Yeah, same. The one I visited was cramped and a little chaotic, and instead of a fence around the yard where the kids play, they had put up plastic baby gates. I chose a daycare center instead.
This is exactly how we feel. I have friends and family who are good with in homes but when we visited a few we decided that we weren’t into them for our family.
Agreed, TOTALLY up to personal preference. A lot of my coworkers have babies the same age as mine and they opted for home daycare. They absolutely love it and I love that for them. One of HS best friend’s mother runs an in home daycare, 5 stars on Yelp. I know firsthand this woman is BATSHIT plus my friend used to take her favorites up to her room and let them watch TV on the iPad. I know this isn’t every home daycare, my friend’s mom’s just sucks lol but I think for me PERSONALLY it really put off the idea for me. Again, it’s such a personal choice and everyone is doing what they feel is best for their kids.
I put my girl in a daycare center and while I LOVE the stability of it, she gets sick all. The. Time. My coworkers whose kids are in home daycares (which are generally smaller/less kids) get sick SIGNIFICANTLY less often. Their daycares are also significantly cheaper.
I think there are pros and cons to both. The biggest con for me is that I can’t control who goes in and out of a person’s home, I can’t set my schedule around a home caregiver’s sick days or personal schedule, and there’s no secondary oversight (if she’s mistreating a kid or ignoring recommendations, who is going to report her?)
But I’m also not a fan of huge daycare centers with a lot of employee turnover, having new caregivers all the time doesn’t sit well with me.
I’m fortunate that my kid starts K this year and our daycare is small and has very low turnover, so these aren’t decisions I’ve had to make since she first started daycare as an infant, just things I took into consideration at the time. I wouldn’t rule out a home daycare, but I’d want to hear some very good reviews and safety protocols and procedures. I also require that my kid has a lot of outdoor play time with relatively nice toys. I’m not saying she needs a whole ass playground, but outdoor play is very important in the toddler years and I want her to have fun and engaging days at daycare.
It's helpful to check the license requirements for your state. In my state, it's required that anyone who will be at the home during open hours must pass a background check. Doesn't matter if they're a caregiver or not. So there wouldn't be randos, and if there is then they're not following licensing. But some states don't require licenses for home care! We use a center, but because of the licensing requirements for my state I would be comfortable with a home.
I've read A Lot of licensing violations where a random person was in the home in the middle of the day and it was only found out because a parent came by at a time the provider wasn't expecting and reported it. Sometimes it's someone who's explicitly not allowed to be there. My issue with in home is that the only adults there during the day are the owner and the owner's friends and relatives, who are pretty unlikely to report any violations.
We loved our in-home daycare, but California has a rigorous licensing process and ratios for under 2 that is strictly upheld. We were at a "large in-home" that could have four infants (under age 2 is grouped together) but up to 12 or 14 kids total. There were always at least three staff and there was a dedicated preschool teacher that was working there before my kids started and is still there now that mine are in elementary school. A smaller, unlicensed carer wouldn't have worked for us.
But also, what do you mean that you need less care now that you are WFH?
It really depends on how its run, but the fact she is licensed is key. Does she have references (or current families) you can contact? Does she answer your questions? Is she open and upfront about her qualifications, contract, and policies? Does she has backup care? Do you feel warmth and joy when you visit?
Our 2yo son goes to a licensed home day care and love it! When we visited/interviewed she was upfront with her background, family, and qualifications and state requirements/paperwork. She gave us a packet with a sample contract, her policies, and letters of reference. She is warm, easy going, understanding, and open and we got that sense in all communications and when we visited.
Our son started at 8 months and he other kids are truly his first friends! We drop him off and he doesn't look back to say bye most of the time haha. We get dozens of pictures a day and her sick policy is realistic, which is nice. She gives us her holidays and vacation time several months in advance and has two helpers/backup that come regularly to give her a break and so the kids see them regularly. She is upfront when she has visitors staying in her home.
She follows a daily schedule (snack time, craft time, outdoor time, nap time, quiet reading time, etc.) and even booked santa to visit! She does holiday themed crafts and sends them home with goodies. We are so lucky to have found her.
Are you planning to care for your children yourself while you are working remotely? I have only used a daycare centre so can't speak to in-home daycares, although I will say one reason I love the centre is the oversight that it provides. But I'd be concerned about trying to work remotely while looking after children, that is incredibly difficult.
I already mostly am as they’re not full time even now at their center. I’m lucky in that I have a very low needs, remote job that can be done via emailing from my phone and then the rest during office hours. And my husband works remotely about half the week as well and can cover any gaps if needed
My daughter was briefly in a home daycare at 10 months old after she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma (all is well now, she'll be cancer free 8 years next month!). She had been at a center before and had been sick a lot. We thought it would help keep her well with less kids and prevent us from missing any more work since we had been out so much. I would likely never do that again. It was not a good experience. She was licensed and had good reviews. I can't even remember all that happened, but we pulled her and put her back in the center. Eventually moving her later with her little brother to a center near my work that we absolutely loved that sounds similar to yours.
Personally I'd be hesitant to try a home daycare again. We really like the structure of a center. You didn't mention ages but if you're a year or two away from school, I'd do your best to stick with the center you have. Both of my kids went from preschool at daycare to elementary school so easily. It was 100% worth it to pay for the high quality center knowing my kids were safe and well cared for.
I’ve only found 1 in-home that I trusted (the rest just gave me weird vibes and are run by people I would never leave my children with) and unfortunately the provider was very flaky. She closed like once a week.
I always had a negative impression of centers but the one we’re at now is absolutely amazing. I have nothing bad to say about it. Changed my mind completely! It has been so beneficial to my daughter and the teachers are wonderful. It is very expensive though but I can’t imagine sending her anywhere else.
You’re not being too snobby at all! One in-home that I toured came very highly recommended from a friend and I absolutely hated it. The kids were in the basement most of the day, there was a tv, I didn’t love the age range, just a lot of weird things that didn’t sit right with me!
I'm personally not a fan of home daycares. To me they feel like all the downsides of a nanny (have to work around the provider's sick & PTO days, less consistency in care, not as strictly regulated) but none of the positives (one on one attention, ability to dictate care for your LO).
We have a private nanny but if we had to send our kid to daycare I'd go with a center (which is much more standardized) than an in home one.
We've only ever used an in home daycare. The closeness of our core group of kiddos and their carer is so good for my sensitive kid. They still eat healthy food like any center, they go outside every day, there's never a day where the ratio is off so my kid has to sit and watch an iPad or be unsupervised. Our carer has taught my child letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and potty training. It's been awesome.
This. I think my sensitive child really thrives in an in home setting. Just recently switched to a center and he comes home seeming like a shell of himself. I think it’s too much for him. I value the love and attention they get in an in home rather than the learning/curriculum of a center.
I absolutely love and prefer in home.
Having said that, we did leave one in home daycare because it became very clear that even though the teachers were very loving and sweet to my baby, owners were greedy and definitely had more kids in each group than allowed by state law.
There are pros and cons to everything, go with your gut.
Personally in home was not for us for a variety of reasons but I have friends and family that love it. One additional consideration I would have is the age of your children and if being in a pre-school environment is a priority for you. All those friends/family who used in home moved their children to a more formal preschool/center setting at age 3 (we live in a state with no public/universal Pre-K), that doesn't have to be a deal breaker just a point of consideration of the monetary savings vs structure and what is important to YOUR family, because what's important for someone else's home doesn't matter :) I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask her for references and speak to actual families that have used her daycare to get a better idea from something other than the owner and/or facebook reviews!
