I would charge them the full rate, $30 per day per child. I do not offer discounts.
You will have the additional expenses of:
- feeding the children breakfast on morning days and snack and dinner on after school days
- business car insurance (in my research personal car insurance doesn't cover daycare children)
- gas
- potential added expense of car seats to transport other daycare children while transporting these kids
- wear and tear on your vehicle
You should also consider the additional work:
- You will be starting your day around 3:30am.... and the other families you will care for will likely need care until the end of the typical work day which is a very long day on a provider. Can you offer quality care from 4:00am - 6:00pm? Personally, I could not.
- This is three spots with varying schedules which means you will likely need to hold those spots for them for the full day to not risk going over ratio. Plus schools have lots of time off so the parent will likely want them with you the full days those days....
- Planning will require more time and require you to communicate with parent more than normal, you will have to be flexible in your plans for the daycare because of their varying schedule.
- It could be a pain having to take other dcks to drop off or pick up these school age kids. How will it impact the other clients drop off time? The other children's naps, etc.
I know you said you are just starting out but I would not just accept anyone..... and I would not start out offering discounts and being requested to be flexible between the hours of 4AM - 8:30PM. Know and value your worth. A nanny in my area would cost this mom $20 per hour for the three kids plus gas and the nanny would not take on the cost of food (which can really add up).
It could also benefit you to search threads on SA care, it seems there are challenges that you should at least be aware of before you offer the care.