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How much would you pay for in-home childcare?
I'm a teacher and plan to take the next school year off to do in-home childcare. I'm not sure what to charge families, and just thought I would ask what you would pay. It would not be under the table, so the parents could claim it on taxes (which means I have to pay taxes too, yuck).
There are so many variables that go into it too, like if I should allow for sick days/snow days/holidays. Or if I'll provide meals.
And I'm not sure if this info matters but, I live in a nice suburb of Dayton and have an average sized home (that I keep very clean, I might add 
). I have a Bachelors in Early Childhood Education and a Master's in Special Education. I'm planning on running more of a structured in-home daycare, not a drop-your kid-off-and-I'll-get-my-laundry-done daycare.
I know so many people who aren't happy with their in-home providers and I want to make sure that I am being fair to both parents and myself. So I guess my question is, if you ran a home-daycare, what would your over-all policy look like? TIA!
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Re: How much would you pay for in-home childcare?
Here are some ideas: the daycare we are currently in sets a flat fee per week regardless of how many days you are there, but we ultimately pay less. So we pay $135/week, but we pay that even if she's only there for three days because of snow, etc. We also have to pay through the summer. We had the other option of paying by the hour somewhere else, but for us, on a normal week, it would have been ultimately more expensive per year (but not by a lot-- she wanted $4/hour, which per year would have been like $50 more than where DD is now, so we picked based on proximity to work/where we live). So I'd say you can go either way. The big decision to make is what you want to do over the summer.
My current provider gives us holidays with no pay, but the basic ones-- Thanksgiving (Wed., Thurs., Fri.), Christmas (week of Christmas), Easter (week of Easter), etc. No discount for days we have off, like President's Day or MLK day. So that's a personal choice.
For sick policy, I'd say if the child is visibly sick, a sick policy needs to be enforced. My current provider doesn't do this and it drives me nuts. One child was there one day and was clearly miserable, hacking, runny eyes, just laying on the floor, and later that night we found she had been hospitalized for RSV and pneumonia. Come on! I wish a policy had been in place for something like that. Obviously you have to be careful to not be too strict, since kids always have colds, but I think when kids are clearly miserable, possibly contagious, and sick enough to see a doctor, they shouldn't be in daycare.
Current provider provides meals (breakfast, lunch, snack) and whole milk. Most in-home places I looked at did. You could build that into your cost for if you have a child over 1 year.
For me, CPR training and basic First Aid was a must from my provider, so that might be worth looking into-- and try going through your school because a lot of times people like gym teachers or health teachers are certified to teach CPR.
Other than that, a clean home with structured activities for a toddler is basically what I looked for. If you could maybe provide parents with what a sample daily schedule might look like, or have toys for kids in your yard, etc. I think that would help. I guess you probably looked for the same things I did when you were looking for care for Cecelia, so I am betting you know most of this, but I thought I'd put in my two cents (since I am stuck at parent-teacher conferences....WHEN WILL THEY END!?!?).
Thanks for the input! I do need to get First Aid/CPR certified. I had it before (when I worked in daycare) but it has expired so I'll have to get it again.
And paying for the summer - that stinks! I would rather be charged a little more through the year and then not pay at all through the summer!
And boo for conferences!
Mine are in 2 weeks - I am NOT looking forward to being at school til 8 at night!
Well... I'm telling my school that I am just going to "try it" for a year. But honestly, I doubt I will go back. I want to have more children and it is to hard to leave my DD now, so it will probably be awhile before I go back.
If you are interested in talking to me about it, my e-mail is lindsaygreen14@yahoo.com.
Jennie
Married to my BFF on 8.13.05 (after dating 5 years)!
DS born 2.14.08. DD born 9.30.09.
Our in-home DCP charges $30/day for infants and $25/day for children over age 1. We don't pay for summer break, Christmas break, or spring break. We DO pay for any other days Logan is scheduled to be there whether he comes or not, ie. sick days, snow days.
I'd be willing to pay more per day to not have to pay for summer, spring, and winter break since DH is home and can take care of DS.
Good luck!
When we used in-home, we paid $125/week flat-rate, for any amount of days that week. We provided food but I would have been willing to pay a little bit more for her to provide food (as long as it was fairly healthy - not chicken nuggets and fruit in syrup every day), to avoid the hassle of having to pack a lunch every day (it would be great to know in advance what they were having, maybe a printed menu handed out like many daycare centers do).
We had to pay for days we didn't use and didn't get any free "time off." We didn't have to pay for days the provider took off for when her kids were sick, vacation, etc. We did pay her for a full week during holiday weeks. One thing I wish we would have done is had a simple contract detailing all of these things before we started, because we did have some confusion along the way.
Other than that, I mostly looked for a clean, safe home, a small ratio, and a provider who seemed to take a genuine interest in children. Your education background would be a big bonus to me. Also, when I was searching for childcare the first time it was just for a baby so I didn't care so much about structure, activities, etc., but as my DD got older it was important to me that she had the chance to do more than just sit and play with toys all day -which is one reason I'm pleased with the center we switched to, but maybe you could incorporate art projects, sensory stuff, circle time, etc. into your schedule if you're going to be watching toddlers too.
GL!