Hi parents, we have a two year old kid and are planning to move to NYC next year. We are looking for a school with Chinese language programs or a district with after-school programs that offer Chinese. Which schools or districts would you recommend? Both of us work from home, so our location is flexible. However, we would prefer not to live in a touristy area. We’ll also need a bike room and a parking spot for a car. Any places in Brooklyn or Queens that you would recommend?

Hi Parents!

Just wanted to get some opinions here. I'm a new mom and with the addition of a child, we are outgrowing our space. Has anyone who have decided to move out of their current home this year decided to rent or buy? What drove you towards that decision? My partner and I were initially planning to buy but real estate and interest rates make it so unaffordable.. and now I'm leaning more towards renting again but everything still up in the air for us.

Expecting soon and haven’t made concrete plans to move yet but wondering if there are NYC parents with kids in schools here? What are your thoughts?

Any suggestions on an after-school care program for children with disabilities? And do you know of any schools (public or private) that support both autism and deafness?

Hello all! I am looking for recommendations on resources to understand the school system in nyc. My husband & I didn't grow up in States and are finding it hard understanding the schooling system.

Could you help us understand how to get started? We are trying to learn about:

• How does district/zone system work?
• How do you know if a school is "good"?
• Does the daycare you select have an impact on 3K admissions?
• Private vs public options

For context we have a 6 month old. Thanks in advance!

We are looking at private schools in Manhattan and brooklyn. Which schools are traditional and which ones are more progressive?

I have a child and 2 year old dog. I have been looking into air purifiers for my 2 Bedroom (about 750sq ft.) apartment. Any recommendations? Do I have to buy one for every room or can I buy one that covers the whole house?

Never had one or really know much about them so advice is very useful! Thanks in advance✨

I go to a city hospital and everyone around me has doona strollers. I had to purchase one for ease of use but used. I bought it off Facebook and the seller listed another one within 2 days. So I’m sure there is a place for used ones that is cheaper than what I got. Does anyone where?

We have an 18 month old, and currently live in the PS290 zone in UES. We have a benefit from my job that subsidizes the purchase of a co-op/condo (worth ~50k) that expires in April.

We are considering using that benefit to buy in the PS6 district.

Few questions:

1. Have read that PS6 may not be the same quality of education as it historically has been - any opinions here?
2. PS6 has half day 3K, but we both work. Is there any way to take advantage of 3k? E.g., partnerships with local daycares to cover the second half of the day?
3. Generally - is it “worth” the premium to move to the PS6 zone? Recognizing that this is a fairly subjective question

I have been looking into 3K, PreK admission process and what I understood is that to get priority to get into a school that is not your zone school, it's better to get admitted in PreK or 3K program? So then you will get priority. But now my question is, how do you get into PreK program in a school of your choice? When applying for PreK program does the zoning rule don't apply?

Expecting our baby in December and trying to figure out what childcare will look like once we both go back to work. I’m currently applying for smaller home daycares in our neighborhood, but my husband has a non traditional schedule (late afternoon through evening hours), and I don’t make it home until about an hour after most daycares close. We can’t afford a solo nanny, but I’m wondering how to get in on a nanny share and whether that might work better for our needs. Advice is appreciated!

My son’s pediatrician doesn’t have the vaccine, and all of the local pharmacies don’t vaccinate children under 5. Where can I get a vaccine for my 21 month old? Preferably northern Manhattan or the Bronx.

Partner and I are expecting and have been thinking of laying down roots. We are both fairly flexible in terms of geographic location with regard to work and so have thought about optimizing for school district. We have heard that district 15 has great schools, currently live in district 14. Have heard some doom and gloom regarding the school situation in our district and was wondering if anyone had any insight into how the public schools in district 14 really are? Are they bad enough to warrant moving? Thanks!