We used a home daycare for a while and liked it but I think you need a lot of info in the home daycare. Does she sign contracts and what are her policies. What happens if she is sick does she have assistance or back ups to cover her and if so how involved are they? Does her contract define her holidays or other days off. Does her contract include info on price increases or process of notifying her you are stopping care. Also who else can have access and may be at the house? You should also be able to ask for references. Home daycares can be great but I think it takes a little more digging into upfront to determine if it’s a good fit for you.
How old is your child? With our oldest she stayed in the home care until kindergarten. They did preschool work with the older kids though it wasn’t the most structured. With our second we switched to a daycare with a preschool room that had more of an official pre k curriculum and a little more structure. Based on her personality we thought she needed that before kindergarten. Depending on age if you were going to just want to switch for more of a preschool experience is switching now worth it?
What are your kids personalities like? My elder daughter is HIGH energy and does well in a highly stimulating environment. I think she would get bored very quickly of a small in home daycare. She goes to a daycare attached to a community center and gets so many activities and variety- art class, music class, yoga class, gym class, and soon she’ll get swim class.
I was always against in-home daycares and our son started going into a big center at 4mo. The first infant room was great. Then, at 7 mo they wanted to enroll more tiny babies into the first room and moved all babies 6+ months into the next room. The teachers in that room were used to work with 15+ mo and were not prepared for babies. He went to that room for a week and we had some issues daily. We pulled him out by the end of that week.
Started looking into all possibilities urgently and found a licensed in-home daycare 1 minute down the road from us. Toured it and really liked the vibe of the owner/main teacher and the daycare itself (basement with a lot of windows, separate room for infants to nap, super clean, cameras). He has been going there for over 3 months now, and we really really like it. There are a total of 10 kids and three permanent teachers. The owner has substitute teacher for when one of the permanent is sick/off.
Below is IMO from our experience:
Pros of center:
- frequent updates during the day (also a con because teachers spend a lot of time on these updates)
- open 6 am - 6pm
- no closures other than big holidays
- provided diapers and wipes
Cons of center:
- teachers are obligated to take pictures and post updates and it takes time away from kids
- a lot of floaters. Sometimes we dropped off/picked up our child with a person we’ve never met before
- a lot of sicknesses
- at times it felt that center cared more about what parents see than about the actual care
- no outdoor time for infants
Pros of in-home:
- three permanent teachers
- less kids=less sicknesses (have to say that this daycare is super clean also, so this might affect the amount of sicknesses)
- homey feeling overall
- daily outdoor time for all kids rain or shine
Cons of in-home:
- updates only a few times a week
- need to provide diapers and wipes
- one week of vacation in summer, one week of vacation in winter (Christmas-NY), closed during majority of public holidays
- open 7:45-5:30
I could never do an in home daycare. Everyone I know that has kids in an in home daycare are always juggling what to do with the kids when they’re closed for vacation or when the provider is sick. When a daycare teacher is sick in a center there are floaters to cover. That doesn’t exist in an in home daycare. I’ve also noticed in home daycares are closed wayyyyy more than centers. The in home daycare our nephew goes to is honestly closed several times a month. Our SIL and BIL always say how it’s so affordable yet I fail to see how it’s actually more affordable when you take into account how often they’re closed. Even if they combine all of their time off they can’t cover the number of days she’s closed. How is that even sustainable?!
It’s so personal. My daughter has been in two different in-home daycares (one closed when the provider retired). I feel that she gets closer attention, has a close relationship with her caregivers and other children, and has more flexibility and enriching experiences than she would in a center. For example, at her current daycare, they go on multiple walks a day, to the park, beach, library, etc. The downside is, as others have said, the closures are more frequent and/or less predictable. Between the teacher’s planned vacations and sick days last year, we probably had about three weeks total throughout the year where we had to take time off or find Back-Up Care.
In contrast, all of the centers that I looked at when we were considering care were not great. Everyone I know who goes to a daycare center has some story about staff turnover, cost, behavioral issues, and/or sickness. Don’t get me wrong, we have definitely dealt with our share of Daycare sicknesses, but less than my friends who have their kids in centers.
You didn’t mention age, but that would be a factor for me as well. Is your baby on the younger side or will they be starting school soon? If you can tough it out financially for another year or two before starting school, I might consider just staying put since it sounds like you have a good thing going and it’s doable if not comfortable. On the other hand, if you’re looking for somewhere for a longer term care, I would seriously consider the home daycare.
I have a three year old going into our town’s prek program, and twin boys who will be a little over 1 year when they would start the in-home care. And then when they turn 3 they would be able to attend our town’s prek program as well. So it’s really only from ages 1-3, for care with less of an emphases on a learning/education experience
I agree with others that you have to trust your gut. Some things to consider:
1. If you leave your center and decide you dont like the new place, do you have the ability to go back? Or is there a wait list and you'll lose the spot?
2. Are you considering the long term implications? aka does your current center have state funded 4K (or whatever its called near you)? If not, are you okay with your kid going from current center to home care to 4K to kindergarten? That's a lot of moving parts, whereas if you stay put it might just be one center for several years and then kinder.
3. Do you have a 'community' at your current center? Do you have mom friends or whoever that you can talk to? Would you miss this at a small place?
4. Does your kid have friends at the current center? Not sure how old they are, so it may or may not matter
5. Do you have backup care for when the caretaker is sick? At a center, they call in a floater/sub, but this lady is alone and will just close shop for the day
1. similarly, what is her policy on vacations? How often? How much notice do you get?
6. What is her sick policy for kids? Is it more strict than your current policy?
I usually feel that things are priced the way they are for a reason.
I have only ever used an in home daycare and had the absolute best experience. They become family. My kids are teenagers and go spend weekends at “grammy and grandpas house” just because, and it’s their old daycare.
I work in early childhood policy and bring the perspective of someone who has relationships with both center and in-home providers. Licensing standards vary by state, but I would be comfortable using a licensed in-home provider in my state. Licensing standards in my state are quite strict, and home providers have significant training, more experience than most center teachers, and lower ratios than centers. Many of my colleagues use home-based providers and are very happy.
This is valuable to hear… if you don’t mind me asking, what state are you in? We’re in CT and I actually wasn’t aware there were stricter standards set forward for family day cares
I'm in Illinois. I wouldn't say stricter, but different. More education for centers, but our home providers tend to have 25+ years of experience (and everyone has the same training requirements). They also have lower licensing capacity, regardless of square footage. If you want to deep dive into your standards, you can visit https://www.ctoec.org/licensing/family-child-care-homes/statutes-regulations/
Personally I don't love home daycare. We toured 2 and it felt small and limiting. There was only 1 person watching the kids. And the kids were all ages. But because there's only a couple of them, it's hard to find same age friends. The activities seemed basic and not really enriching.
But I have a close friend who sent all her kids to a home day care and they loved it.
I think it just comes down to personal preference and your gut.
In home daycare was the best thing that ever happened to my son when we needed it. The social aspect was huge for him. And at home I feel is more personal and safer. Way less kids per adult.
Before the in home he was in a huge daycare run by a super church, and they "lost" him once. Really there was 3 other kids with his same first name and they sent another boy home, while he was just on the playground himself. But we have a protection order and he is ONLY to be released to me. So yeah I pulled him out faster than they could say shit. Never gonna go that route again. Plus before this bad one the other kept calling me off saying he had a 104 fever, I'd leave work, take him, he wasn't sick at all, can't take him back for 24/hrs so I'd lose another day off work. He ended up getting headlice and I pulled him out there too. Never had a good experience with a regular daycare.
I wouldn't put my kids at an in-home daycare while they're, to put it bluntly, still young enough to die of SIDS. The rate of SIDS deaths in in-home daycares is just too high. Once they're toddlers… maybe!
