Looking to start up, but would like some help

[charsmommy]

Hello!

for the past few months, I have been exploring the world of in-home child care. I feel that it is something I would greatly enjoy,and the benefit is that I could stay home with my kids. I am an early childhood educator with a background in pre-k, so I'm fully aware of children at a young age and how to care for them.

I intend to become state licensed and already have those requirements printed out, ready to meet. However, I would like to hear your experience as far as advertising, waiting lists, references (for when you just start up as far as who you would give...old principals??), contracts, handbooks, rules/expectations, late pickup/early dropoff fees, etc. Any of your policies that you could share. Also, if there are any good websites that would be very helpful as well.

I won't be starting right away, but I've spoken to my husband and he has agreed it is alright for me to start once the time is right, so I'm doing my research and writing my policies now, so that I have it as perfect as I can get it for when the time comes...hopefully this summer

[clynnd]

One website I highly recommend is The Activity Idea Place - preschool themes and lesson plans. It is a wealth of information and the forum is a great source of both information and support.

Yes, I would use old principals and any other teachers you may have worked closely with as references. Depending on how long you have been out of college, possibly even an old college instructor or the teacher you did student teaching/internship under. You could even use a few of the parents of children you taught for testimonial type references if you are close with any of them.

I think it is wonderful that you have done your homework on this and with your background you are aware of the level of involvement this requires. Too many people jump in to it without doing research first and then stuggle from day one.

When writing your contracts, you can never be too specific. Spell everything out and repeat yourself constantly. Parents often take advantage of home child care providers, because afterall, they're "just babysitters." They will ask you to open early, stay open late, possibly watch their kid on a weekend, anything they can do to take advantage. A word about payment: Make sure parents pay on Monday for the week of care that is beginning. Maybe give a slight discount($5 per week or something) if they pay in advance on Friday for the following week. Do not let any parent give you a sob story and get out of paying you one week! Believe me, they will try just about anything to get a discount or get out of paying all together. Some providers offer a sibling discount, others do not. I think it depends a lot on how many kids you are going to have whether you can afford to give a discount or not.

Also, make sure you decide ahead of time exactly what ages you want to keep. It can be a challenge mixing infants with preschoolers all day and then having to figure out whether a bus will drop off the school age kids or if you are expected to pick them up. Which reminds me, if you are going to transport them anywhere, make sure you have specific guidelines for this in the parent handbook and make the parents sign a permission form to transport their child. Some providers only keep infants/toddlers and others only keep preschoolers. Some are happy to mix ages and do it with ease. Decide what you do and do not want to have to mess with ahead of time and save yourself a huge headache later on.

As someone with a background in early childhood education, you probably already have a lot of curriculum materials. Decide whether you are going to be a more play-based program or a more academic program and plan in advance. Make sure parents are aware of what they are signing on for when they sign the contract.

As far as advertising, some people have a lot of luck with newspaper ads or with an ad on craigslist. Others find newspaper ads to be a waste of time and money and focus on word of mouth or fliers.
There are a lot of inexpensive ways to advertise that could potentially get you clients. Decide before advertising exactly what type of clients you are looking for. For instance, a lot of home providers prefer teacher's kids because they get many of the same breaks as the schools, but unless they charge a fee to hold the slot during the summer, they lose all income over the summer. Others cater to a specific need such as evening or overnight care.

Once you've decided on the type of client you prefer, check out www.vistaprint.com. They offer a lot of free samples such as business cards. You pay shipping. You could have a t-shirt made up with your daycare name and info on it and wear it when you do the grocery shopping. Register with your local child care resource and referral network and they may refer a client to you. Get involved in a local child care organization (NAEYC or the like). If you only take preschool age kids and another home provider only accepts infants/todders, maybe you can help refer clients to each other. Some churches will allow you to include a flier in their Sunday bulletin for nothing but a donation to the church. If your area has a pennysaver or similar newspaper, usually it is cheap to advertise in their too. Fliers hung up at laundry mats, grocery stores, libraries, etc. If you are wanting to accept mainly teacher's kids, go directly to the source and see if you can advertise to the teachers at your local schools. Spread the word among your former co-workers.

Make sure you contact the IRS and sign up for an Employer Identification Number (IEN). Even though you may not be interested in hiring an assistant, if your clients are going to deduct their child care expenses off their taxes, you are required to give them either your SSN or your EIN. With identity theft being what it is, I would not take the chance.

You can sign up for the Federal Child and Adult Food Program, which will reimburse you for a portion of what you spend on groceries every month, just like day care centers and schools.

One final thought, if you have one room of your house that you can totally devote to your childcare business, it usually works out better. Plus, at the end of the day, you close the door and don't have to look at "work" all the time.

I hope I have helped you, and again, I highly recommend The Activity Idea Place - preschool themes and lesson plans. I have been a member of that site since 1999 and it has helped me so much. (by the way, I do not recieve any benefit from you looking at or joining that site) The owner of the site, Chicky is very experienced in child care and there are a lot of current and former providers on there who regularly help one another with questions such as the ones you have asked.

