Anyone Only Take Preschool/Pre-k?

[ksmith]

I was curious if anyone just did preschool/pre-k in their in home daycare? Did/do you have any trouble filling your spots? Do you take those that are not potty trained? Do you have typical daycare hours, or typical preschool hours?

[butterfly]

I'm probably not who you want to hear from... I kinda do this. I don't advertise this way, but this is kinda how I do things. I've pretty much decided I won't take another infant unless it's under the absolute best circumstances... A sibling of someone I already care for, or a referral of someone I 'think' I can trust and work with (or I get really desperate). Infants take up so much time when I really prefer to do the preschool activities with the kids. (I will take a dropin infant on occasion though)

So yes, I do preschool and no I don't have issues filling spots, but I have wonderful word of mouth referrals.

My preschool is done as part of my daycare, not as a separate option.

I do take non potty trained kids. But I kinda have my routine for this down, so I'm not overly concerned about having to train or do diapers.

[snbauser]

I only care for ages 2 1/2 - 4. I am just now reopening but when I was open before I never had a problem staying full. I offered both a full day and part day option although most of mine were full day.

[ksmith]

Butterfly, before I closed last year I did both as well and it was so time consuming. Not to mention I had some infants that were less than desirable to have. If I start in the home again, eventually we plan to open a center/preschool that will only focus on the preschool ages, at least initially. So, I kind of figured why not start out this way in the home, but I just wasn't sure how families respond to this option. Especially those with kids that might fall below the preschool ages. I know before families were not to keen on having their kids go to separate places, so I wondered how it would be if they were forced to send them to separate places.

snbauser, do you require those ages to be potty trained?

[butterfly]

Butterfly, before I closed last year I did both as well and it was so time consuming. Not to mention I had some infants that were less than desirable to have. If I start in the home again, eventually we plan to open a center/preschool that will only focus on the preschool ages, at least initially. So, I kind of figured why not start out this way in the home, but I just wasn't sure how families respond to this option. Especially those with kids that might fall below the preschool ages. I know before families were not to keen on having their kids go to separate places, so I wondered how it would be if they were forced to send them to separate places.

snbauser, do you require those ages to be potty trained?

When I get calls, the first question I ask is how old are your children. If they tell me under 2, I say I'm full and move on. (when I have openings).

Here there is such a great demand for infant child care, someone could open up an infant only care and really do awesome. They could probably charge a ridiculous price too, because it's in such demand.

I think if you really make it known that you do preschool, you'll have a great many interested in that. Most of the parents here, want that and don't want to settle for someone who doesn't do preschool.

I don't have anyone who sends one kid here and another somewhere else, but like I said, I don't advertise to be a preschool even though that's really what we do. If you advertise as a preschool, parents kinda expect that their younger children won't be able to attend.

Good luck!!

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I was curious if anyone just did preschool/pre-k in their in home daycare? Did/do you have any trouble filling your spots? Do you take those that are not potty trained? Do you have typical daycare hours, or typical preschool hours?

Yes, I just do preschool/pre-k.

Sometimes I do have trouble filling my spots. I get a lot of inquiries for infants needing care.

Yes, I do take those that are not potty rained.

I have pretty typical daycare hours (slightly less), but far more than typical Preschool hours. More than 50% of my clients use this as daycare as well while they are at work.

[nanglgrl]

I take only 1 year and up (and I don't take school agers) but my youngest child tends to be about 1 1/2 on average. I currently have two that are 23 months and 4 that are 2 1/2 to 3 years old. It's been like this for a while now where I've had children around 2 for the most part. I know that's not typical pre-school age but I found running a regular preschool program has worked really well even with the youngest ones. My two 23 month olds act more like they are 2 1/2 and I attribute that to them being around the older ones daily. They are amazing.
I do take them if they aren't potty trained and most of them aren't.
I have had one spot open for months and am hoping that when summer arrives I can fill it but it may just be because my hours are 7:30-3:30 p.m. so it's a hard slot to fill. One thing that helps is that I live a few blocks from a college so I tend to get a lot of parents that are in school, have one child and aren't planning on having another for quite some time.

[snbauser]

snbauser, do you require those ages to be potty trained?