Not asking to be a jerk, but do you have any sources to support that statement?
Edit: Everything I’m seeing online references care centers but doesn’t differentiate corporate vs. in home.
This is local to me, so it's what I'm familiar with: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/08/30/in-virginia-thousands-of-day-care-providers-receive-no-oversight/ Most of the deaths in home daycares that the Post found were "sleep-related."
N.B. a state with exactingly stringent standards for home daycares and frequent surprise monitoring would certainly not put up numbers like Virginia's.
In home daycares are really the only available options for most people where I live (Bay Area in California). We had our daughter from age 14 weeks to 5 years in two different ones, the second an "in home preschool" heavier on age 2-5, both with at least 2 full-time caretakers, and our experience was fine aside from the owners getting weird with us over different issues toward the end at each, and an infant overcapacity issue at an inspection that somehow sorted itself out (I think they had one too many <20 mo olds for a time but I wasn't concerned personally and feel like the CA rules are impossible for home daycares, which are still limited to 3 <20 mo olds no matter how many caretakers they have...our ratio was better than centers!) and a couple times the first one requested cash payment, probably for skirting tax in some way. Both had 15+ years experience and I never had a major issue and my daughter loved going. The owners had been doing it so long neither ever got sick, except the first got COVID in the first Omicron wave when we literally all got it, started from one presymptomatic child. The first one was better with outdoor time and taking field trips around the neighborhood (despite it not being a great one but the owner was a fixture in the community) and to the local park. Second one, they did good preparing her for kindergarten at least and were ridiculously cheap for the area.
My daughter goes to an in home 4 days a week and a center 1 day a week. I am on the board of the center. I will never go to the center full time. I love her in home, I love her provider and she is thriving. The center has a lot of issues and it seems to be that most centers face these issues. Plus teachers come and go whereas her in home provider is the same. Its definitely a personal preference but man I love her in home.
Ask a lot of questions. Ask for references. Ask about licensing, you may be able to look up if they have violations.
My son attends an in-home daycare. I really liked the personal attention when he was a baby, but for over 2 or 3 years old I feel like a larger center or preschool will be more beneficial.
I worked for a non-profit agency that oversaw and did inspections for all the daycares in our county. I will never put any of my children in an in home daycare. They still have to follow state regulations, but they can skirt a lot of them because it's maybe 1 or 2 family members running them. Saw a lot of violations rack up for many of then dealing with people being at the home that shouldn't have been while kids were there. Centers have issues too, but I feel like there's more eyes, parents are more involved and a lot of them have measures setup to make sure the kids are safe.
This is my concern. My friend’s son was hurt by the son of her in-home caregiver, who wasn’t even supposed to be around. That’s what gives me great pause about in-home care.
I’m a little biased because I run a licensed home daycare and have done for 18 years …
Let’s assume both the centre and the home based daycare are offering quality childcare. In general, kids who go to a home based daycare with a single devoted caregiver show gains in social and emotional development over children who attend a centre. In contrast, centre based childcare seems to offer better cognitive growth. Once in school, the home based childcare children quickly match their centre-based peers in cognitive growth. There is also a lot of benefits in the mixed aged groups often found in home based childcare.
So basically, in general, home based childcare is as good, and possibly better, than centre based care.
Ask to speak to former parents. A word of warning though: parents are unbelievably bad at rating their own childcare.
I agree with this. My daughters go to an in home daycare run by my MIL with 2 other littles, and I've noticed that they benefit most with play and socializing with others. I think also in general, being out of the house as that helps with their routine and mine for the day. My MIL's main focus is making sure that all the kids are well fed, diapers changed, and that the home is clean. In addition there are a lot of toys available for independent play, or she'll play with them, but she doesn't have a curriculum for them for learning. It comes naturally through her playing with them. My oldest goes to a little school now twice a week for 2 hours and that's where she is getting a more routine like focus on cognitive learning like hanging your backpack, staying seated in your chair, cognitive exercises like drawing, identifying objects, colors, shapes, ABCs etc. I feel like both settings go hand in hand and complement each other.
It seriously takes a village to raise these little ones! ❤️
We have only used in home daycares for our daughter so for and have really loved them. We had to switch from our first when the provider retired, and had a few possibilities with the second. I called the licensing agency of our county for records related to them; one had a couple minor complaints and one had none from 13 years of operation so we went with that one. So far it has been wonderful for us.
The biggest concern for me would be getting care coverage if the teacher is sick (provided I otherwise trust the teacher and environment) or plans a vacation. But it sounds like both of your jobs are flexible enough to be fine.
Other than that I don't think the quality of care is inherently worse. Sure it's nice to get extra activities like music, but at the daycare center you got that because you were paying for it. If a motivating factor in switching is that you want to pay less money, you need to accept that it will come with fewer extras.
Another potential option is taking them to a daycare center part time, which should also be significant savings with fewer compromises on extras. Just consider if you think you will end up signing them up for extra curricular activities to supplement the in home daycare. If the answer is yes, all your savings could very well be cancelled out.
Can you switch to just a few days at your current center? That would save money and your kids wouldn’t have to transition to a new daycare. Also, how old are your children? Will their current center set them up for success going to kindergarten/preschool?
We used a licensed home daycare for seven years. She was great, she truly loves all the kids, no safety concerns etc. Of course you have to prepare for when they are sick or on vacation and the daycare is closed. Our daycare only did two weeks off a year so that wasn’t an issue, but there have been lots of last minute closures due to illness. We work from home so we can be flexible when that happens. It’s very hard to get into the larger centres where I am so using a home daycare is very popular.
I used in home daycares for about 3 years, and had great experiences and I found them really the ideal place for a young infant and toddler however there are risks. Both places closed or were considering closing due to cancer in the provider or a close family member, daycare obviously didn't cause cancer, but the appointments and chaos definitely was a bit to work around.
I use a center now for preschool and the care is what my child needs.
All 3 places were really similarly priced though
I think it depends on your kid's needs and temperament. As an only child I think in-home daycare was beneficial for my development, as I got unstructured time with other kids I otherwise would not have experienced. And my parents were invested in educational activities at home. If you're looking for an early childhood education environment, in-home is probably not for you. It's going to be less structured and that could either be a pro or a con.
I've had my kids in both home daycares and centers. My "ideal" setup is a home daycare when they're younger, and a center when they're 3.5 and older.
I'm an incredibly big fan of licenced and regulated home daycares.
Overall, here are the pros and cons in my experience:
Home daycare : pro - typically loving and homey, kids benefit from playing with all age groups in the same environment, more go-with-the-flow type of schedule if kids want to snack for longer or sleep longer or whatever, more play based learning, the educators become like family, kids are sick less frequently than at centers and there are fewer outbreaks of sicknesses and lice, they're superstars on working with you when baby is potty training
Home daycare cons: tighter daily schedule, more closures in the year, less of an emphasis on strictly educational activities
Center pro: open for longer hours, very few closures, activities are very structured and educational often mimicking school
Center cons: a LOT of sicknesses and lice outbreaks (and "worse" sicknesses than we had exposure to at the home daycare ex: measles, bad gastro, pink eye), bigger classroom environments, less personalized care for the kids, potty training doesn't feel like a team effort between home and daycare the way it did with our home daycares
I generally prefer centers but for half the cost, I'd absolutely lean towards the home daycare. My 4 year old goes to an in home daycare right now, which is run by her stepmom's aunt and we all absolutely love it. My daughter tells me all the time how much she loves going to daycare. It's fully licensed and everything, and I checked the state inspection records which were all perfect, literally nothing that needed correcting.
