Just SA Kids?

[Great Beginnings]

Does anyone care for just school aged children? Last Wednesday all of my full timers were gone for various reasons except for 1 infant. So I got up for SA kids, got them on the bus and then I had my infant come shortly after. I had such an overwhelming sense of peace come over me! I loved it. I felt like a SAHM . Then at 3 the school agers came home and were gone within an hour and a half.

I spoke to DH and we'd have to curve some expenses but once the baby comes in June I really think I would love to just have my school agers. My worry though is the Summer and school breaks. They are so hard to entertain and fight and tend to be twice as loud as the little ones .

[Soccermom]

Does anyone care for just school aged children? Last Wednesday all of my full timers were gone for various reasons except for 1 infant. So I got up for SA kids, got them on the bus and then I had my infant come shortly after. I had such an overwhelming sense of peace come over me! I loved it. I felt like a SAHM . Then at 3 the school agers came home and were gone within an hour and a half.

I spoke to DH and we'd have to curve some expenses but once the baby comes in June I really think I would love to just have my school agers. My worry though is the Summer and school breaks. They are so hard to entertain and fight and tend to be twice as loud as the little ones .

I did just SA for 3 years after my youngest DS was born. It was great!!! I loved it. I got to go out and do what I needed during the day and do my housework on Friday mornings before the weekend.

I enjoyed the school breaks because I would plan a lot of fun activities for the kids to keep them busy and then they would watch TV for an hour or so in the afternoon. They play outside a lot by themselves too. I would just keep an eye on them out the window every so often.

I would take a week off at Christmas and most didn't come the whole break because I didn't charge if they didn't come. I loved the break!
During the summer I would take off the month of July with no pay (There are tons of camps for kids that are sometimes cheaper than coming here). The parents liked it because their kids got to go to camps since they didn't have to pay daycare.

My suggestion to you if you decide to go that route is to make sure the kids you take in are compatible in ages. Don't take in a boy if you have 5 girls type thing because otherwise you will be constantly entertaining them. If there are at least a couple of them who are the same age and same sexe, then you should be fine.

Good luck. Feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss more as well

[Great Beginnings]

You make it sound just as lovely as I envisioned it to be ! I am really getting excited about this!! I'm thinking Summer I will let families know I am done as of September!!

What type of activities did you find entertained them? Maybe it's the group I have here or because I have little ones with school agers but they get bored of a craft project after like 5 minutes. Once they get bored they start throwing things, wrestling and misbehaving

[coolconfidentme]

You make it sound just as lovely as I envisioned it to be ! I am really getting excited about this!! I'm thinking Summer I will let families know I am done as of September!!

What type of activities did you find entertained them? Maybe it's the group I have here or because I have little ones with school agers but they get bored of a craft project after like 5 minutes. Once they get bored they start throwing things, wrestling and misbehaving

My SA do homework & then play board games for 6-8. Love it!

[Lucy]

I just have SA right now. It isn't by choice, but I'm LOVING it!!!!!!

I always have long-term kids. My current ones have been here between 3 and 9 years. It just so happens that the two youngest started Kindergarten this year, so I am free from 12:45 to 3:45 every day.

I have said I'm just going to do it this school year, but I don't know.... it's awfully nice!

[itlw8]

here we have an after school program run by the y so it would be hard to get enough and for me they would have to be bus students. but I guess If I did just afterschool a van and transport would make sense.

I like school age. I did cub scouts and youth group but just NOT mixed with preschoolers. You could make them reserve school vacations and take others if you do not book full for those days.

[Soccermom]

The girls mostly play with Barbies, polly pockets and baby dolls (Little cribs, strollers and baby supplies).

The boys loved train sets, my lego table, my bucket of army guys and vehicles, trucks and cars.

The girls and younger boys loved play dough, more complex art projects and painting.

The older kids mostly just did homework, watched a bit of kids programming or once in awhile I would break out the Just Dance on the Wii.

I would plan special activities every Wednesday. A game, a craft or a cooking project.

It is great when you just have SA because the possibilities are endless for what you can do with your group.

There are so many great websites dedicated to SA kids and loads of books at the library too.

The only thing is with the SA older boys, it is better to not force them to participate in activities if they don't want to because they will cause trouble
I always just let them go down and play if they preferred.

I miss SA so much and will not be taking in any more littles. Once the littles I have start school, it is back to SA childcare for me!

[Soccermom]

Another hint - SA kids don't like to know they are being watched. They tend to not play as great with an adult around. They will play much better and create all sorts of imaginary scenarios when they think you are not right there watching them. Same deal for outside play.

It is best to supervise from a distance and be within ear shot but to not let them know you are listening during free play.

When we weren't doing a planned activity I would fold clothes, tidy the upstairs, get dinner ready, do some yard work while we were outside or when the weather was nice just leave all the windows and doors open while they played outside in the yard. I could hear everything but they never knew that

[Great Beginnings]

Another hint - SA kids don't like to know they are being watched. They tend to not play as great with an adult around. They will play much better and create all sorts of imaginary scenarios when they think you are not right there watching them. Same deal for outside play.

It is best to supervise from a distance and be within ear shot but to not let them know you are listening during free play.

When we weren't doing a planned activity I would fold clothes, tidy the upstairs, get dinner ready, do some yard work while we were outside or when the weather was nice just leave all the windows and doors open while they played outside in the yard. I could hear everything but they never knew that

Yes, I've noticed with the ones I have now that as soon as I walk into the room they all look at me like they did something wrong ! I kind of ignore them most of the time until they come out to the livingroom to talk to me !

I love Summer! They go outside, I get some peace and quiet, do dishes, clean, dinner, and so on! How great would that be year around instead of tattling, hitting, running etc! Yep I'm definately going to do it!! happyface

[AfterSchoolMom]

In all the years that I had SA's, I NEVER worked in the summer. I saved some of my pay from each week in an envelope all during the school year, and when summer came, I had the same amount of money each week as always.

The only downside to that is that sometimes you lose families that don't want different places for summer and fall.

[Danielle]

I've thought of doing the same thing, until I got my first SA. This is my last week with a SA and I honestly can't wait till next week. In my (admittedly limited) experience, older kids are more work for less pay. The older kids I've had need direction and planned activities all the time. But then again if you only have SA it probably would work really well, just not mixed with babies/toddlers. Currently, everything runs very smoothly here with only toddlers/babies so I'm going to keep it that way.