What Do Parents Expect From You as a Daycare Provider?

[Carole's Daycare]

In my experience, parents expect you to make sure they are ready for school. If they are not, those parents will not accept responsibility for it, but blame the daycare for not telling them their child needed help. In Minnesota daycare providers receive the Ready for K standards ( in a nice little softcover booklet from the Dept of Ed)that let us know exactly what kids are expected to be capable of when starting school. If I suspect a child has a learning disability or is behind developmentally by age 3 I refer them for screening & access to Early Childhood programs/preschool through the district. All kids here get screened for free at 4 and if they are identified as having potential readiness issues are encouraged by the district to enroll them. I let parents know if there's a specific area of concern and suggest activities they can do at home to help. Most of the kids at my daycare do not qualify for preschool free because they don't have a "demonstrated academic or social need", and my families dont want to pay for preschool and have to transport (bussing is provided & free if you NEED preschool, but not if you dont) so many of my non-special ed /speech delay kids stay here for preschool, depending on how old they were/or behind when I got them. etc I use Funshine myself, and supplement it with additional materials /books. Don't worrry that you arent a teacher, Funshine actually lays it all out- basically idiot proof. If you are on auto-ship it comes the second week of the month prior- so there's plenty of time to browse through the book, look at the materials, go to the library with the suggested reading list etc. Prep time is actually pretty minimal. If there's an activity you think wont work in your daycare modify it or substitute another iin the same category (dramatic play, science, etc etc) because the curriculum is designed over the course of the week/month to hit all the different developmental areas. The activities don't really take that much time- so just have a daily schedule w/ opening circle time, table time, story times- and many of the play based activities just fit in wherever, with plenty of room for your own additions. I read the Alphapets books at lunchtime- and reinforce the Aplhabet recognition/phonics, and Numbertales does the same for numbers.