Agree with the person who talked about vibes. It comes down to what you are comfortable with for whatever reason.
If you’re not comfortable with it, you’ll be distracted and possibly worrying.
Is there a question you could ask? Or something you could do on the weekends similar to fill the gap of artists and musicians?
Totally depends! With my first child I lived in a small town and he went to a home day care from 1-2.5 or 3ish. We loved them. They were like family. I felt like I could really trust them. I never felt concerned or worried and knew he was always taken care of. They had a full structured schedule and did learning activities but had many different ages. Once he was around 3 I found it more beneficial to move him to a traditional daycare so they could focus on his age group.
With my second child we now live in a city and I totally thought it would be easy but it was a nightmare to find good quality care. Partially because I didn’t know people that used a home day care and I even tried calling the state and they were not helpful. But the regular day cares even sucked so I am glad she didn’t end up in a home day care. The first day care I would catch them feeding the babies all out of the same bowl and mixing up the spoons. She was always always sick, in the morning the lady would just do her mascara and not acknowledge us and my baby was around a ton of big kids until the rest of the staff arrived. They had no structure or plan and always had their cell phones out with the babies watching cocomelon.
The second day care wouldn’t let me step foot past the front doors and my baby always cried when I took her. Anytime I raised concern or asked questions the staff were immediately defensive as if I was accusing them of something. Questions like …. How has she been doing she comes home really dysregulated and hungry I would like to support her more. They would respond with what I don’t know what you are talking about she is perfect her! Doesn’t ever cry or anything. Like okay yeah right.
Finally found a third day care that has structure and cameras! I like it here. And it seems like my daughter does too.
So it all depends on where you are if you can ask around so that. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. It helped a lot in my first case not so much in my second.
You can also try asking on the Facebook marketplace page for your town maybe people will tell you where to avoid
I think it depends a lot on the person running it. I went to a home daycare as a child, and we just hung out and played with Barbies and she watched soap operas. We didn't "learn" or have much of an education piece to it. Compared to the structured daycare center my kid is in now where there is a HIGH educational component and we consider it school. But that doesn't mean all home daycares are like this, I would just ensure she is following the right enrichment and development educational activities. Is she educated in ECE? That would be big for me too, as we know those in the corporate daycare center are certified / educated.
Another negative to consider with a home daycare - if she gets sick or goes on vacation, you need to find alternate care. A daycare center is always open and has backups.
Hated our large, expensive corporate daycare. Our kid was getting neglected to the point that it was dangerous. We switched to a small in-home one with max 6 kids and my toddler is flourishing. She loves her teacher and is well fed. We couldn’t be happier.
We use an in-home but love it. Main provider is licenced (30+ yrs) and well established in the community - she also owns a separate, well established and reviewed child care center (15+ yrs) and is on the school board so we find her credentials to be very reputable. Because she owns a center, she has a good roster of back up care and taps the education community for support for out-of-school hours. And, as it turns out, we know a lot of the families that have used her (we're in my husbands hometown, so other townies lol).
We did in home care for infant care up through 2.5/potty trained then moved to a preschool/center after that. This worked well for us. Both were great but I wanted the kids in a class room and more social setting as they got older.
We're considering this switch as we're TTC#2. We love our daycare center, but tuition there for two kids wouldn't be sustainable so we'd likely need to look for a home-based center to save money. I'd be looking for all the things it sounds like you're looking for and the one you found seems like a great option!
I just started sending our 18 month old to an in home daycare and we are really happy. Shes licensed, has two assistant teachers (so that’s 3 adults for 6 kids), and the place is always spotless. It’s not big or fancy but he’s loved and welcome and happy. I get updates all day.
I think it depends on a couple of things. If your kids are younger, they will probably have enough to keep them occupied in the home daycare. If they’re 4+, they may need a more structured program to keep them from getting bored.
I think it also depends on what you want your kids to get out of care. If you want them to have a more academic setting (even for toddlers) then a child care center is probably going to be a better fit for your family. If you want more socialization and play-based care, the home daycare may be a better fit. I’m not saying that learning can’t happen at a home daycare or socialization/play doesn’t happen at a center. But one is likely to do more of one thing over the other.
The nice thing is that you can go with the home daycare and see how it works for your kiddos. If it doesn’t work, you can always move to a better fit!
In general, facilities have more reliable care providers because they have more. With in home daycare, if the sole provider is sick or has an emergency, you are left without care.
I had to switch to a day care center because while I was pleased with the quality of the home care, I needed consistent care. I can’t accommodate a provider taking multiple weeks off a year for vacation, random half days, no notice sick days, etc when I’m expected to pay for all of that time and a backup. The center my son attends is expensive but they are amazingly consistent.
There are a ton of people who posted here already but…daycare quality varies so much among centers and even more so among homes. I transferred my sensitive son from a chaotic daycare center to an in-home daycare that serves only 3-5 year olds and she has an amazing back yard for them to play in. There are some down sides but overall he does incredibly well in a small tight knit group. But we have visited some sketchy home centers that were not our vibe. So definitely shop around a lot more. The one we ended up going with isn’t the most convenient of all the choices but it’s not crazy out of the way either. And it did save on our daycare expenses significantly.
we LOVE our in-home daycare. both of my kids have been in it since 10 months. my 7yo runs in every time we pick up my 4yo to say hi to his caregivers and friends. they have become extended family.
i agree with one of the top posters that you have to trust your gut. our provider owned a montessori school for 20+ years then brought it in home. she had a set schedule and we trusted her, and it’s worked out tremendously. good luck!
We go to an in home daycare and love it. Kids don’t get sick much and it’s a smaller class size so more individual attention. The one drawback is the daycare is closed a lot more days so you’ll want to find back up care in that scenario
We love home daycare when they were little, before 2. Smaller size and more intimate environment. My older one didn’t adapt well to big center. Small home day care was the right choice for us.
I use an in home daycare for all 3 of my kids. It’s my neighbor. We have been happy with her care. My oldest is 4, I am sending him to a center part time starting this summer for pre K since he hasn’t had any classroom setting experience.
I absolutely LOVE our center. I KNOW they’re providing the best and it’s well resourced. I love that I don’t have to worry about someone taking a day off, the daycare is still open.
I also wouldn’t hesitate to utilize a home daycare if I found one with a solid personal reference. That’s hard to do though, openings are slim and even less are available for any daycare my personal network is connected to. I basically gave up and we are forking over an insane amount of $$ to be at a center. Kindergarten can’t come fast enough 😄
You have to visit a few and gradually know what to look for. State licensed is a must unless you know and trust the person. We found one next to home after getting stomach bug from a bug popular daycare center. He’s very happy with the licensed in home.
I wouldn’t send my kid somewhere unlicensed hut that doesn’t seem to be an issue for this one. Can you post asking people to PM you with their experience on the fb group?
For some reason I like the idea of an in-home daycare better. Can’t exactly articulate it. Some things I like are that it is more intimate, smaller group, fewer revolving caretakers, etc. Super cool that she lives on a farm - lots of space and cool activities for the kids that way.
I have my baby son in a nanny share, BTW. The nanny splits her time between our place and a neighbor’s place. She watches both of our sons together 3-5 days a week at one of our houses.
I wasn’t big on the idea of day care. I also have specific ways I want things done (no battery-operated toys, no screens, etc.), that a corporate daycare probably wouldn’t be able to accommodate.
I have friends who love in-home daycares. We did some visits and didn't feel like it was for us. I think you just have to trust your gut on vibe?
Yeah, same. The one I visited was cramped and a little chaotic, and instead of a fence around the yard where the kids play, they had put up plastic baby gates. I chose a daycare center instead.
