In Home Daycare Questions

Hi All,
I'm somewhat new here (I was a lurker back in 2008 when I had my son, and now I come in off and on when I need recommendations or information), and I was hoping I could run something by you guys.

I'm a former teacher and a mom to a 4 year old son. I have been struggling to find a full time job, and have been going back and forth with my husband on one idea. Our son is in full time school this year and I think it would be great to watch 1-2 kids in our home. My parents are able to help me out during the day if I need it, and are also able to pick up my son from school and bring him back to our home. We have more than enough space and while I know it would be a lot of work, I also know I would be good at it. I love kids and obviously I'm a mom, so I'm experienced Plus, having been a teacher, I know I could have the kids doing great educational activities (older kids anyway), etc. I love to cook and would have no problem cooking nutritious meals for 3-4 kids at any given time (full and part timers).

So, I guess my question(s) to you all are:

1. How much should I charge per full time child? (I was thinking $200-250 per kid, depending on the amount of hours needed?)
2. If I had 1-2 kids full-time and 1-2 part time, would you be less likely to enroll your child as one of the full timers?
3. Do you think this is a good idea? What would the drawbacks be, in your opinion? Obviously, everyone's situation is different, so your answers may not fit my situation, but I'm just throwing this out there to get ideas/concerns I haven't thought of.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Re: In Home Daycare Questions

I too am a teacher and I decided to leave teaching to be a SAHM but I wanted some extra cash so I started watching kids in my home. I did it for almost two years. I started when my DD turned one and I watched two little boys during the week. The moms provided all their snacks and food and we shared all of our toys, went for walks, etc.

The first kid I started with was three months when I got him. He was here Mon, Wed, and Fri from 7:30 to 3:30 and his mom paid me $65/day. Se didn't pay me when he wasn't here.

The other little boy was actually the exact same age as the first but I started with him when he was about 8 months old. He was here Monday through Thursday from 7:30 to 3:30 and she paid me $90/day. She also paid me when he wasn't here.

Honestly, I was glad I did it. It was a lot of work having three kids at once to take care of but it was fun too. It was also nice having some extra money. I always had them pay me for the week on Monday, in cash. I learned from previous experience that it is better to get paid upfront before services are rendered otherwise it is easy to get taken advantage of.

Also, I was glad that by the time I got the second little boy I made the decision to have them pay me if they weren't able to be here.........unless they gave me advance notice like if they were going on vacation. I felt like this was my salary and I counted on the money so if at the last minute they couldn't be here, they should still pay me. The mom was totally okay with that. If they came late or left early I wasn't docked any daily money. The rate was the rate and they paid me regardless of how each day went.

Since I had my own DD home with me I would say two kids was more than enough. Adding one more would have been too much. I know the two moms were happy with the ratio that I had. Like I said, it was worthwhile but it was also tricky finding people who didn't have a million weird requests or who wanted strange days and times. They ended up finding me on Care.com and it all worked out great. I only stopped watching them because one little boys Grandpa retired and was going to watch him for free and the other family ended up moving out of state.

Good luck!!!