Offering Only Half Day Preschool?

[CrackerJacks]

Id love to eventually start a m-f 9a-1p preschool program for 2y-3y olds.

Has anyone here re focused their care from all day care to just half day? If so, what were some of the hurdles you found?

[Country Kids]

I did and absouletly loved it but.......

We lost so much money on it. At that time I didn't do flat rates and did hourly. So it doesn't add up to much that way. Even if I did do flat rate I would have only possibly brought home around $1,000-$1,200 a month. That would be with 6 children erolled 5 days a week. Any less days and it would be charged less. All the preschools here charge for 2, 3, or 5 day programs.

Then doing all the curriculum, crafts, doing fieldtrips, etc. I was spending a coiuple hundred a month, so it helped but not what we were needing.

If possible I would love to go back to doing this though.

[preschoolteacher]

I'm going to be opening a preschool/daycare in September. Basically, there will be a preschool program from 7:30 am-12:30 pm and then extended day care afterwards until 5:30 pm. My goal is to switch over to just the half day preschool in a couple years once my program becomes more well-known. I don't think parents will enroll in a brand new half-day home preschool program; it's going to need a good reputation first for being a truly educational program. There's a lot of competition in the area in terms of preschools, so I'm trying to offer something different to parents.... see below!

I'm charging is a flat rate for the preschool program regardless of the child's attendance and then an hourly rate for extended day care afterwards. So if a kid is sick, the parents still pay for the preschool program but not for the hours of extended day care they have contracted. I think this will make the cost very affordable for parents and give them flexibility so they don't have to pay when their child is not here in daycare--they always pay for preschool.

In order to cover my bases financially, I'm also doing drop-in care at a more expensive rate than I'm offering my contracted clients. So if Billy is sick, his mom doesn't have to pay for daycare (but she does pay for preschool), and then I can fill Billy's space with Sally (a drop-in client) who pays a higher rate.

I live in a neighborhood with lots of stay-at-home parents, and I have already gotten a lot of feedback that a good drop-in site is needed here.

I'm hoping this idea works! I know it is a little unconventional.

I believe that if you really want to do this, you have to offer something more than just preschool at first. So many places "do preschool" without really offering anything special. Do you have a special focus? Maybe a nature-based program? Language immersion? Arts-based program?

[Country Kids]

I'm going to be opening a preschool/daycare in September. Basically, there will be a preschool program from 7:30 am-12:30 pm and then extended day care afterwards until 5:30 pm. My goal is to switch over to just the half day preschool in a couple years once my program becomes more well-known. I don't think parents will enroll in a brand new half-day home preschool program; it's going to need a good reputation first for being a truly educational program. There's a lot of competition in the area in terms of preschools, so I'm trying to offer something different to parents.... see below!

I'm charging is a flat rate for the preschool program regardless of the child's attendance and then an hourly rate for extended day care afterwards. So if a kid is sick, the parents still pay for the preschool program but not for the hours of extended day care they have contracted. I think this will make the cost very affordable for parents and give them flexibility so they don't have to pay when their child is not here in daycare--they always pay for preschool.

In order to cover my bases financially, I'm also doing drop-in care at a more expensive rate than I'm offering my contracted clients. So if Billy is sick, his mom doesn't have to pay for daycare (but she does pay for preschool), and then I can fill Billy's space with Sally (a drop-in client) who pays a higher rate.

I live in a neighborhood with lots of stay-at-home parents, and I have already gotten a lot of feedback that a good drop-in site is needed here.

I'm hoping this idea works! I know it is a little unconventional.

I believe that if you really want to do this, you have to offer something more than just preschool at first. So many places "do preschool" without really offering anything special. Do you have a special focus? Maybe a nature-based program? Language immersion? Arts-based program?

This is more what I started at and then went back to. I only have one that uses me for preschool only and I'm thinking of maybe just not offering that even next year as I loose quiet a bit of money of that one spot. Always a work in progress. I know charge flat rat though which is much better in the end.

[ksmith]

I'm going to be opening a preschool/daycare in September. Basically, there will be a preschool program from 7:30 am-12:30 pm and then extended day care afterwards until 5:30 pm. My goal is to switch over to just the half day preschool in a couple years once my program becomes more well-known. I don't think parents will enroll in a brand new half-day home preschool program; it's going to need a good reputation first for being a truly educational program. There's a lot of competition in the area in terms of preschools, so I'm trying to offer something different to parents.... see below!

I'm charging is a flat rate for the preschool program regardless of the child's attendance and then an hourly rate for extended day care afterwards. So if a kid is sick, the parents still pay for the preschool program but not for the hours of extended day care they have contracted. I think this will make the cost very affordable for parents and give them flexibility so they don't have to pay when their child is not here in daycare--they always pay for preschool.

In order to cover my bases financially, I'm also doing drop-in care at a more expensive rate than I'm offering my contracted clients. So if Billy is sick, his mom doesn't have to pay for daycare (but she does pay for preschool), and then I can fill Billy's space with Sally (a drop-in client) who pays a higher rate.

I live in a neighborhood with lots of stay-at-home parents, and I have already gotten a lot of feedback that a good drop-in site is needed here.

I'm hoping this idea works! I know it is a little unconventional.

I believe that if you really want to do this, you have to offer something more than just preschool at first. So many places "do preschool" without really offering anything special. Do you have a special focus? Maybe a nature-based program? Language immersion? Arts-based program?

I'm planning to do the same thing. I think it attracts to both clientele, those that want just preschool, and those that want preschool but need daycare hours. I'm starting in the home, but plan to expand to a center after a few years. I'm still debating once I expand if I want to keep up the same system, or go to traditional preschool hours.

[Starburst]

If you go to starapreschool.com she has some video tips for only focusing on preschool. She started off doing home preschool and eventually opened a center where they now do Pre-K and private kinder.

When she did it in her home she had up to 40 kids enrolled in her program each year because she had about 10 kids in each class (with an assistant) and she offered 4 seperate classe schedules: 3x a week M/W/F (1 morning class and 1 afternoon class) and 2x a week (T/TH- 1 morning and 1 afternoon class). I think the MWF classes were 2 hours per class and the T/TH classes were 3 hours per class. She only charged $120 a month per child and made as much (if not more than) most large family daycare providers who work 12 hour days with a full house . Imagine how much she saved on her assistant only having to work 6 hours a day (if she even needed one when kids were absent). The only thing is it would be tricky if you offered child care hours for the families- unless you charged them 2x as much or a higher flat rate.