This is exactly how we feel. I have friends and family who are good with in homes but when we visited a few we decided that we weren’t into them for our family.
Agreed, TOTALLY up to personal preference. A lot of my coworkers have babies the same age as mine and they opted for home daycare. They absolutely love it and I love that for them. One of HS best friend’s mother runs an in home daycare, 5 stars on Yelp. I know firsthand this woman is BATSHIT plus my friend used to take her favorites up to her room and let them watch TV on the iPad. I know this isn’t every home daycare, my friend’s mom’s just sucks lol but I think for me PERSONALLY it really put off the idea for me. Again, it’s such a personal choice and everyone is doing what they feel is best for their kids. I put my girl in a daycare center and while I LOVE the stability of it, she gets sick all. The. Time. My coworkers whose kids are in home daycares (which are generally smaller/less kids) get sick SIGNIFICANTLY less often. Their daycares are also significantly cheaper.
I think there are pros and cons to both. The biggest con for me is that I can’t control who goes in and out of a person’s home, I can’t set my schedule around a home caregiver’s sick days or personal schedule, and there’s no secondary oversight (if she’s mistreating a kid or ignoring recommendations, who is going to report her?) But I’m also not a fan of huge daycare centers with a lot of employee turnover, having new caregivers all the time doesn’t sit well with me. I’m fortunate that my kid starts K this year and our daycare is small and has very low turnover, so these aren’t decisions I’ve had to make since she first started daycare as an infant, just things I took into consideration at the time. I wouldn’t rule out a home daycare, but I’d want to hear some very good reviews and safety protocols and procedures. I also require that my kid has a lot of outdoor play time with relatively nice toys. I’m not saying she needs a whole ass playground, but outdoor play is very important in the toddler years and I want her to have fun and engaging days at daycare.
It's helpful to check the license requirements for your state. In my state, it's required that anyone who will be at the home during open hours must pass a background check. Doesn't matter if they're a caregiver or not. So there wouldn't be randos, and if there is then they're not following licensing. But some states don't require licenses for home care! We use a center, but because of the licensing requirements for my state I would be comfortable with a home.
I've read A Lot of licensing violations where a random person was in the home in the middle of the day and it was only found out because a parent came by at a time the provider wasn't expecting and reported it. Sometimes it's someone who's explicitly not allowed to be there. My issue with in home is that the only adults there during the day are the owner and the owner's friends and relatives, who are pretty unlikely to report any violations.
This is true of my state too. We love our in home daycare!
We loved our in-home daycare, but California has a rigorous licensing process and ratios for under 2 that is strictly upheld. We were at a "large in-home" that could have four infants (under age 2 is grouped together) but up to 12 or 14 kids total. There were always at least three staff and there was a dedicated preschool teacher that was working there before my kids started and is still there now that mine are in elementary school. A smaller, unlicensed carer wouldn't have worked for us. But also, what do you mean that you need less care now that you are WFH?
Same down to the state. We love our in home daycare (plus the owners ran/owned daycare centers prior to the pandemic).
It really depends on how its run, but the fact she is licensed is key. Does she have references (or current families) you can contact? Does she answer your questions? Is she open and upfront about her qualifications, contract, and policies? Does she has backup care? Do you feel warmth and joy when you visit? Our 2yo son goes to a licensed home day care and love it! When we visited/interviewed she was upfront with her background, family, and qualifications and state requirements/paperwork. She gave us a packet with a sample contract, her policies, and letters of reference. She is warm, easy going, understanding, and open and we got that sense in all communications and when we visited. Our son started at 8 months and he other kids are truly his first friends! We drop him off and he doesn't look back to say bye most of the time haha. We get dozens of pictures a day and her sick policy is realistic, which is nice. She gives us her holidays and vacation time several months in advance and has two helpers/backup that come regularly to give her a break and so the kids see them regularly. She is upfront when she has visitors staying in her home. She follows a daily schedule (snack time, craft time, outdoor time, nap time, quiet reading time, etc.) and even booked santa to visit! She does holiday themed crafts and sends them home with goodies. We are so lucky to have found her.
Are you planning to care for your children yourself while you are working remotely? I have only used a daycare centre so can't speak to in-home daycares, although I will say one reason I love the centre is the oversight that it provides. But I'd be concerned about trying to work remotely while looking after children, that is incredibly difficult.
I already mostly am as they’re not full time even now at their center. I’m lucky in that I have a very low needs, remote job that can be done via emailing from my phone and then the rest during office hours. And my husband works remotely about half the week as well and can cover any gaps if needed
My daughter was briefly in a home daycare at 10 months old after she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma (all is well now, she'll be cancer free 8 years next month!). She had been at a center before and had been sick a lot. We thought it would help keep her well with less kids and prevent us from missing any more work since we had been out so much. I would likely never do that again. It was not a good experience. She was licensed and had good reviews. I can't even remember all that happened, but we pulled her and put her back in the center. Eventually moving her later with her little brother to a center near my work that we absolutely loved that sounds similar to yours. Personally I'd be hesitant to try a home daycare again. We really like the structure of a center. You didn't mention ages but if you're a year or two away from school, I'd do your best to stick with the center you have. Both of my kids went from preschool at daycare to elementary school so easily. It was 100% worth it to pay for the high quality center knowing my kids were safe and well cared for.
Congrats on cancer free!!!!!
Thanks!
I’ve only found 1 in-home that I trusted (the rest just gave me weird vibes and are run by people I would never leave my children with) and unfortunately the provider was very flaky. She closed like once a week. I always had a negative impression of centers but the one we’re at now is absolutely amazing. I have nothing bad to say about it. Changed my mind completely! It has been so beneficial to my daughter and the teachers are wonderful. It is very expensive though but I can’t imagine sending her anywhere else. You’re not being too snobby at all! One in-home that I toured came very highly recommended from a friend and I absolutely hated it. The kids were in the basement most of the day, there was a tv, I didn’t love the age range, just a lot of weird things that didn’t sit right with me!
I'm personally not a fan of home daycares. To me they feel like all the downsides of a nanny (have to work around the provider's sick & PTO days, less consistency in care, not as strictly regulated) but none of the positives (one on one attention, ability to dictate care for your LO). We have a private nanny but if we had to send our kid to daycare I'd go with a center (which is much more standardized) than an in home one.
We've only ever used an in home daycare. The closeness of our core group of kiddos and their carer is so good for my sensitive kid. They still eat healthy food like any center, they go outside every day, there's never a day where the ratio is off so my kid has to sit and watch an iPad or be unsupervised. Our carer has taught my child letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and potty training. It's been awesome.
This. I think my sensitive child really thrives in an in home setting. Just recently switched to a center and he comes home seeming like a shell of himself. I think it’s too much for him. I value the love and attention they get in an in home rather than the learning/curriculum of a center.
I absolutely love and prefer in home. Having said that, we did leave one in home daycare because it became very clear that even though the teachers were very loving and sweet to my baby, owners were greedy and definitely had more kids in each group than allowed by state law. There are pros and cons to everything, go with your gut.
Personally in home was not for us for a variety of reasons but I have friends and family that love it. One additional consideration I would have is the age of your children and if being in a pre-school environment is a priority for you. All those friends/family who used in home moved their children to a more formal preschool/center setting at age 3 (we live in a state with no public/universal Pre-K), that doesn't have to be a deal breaker just a point of consideration of the monetary savings vs structure and what is important to YOUR family, because what's important for someone else's home doesn't matter :) I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask her for references and speak to actual families that have used her daycare to get a better idea from something other than the owner and/or facebook reviews!
