childcare
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A Blog Post about Blog Posts
I know that’s quite the title for a post, but it’s the best way I can think to describe what I want to share here! I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can use this space to support those of you are serving so many different roles in the early care and education field – especially those of you who are childcare professionals. I love sharing fun posts about activities, projects, and printables – but these are the easy things. There are so many great ideas already available, and to be honest I know that coming up with things to do with children isn’t the hardest part of the…
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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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Questions to ask potential child care providers
Here are some great questions to ask potential child care providers: What is your philosophy about how young children learn? What is your favorite thing about working with children? What is your least favorite thing about working with children? How do you decide which activities to do with the children? Do you use any type of curriculum or assessment? How long have you been working with children and have you completed any education related to child development? How many children do you typically care for at one time? What is your typical daily schedule like? How do you handle temper tantrums and behavior challenges? What kinds of communication can I…
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A Blog Post about Blog Posts
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Things to look for in quality child care
Yesterday I shared all of the things that I personally looked for when choosing child care for my own child. Today I wanted to give you some additional tips from the experts. When I need a great resource for anything related to Early Childhood Education the first place I look is always NAEYC. For this particular topic, NAEYC for Families does not disappoint. Below are the infographics, you can follow the links to read additional in-depth information. A Caring Place for your Infant A Caring Place for your Toddler A Good Preschool for your Child This information is perfect for sharing with parents who come to visit your program (so…
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A Blog Post about Blog Posts
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What I Looked for when Choosing Child Care
We just recently had to choose a child care center for our new baby girl to attend when I go back to work, and let me tell you it was hard! I have worked in child care for my entire career, at three very different programs, and I currently help programs apply for our quality rating system, so it’s safe to say that I have far more knowledge about child care than the average new parent. I’m convinced that my training in licensing, curriculum and assessment, quality improvement, and best practice made this particular parenting task infinitely more difficult, especially considering our budget! I thought it might be valuable to…
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A Blog Post about Blog Posts
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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…
