Does your O5er ride a school bus?

LucsMama · Senior Member

Does your O5er ride a school bus?

Sonya · Guru

We don't have bus options. We live in the city so we walk to school.

What we actually do is take him to daycare (the one Josie goes to) and he walks up with a group of kids from there (with a teacher).

Alyssa · Guru

Ethan takes the bus in the am. In the afternoon, he goes to the after care program at his school and we pick him up from there.

Sunshine · Guru

We live too close to qualify, but tbh, she wishes she could ride the bus and so do we; it's a hassle as-is with having only one car.

Juni · Guru

He rides it home. He loves it. The school is so close - it's not a super long adventure. He gets out of school at 12 and is getting off the bus fifteen minutes later. He LOVES it. The school really encourages riding it because it helps keep the parking lot safe and clear of too many cars. I had to let go a bit - I'm OCD about carseats and not letting just anybody drive him around. He wanted this experience and it worked out better with our schedule so we decided to go with it. :)

Juni · Guru

Oh, all the kindergarteners have the option to ride the bus even if you live close. It's different in other grades.

Toni · Guru

Juliette LOVES the bus (though she is bummed that she can't sit at the back of the bus like the older kids).

Her bus ride is hella long; it picks her up at 8 (school starts at 8:40), then drops her off at 4:10 (school lets out at 3:35). Needless to say, she has been going to bed between 7-7:30 every night since school started, lol!

Juanita · Guru

Sunshine wrote:

We live too close to qualify, but tbh, she wishes she could ride the bus and so do we; it's a hassle as-is with having only one car.

same here, we only live a couple of blocks away but she wants to ride one so bad!

Cuppycake · Guru

Hannah rides because she wants to... I went through a few days of guilt about it because I'm home, and all that, but now I'm seeing how much nicer it will be when the weather changes to not have to leave, although we still have to walk to the bus stop.

Tiffany · Senior Member

Ava rides the bus and she loves it! She is usually hesistant about things like that but not this time...shes always on the bus with a huge grin every time which makes it so much easier on me =) I dread the day she refuses to go on the bus though but when will that be? who knows. We live so close to the school but they still do the buses around here. She is the last one picked up for pickup and the first one dropped off in the afternoon so shes only on the bus for a max of 10 minutes.

-- Edited by Tiffany on Tuesday 14th of September 2010 11:11:40 AM

Boots and Bananas · Guru

I voted other because Lucas rides the bus but rides the little bus which he has been doing for 3 years. His bus does consist of all age kids though, he has to sit in the front with another kindergartener which he is not pleased about but he does fine.

Alison · Guru

I wish we had a bus option.

It takes me at least a half an hour to drive to the school, find parking, walk him in, and then come home. And then I have to pick him up 3.5 hours later. And the school is only a couple of miles away! The traffic is just ridiculous because there isn't a bus option and there is only one way in and one way out. It's not a great setup.

Lucy · Senior Member

Joe rides the bus and loves it. He gets picked up at 7.55 and school starts at 8.40. And school finishes at 3.15 and he gets dropped off at 3.50. He loves sitting at the front cause he gets to sit behind the driver and see everything that goes on.

I am so glad I don't have to deal with school traffic. And we are super lucky that even though he doesn't go to our home school the boundary is only 5 houses away so we are still on the bus route.

Juni · Guru

Cuppycake wrote:

Hannah rides because she wants to... I went through a few days of guilt about it because I'm home, and all that, but now I'm seeing how much nicer it will be when the weather changes to not have to leave, although we still have to walk to the bus stop.

Our school sent out a letter encouraging parents to use it just because it keeps the parking lot much less crazy. So, I wouldn't feel bad. Less cars for pick up and drop off means an easier time for the buses. :)

Dddiii · Guru

Meghan is taking the bus. The first day went good except that when the bus pulled up at the end of the day, everyone got off except for Meghan.

In the morning, the bus driver was definitely not following the protocol that is set up and was sent home to the parents of kindergarteners. So when she didn't get off, I FREAKED and figured she must have gotten off at the wrong stop or something. She finally got up and I nearly passed out.

It turns out she can't work the seatbelt. She was all freaked out about it this morning (she has become such a worry wart like her mommy :( ) I asked one of the older girls to help her today but I could see that she really didn't help much this morning. I'll have to see if it's still a big deal when she gets home today.

I wish I could turn back the years a bit. I thought I was ready for all of this but it is MUCH harder than I imagined.

sappy · Guru

i voted other.

mikey rides the special bus that comes to my front door. that would be dreamy except caroline has to ride the other bus 20 minutes before him and gets on at the bus stop on the next block ... and gets bus sick.

i think i'm driving them starting tomorrow - same school and same times and i hate this bus routine right now.

Supafly · Guru

Anna doesn't ride the bus, but she wants to. I wasn't ready, lol. And actually, our school is the same as Juni's-they encourage everyone who can to ride the bus to cut down on traffic there.

So far, taking her and picking her up has been working out ok, but the bus would be easier, and she really wants to. So i think I am going to talk with mandy about putting the girls on it. I'll worry about it when the weather gets worse, but I guess it will be ok. And since they put the K kids up front, that makes me feel better. It is a crowded bus though.

She would have to be ready to be picked up a tad earlier than we leave, but she would also be home a tad earlier too. We'll see-but at least she wants to and we have the option! It would be a lot easier on Kate too on the days she actually falls asleep-Mandy could get the girls from the bus stop and Kate wouldn't have to be dragged out of bed.

allvowels · Veteran Member

Addie was SO excited to ride the school bus. That was the only reason she wanted to go to school! haha!

We live very close to school, but they do offer the bus for kindergarteners only (in our neighborhood), so that's perfect. She gets this whole bus thing out of her system, and she's only riding with other 5 year olds. And, even better, she's the first stop. (Jen, I am a carseat freak too, but it does make me feel better that the bus is huge and way bigger than any car it could potentially get into an accident with. : ))

(Also, in this neighborhood, if your child is in a.m. kindy, then they can ride the bus home only. If they're in p.m., then they can ride the bus to school only. It's something about not having crossing guards at those times, so they offer the bus service. It doesn't make a ton of sense, considering I don't think most people would send their kindergartener walking to school by him/herself anyway, but whatever. It works for us! : ))

It's actually working perfectly for us because Abram goes down for his nap anywhere from 10:30 to 11:45, and she gets off the bus at 12:02, so it's nice that I don't have to wake him up to go pick her up.

allvowels · Veteran Member

I forgot to say that we either walk to school in the morning, or I drive her. She starts at 9:15.

Alicia · Senior Member

Not riding the bus this year. I would have to wake her up earlier for the bus and the school is less than 5 mins drive from home. I thought she would fuss to ride it since she's been a bus rider for 2 years but she hasn't. For the most part I let my kids decide if they want to ride the bus so if she asked I would let her ride it home.