Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Why Pursue Accreditation For Your Child Care Business?

09 07 11

According to the National Association of Childcare Resource and Referral Agency 2010 Child Care Facts report, “more than 11 million children under age 5 in the United States are in some type of child care arrangement every week. Furthermore, only 9% of America’s childcare centers are accredited and less than 1% of home day cares are accredited.

Wow! those stats alone have compelled me to promote Accreditation.  Pursuing Accreditation provides you with access to quality standards and practices for your home daycare or childcare center.

Now we all know that Licensing standards in most states focus on the health & safety practices of childcare facilities. My center is located in the state of Missouri and the Licensing and Accreditation Guidelines are very different in standards.

I must say that if Licensing alone was enough, then we would not need Accreditation. Accreditation simply validates that your program is high quality and that you have voluntarily selected to provide childcare that is over and above licensing standards.

Why are there so few Accredited Programs

There are many reasons why 10% of America’s childcare facility’s are accredited. I honestly believe that this is why we have a Quality Care Crisis! Here are the three  reasons why I  think that many programs are not accredited:

  1. Accreditation cost money
  2. The home provider or center may not think that it is necessary
  3. More states need to promote it

My Accreditation Journey…..

I was exposed to Accreditation through the Florissant valley community college childcare field base program. My college instructor (Jeanie Edwards) came to my home every week for 12 weeks so that  I could take early childhood classes  in 2001; to meet the NAFCC educational requirements.

After taking those classes and while completing the NAFCC self study to apply for Accreditation in my home daycare; my program was improving one week and a time. Most importantly, my enrollment was increasing.

As I made improvements to my program in order to be Accredited, the kids were more engaged in the environment, the parents noticed the transformation and they started telling other parents about my program.

I was also more fulfilled as a family home provider. Just knowing that my home daycare was going to be Nationally Accredited was an awesome feeling. The process took 6-12 months and once I received my certificate, I was ready to move out of my home into a center.

In 2005, I applied for Accreditation for my center. Getting Accredited in a center, was much more detailed, because I had to involve my team in the process. My center received it’s first Accreditation by (MOA) in 2006!

After going through three Accreditation’s I have been assured that Accreditation assures quality care. In fact, implementing Accreditation  standards in your home or center, assures that children are provided with the highest quality of care there is to offer.

If you are going to be in the business of childcare, you might as well go all the way. Why stop at being Licensed?

According to Child Care Aware, “Accreditation” is another way to judge the quality of a child care program. Family child care homes and child care centers can choose to get accredited by a child care accrediting organization. But, they have to meet higher standards than licensing rules. The program must offer the kind of care, attention, and educational activities parents look for in quality child care programs. It must offer activities and experiences that will aid in a child’s growth and development, and that will help them prepare for school.”

Accreditation Organizations

http://www.nafcc.org (for home providers)

http://www.naeyc.org

 

With Quality Care in Mind,

Shiketa

Category:

Accreditation, Leadership, Program Planning, Quality Care

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How to Create a Quality Preschool Classroom In Your Home Daycare

08 31 11

After completing the college class, Introduction to early childhood in 2002, I was inspired to make changes to my preschool environment in my home.

In fact, I made majored changes to my preschool program and changed the name of my business. The former name of my daycare was, Morgan Daycare and in 2001 I decided to change the name to Learning Days.

I was also inspired to create this post, because many home providers have submitted the question, ” How do I set-up a preschool environment in my home daycare.”

Setting up centers or play areas in my home daycare was the start of a new experience for the preschoolers in my program. Moreover, after I set-up a quality preschool environment, I noticed that parents would refer to my program as a  ” school” instead of daycare.

In this post I am going to share with you the centers that I created for the children in my home, what I used to set-up the centers and the materials that was added to each area. Please do not feel as if you must go out and spend thousands of dollars to create a preschool classroom. In fact, you may already have what you need. Just keep this in mind, “It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.

The Art Center

You will need a shelf that is child height that includes the following items: construction paper, paint, crayons, scissors, markers, white paper, yarn, scraps, glue, paint smocks or old shirts, play doh and newspaper/magazines for cutting.

Science Center

The science area could be set-up on a table, a shelf or even in crate. The following items are great to add to the science center: rocks, leaves, soil, magnifying glass, feathers, tree branches, plant to water, photos of the weather, etc.

Dramatic Play

This is the most popular center among children.  You will need a shelf  or Cubby drawers for this area. Add the following items to your dramatic play area to assure an enriching  experience: Dress up clothes, dress up shoes, dolls, play food or real food boxes, canned goods, table, small chairs, telephone, cook books, aprons, used kitchen play set, etc. Many items that you add to the dramatic play area are already in your home or you can pick-up at a garage sale.

Reading Corner

Be sure to make this a cozy quiet place for kids to look at books and relax. You will need a book shelf or use crates to display books. Add puppets, an area rug, bean bags and pillows.

Math or Manipulative

This center is a must to assure that children develop fine motor and math skills. You will need a table or shelf. In this area, add a few puzzles, table toys, lacing toys, table blocks, peg boards, home-made games, board games,etc.

Block Area

The block area also is a very popular center in the preschool world. You will need a shelf to display wooden, plastic and cardboard blocks. Add a run in front of the shelf. You may want to add cars, toy people, road signs, trucks to enhance the block play.

Sensory Play

This is one of my favorite center, because it gets messy, lol!  You can go out and buy a sensory table at your local walmart or use two dish pails to fill with water or sand. After you fill the table with water or sand, be sure to add large bowls, spoons and cups to encourage the children to scoop, dig, pour and measure. If you choose to use dish pails, simply place them on a child size table and explore the water or the sand.

I recommend that you add one center at a time and introduce each center, by talking about it with the preschoolers at group time. You must encourage the children to help you to keep the centers organized by cleaning up before moving on to another center. Be sure to plan to rotate and add new materials to each center every other week to prevent the children from getting bored with the materials.

If you are concerned about space, only set-up 3-5 center choices at a time and rotate the centers that are available throughout the day.

Moreover, it is vital that you  define each center, by adding a label on the wall near the play area or on the shelf/table. Download signs, here.

I look forward to hearing your feedback about this blog post and your progress with setting-up your centers in your home daycare!

Shiketa

Category:

Family Child Care, How To, preschool, Quality Care

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