So, I used to have hra vouchers for my kids, but my cash assistance case was closed for some reason, so now I have to figure out how to get acs vouchers as my daughter last day in daycare is Nov 30. I filled acs application earlier and they said ineligible for missing documents although I added everything required. My husband work full time and I am a full time college student. What should I do to get some help ASAP? I am in the bronx.

How can a school not provide an in-person tour? I’ve emailed with a few public elementary and middle schools in Brooklyn and Queens this season who say they are too busy and will only offer tours in the spring to families who accepted offers as part of orientation.

So we’re expected to just take their word for everything without seeing the inside of the classrooms or campus at all? That seems insane. Is this actually allowed by DOE?

Anyone got off WL at the citywide G&T school and what was your WL number? Nest, Anderson, TAG, Q300? Share your RANs please you got in or got WListed with . Interested in MS admissions, well aware there are handful of seats available if any. Your input would be greatly appreciated!

I am 3 month old kid. We live in St Albans, Jamaica. I am ofcourse trying to find a good day care center around there. While searching for it, I learned I really don't know how the admission process works in NYC for public schools. Or where to get good information on which schools are good. The google reviewes are all horrible saying "Bad school" and stuff. So can anyone explain me how the admission process works? And how early you should start applying? For daycare center should I look into a place that provides upto 3K education? Also if there is a group anywhere for Jamaica Queens parents would love to join and know about it.

We live in Brooklyn full time but have a small house upstate with my in-laws that we go to most weekends. We’re expecting our first baby in April. What baby items should we definitely keep at the upstate house? I’m having trouble building the registry for two places (a totally privileged problem, I know!) and would love advice from any parents who have a similar set up.

Hi! I'm a soon-to-be college graduate moving to the Upper East Side this month, and I’m hoping to get your advice:

Over the summer, I created a really fun arts and creativity program for children in my suburban New York neighborhood. I planned all the art sessions myself, brought supplies to my neighbors' homes, and worked with the kids one-on-one or in very small groups. Together, we made puppets, paintings, dioramas, sculptures, artistic treasure hunts, movies, and original soundtracks. I taught interdisciplinary creative skills like songwriting, GarageBand music production, film scoring, and filmmaking. I loved teaching these creativity sessions, and the kids were SO into it!

My question is: when I move to the city, do you think families on the Upper East Side and other areas would be interested in this as an individualized after-school/weekend program? Do you think my “Art of Creativity” program would be viable here, and if so, how should I go about finding kids to work with? Parents, would something like this appeal to you?

For one-on-one sessions, I currently charge $30 an hour, $45 for an hour and a half, $55 for two hours, or $80 for three hours. Do you think this aligns with city rates for extracurriculars/private lessons? I’d really appreciate any insights you can share!

And if anyone would like to discuss arranging a session for their child, please feel free to message me — I’d be happy to set something up! :)

Thank you so much!

I have a question regarding my ACS voucher. I was approved, and my son is already enrolled in daycare. I've completed all the necessary paperwork and sent it out. Currently, I am still paying out of pocket while I wait for the daycare to receive their first payment. Will the daycare reimburse me for the weeks I've been paying out of pocket, considering they will receive back payment dating from the start date on the voucher?

Has anyone given birth (or currently pregnant) who has UHC Oxford in NYC? I’m pregnant for the first time and I’m so lost because of this shitty insurance. Currently at a OB that I hate, and I was only going bc I thought they were fully in network and covered… only to get a giant bill for ultrasounds today. For months, anytime I call customer service at UHC I get different/wrong information. I need help navigating this.

I have to write an op-ed for a class on a current educational issue in nyc but am having trouble thinking of current ones since I don’t live in nyc anymore. I spent k-12 at nyc schools and graduated in 2022.

My partner and I make $230k pre-tax, and have a 2yo entering private daycare. While we are both lucky enough to be able to max our IRAs and contribute to 401ks (which is a luxury, I know), after those expenses and other bare necessities (rent,utilities,food,insurance,diapers and toilet paper), we have nothing left. I try not to compare myself to others, but it seems like everyone else owns their home/apartment and/or has spending money to buy nice furniture, new clothes for their kid (we get ours from giveaways), get haircuts and new shoes all the time etc.

