Daycare question

My kids go to daycare two days a week. Last week I received an email from the woman running the daycare; in the email she said she would be hiring someone to give dance lessons at the daycare. The email was kind of vague, but the next time I saw her she clarified the situation; she plans to hire someone to come in every day and give a 30 min. dance class, she also said she needed to collect extra money from the parents to pay for this. She wants $7 a week for children who attend the daycare 3 days or more a week and for kids attending the daycare 2 days a week or less she wants $6 per week (per kid, of course). So this adds on another $48 to $60 a month depending on the number of weeks in the month. I guess that's not a huge expense, but I wish she had consulted with the parents ahead of time, instead of just making her decision on her own. This is my first experience in daycare...I'm wondering if this kind of thing is typical or not. And what would you do? I'm going to just pay the extra money but I'm curious what others would do.

Thanks,
thea

 

There is a local daycare here that does offer a program like that, but it is voluntary--meaning she has a lady from a local dance studio come by once a week, and those who want to participate can. Since yours are only there 2 days a week, I would opt out, unless your kids really want to do dance--then it is cheaper than if you signed them up for classes.

 

Ours offered dance, gymnastics, piano, Spanish, and French. It was all voluntary, but cheaper than you could do on your own, and saved a trip for anything you were interested in pursuing anyway.

 

Thanks for your responses. The thing is, I can't opt out of the dance class. It's a small day care, just one playroom and another room for naps, so there's no place to put my kids if they're not participating in the dance class. I'm just annoyed the woman running the daycare made this decision without consulting the parents and without giving the parents a choice of opting out.

thea

 

When i worked at our local daycare the kids had a jazzersize class once a week and i believe they charged for it. but if the parents did not pay the kids still went.
no one was left out because they did not have the extra money.
Everyday seems like alot.

 

We have dance offered in our daycare. It is $80 a month for both of my children to attend a class once a week for an hour. It is purely optional. If I didn't want them to take it, then I don't have to pay for it!

 

Most of the programs at our preschool are optional. However, this year the Program Director insisted she was so thrilled with Kindermusik she was making it mandatory for kids that were there on Tuesdays. She is charging us 3 each week per student for it. She said over and over there was financial assistance available for those that couldn't afford it. I didn't apply for it, but at least she made it an option.