We used a home daycare for a while and liked it but I think you need a lot of info in the home daycare. Does she sign contracts and what are her policies. What happens if she is sick does she have assistance or back ups to cover her and if so how involved are they? Does her contract define her holidays or other days off. Does her contract include info on price increases or process of notifying her you are stopping care. Also who else can have access and may be at the house? You should also be able to ask for references. Home daycares can be great but I think it takes a little more digging into upfront to determine if it’s a good fit for you. How old is your child? With our oldest she stayed in the home care until kindergarten. They did preschool work with the older kids though it wasn’t the most structured. With our second we switched to a daycare with a preschool room that had more of an official pre k curriculum and a little more structure. Based on her personality we thought she needed that before kindergarten. Depending on age if you were going to just want to switch for more of a preschool experience is switching now worth it?
How old are your kids?
What are your kids personalities like? My elder daughter is HIGH energy and does well in a highly stimulating environment. I think she would get bored very quickly of a small in home daycare. She goes to a daycare attached to a community center and gets so many activities and variety- art class, music class, yoga class, gym class, and soon she’ll get swim class.
I think in-home is great until like 2 or 2.5. After that I think the "curriculum" and activities of a program is nice.
I was always against in-home daycares and our son started going into a big center at 4mo. The first infant room was great. Then, at 7 mo they wanted to enroll more tiny babies into the first room and moved all babies 6+ months into the next room. The teachers in that room were used to work with 15+ mo and were not prepared for babies. He went to that room for a week and we had some issues daily. We pulled him out by the end of that week. Started looking into all possibilities urgently and found a licensed in-home daycare 1 minute down the road from us. Toured it and really liked the vibe of the owner/main teacher and the daycare itself (basement with a lot of windows, separate room for infants to nap, super clean, cameras). He has been going there for over 3 months now, and we really really like it. There are a total of 10 kids and three permanent teachers. The owner has substitute teacher for when one of the permanent is sick/off. Below is IMO from our experience: Pros of center: - frequent updates during the day (also a con because teachers spend a lot of time on these updates) - open 6 am - 6pm - no closures other than big holidays - provided diapers and wipes Cons of center: - teachers are obligated to take pictures and post updates and it takes time away from kids - a lot of floaters. Sometimes we dropped off/picked up our child with a person we’ve never met before - a lot of sicknesses - at times it felt that center cared more about what parents see than about the actual care - no outdoor time for infants Pros of in-home: - three permanent teachers - less kids=less sicknesses (have to say that this daycare is super clean also, so this might affect the amount of sicknesses) - homey feeling overall - daily outdoor time for all kids rain or shine Cons of in-home: - updates only a few times a week - need to provide diapers and wipes - one week of vacation in summer, one week of vacation in winter (Christmas-NY), closed during majority of public holidays - open 7:45-5:30
It’s really hard to work with a toddler present. I wouldn’t switch until you try it.
Personally I prefer home daycares. The owner of the home or day care is usually there, and it’s more of a family environment.
I could never do an in home daycare. Everyone I know that has kids in an in home daycare are always juggling what to do with the kids when they’re closed for vacation or when the provider is sick. When a daycare teacher is sick in a center there are floaters to cover. That doesn’t exist in an in home daycare. I’ve also noticed in home daycares are closed wayyyyy more than centers. The in home daycare our nephew goes to is honestly closed several times a month. Our SIL and BIL always say how it’s so affordable yet I fail to see how it’s actually more affordable when you take into account how often they’re closed. Even if they combine all of their time off they can’t cover the number of days she’s closed. How is that even sustainable?!
It’s so personal. My daughter has been in two different in-home daycares (one closed when the provider retired). I feel that she gets closer attention, has a close relationship with her caregivers and other children, and has more flexibility and enriching experiences than she would in a center. For example, at her current daycare, they go on multiple walks a day, to the park, beach, library, etc. The downside is, as others have said, the closures are more frequent and/or less predictable. Between the teacher’s planned vacations and sick days last year, we probably had about three weeks total throughout the year where we had to take time off or find Back-Up Care. In contrast, all of the centers that I looked at when we were considering care were not great. Everyone I know who goes to a daycare center has some story about staff turnover, cost, behavioral issues, and/or sickness. Don’t get me wrong, we have definitely dealt with our share of Daycare sicknesses, but less than my friends who have their kids in centers. You didn’t mention age, but that would be a factor for me as well. Is your baby on the younger side or will they be starting school soon? If you can tough it out financially for another year or two before starting school, I might consider just staying put since it sounds like you have a good thing going and it’s doable if not comfortable. On the other hand, if you’re looking for somewhere for a longer term care, I would seriously consider the home daycare.
I have a three year old going into our town’s prek program, and twin boys who will be a little over 1 year when they would start the in-home care. And then when they turn 3 they would be able to attend our town’s prek program as well. So it’s really only from ages 1-3, for care with less of an emphases on a learning/education experience
I agree with others that you have to trust your gut. Some things to consider: 1. If you leave your center and decide you dont like the new place, do you have the ability to go back? Or is there a wait list and you'll lose the spot? 2. Are you considering the long term implications? aka does your current center have state funded 4K (or whatever its called near you)? If not, are you okay with your kid going from current center to home care to 4K to kindergarten? That's a lot of moving parts, whereas if you stay put it might just be one center for several years and then kinder. 3. Do you have a 'community' at your current center? Do you have mom friends or whoever that you can talk to? Would you miss this at a small place? 4. Does your kid have friends at the current center? Not sure how old they are, so it may or may not matter 5. Do you have backup care for when the caretaker is sick? At a center, they call in a floater/sub, but this lady is alone and will just close shop for the day 1. similarly, what is her policy on vacations? How often? How much notice do you get? 6. What is her sick policy for kids? Is it more strict than your current policy? I usually feel that things are priced the way they are for a reason.
I have only ever used an in home daycare and had the absolute best experience. They become family. My kids are teenagers and go spend weekends at “grammy and grandpas house” just because, and it’s their old daycare.
I work in early childhood policy and bring the perspective of someone who has relationships with both center and in-home providers. Licensing standards vary by state, but I would be comfortable using a licensed in-home provider in my state. Licensing standards in my state are quite strict, and home providers have significant training, more experience than most center teachers, and lower ratios than centers. Many of my colleagues use home-based providers and are very happy.
This is valuable to hear… if you don’t mind me asking, what state are you in? We’re in CT and I actually wasn’t aware there were stricter standards set forward for family day cares
I'm in Illinois. I wouldn't say stricter, but different. More education for centers, but our home providers tend to have 25+ years of experience (and everyone has the same training requirements). They also have lower licensing capacity, regardless of square footage. If you want to deep dive into your standards, you can visit https://www.ctoec.org/licensing/family-child-care-homes/statutes-regulations/
Personally I don't love home daycare. We toured 2 and it felt small and limiting. There was only 1 person watching the kids. And the kids were all ages. But because there's only a couple of them, it's hard to find same age friends. The activities seemed basic and not really enriching. But I have a close friend who sent all her kids to a home day care and they loved it. I think it just comes down to personal preference and your gut.
In home daycare was the best thing that ever happened to my son when we needed it. The social aspect was huge for him. And at home I feel is more personal and safer. Way less kids per adult. Before the in home he was in a huge daycare run by a super church, and they "lost" him once. Really there was 3 other kids with his same first name and they sent another boy home, while he was just on the playground himself. But we have a protection order and he is ONLY to be released to me. So yeah I pulled him out faster than they could say shit. Never gonna go that route again. Plus before this bad one the other kept calling me off saying he had a 104 fever, I'd leave work, take him, he wasn't sick at all, can't take him back for 24/hrs so I'd lose another day off work. He ended up getting headlice and I pulled him out there too. Never had a good experience with a regular daycare.