[babyshowerexpert]

My parents have owned a daycare for 22 years. Pm if you'd like some help or advice!

[aimino1]

Did that...been there. I would be glad to tell you what my experiences were. I was NY affliliated. I quit when my kids turned 12 and all the kids I had turned 12. They then stayed home because it was legal.

The state certification seems like a bump in the road to make sure you really want it. It seems impossible at first to get through, and sometimes can make you feel inadequate. But, stick with it and get it all done, have the home inspection and fix all the things they say are not in compliance like plugs in the outlets, and attend the number of manditory hours of "classes" they say you have to to maintain your certification. The classes are easy, like how to change a diaper sanitarily-you know wear gloves or wash hands, how long, etc. Its really common sense for anyone like you it is probably just a little over the top of what you normally do.

The tax deductions are great. You can deduct the business expenses of toilet paper, cell phone, square footage, heat, food, etc. What they do is calculate a factor that is a combination of time the kids are at your house combined with time within the year. Itcomes out a percent and that percent you deduct off everyting utilitywise, etc....I found the tax deduction most beneficial.

The parents can take advantage so I would clearly explain your expectattions to them before you start by contract. Especially if they are late, decide not to bring them, etc. Some parents, although are wonderful, are just as hard pressed for money, and try to skimp on you. Define how much vacation you will take, and when if possible so they can take their vacation at the same time. Define if they bring food and diapers and the cost if they dont. How about taking their child in your car....it requires a form they sign saying its OK. You'll need a medical kit for the car, and you wil need permission to administer even a bandaid. There is alot to it. But its easy when you want to stay home with your kids...which is what I did. Now Im looking for typing or medical transcripton work. I am learning how to get those jobs now....You can e-mail me any further questions at daimino@rochester.rr.com.

[sebastianlatina]

Hello,

My mother has owned her own daycare for over 30 years and has had tremendous success. She has a waiting list and has never been short on clients. If you'd like, and you're still searching, PM me and I can give you her contact information. She runs her daycare in CT.

Sebastian Latina

[AmySol]

I'm a work at home mom and I was thinking about watching a couple of kids along with my own each week too. I've been working on my license. Just took the first course, 4 more to go!!! :-)

[alicetan]

hi,

i am looking for preschool educators to help my adult son out with his preschool learning apps on iphone and ipad.

it may be a part-time consultancy gig at first, focusing on ideas for new activities, evaluating the existing activities for learning relevance and also helping out with matching activities with state curriculum standards. we are based in california but are more than happy to work online.

let me know if anyone is keen to help out with this.

Youtube trailer: YouTube - "STICKERY": Apps for Brainy Preschoolers

his 1st app was just featured by Apple yesterday:
Stickery: Mermaid Waters for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store


let me know if anyone is keen here.

[scrappydy]

Hello,

My mom has always had a home daycare and while I did not expect to follow in her footsteps, I have started considering my own home daycare as I am an expectant mother and would like to have the opportunity to be at home with my first baby.

My idea is that since I am also a Type 1 Diabetic, I have heard of parents struggling to find quality care for their diabetic children. I would like to offer my experience as a diabetic in helping to accommodate for those children. Also, I live in the Bay Area and know that child care is very expensive. With everything else being so expensive in CA, I'd like to be able to offer a low-cost service to struggling or single parents. I have plenty of experience with children as I used to help my mom with her daycare children, my dad is a pediatrician, I helped my sister raise her first daughter while she was a single mom at the time, I have babysat for many families during my time through high school & college, as well as taught elementary drawing to children pre-k - 5th grade with the Young Rembrandts program. What kind of training courses do I need to take and how do I go about getting licensed? Also, how can I keep the cost of service as low as possible without short-changing myself? I am not looking to accept more than 3 children at a time.

Thank you for your help.

[MamaPigg]

Hi scrappydy,

You're located not too far from me...I'm in Nor Cal! Your 1st step is to call Community Care Licensing to request a date to attend Licensed Day Care orientation. Community Care Licensing is probably a County Run agency with the Department of Health and Human Services.

While waiting for the appointment-my area if backlogged and you have to wait several weeks to get into an orientation, talk to other daycare providers to find our what typical rates, hours and safety requirements are. You can begin designing your policies and setting up your home prior to orientation.

At orientation you'll be given a packet with fingerprinting instructions and health and safety regulations.

Eventually, licensing will visit your home to make sure it is safe and you'll be issues a license number. You can then sign up with the local resource and referral agency and a food program.

Some providers with references and connections to parents who trust them start looking for clients prior to licensing certifying them, which is fine as long as not more than 1 family starts prior to licensing giving approval.

Licensing is required, classes are not, in our area, though it is becoming more common for providers to have some sort of training.
HTH!

[scrappydy]

Thank you so much for the information, MamaPig! I will look into it ASAP. I am really passionate about this service I can provide once I am licensed and all. So, it is very exciting to be pointed in the right direction!