The Child Care Business Owner Institute

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

10 Fun and Enriching Fall Curriculum Theme Ideas!

09 07 17

“A Theme idea for every week in the Fall”

Are you in the process of planning your curriculum topics for the fall? Don’t know where to start? Let’s start with selecting your themes!

Having a theme based curriculum is a great way to encourage the children to really get involved in the learning activities. In fact, having a theme helps to make the planning process much easier. Moreover, Fall is approximately 12- weeks long and in this blog post, you will find a theme idea for every week of the fall season.

Moreover, I have implemented a theme based curriculum for about 11 years and I have discovered that children love to have fun while learning, especially if there is a fun educational theme.

Before I share the following theme ideas with you, I want to share this with you……Your Curriculum theme should be visible in your learning environment and this includes the: block, reading, science, dramatic play, music sensory and manipulative areas/centers.

If your home daycare does not have centers, I suggest that you discover how to create centers in the Family Home Child Care Empowerment Club! The first week is free and introduces you to centers. Join now!

Center Owners- The themes below are a great way to enhance your curriculum theme and also provide your teachers with some new theme ideas.

Now that we have that covered that, let’s take a look at some great fall theme ideas:

1. Apples

2. My School

3. Fall

4. School bus

5.Turkeys

6. Pumpkins

7. Fire-fighters (October)

8. Thanksgiving

9. Scare crows

10. Spiders

11. Grandparents (September)

12. Owls

Here is a list of online resources for fall theme ideas:

Fall Themes on Pinterest

A-to-Z Teacher Stuff

Education Place

Here are some Fun Fall Event ideas:

Hold a fall open house and provide the families with fun apple related activities
Invite the grandparents to eat breakfast with their grandchildren
Go apple picking
Go to a Pumpkin Farm
Host a Thanks Giving Dinner
Invite the local fire fighters to come to your home or facility to talk to the kids about fire safety
Give-away candy on Halloween

Heart-to- Heart Child Care Shares…..the following Fall activity ideas:

Apple stamps
Leaf rubbing
Nature walks!

Thanks for sharing, be sure to connect with Heart-to Heart-Childcare on Twitter @heartchildcar

Be sure to Join the Child Care Business Discussion and follow the blog post on Facebook! I look forward to reading your thoughts about this blog post. Also, feel free to share more theme ideas. Thanks for all that you do for young children!

With Your Curriculum in Mind,

Shiketa

Follow me on Facebook and on Twitter!

Category:

Curriculum

Sole Proprietor or Limited Liability (LLC)?

09 06 17

Many child care providers have asked me following question, ” Should my childcare business be incorporated?”

Here is my response: The decision to incorporate your childcare business is solely up to you, however, it is recommended by tax professionals that childcare providers set up a Limited Liability Company (LLC) to reduce their personal liability.

I was licensed as a home provider in 1999 and was operating as a sole proprietor. I filed a fictitious name report and was doing business as, ” Morgan Daycare” until 2001 in the state of Missouri. In 2001 my Child Care specialist, whom at that time had over 20 years of experience as a childcare specialist; recommended that I incorporate my childcare business to reduce my liability.

Moreover, she told me that if I were to be sued by a parent, in the event of a child injury; I could lose my home and personal assets. That was enough to encourage me to incorporate my childcare care business.

What is a Limited Liability Company (SMLLC) or a ” Single Person” Limited Liability Company ?

According to the Internal Revenue Service, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business structure allowed by state statute. LLCs are popular because, similar to a corporation, owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. An SMLLC that does not elect to be a corporation will be classified by the existing federal guidance as a “disregarded entity” which is taxed as a sole proprietor for income tax purposes.

As a SMLLC, you will still have the advantage of filing form 8829, Expenses for Business Home Use, and claim all of your home office expenses in the same way as a sole proprietor. In fact, you get to incorporate without paying the corporate taxes, because you are a single member LLC.

Am I totally Protected with a LLC ?

Resources for Child Caring.org recommends that providers purchase a lot of professional business liability insurance, preferably ($1 million per occurence and $2 million aggregate). There is also a concern that many providers struggle to keep business records in a professional manner and could risk losing corporate protection in a law suit. Moreover, Resources for Child Caring, believes that the biggest benefit of a LLC is the potential for additional liability.

How Do I File a LLC?

I incorporated my childcare business for only $105 in the state of Missouri by visiting my local secretary of state office. The process was fairly easy, however, I recommend that you get legal advice on incorporating your childcare business.

I hope that you have been inspired to protect your personal assets and to organize your business in a manner that provides you and your family with the protection that you need. Along with incorporating your childcare business, having liability insurance protects you and the children that you care for.

To Your Success!

Shiketa Morgan

Resource Links:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98277,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8829.pdf

http://www.resourcesforchildcare.org/index.cfm?page=Tax%20Preparer%20Email%20Update&id=5

http://www.familychildcaretaxes.com/tax_tips_article.php?blRecordNumber=59