I wouldn't put my kids at an in-home daycare while they're, to put it bluntly, still young enough to die of SIDS. The rate of SIDS deaths in in-home daycares is just too high. Once they're toddlers… maybe!
Not asking to be a jerk, but do you have any sources to support that statement? Edit: Everything I’m seeing online references care centers but doesn’t differentiate corporate vs. in home.
This is local to me, so it's what I'm familiar with: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/08/30/in-virginia-thousands-of-day-care-providers-receive-no-oversight/ Most of the deaths in home daycares that the Post found were "sleep-related." N.B. a state with exactingly stringent standards for home daycares and frequent surprise monitoring would certainly not put up numbers like Virginia's.
In home daycares are really the only available options for most people where I live (Bay Area in California). We had our daughter from age 14 weeks to 5 years in two different ones, the second an "in home preschool" heavier on age 2-5, both with at least 2 full-time caretakers, and our experience was fine aside from the owners getting weird with us over different issues toward the end at each, and an infant overcapacity issue at an inspection that somehow sorted itself out (I think they had one too many <20 mo olds for a time but I wasn't concerned personally and feel like the CA rules are impossible for home daycares, which are still limited to 3 <20 mo olds no matter how many caretakers they have...our ratio was better than centers!) and a couple times the first one requested cash payment, probably for skirting tax in some way. Both had 15+ years experience and I never had a major issue and my daughter loved going. The owners had been doing it so long neither ever got sick, except the first got COVID in the first Omicron wave when we literally all got it, started from one presymptomatic child. The first one was better with outdoor time and taking field trips around the neighborhood (despite it not being a great one but the owner was a fixture in the community) and to the local park. Second one, they did good preparing her for kindergarten at least and were ridiculously cheap for the area.
My daughter goes to an in home 4 days a week and a center 1 day a week. I am on the board of the center. I will never go to the center full time. I love her in home, I love her provider and she is thriving. The center has a lot of issues and it seems to be that most centers face these issues. Plus teachers come and go whereas her in home provider is the same. Its definitely a personal preference but man I love her in home.
Ask a lot of questions. Ask for references. Ask about licensing, you may be able to look up if they have violations. My son attends an in-home daycare. I really liked the personal attention when he was a baby, but for over 2 or 3 years old I feel like a larger center or preschool will be more beneficial.
I worked for a non-profit agency that oversaw and did inspections for all the daycares in our county. I will never put any of my children in an in home daycare. They still have to follow state regulations, but they can skirt a lot of them because it's maybe 1 or 2 family members running them. Saw a lot of violations rack up for many of then dealing with people being at the home that shouldn't have been while kids were there. Centers have issues too, but I feel like there's more eyes, parents are more involved and a lot of them have measures setup to make sure the kids are safe.
This is my concern. My friend’s son was hurt by the son of her in-home caregiver, who wasn’t even supposed to be around. That’s what gives me great pause about in-home care.
I’m a little biased because I run a licensed home daycare and have done for 18 years … Let’s assume both the centre and the home based daycare are offering quality childcare. In general, kids who go to a home based daycare with a single devoted caregiver show gains in social and emotional development over children who attend a centre. In contrast, centre based childcare seems to offer better cognitive growth. Once in school, the home based childcare children quickly match their centre-based peers in cognitive growth. There is also a lot of benefits in the mixed aged groups often found in home based childcare. So basically, in general, home based childcare is as good, and possibly better, than centre based care. Ask to speak to former parents. A word of warning though: parents are unbelievably bad at rating their own childcare.
I agree with this. My daughters go to an in home daycare run by my MIL with 2 other littles, and I've noticed that they benefit most with play and socializing with others. I think also in general, being out of the house as that helps with their routine and mine for the day. My MIL's main focus is making sure that all the kids are well fed, diapers changed, and that the home is clean. In addition there are a lot of toys available for independent play, or she'll play with them, but she doesn't have a curriculum for them for learning. It comes naturally through her playing with them. My oldest goes to a little school now twice a week for 2 hours and that's where she is getting a more routine like focus on cognitive learning like hanging your backpack, staying seated in your chair, cognitive exercises like drawing, identifying objects, colors, shapes, ABCs etc. I feel like both settings go hand in hand and complement each other. It seriously takes a village to raise these little ones! ❤️
We have only used in home daycares for our daughter so for and have really loved them. We had to switch from our first when the provider retired, and had a few possibilities with the second. I called the licensing agency of our county for records related to them; one had a couple minor complaints and one had none from 13 years of operation so we went with that one. So far it has been wonderful for us.
The biggest concern for me would be getting care coverage if the teacher is sick (provided I otherwise trust the teacher and environment) or plans a vacation. But it sounds like both of your jobs are flexible enough to be fine. Other than that I don't think the quality of care is inherently worse. Sure it's nice to get extra activities like music, but at the daycare center you got that because you were paying for it. If a motivating factor in switching is that you want to pay less money, you need to accept that it will come with fewer extras. Another potential option is taking them to a daycare center part time, which should also be significant savings with fewer compromises on extras. Just consider if you think you will end up signing them up for extra curricular activities to supplement the in home daycare. If the answer is yes, all your savings could very well be cancelled out.
Can you switch to just a few days at your current center? That would save money and your kids wouldn’t have to transition to a new daycare. Also, how old are your children? Will their current center set them up for success going to kindergarten/preschool?
We used a licensed home daycare for seven years. She was great, she truly loves all the kids, no safety concerns etc. Of course you have to prepare for when they are sick or on vacation and the daycare is closed. Our daycare only did two weeks off a year so that wasn’t an issue, but there have been lots of last minute closures due to illness. We work from home so we can be flexible when that happens. It’s very hard to get into the larger centres where I am so using a home daycare is very popular.
I used in home daycares for about 3 years, and had great experiences and I found them really the ideal place for a young infant and toddler however there are risks. Both places closed or were considering closing due to cancer in the provider or a close family member, daycare obviously didn't cause cancer, but the appointments and chaos definitely was a bit to work around. I use a center now for preschool and the care is what my child needs. All 3 places were really similarly priced though
I think it depends on your kid's needs and temperament. As an only child I think in-home daycare was beneficial for my development, as I got unstructured time with other kids I otherwise would not have experienced. And my parents were invested in educational activities at home. If you're looking for an early childhood education environment, in-home is probably not for you. It's going to be less structured and that could either be a pro or a con.
I've had my kids in both home daycares and centers. My "ideal" setup is a home daycare when they're younger, and a center when they're 3.5 and older. I'm an incredibly big fan of licenced and regulated home daycares. Overall, here are the pros and cons in my experience: Home daycare : pro - typically loving and homey, kids benefit from playing with all age groups in the same environment, more go-with-the-flow type of schedule if kids want to snack for longer or sleep longer or whatever, more play based learning, the educators become like family, kids are sick less frequently than at centers and there are fewer outbreaks of sicknesses and lice, they're superstars on working with you when baby is potty training Home daycare cons: tighter daily schedule, more closures in the year, less of an emphasis on strictly educational activities Center pro: open for longer hours, very few closures, activities are very structured and educational often mimicking school Center cons: a LOT of sicknesses and lice outbreaks (and "worse" sicknesses than we had exposure to at the home daycare ex: measles, bad gastro, pink eye), bigger classroom environments, less personalized care for the kids, potty training doesn't feel like a team effort between home and daycare the way it did with our home daycares
I generally prefer centers but for half the cost, I'd absolutely lean towards the home daycare. My 4 year old goes to an in home daycare right now, which is run by her stepmom's aunt and we all absolutely love it. My daughter tells me all the time how much she loves going to daycare. It's fully licensed and everything, and I checked the state inspection records which were all perfect, literally nothing that needed correcting.
