• Tweet

• Tweet

Kindergarten Readiness Camps Photo by Woodley Wonderworks

You’ve heard of summer camp, weight loss camp, and space camp, but kindergarten readiness camp? Across America offer kindergarten readiness camps are springing up to help get kids prepared for kindergarten! So what is kindergarten readiness camp? Kindergarten readiness camp helps walk children and their parents through what the typical kindergarten experience entails and helps ensure that children  are developmentally ready for kindergarten.

It’s nearly back to school time and some preschoolers heading to kindergarten may be riddled with anxiety. No doubt this is mostly due to the unknown. Fortunately kindergarten readiness camp can resolve some of this turmoil.

The Learning Train, a camp in Greensboro, North Carolina offers a week long day camp for 85 dollars which gives students practice in the classroom for about three hours each day. The former preschoolers get to experience kindergarten type activities such as circle time. Children get to walk through practical things like how to go through the cafeteria line with their trays. The children are also screened in terms of emotional, physical, and academic kindergarten readiness before and after the camp. Parents are also provided with practical information such as how to interpret their child’s report cards.

The Creek Preschool in Orange, California offers kindergarten readiness camp for children who will be entering Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten in the fall. Children learn hands-on about essential kindergarten readiness skills like patterning, sequencing, letter and number recognition and sound.

E. Nopi in North Carolina also provides a kindergarten readiness camp for $125. The camp gets the children ready to meet the state’s  content standards. During this one week camp, children’s literacy skills are assessed and individualized plans for each child’s developmental needs. Children also work on problem solving skills.

The Eden YMCA in Hayward, California also offers a kindergarten readiness program featuring 3 quarterly sessions ranging from $175-$200 each and each session covering different skills.

From a parent’s perspective, kindergarten readiness camps may prove to be valuable as some school districts do not screen children until they are already in kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness camps may reduce anxiety, make the transition from preschool to kindergarten smooth, and help parents understand more about the nature of education. Camps of this nature may be worth the money, especially if the child is particularly apprehensive about entering kindergarten, even if he or she is doing well in a daycare center.

Niche child care is important to marketing daycare services and getting a leg up on the competition. Adding kindergarten readiness camp during the summer can boost enrollment as well as your income.

No related posts.

• Tweet

• Tweet

Owners of daycare centers, home daycare providers, and preschools are affected by our waning economy.  Many daycare centers report that their enrollment rates have decreased as a result because unemployment is increasing. With less clients enrolled, childcare center owners are forced to lay off staff or cut staff hours and reduce services.

OwnADaycare asked childcare center owners and daycare business owners for solutions that may help raise enrollment and get clients back in to daycare.  Responses varied:

Joseph Schumacher, CEO of Goddard Systems, Inc., suggests focusing on customer care and client relationships. In addition, Schumacher advises childcare centers to continue to retain professional staff and uphold high-quality standards.

“Child care providers must continue to focus on customer care and building relationships each day.  Providers are also staying in contact with families who have had to withdraw, through correspondence such as newsletters and including them in school events.  Finally, in some instances, providers must be willing to adapt to families with changing economic circumstances, including offering expanded hours and/or “job interview” care for parents seeking employment.

Retaining and developing a professional faculty is the best way to continue word-of-mouth marketing from current parents.  A school’s faculty is the only real inventory it has and parents are willing to pay for the experience these educators offer their children,” explains Schumacher.

Julie Moye, co-owner of Kids ‘R’ Kids preschools in Cary, Morrisville and Research Triangle Park, N.C., also stresses the importance of continuing to provide high quality services, personal touches. Moye also suggests offering scholarships to clients:

“We have offered scholarships to many of our students whose families are in financial difficulty.  Kids R Kids operates its schools much like a family, and as a family, we are in this difficult economy together.  I think parents appreciate this approach and value this type of loyalty.  There is no substitute though for employing the finest teaching staff, management and implementing an excellent curriculum to bring families back to your school,” says Moye.

It may be necessary to consider offering unique and specialized child care services that other daycare businesses don’t offer in order to attract new clients. In this economy it is extremely important to market your daycare business as a high quality and unique business so that it stands out from others. Specialized child care services are in very high demand and offering them can be extremely lucrative for your thriving daycare business. These specialized services include 24 hour daycare, vacation daycare, green daycare, sick daycare, and drop-in child care.

No related posts.

• Tweet

• Tweet

In today’s economic climate, finding quality childcare at a low price is a necessity, but it is also a challenge. For single parents and families in which both parents work, childcare is a necessity. But what do you do if you’re unemployed or can’t afford child care services? A childcare co-op is a good, affordable alternative to sending your child to a child care center or hiring a daycare provider.

What is a Child Care Co-op?

Child care or babysitting co-ops (cooperatives) are alternative child care situations in which participants exchange time and services rather than money. Some child care co-ops are formed from small groups of friends or neighbors, or some may be organized by groups of families that are unfamiliar with each other.

Some child care co-ops use a point system. Members start with a set amount of points and then points are deducted or added based upon your use or contribution. For example, your co-op system may decide that one point is equal to 30 minutes of child care per child. Your co-op may start with 50 points. When your child uses the service points are deducted. Likewise, when you take care of a child, points are added to your total.

How to Organize a Child Care Co-Op

To begin setting up a co-op, first talk to family and neighbors to see who has children and who would be interested in participating in the child care co-op. Once you have established a member’s list, hold a meeting to find out what hours people are available and their expectations of the co-op. The most important thing to consider when setting up a child care co-op is establishing leadership and setting up a clear agreement that everyone follows. One person should be the secretary or secretary duties should be rotated to manage scheduling and keep track of hours and points.

Little and Galik in their article titled “Child Care Co-op: An Alternative for At-home Mothers” [Children Today, 1984] suggests that by asking the following questions, your co-op will run smoothly and more effectively:

• What will you expect from a care provider?
• May parents bring along children of friends who are not members?
• What is the policy for cancellations?
• What rule violations will constitute grounds for being expelled from the co-op?
• How will rules be established and changed?
• How many children may a caregiver manage at once?
• Should sitters be able to shop or run errands with the children?
• How many hours (or points) in debt may a member be before being refused a caregiver? They suggest that any member who does not use the co-op for three months should drop out. Many co-ops have a long waiting list.
• Are child care hours limited to daytime? Or are evening, overnight and weekend hours permitted?
• What hours are off-limits for telephone calls?
• How often will members have group meetings?

As your child care co-op becomes more established you will lose and gain members over time. Be sure to continually advertise your child care co-op the same way you would a child daycare center in your local community in order to sustain an abundant waiting list and keep enrollment steady. This is an excellent child care solution during tough economic times.

No related posts.