Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I am wondering since we have had several threads and posts about teaching and doing curriculum. Of those providers who buy or plan a curriculum that you follow on pretty routine daily schedule, do you get paid more than the going rate for your area?
I ask because I have been in this business for some time now and every year I plan a curriculum, pay loads of money for it, spend an enormous amount of my time outside of my regular hours sorting, buying, planning and organizing my curriculum and I am seriously starting to rethink the entire point of doing all this. I advertise as a "pre-school" like others do thinking that parents are looking for all the 1,2,3's and ABC's classroom type learning and I really feel as though 99.9% of my current parents are really only looking for a loving, caring, safe environment for their child. They aren't all that concerned about the "schooling" part of it because they all know their kid will get it in Kindy or they will learn from their parents and sibs or they will possibly even pull their child from daycare and put them in an actual "preschool" center as a pp vented about.
We have a good supply of venting on here in regards to parents not caring what craft items and projects their child did during the day and leaving most correspondence and daily notes in the cubby untouched. So I am wondering what the point of doing a preschool curriculum with dck's is when we, as providers, are collectively just trying to get the parents all to pay on time, remember our house rules, drop off/pick up on time, respect us and support us as we assist their child in learning developmentally appropriate skills such as toilet training, eating healthy foods, napping quietly and using self-help skills.
Another poster got me thinking about how tough it is to fit all this stuff into one day and I have to say, why are we trying? If we are not licensed to teach pre-school and are licensed as family childcare providers, why are we all trying so hard to do so much more?
I would think in this crazy, two parent working long hours, too many extra curricular activities and all world, kids would benefit much more (and have less challenging behaviors) if we only focused on the basic necessities and just played with them. No scheduled craft time, no strict routines to follow...just on the floor, hands-on fun stuff....lots of love and nurturing. No stress over trying to get Timmy to figure out why a "b" and a "d" are not the same.....
I went to a "NO TV" childcare in December and my dck's have been playing in ways I did not know they could so I am seriously thinking about just having a "Basics Only" childcare. I don't get paid any more than the regular going rate and all the families I have enrolled in the last few years are only looking for someone they can trust who will put her kids needs (the basic ones) ahead of her own. No one has been looking for a teacher or a tutor. I still will have all the activities and supplies I always have had but it will be up to them when and how they play with them. dck #1 might paint at 9:00 am while dck #2 might not paint until 3:00 pm. No structured activity...do what you want when you want. Just meals and nap/rest time on schedule.
Two rules will apply;
1. Play nicely/respectfully.
2. Pickup after yourself.
Learning will still be part of our day, just in a completely non-structured, non-routine, stress-free manner.
I always wanted to be licensed to run an actual preschool, but I am not. I am a licensed FAMILY CHILD CARE provider. I do not get paid any more than the regular going rate set by our county. I feel this will be less stressful and eliminate my need for the curriculum drama I go through every year.
Just wondering what everyone else's thoughts are on this....
For me, I find that in my area the majority of parents look for an educational child care arrangement unless they have family to help them with child care. In my city we definitely see a difference in child care cost when an educational approach is offered vs when it's not.
In my city all daycare centers offer some type of educational program (preschool, Montessori etc) and their rates start at $130/week for half day programs ( Mon-Fri 9am-1pm) not including yearly registration fees. Full day programs cost more (around $200-$230/week). Before/after school costs are around $70/week.
FCC programs that have some sort of preschool program cost around $160-$175/week for full-time care. I plan my own preschool program and charge on the lower end of this scale ($165/week) but I don't a lot of worksheets or crafts. I do free art, free play etc. in a relaxed way but it's planned and with a purpose.
Each month we work on certain things and have themes and even though I plan each day most of the activities are pretty much what we'd be playing with even if I didn't do "preschool". For example, this month we are working on the letter A, the colors red and green, the circle, the number 1 and our community helper is the police officer. Today we painted with red and green paint, are having apples (red and green, apples are circles) at each meal, made red apple scented play dough which I encouraged the children to roll up into snakes to look like the number 1, our dramatic play area has police officer props and costumes, our library has books relating to what we are learning etc. For me planning the month the first time takes time but I will save my plans and reuse them next year or I will plan next year a little differently and keep both years worth of plans to reuse them and rotate them each year.
Other FCC that don't offer preschool charge around $100-$125/week depending on their location. That's considerable less than what I can charge and I don't offer a full-blown "preschool" program.
I also find that even many FCC offer preschool many of our clients prefer to send their children to "real preschool" anyway. I have a 3yo DCG that comes to me before and after preschool even though I offer an educational approach because her parents were looking for child care that supported learning in a more relaxed way. I see more and more of this.
Here where I live if I didn't advertise myself as educational or as having some sort of preschool program I wouldn't get much interest and especially not for what I charge even though it's a fair deal.