When the mid-nite bell rings tonight let it signify new and better things for you.  Let it signify a realization of all things you wish for. Let it signify a year of Courage, Beliefs and Blessings. Wishing you a very very Blessed and Prosperous 2014!

12/23/13 was the official start of the Holiday School break and we got off to a great start.  Lots of painting, singing and even a little reading (sorry kids).  I know these next two weeks are going to fly by, but we'll have lots of fun anyway.   I'll keep you posted!

The Cost of Unregulated Child Care 
Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) throughout the country report that due to the high cost of care, some families choose to move their children from licensed programs to informal/unlicensed child care settings.  Although child care in informal situations may be an affordable arrangement in the short run, there may be hidden costs that are paid later. Unlicensed care is not subject to basic health and safety requirements, minimum training requirements or background checks for providers. Unlicensed care is also not inspected.  The parents are the only ones checking the home for health and safety standards.  How many parents are willing to ask a friend to let them inspect the cupboard under the sink for poisons or ask for a criminal history check? 

School readiness only becomes evident when children enter kindergarten.  Many states in the US including New York has consistently found that children who have experience in regulated programs do better when they enter kindergarten than children who had child care in informal settings.  

Many states allow informal care to operate legally. 

• Twenty-seven states do not require a license for home providers until five or more children are cared for in the home. 

• Eight states allow family child care providers to care for six or more children for pay without a license or any oversight.

• In 11 states, it is illegal to provide care for even one child for compensation without a license  and monitoring.  

Why Child Care Costs are High?
Child care is a small service-oriented business, like a restaurant or a beauty salon.

• Early care and education is a very labor intensive industry Up to 80 percent of the cost in a child care program is for payroll and payroll-related expenses.
• Teachers with strong professional preparation are essential to providing a high quality early learning program. Adult-child interactions are the most powerful predictors of children’s development and learning.  

Other business expenses for child care centers and family child care providers include:

• Rent/mortgage
  
• Food
  
• Insurance (business, liability, real estate, worker’s compensation)

Other necessary costs include:

• Facilities maintenance
  
• Fire alarms/security 
  
• Marketing
  
• Professional services (lawyers, accountants, health consultants)
• Staff training/professional development
  
• Supplies 
  
• Taxes
  
• Toys and equipment
  
• Transportation
  
• Utilities 
  

State licensing regulations govern issues related to children's health and safety while they are in childcare:

• Group size – the number of children that can be in one group. 
  
• Ratios – the number of children for each adult. Staff education and training.
  
• Square footage – the number of square feet required in the building and on the playground for each child.
  
• Activities and materials – the types of activities and material that support children’s academic, physical, social and emotional growth and school readiness.

• Health, safety and nutrition – the practices that keep children healthy, safe and well-fed.  For example, regulations require safety drills, certain types of evacuation cribs, resilient playground surfaces under outdoor equipment and safe storage of hazardous materials. 

Unfortunately, Commercial Programs are forced to make compromises to balance what they think parents can afford with financial considerations about the quality of the care they provide:

• With limited funds, child care programs are forced to pay low staff wages and limited benefits, making it difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff.  The staff turnover rate in child care in 2010 was reported to be around 25 percent.  That means that a quarter of the child care providers parents see at the beginning of the year will not be there at the end of the year. 

• Having one adult be responsible for a smaller number of children allows children to get more individualized attention, but low staff:child ratios means hiring more staff.  Registered in home daycares are mandated to keep the low 1:6 ratio at all times, with no more that 2 infants per one adult.  So at no time will one adult be caring for more than 2 infants.  
• A smaller group size is better for children’s development, but more children in a group means a higher income for the program. The maximum children a registered in-home facility can care for is 12 non-school age children with 2 adults always present.  
  
  
• Providing a curriculum and diverse materials and learning activities help promote children’s learning and readiness for school, but they require provider training and additional expenses (and let me tell you some of these curriculums can be quite expensive).  
  
  
• Health and safety practices protect children, but they also require provider training and additional expenses.  

Because in-home daycare usually don't have the same overhead as a commercial daycare, these compromises do not have to be made by home childcare providers.  

• A smaller group size is better for children’s development, but more children in a group means a higher income for the program.
  
• Providing a curriculum and diverse materials and learning activities help promote children’s learning and readiness for school, but they require provider training and additional expenses.  (and these curriculums can be very expensive!) 
  
• Health and safety practices protect children, but they also require provider training and additional expenses.
  

Child care costs are what they are — and there is not a lot of “fat” that can be trimmed without impacting any programming.  It is important to maintain the regulations we do have – particularly around ratios and teacher preparation—if we want to achieve quality of care.   We expect this in K-12 education, why not in early education?As the owner of my own In-home Childcare facility,  I do not want to compromise the quality of care I provide.  I am currently using Mother Goose Time Curriculum which costs me over $100/month.  Mother Goose Time not only meets but exceeds the national standards as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, NAEYC, giving parents the assurance that their preschooler is not just attending a "babysitting" program.  By the time your child leaves my program, you can rest assure that I have done my absolute best to have them ready for kindergarten.  

