Types of Home Daycare

Babies, Preschoolers, or Occasional Babysitting

Types of Home Daycare

You may be surprised to learn that there are several ways you can go about having a home based childcare or daycare in your home.

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Regular Home Daycare

A typical Home Daycare setting consists of a woman watching her own children, in addition to a handful of other children of all age groups.

These can be anywhere from newborn babies through school aged children watched before and after school while their parents work.

Licensing, in each state is different.

Time commitment varies, but the typical home daycare runs from around 6am to 6pm.

Babysitting

Many states do not require you to be certified or licensed in order to watch 1-2 children, either regularly or occasionally, at your home.

Many SAHMs choose this route as it is inexpensive to start, and can be good as a “trial period” to see if home daycare is the right fit.

Some states will pay the babysitter child care payments, as if she were a licensed facility. Again, each state is different, please check with your state.

This is one of the great types of home daycare.

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Home Preschool Program

Some SAHMs, who have children at the preschool age, choose to run preschools out of their homes.

These mothers go about running their preschools in different ways:
--A preschool program for those children old enough in their regular home daycare
--A home daycare program that accepts ONLY preschool aged children
--A preschool only program, run for 3-4 hours per day, or on alternate days

If you have a knack to teach, and enjoy working with this age group, this can be a great way to have fun with your kids, provide valuable instruction to other kids, and make a little money on the side.

Preschool programs are filled with crafts, games, songs, and snacks.

Click here for more information on Preschool Programs

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24-Hour Care

Another popular, but often overlooked as one of the types of Home Daycare is 24-Hour Care.

Now-a-days, there are many single mothers who work the graveyard shift. It is difficult to find reliable care for their children.

There are several advantages to offering 24-Hour Care in addition to or instead of a regular home daycare:
--Children tend to be a little older than regular daycare children
--Children are sleeping most of the time they are in care
--The time constraints typically do not interfere with the rest of your life/plans
--You can charge the same, or even slightly more, for this unusual service

As a 24-Hour Care provider, you would generally be responsible for either feeding the child dinner, having them bathe and go to bed, or you would be responsible for waking them in the morning, feeding them breakfast, and sending them to school, depending on the mother’s work schedule. This is, of course, assuming that the child is school-aged. For an infant or toddler, your duties would probably remain the same as with a typical home daycare.

Keep in mind, this might be an option if your state allows you to watch 1-2 children without being licensed. You could possibly watch 1-2 during the day, and a different 1-2 during the night, so long as they did not cross over.

Please check with the child care requirements in your individual state.

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Alternatives to Full Time Care

There are several alternatives to opening a home based daycare out of your home.

There are many types of home daycare.

Maybe you do not want to be tied into a Monday through Friday arrangement.

Maybe your husband is worried about destruction to your house.

Maybe you aren’t looking forward to changing diapers.

There are other things you can consider:
--Mom’s Day Out
--Homeschooler’s Day Out
--Parent’s Night Out
--Holiday Care

For more information about Full Time Daycare Alternatives,
Please Click Here

As you can see, starting a daycare out of your home does not have to fit a specific pattern. Make it something you and your family will enjoy, and can work with. See that supplemental income grow!

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Here are more pages about Home Day Care to help you get started.

About Home Day Care

Daycare Startup

Starting a Preschool Program

Alternatives to Full Time Daycare

Daycare Resources and Tools