Question About Running An Unlicensed Home Preschool

[Julia]

I live in the state of Kansas, and was thinking about starting my own preschool in my home. However, I don't want to go through all the trouble with licensing, if I don't need to. Here are the Kansas laws, from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website:

Licensing for home-based day care IS NOT required as follows:
1.When child care is provided for not more than two children unrelated to the provider for 20 hours a week or less and the home has not been closed as a result of enforcement action. Total time is determined by adding the hours each child is cared for weekly.
2. When irregular child care is arranged between friends and neighbors on an exchange bases.
3.When child care is provided in the child's own home.
4.When child care is provided in the home of the child's relative.


My question is, if I teach 2 kids for 12 hours/week (M-W-F), would I still be allowed to teach 2 different kids on T-Th for an additional 8 hours/week?

Thanks,
Julia

[blandino]

Originally Posted by Julia

I live in the state of Kansas, and was thinking about starting my own preschool in my home. However, I don't want to go through all the trouble with licensing, if I don't need to. Here are the Kansas laws, from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website:

Licensing for home-based day care IS NOT required as follows:
1.When child care is provided for not more than two children unrelated to the provider for 20 hours a week or less and the home has not been closed as a result of enforcement action. Total time is determined by adding the hours each child is cared for weekly.
2. When irregular child care is arranged between friends and neighbors on an exchange bases.
3.When child care is provided in the child's own home.
4.When child care is provided in the home of the child's relative.


My question is, if I teach 2 kids for 12 hours/week (M-W-F), would I still be allowed to teach 2 different kids on T-Th for an additional 8 hours/week?

Thanks,
Julia

I am in OK with similar licensing laws. They will count the number of hours you have children in care total - even if they are entirely different groups of children.

[CedarCreek]

I'm not sure, but not to put a damper on things, would you be able to line up clients for a preschool without licensing?

[Julia]

In the example I gave above, I would still be at the 20 hours total for the week, so I think I'd be okay with total hours. But am I only allowed to teach 2 children total, or is it okay to have 4 children/week as long as I only teach 2 at a time?

[Julia]

Originally Posted by CedarCreek

I'm not sure, but not to put a damper on things, would you be able to line up clients for a preschool without licensing?

I'm a retired teacher, but I have had several requests from parents to tutor their children and prepare them for kindergarten.

[CedarCreek]

I think you could only have 2..

[TheGoodLife]

Originally Posted by Julia

In the example I gave above, I would still be at the 20 hours total for the week, so I think I'd be okay with total hours. But am I only allowed to teach 2 children total, or is it okay to have 4 children/week as long as I only teach 2 at a time?

Contact your states licensing department- I know here in NE I can have up to 3 ata a time- I have more than 3 children enrolled PT, but only care for 3 at one time. Good luck, that is what I dream of doing in the future- a home preschool

[JoseyJo]

We're in Ks too-

Having a licensed preschool in KS is different than having a family home daycare license (the regulation you posted was for family home daycare). When we started we wanted to run a full day preschool out of our home (converted part of our home into a center type environment). However per KS statute a preschool is defined as:

a facility which provides learning experiences for children who have not attained the age of eligibility to enter kindergarten prescribed in K.S.A. 72-1107(c) and any amendments thereto,and who are 30 months of age or older; which conducts sessions not exceeding three hours per session; which does not enroll any child more than one session per day; and which does not serve a meal.

Not sure if any of these would affect what you are planning to do but: You cannot have a full day preschool by law. You also cannot care for any children younger than 30 months, or over school aged. The statute also says facility- so that may mean you cannot have it in your home, but if the rest doesn't cause you problems you would need to check with licensing on that part to make sure. You also cannot advertise yourself as a "preschool" unless you are licensed as a preschool. (You can advertise that you offer a preschool curriculum, you just can't say you are a preschool.) We ended up getting licensed as a group daycare (2 providers) and offer a preschool curriculum and all day care.

But either way you must be licensed if:

You care for more than 2 TOTAL unrelated child for more than a TOTAL of 20 hours a week. The hours are cumulative- so if you watch 2 children a week you would be allowed 10 hours each. You could watch 1 child MWF for 12 hours week and i child T/TH for 8 hours a week and not be licensed.



That being said, getting licensed really isn't that hard. Go through an orientation, fill out the paperwork, take the safety classes, have the inspections done, pay the fees (pretty minimal) and your good to go!

[craftymissbeth]

I'm also in Kansas and I agree with everything Josey said... I'm in the process of getting licensed and will have my inspection on Monday. It really is pretty easy. Here's a link to the Preschool/Childcare Centers/Head Start Information.

I didn't read through all of it, but it looks like for Centers, Preschools, and Head Starts there must be a Program Director and it can't be in a home. Here are the Instructions for Completing the Preschool Application.

You're probably better off just getting licensed as a home daycare IMO. Here you can find all the information for Licensed and Group Daycare Forms.

Good luck!

ETA: With those 2 children you're already at 24 hours a week