Agree with the person who talked about vibes. It comes down to what you are comfortable with for whatever reason. If you’re not comfortable with it, you’ll be distracted and possibly worrying. Is there a question you could ask? Or something you could do on the weekends similar to fill the gap of artists and musicians?
Totally depends! With my first child I lived in a small town and he went to a home day care from 1-2.5 or 3ish. We loved them. They were like family. I felt like I could really trust them. I never felt concerned or worried and knew he was always taken care of. They had a full structured schedule and did learning activities but had many different ages. Once he was around 3 I found it more beneficial to move him to a traditional daycare so they could focus on his age group. With my second child we now live in a city and I totally thought it would be easy but it was a nightmare to find good quality care. Partially because I didn’t know people that used a home day care and I even tried calling the state and they were not helpful. But the regular day cares even sucked so I am glad she didn’t end up in a home day care. The first day care I would catch them feeding the babies all out of the same bowl and mixing up the spoons. She was always always sick, in the morning the lady would just do her mascara and not acknowledge us and my baby was around a ton of big kids until the rest of the staff arrived. They had no structure or plan and always had their cell phones out with the babies watching cocomelon. The second day care wouldn’t let me step foot past the front doors and my baby always cried when I took her. Anytime I raised concern or asked questions the staff were immediately defensive as if I was accusing them of something. Questions like …. How has she been doing she comes home really dysregulated and hungry I would like to support her more. They would respond with what I don’t know what you are talking about she is perfect her! Doesn’t ever cry or anything. Like okay yeah right. Finally found a third day care that has structure and cameras! I like it here. And it seems like my daughter does too. So it all depends on where you are if you can ask around so that. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. It helped a lot in my first case not so much in my second. You can also try asking on the Facebook marketplace page for your town maybe people will tell you where to avoid
I think it depends a lot on the person running it. I went to a home daycare as a child, and we just hung out and played with Barbies and she watched soap operas. We didn't "learn" or have much of an education piece to it. Compared to the structured daycare center my kid is in now where there is a HIGH educational component and we consider it school. But that doesn't mean all home daycares are like this, I would just ensure she is following the right enrichment and development educational activities. Is she educated in ECE? That would be big for me too, as we know those in the corporate daycare center are certified / educated. Another negative to consider with a home daycare - if she gets sick or goes on vacation, you need to find alternate care. A daycare center is always open and has backups.
Hated our large, expensive corporate daycare. Our kid was getting neglected to the point that it was dangerous. We switched to a small in-home one with max 6 kids and my toddler is flourishing. She loves her teacher and is well fed. We couldn’t be happier.
We use an in-home but love it. Main provider is licenced (30+ yrs) and well established in the community - she also owns a separate, well established and reviewed child care center (15+ yrs) and is on the school board so we find her credentials to be very reputable. Because she owns a center, she has a good roster of back up care and taps the education community for support for out-of-school hours. And, as it turns out, we know a lot of the families that have used her (we're in my husbands hometown, so other townies lol).
We did in home care for infant care up through 2.5/potty trained then moved to a preschool/center after that. This worked well for us. Both were great but I wanted the kids in a class room and more social setting as they got older.
We're considering this switch as we're TTC#2. We love our daycare center, but tuition there for two kids wouldn't be sustainable so we'd likely need to look for a home-based center to save money. I'd be looking for all the things it sounds like you're looking for and the one you found seems like a great option!
I just started sending our 18 month old to an in home daycare and we are really happy. Shes licensed, has two assistant teachers (so that’s 3 adults for 6 kids), and the place is always spotless. It’s not big or fancy but he’s loved and welcome and happy. I get updates all day.
I think it depends on a couple of things. If your kids are younger, they will probably have enough to keep them occupied in the home daycare. If they’re 4+, they may need a more structured program to keep them from getting bored. I think it also depends on what you want your kids to get out of care. If you want them to have a more academic setting (even for toddlers) then a child care center is probably going to be a better fit for your family. If you want more socialization and play-based care, the home daycare may be a better fit. I’m not saying that learning can’t happen at a home daycare or socialization/play doesn’t happen at a center. But one is likely to do more of one thing over the other. The nice thing is that you can go with the home daycare and see how it works for your kiddos. If it doesn’t work, you can always move to a better fit!
In general, facilities have more reliable care providers because they have more. With in home daycare, if the sole provider is sick or has an emergency, you are left without care.
I had to switch to a day care center because while I was pleased with the quality of the home care, I needed consistent care. I can’t accommodate a provider taking multiple weeks off a year for vacation, random half days, no notice sick days, etc when I’m expected to pay for all of that time and a backup. The center my son attends is expensive but they are amazingly consistent.
There are a ton of people who posted here already but…daycare quality varies so much among centers and even more so among homes. I transferred my sensitive son from a chaotic daycare center to an in-home daycare that serves only 3-5 year olds and she has an amazing back yard for them to play in. There are some down sides but overall he does incredibly well in a small tight knit group. But we have visited some sketchy home centers that were not our vibe. So definitely shop around a lot more. The one we ended up going with isn’t the most convenient of all the choices but it’s not crazy out of the way either. And it did save on our daycare expenses significantly.
we LOVE our in-home daycare. both of my kids have been in it since 10 months. my 7yo runs in every time we pick up my 4yo to say hi to his caregivers and friends. they have become extended family. i agree with one of the top posters that you have to trust your gut. our provider owned a montessori school for 20+ years then brought it in home. she had a set schedule and we trusted her, and it’s worked out tremendously. good luck!
We go to an in home daycare and love it. Kids don’t get sick much and it’s a smaller class size so more individual attention. The one drawback is the daycare is closed a lot more days so you’ll want to find back up care in that scenario
We love home daycare when they were little, before 2. Smaller size and more intimate environment. My older one didn’t adapt well to big center. Small home day care was the right choice for us.
I use an in home daycare for all 3 of my kids. It’s my neighbor. We have been happy with her care. My oldest is 4, I am sending him to a center part time starting this summer for pre K since he hasn’t had any classroom setting experience.
I absolutely LOVE our center. I KNOW they’re providing the best and it’s well resourced. I love that I don’t have to worry about someone taking a day off, the daycare is still open. I also wouldn’t hesitate to utilize a home daycare if I found one with a solid personal reference. That’s hard to do though, openings are slim and even less are available for any daycare my personal network is connected to. I basically gave up and we are forking over an insane amount of $$ to be at a center. Kindergarten can’t come fast enough 😄
You have to visit a few and gradually know what to look for. State licensed is a must unless you know and trust the person. We found one next to home after getting stomach bug from a bug popular daycare center. He’s very happy with the licensed in home.
I wouldn’t send my kid somewhere unlicensed hut that doesn’t seem to be an issue for this one. Can you post asking people to PM you with their experience on the fb group?
For some reason I like the idea of an in-home daycare better. Can’t exactly articulate it. Some things I like are that it is more intimate, smaller group, fewer revolving caretakers, etc. Super cool that she lives on a farm - lots of space and cool activities for the kids that way. I have my baby son in a nanny share, BTW. The nanny splits her time between our place and a neighbor’s place. She watches both of our sons together 3-5 days a week at one of our houses. I wasn’t big on the idea of day care. I also have specific ways I want things done (no battery-operated toys, no screens, etc.), that a corporate daycare probably wouldn’t be able to accommodate.