Who here uses one? do you like it? why did you go there over a center? Pros/cons? (if you chose a center over an IHDC, why?)
We are at a center now and I am pretty happy with them. But we have finally bought a house (YAY!) and are moving so our current center is going to too inconvenient to make work I think (its inconvenient now, but we had to find it in a hurry since our initial daycare closed while I was on maternity leave....) but with the move it will be even more so, especially for DH who does the AM drop offs. So we are looking at new centers too but I looked at in-home options and was like, ummmm, those are cheap!!! lololol. So the cost may sway me if we can get into one that is close to our house. We would probably switch back to a center when he is 2 or 3 though.
I'm having issues anyway because I love his center and they love him so much and I'm so worried a new place wont love him as much :-( I may be slightly irrational about this.
Re: In-Home Daycares
I currently use an in-home for both girls. We started A off in an in-home provider at 8 months old. We loved our DCP, until she decided to close down. I love the small amount of children, most of the kids were around A's age, and cost was big for us. Then A went to a center, which I liked for about three weeks, before they changed ownership. From day one of the new ownership, I wanted out. We started looking at daycare centers and in-home providers, but things got super crazy in December when daycare center was shut down and we had to find a new place ASAP! We went back to a in-home provider.
Again, less children, closer relationships between the children, cost is not bad. I've checked centers in my area for both children and we can't offered it. We are most likely going to send A and C to a daycare center when she turns 5 (she will start K when she is almost 6, October birthday).
Last December we interviewed over 6 in home providers for both the girls and I only liked one person out of all those we interviewed. You'll know if the person is right for your LO.
Good luck and Congratulations on the new house.
We originally agreed that we would prefer a center over an in-home because it would be more structured. I told DH the cost of centers. I did TONS of research, we did visits and then DH *freaked out* over the cost. Apparently he had not listened to me all the millions of times I told him about the cost. So he made calls and we looked at in-homes. We went with an in-home primarily due to cost. Also, all the centers we looked at had wait lists a mile long. We save about $75/week by using an in-home place.
Now I will say, our in-home DC is set up like a center. Her basement room has a small kitchen, little tables, changing stations, etc just like a center. There is an adjoining room where the cribs/cots are for napping. The DC part is completely separate from the part of the house where she and her husband live. Personally, I much preferred this to a bunch of PNP's crammed in a living room.
Though I agreed to this, I also said I'd want him in a center when he's 2, but now I'm reconsidering. Definitely by 4, maybe 3, but not 2. He loves it there and so do we (with a few little blips) so we'll keep him there for now. We just felt really comfortable with her as soon as we left the interview and that was the deciding factor.
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w
BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w
BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d
BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
My Blog: Decorate This
Congrats on your new house! What area did you buy in?
DD1 was in an in home daycare for a few months before we switched her to a center. For us, a center is much more convenient. We need a place that doesn't shut down for two weeks a year and we have to find other care. We need a place that is open long hours because DH works 7-5 every day and I can get stuck at work late.
A preschool curriculum is also incredibly important to us. We want our kids to be somewhere that they will thrive, not just be somewhere that they are being taken care of, if that makes sense.
All that being said, the cost of in home DCPs is much nicer! So you and DH just have to decide what is important to you guys and go from there.
Oh, and when she was in an in home, I always thought we would switch her to a center when she turned 2 anyhow. But its amazing to me how much she learned and was doing before the age of 2 because of being in a learning-based environment. I'm glad we didn't wait.
DD was in a center from 10 months to just over a year. When we moved to Laurel we had her in an awful center that's since shut down and found our angel of an in-home DCP.
Like SarahKate- ours has her basement converted to a center, essentially. She also orders a pre-school program from the internet and Josie comes home with very similar things to what she had at the center. I know she is learning. I like that in an in-home she's around older kids, I think that caused her language skills to sky rocket.
It has been a hassle sometimes that she closes earlier than a center, or that she needs personal days here and there, but we deal because we love her. I think the food she serves is better, too. We plan our vacations around hers, try to schedule days off when she does and it all works out. Luckily, DH and I have flex schedules and can WFH often. If you don't have good backup care, it might be tough. Ours has never taken a sick day or called in, but we've definitely had a lot of days here and there we've had to take off.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
Congrats on the house!! Where did you buy?
We use an in-home provider too. I needed someone 3 days a week and it's nearly impossible to find a center that would allow that. It works great for us and he LOVES it.
DE IVF #1= 04/11 - BFP
We went with a center for the following reasons:
* structure
* accountability - there are a variety of people there and they keep records on what DD is doing, so I feel like there are several sets of eyes
* hours (we have DD there from 7-5/5:30 most days) Plus, they are rarely closed. The did close during the storm, but my work was closed anyway. There are also only 3 days I have to take off for school being closed. Also, if one staff member is sick/wants vacation, then they are still open.
* DD had the same teachers from the time she started until she was 20 months. (Her one infant teacher is still there, but due to a medical condition, cannot lift more than 20 lbs, so they keep her in the infant room now. The other teacher was "let go", but I think it had more to do with employee policies/procedures, rather than how she treated the kids. DD was always very happy with her and I was sad to see her leave.)
My husband was dead-set against an in-home provider or even an in-home nanny, so we only looked at centers. He wanted multiple sets of eyes on our kids when they were too small to tell us what was going on during the day.
This is one of the things where there really isn't a right or a wrong answer. You just have to figure out who/where is the best fit for you and your family. Congratulations on the new house and good luck deciding on a new daycare!
Ah we are moving to sykesville/eldersburg! so I'll be joining the ranks of the Carroll County girls on the board (we have to sign an addendum about the right to farm?! baltimore city it ain't ;-) )
Thanks for all the advice and thoughts ladies1 I'm going to make some calls on Friday. We have PT care at a center now so I feel we have it pretty good but we will see.
Really?! Where? You can PM me if you want to share We visited 2 centers in Eburg and none had PT infant care but we really liked them both. DS will likely go to preschool/daycare at one of them (Celebree) in a couple years if we're still in the area. Our in-home DC is full or I'd rec her!! We are hoping she'll have a spot for us whenever we have #2 or else we're screwed!
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w
BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w
BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d
BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
My Blog: Decorate This
Replied!
I was going to say Eburg is smaller than Sykesville, but Wiki tells me I'm wrong. Apparently Sykesville is *in* Eburg. Who knew. People use them kind of interchangeably because they have the same zip code.
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w
BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w
BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d
BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
My Blog: Decorate This
DD was at an in home DCP from 12 weeks up until August of this year. We planned to have her stay there until she was 3, but our DCP retired .
We (along with DD) adored our in home provider. We had met with several before choosing her, and had also toured some centers.
It is certainly a personal choice, but for us, we liked the idea of in home better when she was younger and needed more 1:1 attention. We truly felt like we were part our of DCP's family, and were confident in the care she gave DD.
It was truly a sad day when we left her.
DD is now at a center, and is doing well. We feel like she learned so much at our in home, and we are glad to see that it has carried over to the center. The transition was rough for a few weeks, but she is settled in nicely now and we have been happy with the new place.
Again, it's obviously a personal choice, but we were very happy with our in home provider.
We found her using the Maryland locate website