Part Time In home Preschool

[Unregistered]

I ran a licensed in home daycare for part of this year and closed after deciding the long hours and inability to go anywhere was too much. My daughter was home with me but it felt like I never saw her due to the needs of the other children of varying age.

I am still home with her and do miss some parts of the daycare so I'm considering opening up our home for in home "preschool" a few times a week. Does anyone run this type of program? I'd be looking to stay unlicensed just so I don't need to deal with all that comes with that, so my state allows me to take three unrelated children or keep my program under four hours a week to be exempt from licensing. I'd be ok keeping it under four by doing two hours two times a week, but what happens when Johnny's mom is late? I plan to follow up with licensing but wondered if anyone else runs their daycare/preschool under this type of exemption. Otherwise, I'll just take three children like 2.5 hours three times a week and just have to charge a little higher.

Any insight on an in home preschool would be appreciated!

[rosieteddy]

Someone in our town does this.She started a morning only playgroup.She does have a license because our state requires it.She starts at 8:30am -11:30.They go home for lunch.She advertised at the local fitness center and library .Children attend either two or three days(m,w,f, or t&thur) She does get paid holidays and I think parents pay bi weekly.It works for her because then she can spend time with her kids after school.

[Thriftylady]

I think it could work with the right community. In my community it wouldn't work, because there is no way parents could pick them up and drop them off somewhere else. Nobody around here gets away from work for that long. But if you are in an area with a lot of SAHM's or SAHD's who could afford to pay it, it may work.

[kendallina]

Yes, I ran this way for 5 years. This year I just started running full-time (still only preschool age) because my own daughter is now in school full time.

I LOVED it. Every school year my schedule was a little different depending on what I wanted to do or what people needed. Some years I ran two different classes MWF and TTH 9-12. Other years I ran MWF Prekinder class from 9am-2pm and TTH Preschool class from 9am-12pm. Some years I allowed working families to have their kids here for extended hours, other years I did not allow this. Another advantage was that most of my families (not all) had a stay-at-home parent, so if I was sick or my daughter was sick, I'd close the preschool for the day.

One thing to think about is whether your community could support this and how best to market this. I live in a small college town and people love that there are options (we actually have 4) for high-quality, in-home preschool. In some areas, a Moms Day Out program for a couple days a week would be very successful.

In terms of thinking about what happens if someone is late picking up...it's just like when you ran childcare. Make sure you have a contract and rules in place for families. I started calling families about 3-4 minutes after my close time. I never needed to have a late fee, the evil eye and a few jokes like, "don't be reason that I need to institute a late fee!" was enough.

But, do make sure that you decide ahead of time how you will handle these issues and questions about them. What if someone needs a half hour early drop-off? What if on Wedesdays someone needs an extra hour? There are no right answers of course, you have to decide what work for you and your family. Some years extra hours worked well for me, other years it didn't, so I couldn't enroll those families.

Also, just FYI: Really the only reason that I went to full time this year beside my daughter being in full-time school was financial. I make soooo much more money running full-time. But, if you don't reallly need that extra income, then I say go for it! Best of luck!

[Kelly]

That is what I am transitioning to now. My plan is to have a morning Montessori preschool program. I can only have 3 kids without a license but for now that is all I want. I do plan to offer afternoon care as well for families who need it but will be charging quite a bit to make it worth my time.

At some point in the next few years, my own kids (who are adults with disabilities) will hopefully be moving to group homes and then I might consider getting licensed and taking a few more kids.

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll trial it in the Spring with three children, that way I don't have to worry about licensing and sticking under four hours to qualify for a licensing exemption. I did post on a local moms group that I was considering it and received a lot of interest! I just know I'll have to be a tad higher than the other local preschools due to the small group size, but I think i can probably find three families who are wiling to pay a little extra for quality - I plan to be a nature based preschool with lots of outdoor time and organic snacks.

[daycare]

is there anything that you specialize in?

I have a friend who lives in my same town and does this from 9 to 11 tuesday through Thursday only. She has been doing it this way for about 15 years. She is Montessori inspired and she follows the city school district that way she has off all of the same days as her own kids.

I run an in-home preschool and I have a lot of kids that come half day only to attend the preschool portion only.

I run my program that it is preschool in the morning and then daycare in the afternoon. so after nap time, the kids just play until pick up, I close at 4:45pm

I think it can be done, especially with a group that small.

[kendallina]

Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll trial it in the Spring with three children, that way I don't have to worry about licensing and sticking under four hours to qualify for a licensing exemption. I did post on a local moms group that I was considering it and received a lot of interest! I just know I'll have to be a tad higher than the other local preschools due to the small group size, but I think i can probably find three families who are wiling to pay a little extra for quality - I plan to be a nature based preschool with lots of outdoor time and organic snacks.

Yup! This is great (bolded part), there will definitely be parents interested in this. Best of luck!