Kavya : School dilemma

Kavya has been going to Bright Horizons, which is like a school as well as day care since Sept 2008. She started out with only 2 days a week, then we increased it to 3 days a week in November and then 5 days starting April 2009. She took few months to adjust and get used to the school. Now she also has a good friend, Keya Shah, that she usually hangs out with.

We had planned to start her with Challenger school which has more academic focus from Aug 24 2009. We were determined because we were thinking that she is smart and so she needs more academic challenges than what Bright Horizons offers and besides, since we have been brought up with academic focus, that's bound to affect our thought process. Also, at Bright Horizons, she spends about 2-3 hours playing outside everyday (even in winters) that we did not like too much due to weather/health issues and also it came across as lack of academic activities.

Ever since we told her teachers at Bright Horizons that Kavya will be moving to Challenger in August, they had been suggesting that we reconsider our decision and that change is hard on kids and that Kavya is comfortable at Bright Horizon. But so far that did not affect our decision.

This week we got a letter from Challenger that the first month fees are due by August 3rd and then the reality sank in. We are seriously reconsidering if this is the right thing for Kavya as well as us at this time . Kavya and I went to Challenger yesterday to check it out again and I also wanted to see if Kavya likes it. She liked it but said that she wants to go there after she gets little bigger :)

Here are some of the thinking points :

As her teacher had mentioned, she is very well adjusted to the routine and place at Bright Horizons. Also, it took her so long time to get used to there. So, is she really ready for a change? Will she adjust to Challenger ? What if she takes such a long time again? Can we handle that struggle and resistance at this time with little Ishaan in the picture? Would it be better to let her spend one more year at Bright Horizon and let her get more matured and develop more understanding before making the move? Should we just let her enjoy as a kid before throwing her in the academic pressures?

Other minor point is also that they offer lunch at Bright Horizons, but at Challenger, I will have the added task of packing her lunch every morning. Do we really want to add more work in the fully-packed morning schedule at this time ?

Although not the most important thing, but Challenger will be overall about 300$ per month more expensive than Bright Horizons considering the flat fee difference plus the added tax benefit we get for Bright Horizons since it falls in day care category.

We are still discussing and reconsidering, but leaning more towards letting Kavya continue in Bright Horizons for another year. We will loose the $320 application fee + deposit at Challenger, but that's not a big deal at this time.

Any Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?