort of at a weird age where she isn't that interested in camps and isn't really hireable by any place near enough for her to bike to.  She is doing a photography camp through school and then one or two weeks of a music camp but then is basically free for the rest of the summer.  I tried to get her to volunteer as a camp counselor but she dug in her heels. 

One time we had the kids do something called "Wizards and Warriors camp" which is basically nerd camp - lots of gaming and LARP.  :)  With extended hours it ran $500 for one week, per kid.  Ouch.  The kids didn't even like it that much.  Lesson learned. 

The most annoying thing about most of the day camps is the hours.  8-3 or 9-4 - not very two parent worker friendly.  If you want "extended hours" you have to pay even more.  It's like they just assume that someone is at home to pick the kids up.  The town camp doesn't have extended hours so DH and I stagger schedules so one of us drops off and the other picks up. 

It is true that there is a stigma attached to the day camps.  My kids definitely are starting to sense it.  It's a shame.

Yep same here

[Shane]

Wow, you guys live in a different world...

Our county offers Summer Fun Camp. For the whole summer the cost is only $100. $50 if you qualify as low income. That's 5 days a week from 8 am to 3 pm for 2 whole months for only $100! And our daughter loves it. On Wednesday afternoons the counselors walk the kids up to the public pool to go for a swim. On Thursdays the shave ice truck comes and the kids all get free shave ice. On Fridays a bus takes the kids to a nice beach for the entire day.

Lucky we live Hawaii!

[mm1970]

Wow, you guys live in a different world...

Our county offers Summer Fun Camp. For the whole summer the cost is only $100. $50 if you qualify as low income. That's 5 days a week from 8 am to 3 pm for 2 whole months for only $100! And our daughter loves it. On Wednesday afternoons the counselors walk the kids up to the public pool to go for a swim. On Thursdays the shave ice truck comes and the kids all get free shave ice. On Fridays a bus takes the kids to a nice beach for the entire day.

Lucky we live Hawaii!

Our Summer fun program is at 3 locations and is free.  So my son has been enrolled in it for 3 years now. It covers all but the last 2 weeks of summer.  So I have to pay for summer camp for those  two weeks or plan our vacation around that.

He's also in two weeks of camp that are half days.  So half day summer fun and half day camp.

Many of my friends say that their kids "don't like it" so they don't enroll.  But  most of them either don't work, or work part time, or have family in town.  So they have other options and their kids know it and don't want to go.  Some of my friends are teachers so they spend > 1/2 of the summer with their kids and use camps to tire them out.

It helps that my son's best buddy goes, and is at a different elementary school.  So they get to see each other a lot more.

[Stachetastic]

Our community also has a Boys and Girls Club, which offers a summer program Monday thru Friday 7:30-5:30 for $75 per week. It's on a sliding scale, so some only pay as little as $10.  This includes breakfast, lunch, and a snack.

[merci001]

I would estimate my after school costs were about $300-$600 per kid, depending on their ages and what I had arranged. My kids are now 12 and soon to be 16.  My 12 yr old has just aged-out of after school care. When they were both much younger summer care costs ranged from about 800-1000, again depending on their ages. I usually had them in the cheapest thing I could find and they never did camps when they were younger, for a couple of reasons. Many of the camps were 300-400 per week, they often start at 9 and end at 2, which is great if you have a stay at home parent, or very flexible hours. As a single parent it never really worked for me. As my kids  got older the costs were cheaper. This summer has been the easiest financially so far. My girls are 4 yrs apart and this is the first year where I really feel comfortable letting them stay home all day on their own for longer stretches of time, ie; a week at a time vs a day here and there. But I don't really want them home all day, every day, for the whole summer.   My youngest is in a  summer program that's free-she had to apply for it and get references and write an essay to be accepted. It's essentially a summer school program for middle schoolers. My oldest is doing some volunteer work at a local hosp a couple of days a week.  Regardless,  I agree with the poster who said it's not so much the cost changes, it just shifts to other things as they get older. Kids are never cheap!

[PFHC]

We live in a relatively LCOL area. We do not do a million extracurriculars for the kids. Here's the change: pre-public school we paid $5000/yr for pre-school, after pre-school, we do not pay that. Nothing else changes, except they eat more every year.

[iwasjustwondering]

It gets a lot cheaper.  I remember the first year I couldn't claim the full $6K childcare deductible on my income taxes, I was shocked.  I had been spending so much more than $6K for so many years. 

In elementary school, you have aftercare and activities costs, but it's still significantly less than daycare.  Then, when they hit middle school, a lot of the activities are done through school, and there are no real fees.  Sports are after school, and there is often an activity bus, so you don't even have to drive them.  In high school, forget it, everything is pretty free. 

I do pay for summer camps targeted toward my kids' interests, and I'll pay up to around $5K per kid, but that is in no way obligatory. 

I save more for college now than I used to pay toward daycare, so obviously that's something to consider.  Once the dc costs go, the college savings should go up.