As a full time working mother when my son was attending a private commercial daycare, I understand the issue we as working parents are faced with when it comes to paying for childcare.  But I can tell you that I would have never thought of placing my child in any facility (home or commercial), that would compromise his safety, that was just non-negotiable.    Let me be clear here, I truly understand how financial issues may back some parents up against the proverbial  wall, yes, we all have to do what we have to do for our children.  Lets just do our best to keep them safe! 

Here is a list a 10 fun and free learning websits for kids to check out!

http://switcheroozoo.com/
Watch, listen and play games to learn all about amazing animals

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
Learn all about geography and fascinating animals

http://reading.ecb.org/
Go "into the book" to play games that practice reading strategies

http://www.seussville.com/
Read, play games and hang out with Dr. Seuss and his friends

http://www.abcya.com/
Practice math and reading skills all while playing fun games

http://www.funbrain.com/
Math and reading video-like games like math baseball and Mad Libs Junior. 

http://pbskids.org/
Hang out with your favorite characters all while learning

http://www.starfall.com/
Practice your phonics skills with these read-along stories

http://www.storylineonline.net/
Have some of your favorite stories read to you by your favorite movies stars

http://www.highlightskids.com/
Read, play games and conduct cool science experiments!

Make or continue your family tradition and head to Roosevelt Field Mall for that special photo with Santa.  See hours below. 

Santa land is located on the Main Level in North Court

Save Time, Go Online!
Santa by Appointment 
htpp://simon.com.noerrsanta.com

Friday 12/13: 9am-9:30pm
Saturday 12/14: 9am-9:30pm
Sunday 12/15: 10am-8:30pm
Monday 12/16: 9am-9:30pm
Tuesday 12/17: 9am-9:30pm
Wednesday 12/18: 9am-9:30pm
Thursday 12/19: 9am-9:30pm
Friday 12/20: 9am-9:30pm
Saturday 12/21: 9am-9:30pm
Sunday 12/22: 9am-8:30pm
Monday 12/23: 9am-9:30pm

What are the benefits of choosing a home-based preschool?   
A home-based preschool teacher continues the parents role of caregiver, nurturer, comforter and first teacher.  The provider is not just a babysitter; a babysitter comes into your home for a few hours and you tell her what you want for your child.   A home-based preschool teacher welcomes you and your child into her home.   She plans meals, schedules, and safety.   She organizes the children's activities.   She is a professional and you can rely on her judgment.   Working together as a team, they will provide the BEST care for your child.  The home-based teacher is not a substitute for you.  You are the MOST important person in your child's life and the provider respects that! 

Here are just a few of the advantages of a home-based preschool or child care:

*Your child receives individualized attention and care.

*There is more structure and less chaos than in a big center.

*Your child is cared for and taught by trained child care professionals who typically are parents themselves.

*There is less illness because there are fewer people in and out, which means fewer germs are spread to your child.

*Your child has the same caregiver all day, every day!  It is nice knowing that one person knows exactly what your child has done,  eaten, etc. throughout the day.

*Your child will have the SAME teacher from the toddler years to entering kindergarten.

*A quality home-based preschool may cost more than some large daycare centers,  but the lower number of children, quality of care, and consistency of the teachers makes a difference in price more understandable.

*The ratio of children per caregiver  is much lower in a home-based preschool than at a daycare center.

*You and your child are treated as part of a family in a home-based preschool rather than being just another number in a large center.

                       What do you do when school is out?  

When parents are faced with school closures, holiday recess (12/23/13- 1/3/14), winter recess(2/17-2/21) and spring recess (4/14/-4/21),  Bright From The Start Childcare, INC.  provides a reasonable and workable alternative to this dilemma.  

In addition to our After School Program, we also provide care on half days, school delays (2 hour delays) and emergency closures.



                                  Contact us for more information. 
       We have a solution for just about everyone's needs.  

In a society where the majority of mothers and fathers are working outside the home, the need for quality childcare is growing. All parents want only the best for their children, especially when it comes to child care.  Since it is known that the first five years of a child's life are the most important of their formative years, parents of young children feel an urgency to find that right environment for their children.  That being of a center based daycare or a home based one.  

This is a great idea:

Mix Elmer’s glue with food coloring and paint it on to any glass to make it look like sea glass when dry.

Mix about a teaspoon of glue, a few drops of food coloring (add until you get the color you want) and last add a little bit of water. Paint the glass (mason jars, glass candle stick holders, glass vases, etc.) and allow it to dry.

Warning the color will wash off with water. So only use for decoration purposes.

A great idea if your kids still believe in Santa!
http://bit.ly/IkHGfN

Like most parents you may not have enough vacation time available at the end of the year to take two weeks off to stay home with your children during their winter break from school.

