business
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Friday Freebie – Starting a Child Care Program
Happy Friday! Are you still in school? Do you work year round? For those of you who are enjoying summer break, I hope that you’re having a great time. For those of you who don’t get a summer break, I feel your pain – but there is something about summer weekends that makes them even better than weekends the rest of the year, so enjoy them! Today’s freebie is a little bit different than what I usually share on Fridays. This business workbook is for those of you who have ever considered starting a child care program of your own. The pages in this workbook will walk you through the…
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Organizing all that paperwork!
If you’ve spent any time in a licensed child care program, you’ve seen all the required paperwork – lesson plans, daily communication sheets, medication forms, permission slips, pick-up lists, the forms are never ending. If you’ve ever been a program administrator then you’ve felt the crush of the paperwork avalanche – add all those licensing forms to invoices, bills, staff forms, and all that mail! If you’re like me you’re probably feeling your blood pressure rise just thinking about it, but I’ve got a few tips to help you handle all that paperwork. Whether you’re a classroom teacher or an administrator, I hope that some of these tips will be…
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Evaluating your child care business
This week I’m focusing on tips for child care business. Yesterday I shared some of my favorite online resources, and today is about taking a minute to step back and evaluate. Looking critically at your own program can be a difficult thing to do, you either see the hopes and dreams that you have for the program or you see everything that is going wrong. That’s what happens when we’re too close to a situation. Luckily there are some research-based tools that can help you see exactly where you are so that you can create clear action plans towards your goals. The Program Administration Scale is designed to be used…
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Resources for Child Care Businesses
When I first started thinking about running a child care program I knew that there was a lot I would have to learn, but I had to idea how difficult it would be to find the answers I needed. There are all kinds of resources available if you want to learn more about child development, and even more ideas for planning lessons for preschoolers, toddlers, and infants, but helpful resources for the ins and outs of running the business – not so much. A big part of my job right now is working with administrators, I help them navigate our state’s quality rating system, but I also offer a ton…
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Starting a Child Care Center – Business Aspects
In 2013 I had the opportunity to start a child care program with some talented teachers. Our center has been open for a little over a year (it took us about 6 months to get licensed and running) and I’m at the point where I feel like I finally have things figured out! When we first got started we were all familiar with childcare and licensing, but the business piece was all new. I taught myself most of what I needed to know, and I still learn something new everyday. I’ve had a number of people ask my advice on starting their own child care programs, so I thought I’d…
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Business Cards
The Teachers Pay Teachers conference is in a couple of weeks, and even though I won’t be able to go this year, I am really enjoying hearing about everyone else’s preparations. One thing that a lot of sellers have been doing to get ready for the conference is ordering business cards to hand out as they network with each other. I think this is an awesome idea, so I finally sat down and designed my today. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll get to use them, maybe I’ll do some PD where I’m able to pass them out, but just having them makes me feel so official! Working in an…