4 Reasons Why We Love the Y’s Afterschool Program (And Why You Should, Too!)
To help motivate and inspire kids to learn, the YMCA is offering an afterschool program to school-aged children throughout the greater Dallas area, including districts in Collin, Denton and Ellis counties. Our afterschool program combines academics with play and offers a caring and safe environment for youth who would otherwise be left unsupervised. Besides the obvious benefits to afterschool programs, here are my top 4 reasons why I love the Y’s afterschool program, and why you should too!
Quality of Staff
All of the YMCA Afterschool sites are licensed by the Texas Department Family & Protective Services (TDFPS) and operate on a 1:15 staff to student ratio!! This means they have more staff available to provide individual attention to kids to ensure a safer learning environment. The Y’s Afterschool Curriculum Specialists have spent YEARS in the classroom as educators and they partner with local districts to expose our kids to some of today’s most popular disciplines
The Friendships
There is nothing like building lifelong buddies in the Y through our afterschool program! The academic and social benefits to the program definitely can’t be ignored. It allows our kids to interact and problem solve while learning about wellness. The environment allows them to learn from experience with peers. It also encourages teamwork and cooperation!
Promotes Health & Wellness
The YMCA positions themselves as ambassadors to family health & wellness and they definitely incorporate that into our afterschool program! They put physical activities and nutrition education into our daily plans to keep the kids moving! They provide everything from Running Club to Cooking Grub Club and the kids have fun while learning about health & wellness!
Playtime & Homework Time
The curriculum for the afterschool program is well established and the culture at each site is great! The Y recognizes the balance between Learning and Playing. They build in homework time into the program and kids are assisted by qualified staff and teachers. Outside of homework time, the learning definitely doesn’t stop! Everything from Outdoor Education to Literacy & Language, learning is made fun and enjoyable.
The learning and fun shouldn’t stop once our kids are let out of school!