Here in Valley Stream the Holiday Recess is from 12/23/13 to 1/3/14.  If you need care for any or all of these days, we have space available.  Contact me:   call or email us for more information and I will be happy to assist you. 

As Always Thanks,

Margo

I feel that there must be an image for preschool classrooms as engaging, interactive environments, full of open-ended opportunities for play as learning, and focused on early childhood learning guidelines that address the whole child's learning and development, not just on early academics.

What I know from my own research is that a quality daycare must include play experiences. Through play, children advance in all the critical areas of their development and learning: cognitive, academics, physical, language, literacy, social, and emotional.  At this age, these areas all go hand-in-hand and are taught together, not separately. What concern me are the strict lessons, direct instruction and worksheet drills that may someday replace play in preschool. 

I hope this doesn’t work its way into preschool classrooms – (surely not mine) preschool should still be a place where the "child's garden" should be experienced -- a warm, caring atmosphere with blocks, dramatic play opportunities, shared stories, a water table, a messy area and lots of outdoor play. Because play will help young minds progress.

Early childhood educators understand how young children naturally learn by offering them hands-on activities and play, and they encourage a partnership among the child, parents and themselves. 

A worksheet focused on the letter B is no match for a classroom full of Balls and Bubbles, or a child who needs to write the letter B for his pretend Bagel-shop menu.  Hopefully parents get it because they should see the same style of  learning at home.

Preschool children develop physically through running, jumping and climbing. They improve small motor skills by stacking blocks, drawing with markers, cutting with sissors and squeezing glue bottles. They develop large motor skills as they climb and run outside. They begin to understand the dynamics of friendship and negotiating during pretend play and playing games. They use vocabulary words and show their knowledge of the world we live in when they take on roles during their play. They practice math concepts as they build block towers. They explore science concepts as they play in the sand box, the yard, the water table, and with the art materials. 

Play is their world for deep learning! Play is not only appropriate, it is critical in preschool. Let's avoid the teacher-directed and worksheet-heavy model of the preschool classroom. Let's get it right.  I will definately try to!

Did you know that we can help you with all of your childcare needs. Bright From The Start Childcare, INC offers a daycare program, a pre-school program and a before and after school program. Give us a call or email me and I will gladly provide you with more information or answer any questions.

We offer before and after school care for children who attend all three Valley Stream School District.

We are now accepting full and part time enrollment for our preschool program. 

In the United States, more than 80% of children spend some time in day care before they are four years old.  However, as more and more studies have been done, the general consensus is that “some time” may not be enough time. The fact is that when parents make the decision to find a preschool program for their children, they are choosing not only a high quality means for child care, but also a way of improving their children’s success in life.

Why Parents Need to Find a Preschool

• Greater Academic Success:  One of the biggest reasons why parents are looking into quality childcare is because of its impact on academics.  The average two year old learns five new words a day. Through daycare, children are given the tools to reinforce this learning. This is one reason why, according to Democracy and Regulation,  preschools can improve high school graduation rates by 20%.
  
  
• Develop Skills other than Academics:  While academics is an important part of what family day care providers offer, new research shows that the social aspects may be even more important. Preschools help our children to develop personally, emotionally, economically, and socially. 
  
  
• Higher Earning Potential:  According to a study by William Barnett of Rutgers University, children who attend preschool are more likely to be professionally and financially successful. The study showed that 40 year old adults who had attended preschool were more likely to have higher salaries and have better chances of keeping their jobs.
  
  What to Look for in a Daycare:  Of course, not every program for child care is created equally. Parents looking to find a preschool that has a positive effect on their children should take the following into consideration.
  
  
  • Licensing:  Licensing of a program is crucial when trying to find a preschool of quality.  Unlicensed child care may be convinent and cheap but it leaves you and your child in the dark and at risk.  Unlicensed care means NO inspections, no training, no one enforcing basic health and safety standards and no records for you to check.  Don't be in the dark about your child care.  Find a Licensed daycare and check it's inspection records. Licensed In home family day care facilities are regulated by the NYS Office of Child and Family Service.   They set minimum standards and rules to ensure the health and safety of children in daycare, and issue licenses/registrations.  These childcare faciilities are inspected regularly.  
  
  
  • Keep an Eye Open for Safety:  One of the best ways to find a preschool that is as safe for your children as it is educational is to take a look around the facility.  As the CCRC writes, while licensing is proof of the facility’s safety, parents need to go the extra mile in checking for smoke detectors, a well cleaned facility, and appliances and furniture that are well maintained to ensure the safety of their children.
    
  • 
    
  There can be no doubt that the successful search to find a preschool can improve the lives of American children. However, there are preschools, and there are quality preschools.  Parents looking to find the latter should keep these important tips in mind.
  
  

DAYCARE OPENING! Anyone who is interested or knows someone who is looking for quality, affordable childcare in Valley Stream or surrounding areas. We provide a structured preschool setting with lots of learning, school readiness educational activities, exercise, music and movement,etc. PASS THE WORD ALONG!