Recent experience with Live Oak After school program?
Hoping to hear some updated (21-22 school year) experiences with the City of Berkeley after school program at Live Oak Community center. The good, the bad, the just fine? Is the program better/worse for certain age groups? We'll have a TKer and a 3rd grader next year that will need after school care, looking for that parental pot of gold that is finally having both kids with the same drop off/pick up!
Mar 16, 2022
Parent Replies
Our kindergartener has been going to Live Oak afterschool all year and he loves it. It's mostly outdoors, lots of free play, and they have some activities like group games and craft projects. Older kids who have homework get time to do homework, and younger kids have some quieter time to read, draw, etc. For us, the big draw is the creek - I love that the kids get some time to splash around and be somewhere with a little nature. One downside I would say is they don't really have a lot of capacity to deal with big behavioral challenges, though I suspect with staffing issues in childcare that is a common issue. If your kids are generally rule-followers in group settings, you should be fine. They have 1 staff person for each group of ~12 kids, so if one kid needs a lot of attention it can be a challenge. My kid has had some behavioral issues and they give him time outs, which I don't think are effective for him, but I understand why they do it when they have the rest of the kids to deal with. And he still loves it even though he's had those time outs. So overall I would still say we are still happy with the program and would do it again.