Question for anyone with children!!

AmyS

is on the road to Slimdon
Hi all. Hope you can help me with a little bit of research. I posted this on the Parents and Carers section but think this gets viewed more. (Thanks to Mummoth and Mommyb for already helping me out)

I have been teaching dancing for about 10 years but am now looking to start my own school in Birmingham.

As parents would a dancing school on a Saturday or after school in the week be more appealing?

Also, I plan to start with 2 classes one for 2 1/2 to 6 year olds and the other for over 6's. If I was to teach in the week what would be the latest times you would have your childs lesson as obviously they are still very young!

I was thinking 4.30-5.30 for the under 6's and 5.30-7.00 for the over 6's if I went for a weeknight.

Any help, thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

Thanks

Amy xxx
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For me weekends have always been better.
I work and when she was little my daughter was always at childminders or after school club (even at nursery age) so all the things which started at 4.30 were a no-no.

Then you have things like dinner - if the class was 5.30 -7.00 do the children have dinner before (full tummy) or after (too late?!)

Weekends all the way for me!! My daughter danced 10-12 on a saturday morning which was fab.

Just my opinion of course but I wish you luck whatever you decide to do.
 
In my opinion I would do a class for preschoolers (2 1/2-4 or 5) and have this probably during the day in the week. For school age 5+ then after school 3.30-4 onwards I would be good. A saturday morning class would be good too for those whose parents work in the week. But I would defintely split the classes for preschoolers and school age kids because at that age there is a big difference in capabilities, attention span etc.

Good luck with your new venture, sounds exciting:D
 
Both my daughters danced from a very young age. When they were little (pre-school age) their lesson was on a Saturday morning (if I remember rightly, usually 9-10am), and as they got older their lessons were a little later. That worked well for us. They switched to after-school classes as they got to about 7/8 years old--at that time they were able to cope with a class at around 4.30/5.00pm and it wasn't too late for them to be out.

Good luck with your new venture!
 
Hi! What a lovely idea.

As a working mum too, I would prefer the weekends for ALL ages - during the week its too crazy with work, childminders, pre-school etc.

But I'd also add 2.5 - 6 years is a bit of a big age range - you might consider a preschool class for 2.5-4 yrs, then school age (5-7) and older if you wanted (8-11). I think school Key Stages works well as a guide (Pre-school/Foundation, KS1, KS2).

Perhaps also a shorter class for the littlies as you had planned too - an hour is quite long for a pre-schooler (my youngest is 3).

Good luck with it all - sounds fab :) xx
 
for me afterschool is better. We have a static caravan and go there most weekends.A lot of my friends with children do it as well.
 
Hi all. Hope you can help me with a little bit of research. I posted this on the Parents and Carers section but think this gets viewed more. (Thanks to Mummoth and Mommyb for already helping me out)

I have been teaching dancing for about 10 years but am now looking to start my own school in Birmingham.

As parents would a dancing school on a Saturday or after school in the week be more appealing?

Also, I plan to start with 2 classes one for 2 1/2 to 6 year olds and the other for over 6's. If I was to teach in the week what would be the latest times you would have your childs lesson as obviously they are still very young!

I was thinking 4.30-5.30 for the under 6's and 5.30-7.00 for the over 6's if I went for a weeknight.

Any help, thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

Thanks

Amy xxx
__________________

Personally I find 1900 too late for 6 year olds, our 6 year old daughter goes to bed at 1930 on a school night :eek:.

We have 2 daughters, aged 6 & 8.
Our eldest used to do "kids dance" on a weekend (Saturday morning) and this was ideal. As she grew she also wanted to do other activities on saturday as well (swimming & horse riding) so she now goes to "junior" ballet on a wednesday afternoon (after school).
Our youngest still does Kids dance on the saturday but as she will also be starting saturday morning swimming soon so she will also be switching to the wednesday afternoon.

For us the weekend is the best option (for younger kids) but it's also handy to be able to switch.

BTW my wife doesn't work on the Wednesday & the kids have after school club on the Monday and Tuesday so this would not be an option for us.

Hope this helps in some way, good luck with your lessons.
 
both my girls go to friday class little one 2 and half starts at 3.30 till 4.30 bigger girl starts at 4.30 and finishes at 7.30 i hope not to have to take thm to a saturday morning class i feel its the only morning we dont have to rush to get out the door :)
 
bigger girl starts at 4.30 and finishes at 7.30

3 hours??? Think that would even be too long for me!! Hehe

Thank you all so much for your input.

I have some very difficult decisions to make - choosing between my head and my heart!

Amy xx
 
I always had activities every night of the week, and made sure Saturdays were clear for us. Then daughters started Theatre and that is Saturday morning. Have to say I don't like it. I often just want to get away in the tent for the weekend, and it makes it difficult, but they love bthe class and there is no option. There are many dance classes and schools in most towns so there wold be a choice. You won't please everyone though. In many ways I would do what suits you the most, or both, as parents will be split as to which is best.
 
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