What do these people do for a living? We both have Masters degrees and work in nonprofits, our jobs are stable with good benefits and yet we are just living to work. We aren’t enjoying life… I know a lot of this is the cost of daycare, which is 1.5x our current rent. I know that we will do better when our kid is in public school. Yet, we still won’t be thriving - it would take us decades to save a down payment for a home, and costs will only increase as kid gets older.

Why does it also seem like everyone has help from their parents or someone else? How does one get ahead at all if you start from ground zero and have no family support?

Does it get better? Is there something I could do better? We don’t splurge eating out or buying avocado toast or lattes, we don’t have a car, we just seem to be constantly fighting against rising basic costs. Milk is $8 a gallon (?!). High quality whole grain bread is $6/loaf. WTF. What are we doing wrong?

We’re just trying to have a happy family and break a poverty cycle that we both escaped from, and it seems impossible. Moving out of NYC would just force us to take lower paying jobs with lower titles.

EDIT: Thanks everyone so much for your solidarity. I feel better knowing we’re on par with a lot of people (at least those on this sub). Crossing fingers we get into 3k.

Would love to hear from anyone who moved from one neighborhood to another to get into a specific public school/district. Why did you do it? How did it impact the relationships you had already built in your previous neighborhood? Do you regret it or are you relieved? Was there a huge culture shift that you had to adjust to? Would you recommend it? Really any insight would be helpful.

Context: we love our community/neighborhood and there are one or two schools that are good, but when compared to schools in other districts I’m not so thrilled with what I’m seeing on paper. I know there are various metrics to consider, but I’m just talking base level academics here.

I'm currently working through the middle school admissions process and our family has lucked out with a decent lottery number (top 13%) and I'm hoping my kid gets into either Institute for Collaborative Education (I.C.E.) or School of the Future. I was originally leaning towards ICE but the more I read about School of the Future, the more I think it might be the better school? My daughter has an IEP and I like how School of the Future handles special education. However, it seems like School of the Future is perhaps a bit more rigorous academically and I don't want my kid to be overwhelmed. Does anyone know or have more thoughts about these two schools? I'd be really interested to hear what others think. Thanks!

Our daughter is in 1st grade, at a generally good school in Brooklyn, a class of 16.

She's in a dual language program, has done well, grade level or above in everything. She does well in math, art, Spanish, science, music, social skills. Gets on well with peers, teachers.

So far teachers have been good. The school has an involved PTA, lots to like about it.

The classes will combine next year into about 30 kids. Not crazy about it, but resigned.

We have been warned by other parents that the 2nd grade teacher sucks. She was a covid hire, not fully accredited. She's young, apparently has poor Spanish, and frequently makes mistakes in math. One of the other parents, a teacher himself, had the teacher have their older kid last year, and noticed the homework was frequently marked incorrectly.

We have heard that previous parents just gritted their teeth to get through the year. Or left.

Unfortunately, the school doesn't seem to want to discuss it. We don't want to wait until next year to monitor it see if intervention is necessary... they should have enough information from this year.

Hey first time parents here with a 1 year old.
It took me and my wife a long time to find a day care that was right for both of us.

My wife is a nurse who works 3-4 times out the week including Saturday and Sunday and wanted to spend time with him on the days she's off.

So I needed a part time day care (which is incredibly hard to find)

We found Little World Group Family Day Care in Valley stream and couldn't be happier.

Her rates were 80 dollars a day for part time or 320 a week for full time.

She sends my wife videos of our kid throughout the day which made her super comfortable and our kids come home full every day (Yes she cooks for them every day!)

Just outside of NYC and she has no annoying late fees!

Was wondering what Halloween events are happening for little kids this weekend. There was a cute thing at Essex Market last year but doesn’t seem to be happening this year. I have a 15 month old Strawberry looking for some spooky fun