Preschool ONLY

[Christina72684]

We currently have kids 6:30-6:00 with some being all day preschoolers and some being after schoolers. In order to get more kids (and more money), we thought about offering just preschool hours for those families who have SAHM's but want their kids to get ready for Kindergarten.

What hours do you offer this? How much do you charge compared to your daily rate? Do they eat any food while there? Any tips?

[Cradle2crayons]

We currently have kids 6:30-6:00 with some being all day preschoolers and some being after schoolers. In order to get more kids (and more money), we thought about offering just preschool hours for those families who have SAHM's but want their kids to get ready for Kindergarten.

What hours do you offer this? How much do you charge compared to your daily rate? Do they eat any food while there? Any tips?

I'm saving ONE preschool only spot ( well its already filled but they are school days only for this coming school year). They follow the local school calendar and hours I'm doing this will be 800 am until 1230. They are providing breakfast at home and bringing a snack and their lunch. Closed in school holidays with pay. Follow all the same policies except the rate. I'm charging top dollar for this spot because its one on one preschool. I won't have any other kids here during those times because my sibling set is afternoons and then mine will be in school.

For my full time rate for that age group is $100 a wek but for the above hours, I'm charging $150 a week for one on one kindy prep basically.

[Starburst]

Some great Ideas for doing preschool only:

http://www.startapreschool.com/training/graduation.html

-That one has 8 videos but when you pick one the ones behind it disappear so just save that page and then go back to it to get a new video.

http://www.mysunshinepreschool.com/parents/fundraiser/results.html

That's her actual business website for her preschool.

She started doing preschool only in her home and then branched into a center were she now does private kindergarten as well. She only had a small family license and was allowed to have about 10 kids in each class at a time (her state ratios).

She had 4 classes: 2 morning classes (one MWF for about 2 or 3 hours and another T/TH for about 3 or 4 hours) and then afternoon classes (also MWF and T/TH classes) so that is about 40 available spots and only had to work about 6 or 7 hours a day. I think she charged a flat fee of $120 per month per child (but then again she had 40 kids {was always full} and her area may have cheaper rates).

But you may also want to look into your state regulations to see if you have any special requirements to do preschool only. You also need to make sure that you either save enough money during the school year to get through summer or offer a summer camp to have money for the summer.

[Oneluckymom]

Here's a question: would you STILL need to be licensed by the state for daycare to do a preschool for 2 hour sessions?

[Cradle2crayons]

Here's a question: would you STILL need to be licensed by the state for daycare to do a preschool for 2 hour sessions?

Every state is different. I'm allowed to have five kids not counting my own and I don't have to be licensed. I can have more than five enrolled but can't have more than five extra at any one time.

Some states are very different though.

[Christina72684]

Licensing isn't a problem. I am licensed to have 12 at one time, 15 with after schoolers. But I'm working on my Class II certification where I can have 16 kids at all times. As long as the preschoolers leave before the afterschoolers arrive, it only counts as one spot and not two, if that makes sense.

I just wondered what hours I should do it and what I should charge.

[Oneluckymom]

I wonder how you go about finding out if this will be a hit in your area.

[Blackcat31]

Licensing isn't a problem. I am licensed to have 12 at one time, 15 with after schoolers. But I'm working on my Class II certification where I can have 16 kids at all times. As long as the preschoolers leave before the afterschoolers arrive, it only counts as one spot and not two, if that makes sense.

I just wondered what hours I should do it and what I should charge.

One of our local providers does this.

Her class times are Morning class (with M,W,F/T,Th or all 5 day options) is from 8-11:30.

She breaks at 11:30 and has lunch herself without feeding any preschool children. (they do have snack around 10).

Her afternoon class (same attendance options) is 1:00-4:30. All the kids have already eaten lunch before arrival and also have a snack around 3:00 and then get picked up before supper time with their families.

I think she has a total of 25 kids enrolled but only 10 in each class. Some are everyday attenders and some only come 2 or 3 days per week.

She gets done earlier than most daycares, opens later than most and even has a 90 minute break in the day with NO kids.

Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

[kendallina]

I run a preschool-only. The children are here from 9am-noon either MWF or TTH. I accept children ages 3-5 years old (with the occasional 2.5 yr old). The MWF class costs $185/month and the TTH class is $135/month. I follow the local school's closures. This works out to $17/day/child, about $5.67/hour for 5 children (about $28 bucks an hour, but of course I do a lot of planning/prepping/cleaning/etc outside of school hours). I can have up to 6 children, but have my own 4-year old enrolled, so when she goes to kinder I'll be able to have one more child..whoo hoo!

I do offer some families extended hours. Only for families that I want to and only until 3pm a couple of days per week at $5/hour. I'm maxed out at that point and have no problem telling families that I cannot run the kind of program that I do if I have children here all day .

I do have a Master's degree in Human Development and over 10 yrs experience doing preschool, so that I think that helps 'sell' it to families, especially as I'm signing on new families. I also take a lot of time to inform families of all of the fun, awesome, hands on learning that we do.

I LOVE love love my schedule and the pay is really pretty good, even though I work a lot more hours than just those 3 per day. But all the extra hours in on my own time, whenever I can and want to, so it works for me.