I want to open my own preschool. should i do a group home daycare with 12 kids or go for the center with 22?

Question

i am going to be buying a house for this business and was trying to decide whether to start small with just doing the group care with 12 preschool age or go for the 22 kids with a helper and make it a center. just wondering if anyone else out there has a small center or group daycare home and can help me. i am in college in the process of getting my CDA

Answer 1

Frankly, I would start with the day care  ( preschool) with smaller numbers to begin with.   There are a lot of things that you will need to work out in the first year or two. Get some practical experience under your belt first, before expanding.  Also, visit every preschool in your area.  What are their strengths and weaknesses?  How did they get started? It will take you time and money to remodel a house to specifications for daycare. A school requires even more effort. For example, if you have 12 preschool kids, I would certainly have more than one person working with them.  We try to keep our adult to student ratio at 1 to 6. Also, if you have kids all day , you will need to deal with food.  Trust me, you do not have time to supervise all of the kids and do cooking as well.  Don't forget cleaning, bookwork, answering phone calls, first aid etc.  I am a retired teacher and I am on a board of directors for a local preschool.

Answer 2

i would start with the smaller group and work towards the center of 22.  it will take awhile to build your business up and you can add children and then hire an assistant as your numbers increase.  i had a small group home and the downside is the parents depend on you to always be open.  so if you're sick or want a vacation it's difficult to get time off.  i quickly expanded to a small center and hired help.  either way make sure you have a good contract/parent handbook that covers your vacations,, holidays and sick time.

Answer 3

Start small, depending on what your state laws are. Run it like a preschool with activities and learning experiences. It is a lot of work just to get all the permits etc. so think it out and write it out to determine what things can be like.

Answer 4

If this is your first business experience and your first time working with young children, definitely start small, but I would still have a helper. Working on your own with 12 preschoolers for the length of a day care day is very draining and also dangerous. Who would watch the class if one of the children got sick? I provide training for family and group daycare teachers. they all started small, with just 3 children, but as their class size grew, they added more helpers.