Right now I do not but at some point in the future I hope to be able to be that picky and insist they are trained. I despise the training aspect.

[Starburst]

I think anytime you limit the age groups you care for the harder it is to find spots- espesually when its for a small period of time like preschool depending on what you consider preschoolers; some people say preschoolers are 2-5 years old, some say 3-5 year olds some people do preschool programs that are for 2 years some only do it for 1 year- it may also depend on the age of the child when they start and what age your state says is okay to start kindergarden (last I heard here in CA kids need to be 5 years old by September 1st). At the home daycare I used to work at she would let some of the not yet potty trained kids (2 year olds) sit in during preschool time if they no longer took morning naps with the infants.

[ksmith]

I think anytime you limit the age groups you care for the harder it is to find spots- espesually when its for a small period of time like preschool depending on what you consider preschoolers; some people say preschoolers are 2-5 years old, some say 3-5 year olds some people do preschool programs that are for 2 years some only do it for 1 year- it may also depend on the age of the child when they start and what age your state says is okay to start preschool (last I heard here in CA kids need to be 5 years old by September 1st). At the home daycare I used to work at she would let some of the not yet potty trained kids (2 year olds) sit in during preschool time if they no longer took morning naps with the infants.

I'm still debating on ages, but I'm thinking 2.5 until they start Kindergarten. Depending on the cut off to start school, that would be my cut-off for the oldest I would take. As far as hours I think I would offer both the normal preschool hours as well as the normal daycare hours. That way I can cater to both types of families, those looking just for preschool, or those working parents that need both. I am a bit worried about limiting my age groups, but ultimately that is what I want to work with.

[boysx5]

Here we have most leave our home daycares at three they want preschool but in a brick building not a home preschool

[Candy]

I think anytime you limit the age groups you care for the harder it is to find spots- espesually when its for a small period of time like preschool depending on what you consider preschoolers; some people say preschoolers are 2-5 years old, some say 3-5 year olds some people do preschool programs that are for 2 years some only do it for 1 year- it may also depend on the age of the child when they start and what age your state says is okay to start kindergarden (last I heard here in CA kids need to be 5 years old by September 1st). At the home daycare I used to work at she would let some of the not yet potty trained kids (2 year olds) sit in during preschool time if they no longer took morning naps with the infants.

I agree that it would be harder to fill spots if u only took preschool. Where i live most people have a infant and preschooler. And im pretty sure they wouldn't enroll their children in different places. I would however like have a seperate area for preschoolers when i open my daycare.

[ksmith]

I agree that it would be harder to fill spots if u only took preschool. Where i live most people have a infant and preschooler. And im pretty sure they wouldn't enroll their children in different places. I would however like have a seperate area for preschoolers when i open my daycare.

My reason for limiting is I'm just not a fan of doing mixed age groups. I plan to offer a traditional preschool program, and eventually transition into a center/school where those are the age groups that are offered.

[Blackcat31]

Here we have most leave our home daycares at three they want preschool but in a brick building not a home preschool

This is definitely true. Around here, most people think "preschool" and they think a smaller scaled down version of public school.

I know many providers in my community who limit their children to certain ages but no one calls them a preschool, just daycare providers who don't like to take the younger kids.

Parents also want to see their child's teacher to be licensed as a teacher AND have that ECE degree.

Plus, with this whole QRIS and Universal Preschool thing happening across the country, I think preschool age children will cease being the targeted clients for in-home child care providers and the age of most kids needing care will soon be the under 3 crowd ONLY.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

This is definitely true. Around here, most people think "preschool" and they think a smaller scaled down version of public school.

I know many providers in my community who limit their children to certain ages but no one calls them a preschool, just daycare providers who don't like to take the younger kids.

Parents also want to see their child's teacher to be licensed as a teacher AND have that ECE degree.

Plus, with this whole QRIS and Universal Preschool thing happening across the country, I think preschool age children will cease being the targeted clients for in-home child care providers and the age of most kids needing care will soon be the under 3 crowd ONLY.

Since I'm a certified EC-6th grade teacher, I think that greatly helps me.

That will be very interesting if the ages of my clients completely changes to be under 3! I'll take it as it comes. Is there an estimated date when they think that will be in effect?