Hi everyone
I would like to know what you do about transportation.
The school bus company says I live to close.
At this time I have to many little ones to walk to the school and my Vehicle is not big enough to transport all the kids. I'm having trouble getting kids between the ages of the 2 1/2 to 5 because I cannot offer transportation. I'm just curious on what others do ?
Thanks MNM

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I do NOT transport. I don't care to buy a bigger vehicle and don't want the added expense of additional insurance.

I also live 2 and 3 blocks from two different schools. If I have any school age kids, they need to walk the couple blocks as our busses won't stop at house within .5 miles of an elementary school and a mile from secondary schools.

Can your parents ride-share of figure out transportation as a group?

Where are these 2 1/2 - 5 year olds you are having trouble enrolling need to go that they require transportation?

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I used to transport but stopped at the end of this last school year. I purchased a minivan to be able to transport 7 kids + me driving so that I could transport but that meant that I still could not meet my limit of 8 children. Last year I decided that I really didn't want to take SA's or transport children to and from school anymore so I focus more on the 0-5 years (pre-kinder) age now. If a current client or potential client needs child care and their child goes to school or pre-school then they need to figure out how they will get their child to my DC.

It's a choice you make. Do you want to fill up with a more broad age range? Maybe get a bigger vehicle or get some sort of really large push/pull transportation device (quad stroller (seats 4), DC buggy (seats up to 6) etc. and you make the choice to leave earlier so you can walk them to and from school. You can also try to get a helper to help out during these times to either walk/transport the children to and from school or to stay with the other children while you do it.

Otherwise you can always just focus on a younger age range but then have to deal with the idea that it will probably limit you at least somewhat due to clients wanting their children to attend pre-school or because they attend school. You can try to stretch your time with the children a little longer by providing your own pre-school program at home which is harder to start off but easier as you do it. This way you can keep your 3-5 year olds a little longer before they go to pre-k or kinder.

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I do not transport. I also live only blocks away from both the middle and elementary school. Although, our bus still stops here. Right in front of my house. I never transport to anything else. I'm not getting a mini van or expanding my insurance policy to be overwhelmed with 6 kids in a car. Not happening. If they can't get the kids here and home, the kids won't be coming. Good luck!

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Well depending on how many young ones you have you can try to get one of these:

http://comfortfirst.com/p-145645-ang...FS9dQgodp2cAng

Its a little more upfront but over time its cheaper than a new car and/or a year or 2s worth of insurance to cover transportation. If they have them at K-Mart you can look into doing layaway. For cheaper options they also have ones for twins, triplets, quads, and quints. If you have a smaller baby you can probably look into getting a baby carrier and using the stroller for the older babies and younger toddlers.

Depending on your car type (like an SUV, volvo, or anything with an open trunk) you could also see about adding one of those backwards seats:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/fast-...teslas-model-s

My uncle did something like that to my aunt's volvo when were were kids (in the 90s). But if you think that is can be a possible option, you might want to check with your insurance company (maybe even licensing) first to see if you will still be covered (or if its even legal anymore).

At the FCC I used to work at she had 3 part time assistants and usually had at least 1 (but usually 2) working between 9am-4pm. She usually had her afternoon assistant come by and take the kids to school (the daycare was a 5 minute walk to the school), one of her morning assistants would pick up the kindergardeners, and her afternoon assistant would come back around 3 with the SAC. If she only had one assistant working at the time and knew she would be over ratio, she would have the morning assistant take some of the preschoolers (and/or sometimes a baby in a stroller) with her to pick up the kinders.

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I'm 1 mile from our elementary and our buses don't stop unless you are 1.25 for elementary. My dd walks with a neighbor girl or her mom drives them when it's super cold/icy. I stopped taking SA because I didn't want to have to walk everyday to and from. Without littles and strollers it takes me 20 mins to get there and 25 to get back (big hill to go up). It would probably take us an hour one way with the little boy I have now. I also don't trust the kids to walk alone, so I made the deciion to not take them. A dc around the corner from me called the bus company to see if they would make one stop between our places and we would have the parents pay the fee, but they refused. If we wanted our kids bused, they would have to walk to the nearest stop-which is almost a mile the opposite direction. I would let the parents work it out.

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I am confused why do you need to transport the 2 1/2 to 5 ??? do they go to preschool at the school? Or do all of them have school age siblings?

If you do not take school age children you should still be able to do preschoolers.

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I agree. I was wondering myself where would 2.5 - 5 year olds have to go? Preschool? In that case, they should look into preschools that are all day, usually in center-based programs, where they can drop off and pick-up at the end of the day. I have a bus that will pick up children only in grades K-2 from my corner. But other grades have to walk to school. I usually concentrate on enrolling 5 and under in my child care.

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She probably has to take the younger kids to pick up the older ones because it's too far to walk alone.

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Oh sorry. The elementary school offers 1/2 day prek and kindergarten. Most of the calls I get are for children that attend one or the other. I have 2 (18 month olds), a 2 1/2 year old (my daughter) and then come Sept a 10 week old. I live in maine so weather always changes- snow, rain. It is to far for children to walk by themselves. I'm only licensed for 6 children (3 under 2 1/2 and 3 over) I have thought about hiring a helper but I can really do that until I have enough kids to be still be able to make a decease amount of money.

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I am having the same problem. Plus its my own dd (4) who I can't get back and forth now. The school tells me she has to walk to school which is .22 miles (not far) but on a very busy road and bus route.
I guess that I am going to have to hire someone to come in while I pick up and drop off. A HUGE pain in the hiney but what options are there

very frustrating

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If there is a middle school or high school near there you can hire a middle /high schooler to walk with her (or even a 5th/6th grader at an elementry school) to walk with her to school for $5 or $10/week. Or you could look into hiring a college student or a stay at home mom (maybe one in your neighborhood) to do drop offs/pick ups for about 10-20 a week; since it would only be for like 5-10 mintues 2X a day (maybe $2 for drop off and $2 for pick up a week [4x5= $20]).

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