Does anyone else run an EL home day care?

[FomerlyMrsObedih_Now_BatmansMama]

I am preparing to start a home day care business next year and plan to explicitly advertise as an EL centre. Does anyone do this already? I know a few parents here run home daycares and do involve the children in EL activities but how much was this desired by the parents you care for? Did they choose you because of EL or do you down play it for fear that they will be scared of pressurizing their kids?

I plan to express my approach as a combination of attachment parenting, EL and Montessori esp. life skills. I would probably only take a maximum of two full time kids so don't need lots of demand anyway but wanted advise on how explicit you would be in my situation.

Final question is do you think it would it be copyright infringement to have a page of school resources on the website showing products we use e.g. brill kids, YBCR, etc. Would I need t seek permission to do this? I am based in the UK btw.

Really looking forward to sharing all I have and still am learning with other appreciative families!

[MummyRoo]

No, but I'd love to I've been thinking of this myself and also wondered how people include EL into the mix - how much do the parents know about your EL activities?

I'm also in the UK, but there is a serious shortage of daycare children in my area (or should I say too many childminders) so I've been trying to figure out if and EL environment would help or hinder me with actually getting any work in this area.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I was searching for a soroban on craigslist nationwide a while ago and this posting came it. It is not in my area, but I was really curious how much she charged so I called her one day. Left a message but she did not call me back, probably b/c I didn't have a local area code I assume.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/kid/3313183090.html

Anyway, she would fit right in here.  But she's doing something similar. (Someone should go invite her on the board from her youtube channel. ) If/When I put my kids in school, I thought about taking ONE baby in as  nanny. Working with the mom during pregnancy, enrolling *just one* child and charging a *ridiculously* exorbitant fee to replicate what I have done with my child and teach the parents along side. Someone out there is willing to pay it, I just don't know that I would want to deal with "that kind" of parent who is most likely super picky, etc. Probably not worth the hassle.

[waterdreamer]

I run a home daycare. I run my day based on my son's needs and include the other children in. I find it is very difficult to run 2 or three seperate programs based on each child skills and needs. But even with that being said, the fact that the other children are exposed to the programs my son are their day is enriched still.

Typically I write a little in my ad about YBCR, exposure to classical music, numbers, ASL, etc. But right now I'm not going too into it. I guess I don't want to a) scare people off, b) have the parents believe I'm going to turn their child into a super genius. A while back I did have some amazing success with one of my daycare boys. His mom was amazed how much brighter he seemed then his older brother was at the same age. Then I approached her about all the things she could do at home, and well as far as I know she never took it to the next level. So well I guess its also disappointing when the parent don't jump on board.

I don't see anything wrong with telling parents what programs you are using. As long as your not claiming them as your own I don't seem issues with copyright. I know I saw one ad in my area and the woman claimed to be a Your Baby Can Read specialist. When I enquired what she did to get that title, she said she just taught her kids using the program. Will I told her that was falsely representing herself, but she disagreed.

Anyhow in the future when my children are older and if I'm still providing child support I will likely go into more detail with the parents and heck maybe even charge more LOL. But for now my kids are my main focus when it comes to education, and the other children are along for the ride. And I think the parents are quite happy with that.

[FomerlyMrsObedih_Now_BatmansMama]

Thanks a lot for the responses!

Waterdreamer - I've been snooping around your blog lately  so I knew you were one of the mom's offering day care services, thanks for your advice. It pretty much fits into the position I was shaping in my head, to mention it but not go too far so as not to scare parents of. I have also considered the challenge of running individualised programmes for 3 different kids (I know the challenge moms with 3 EL kids have - I think most of us agreed that EL had affected how we planned to space out having kids). The UK has an early learning curriculum (EYFS) childminders are legally required to deliver (of course what we do here outstrips that by far) and part of the requirement for that is planning and record keeping for each child. I figure I'd have to do this anyway, so just incorporate EL activities to meet the EYFS targets. It's still gonna be a challenge though. Do you have a website for your childcare business?


TeachingMyToddlers - I love that ad! See that's exactly my dilemma, my sensible head says don't go too far out there, but another part of me just knows that there are some parents out there who value that kind of approach and to just state my position and wait for my target customer. At the end of the day the parent is not going to be 'delighted' with my service if they don't care about EL or even worry about it's potential negative effect. You would totally find the kind of parent you describe, the question is as you state, would it be worth the hassle for you. BTW I completely assumed you would homeschool because you've had such success teaching your little ones, I guess after schooling hasn't slowed Mandabplus3 any, so I see why you leave the option open 


Mummyroo - I called my local family info service the other day and they said there were over 30 childminders within a mile radius of my address and  20 of those had vacancies! Talk about over supply  I am hoping that a carefully packaged offering and early sustained advertising (even before my Ofsted registration is complete) may generate a bit of a waiting list. To be honest the childminder ads I've seen mostly sound the same, it's hard to pick one over another as no real distinguishing points, so I am hoping standing out from the crowd a bit helps rather than hinders. At least my price point will not exceed the top end of what is being charged so I'm asking parents to make a decision on potential outcomes, without paying over the odds. I'll share my progress here so you can see how I get on.

