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Daycare advice needed! (long, sorry!)
I'll be at home with Owen until probably May-when I'd like to go back to my part time job tutoring. So, I'm thinking about doing a part time hours type of care for the summer. In August, I hope I'll have a full time teaching position-so he'd need full time care. It's frustrating because I don't know this for certain, and it would suck to pay for full time if I am still just subbing/job searching-but hopefully I would find something during that time so I think planning on having a full time spot then is wisest.
I know it's normal around Birmingham to get on a waiting several months in advance-so that's why I am starting to think about this now, so we can research, do tours, etc. before getting on a list, so a spot will be avaliable when we need it.
But, looking things up today....one place had a HIGH fee just to be put on the waiting list in the first place. Is that normal?! And how early did you get on a waiting list?
If I think I want him to do a mother's day out type of care first, should I expect to look into those just as early as full time daycare? Because my thinking was, the big ones wouldn't want to hold a spot/do part time hours first like church mother's day out places do.
Regardless of where you live, any suggestions/recs/advice on how to go about this process are appreciated. I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to think about this so far in advance.
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Re: Daycare advice needed! (long, sorry!)
We placed LO on a waiting list when I was 14 weeks pregnant. Right now, it looks like late Dec. or early Jan. before LO will have a spot. She will be almost 5 months old before she gets in.
We had to pay a $10 deposit to hold our spot on the waiting list. The money will be deducted from the registration fee when we enroll her. Our backup daycare didn't charge a fee at all.
I don't know anything about MDO waiting lists or fees, but I got on the list for our DC when I was about 15 weeks pregnant. We had to pay either $50 or $100 to get on the list, then another $50 or so when her spot opened up and we registered, I can't remember. They had a spot open for me when I went back to work, thank goodness!
I know how overwhelming it can be trying to find the right childcare option. Good luck!
I'm not sure whether or not a high fee is normal or not...I can see a fee being charged but I would guess it would be similar to what Liz said in that they would deduct it from registration fees or something. But I really don't know since I never looked into daycares.
Question for you? I have been looking at some Mothers Day Outs programs around here for Aubrey for next year and most of the ones I have found here don't accept until age 2 and also they are usually only 4 hour programs and only one or two days a week. Are they different in Birmingham? I haven't done extensive searching yet, so there could be different types that I am not aware of.
Have you thought about a nanny/babysitter as an option?
Looking at some here, there are some that accept babies under 1. It just depends. I gues some of these are bigger churches with bi programs from that to preschool. It seems to depend on the place how many days you can have.... but now that I think about it , it's probably not worth it-because it would easier to get him in one place and stay there, plus have more days/hours avaliable to us. It wouldn't be helpful to have a 9-1 program if those are also my summer work hours...we would need him in somewhere earlier and be picked up later.
Ugh, can you tell I'm new to this? lol.
I would love just to have someone come here to keep him, or even do an in home daycare- but I don't know where to start with that. We live an hour and a half from family and my parents are both still working. I've thought about using a friend but I'm afraid to get involved with a situation paying a friend and it not going well/working out.
I've worked privately for a family and totally got burned by the experience (wasn't paid on time, then was dropped with no warning/explanation). Even though I would never do that to someone else, whether I knew them beforehand or not, I'm wary of doing it. I don't know.
I do have a classmate (another certified teacher) who is a nanny right now. Maybe I should talk to her at some point. I have no clue what to pay in that scenario, though.
DD is not in daycare, but she does go to a MDO program at a church 2 days a week...and will also go there for pre-school. For us, we had to register her for the 2010-2011 school year back in Jan/Feb...and it was very competitive! We got there way before the "official" time just to get a ticket in line and then they only had a certain amount of spots before they started a waiting list. (The church we chose does a MDO program for 6 week olds through age 3, then they also have K-3, K-4, and K-5.)
With that being said, if you are interested in even doing something like that it is a good idea to start looking now, because the registration dates could be coming up in the next couple of months.