[waterdreamer]

No I actually don't have a website. My reason is here in Canada, daycare is so hard to find. My spots have been filling very fast and even when I take my ad off kijiji listings, I have different people calling me several times a week telling me they love how my daycare sounds and that they want a spot. I having to turn people away.

[sonya_post]

@ MrsObedih,

I have a daycare with just 2 children 1 part-time and picking another in May. But September the oldest two will both be part-time with one as an after school only. I don't advertise. It doesn't take long here to fill up spaces. I could have ten kids if I wanted them, I don't want them. All my parents knew from the beginning what I do. However, as I was merely a homeschooling mom, and hadn't discovered EL yet, my view of education has dramatically changed. The oldest one I have has just completed all the requirements for our 1st grade math. He was tested in preschool two be at year 2.2 in reading. That means he is tests at a second grade, second month of the school year. He is 4 months into preschool. This does have the mother a bit concerned as he has 3 1/2 years before he hits 2nd grade. But she doesn't want me to stop teaching him.

We basically run three different program right now. You have to be organized and go to bed early. If I am tired the entire day is shot. But both of my kids are actually here part time. However, we spend most of the day juggling naps, bus schedules, teaching, and meals. So, my days is planned out to 15 minutes increments. Anything I don't get done with my son during the day is pushed off to the evening.

@ TmT -

I had someone tell me that my worth on the open market on the East Coast as a nanny is about $75,000-$150,000 a year. I was a nanny in my early 20's that's how I paid for college. I thought the pay then was good. But as an Early Learning Specialist that can help a family get their child into the right kindergarten or possibly homeschool the children - there is a market. However, at the upper-end of the pay scale it is assumed you have no other life but your charges.

[Mandabplus3]

I would have loved to find an add in my local for an advanced curriculum or even an advanced preschool! Have you considered just focussing on one age group? It might work with EL if you were very clear on your intentions in your advertising. Personally I would have liked an add that said " looking for someone to not just look after your child but REALLY teach them something? Early math, reading, phonics, music and a second language all taught here! I would have payed almost double for that!
The type of parent issue is a big one I think. I love my work but I value my kids education even more...I could be scary to deal with I suppose  But it takes one to know one hey! You are reading this so there for you are one of those parents! ( I actually said that to all the parents who turned up for my parent teacher talk...I said it as a compliment!  )
I say go for it! Advertise exactly what you really want to say. At least you will get the kids you want to have then. If no one calls then just change the approach a bit.
We have loads of rules here to cover for home daycare. LR is actually not aloud to be used as a reading program but provided one of your kids needs vocabulary development ( what kid doesn't?) you can use it for that! I use it in preschool and I can because it has phonics in it AND the kids request it if I forget! Child requests are gold in this industry! Of course that wouldn't stop me and my neighbour using it with our kids in care anyway

[FomerlyMrsObedih_Now_BatmansMama]

I would have loved to find an add in my local for an advanced curriculum or even an advanced preschool! Have you considered just focussing on one age group? It might work with EL if you were very clear on your intentions in your advertising. Personally I would have liked an add that said " looking for someone to not just look after your child but REALLY teach them something? Early math, reading, phonics, music and a second language all taught here! I would have payed almost double for that!
The type of parent issue is a big one I think. I love my work but I value my kids education even more...I could be scary to deal with I suppose  But it takes one to know one hey! You are reading this so there for you are one of those parents! ( I actually said that to all the parents who turned up for my parent teacher talk...I said it as a compliment!  )
I say go for it! Advertise exactly what you really want to say. At least you will get the kids you want to have then. If no one calls then just change the approach a bit.
We have loads of rules here to cover for home daycare. LR is actually not aloud to be used as a reading program but provided one of your kids needs vocabulary development ( what kid doesn't?) you can use it for that! I use it in preschool and I can because it has phonics in it AND the kids request it if I forget! Child requests are gold in this industry! Of course that wouldn't stop me and my neighbour using it with our kids in care anyway

Mandabplus3, you have just written the intro line for front page of my website, thank you! I am focusing on 0 - 5 year olds, which is the age range covered by the UK's EYFS. I have actually decided to stay true to EL and tell it like it is. We will have fun but there will be learning as well, I want the parents who get that. I am hoping to have a client portal that can buffer me from having unnecessary contact with parents  I will share each child activities/pic/videos with their parent using this. I figure if I am very structured from the start and clear about how I intend to meet the child and parents' needs there should not be too much slack. Won't be registered till probably Feb now so lots of time to draw up my policies and put operational processes and procedures in place. I want to be VERY professional in my approach, and you never know if all goes well and I get good results, I may be able to share the EL learning model we use here with others and get them to adopt it!

Will put my website link up for feedback when it's all done. Thanks for all the advise and encouragement!

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