Mothers please take a moment to fill out my survey, it would greatly help me!!!

[mdrew]

NEW HOME DAYCARE SURVEY
Children learn best when they are happy and secure. Home child care and school age program environments are safe and nurturing. I seek to open my own home daycare within 6 months to 2 yrs depending upon the results of this survey. A few minutes of your time could greatly help me to be successful in the culmination of my life’s work. So as not to sway your answers I will keep my education and personal vision for this centre to myself but I would love the opportunity to simply read your hurried thoughts or even to discuss at length your good and bad experiences in all daycare formats. I am passionate about this dream I have had since I was 14 and would so appreciate any answers or thoughts that you are willing to share! Please answer as many or as few questions as you would like. Any and all of your opinions and experiences are important to me.


Please copy and paste into your email and return to mississaugahomedaycare@live.ca

1. Would you prefer low-cost basic care or an advanced care complete curriculum with guaranteed results at a suitable price? Prices increase based upon teacher’s education, educational supplies and extra planning time but would result in:
• reading readiness
• mathematics
• science and discovery activities
• creative arts and crafts
• story time
• music and movement
• dramatic play
• water play and sand play
• outdoor play
• community outings
• progress reports and/or parent – teacher interviews

A) Your preference?
B) Which from the above list are most important to you? Please comment below or underline or bold all the above that apply.
C) What would you pay for basic care?
D) What would you pay for advanced care?

2. What do you currently spend on childcare? (Leave blank if none of my business)

3. Which best describes your needs if you were to consider home daycare? (Underline or bold all that apply)
Before School After School 5 Full Days per Week
Tues and Thurs Full Day Mon, Wed and Fri Full Day Summer Camp
Half-Day Care (5 days) Half-Day Care (2 days) Half-Day Care (3 days)

4. Ages of children?

5. Would you need the home daycare to accept government subsidies?

6. How important would special needs care be to your family?

7. Would your children benefit from French language tutoring?

8. Would you find 1 adult’s presence sufficient or would you prefer 2?

9. Would you prefer a flexible homey environment or the scheduled, more classic preschool model? Play vs. education?

10. How important is outdoor play and exercise for your children to you?

11. Your thoughts on brand new toys vs. donated and handmade?

12. Importance of caregiver education? Self-taught or Early Childhood Educator Diploma?

13. Is it important that the caregiver has children of their own?

14. Is religious education important to you or is it important that there is no religious education or leanings in your child’s care environment?

15. Would your choice home daycare adhere to the provincial government's licensing requirements or would you prefer to dictate your own requirements?

16. Preferred number of classmates, or ratio of educator to children? Do you prefer more on-on-one educational time or an emphasis on social interaction?

17. Is affiliation with a home daycare agency important to you?

18. Would you benefit from pet daycare?

19. What is your opinion on pets in the home daycare setting?


20. How do you see the ideal physical environment of a home daycare?


21. Are there any particular toys or activities that you would hope to find in your ideal daycare centre? What are they?


22. Just for fun, what do you think I should call my Mississauga home daycare?



23. Any other thoughts, advice or opinions?


24. Can I contact you again if I have any further questions?


Thank you so much for your time!

[mom2boys]

Whew, that is a lot to look over, and I am not going to complete the entire survey, but you can contact me on this forum if you need to. I currently do not have a need for child care, but if I was looking....I would want a homey environment where play and outdoor activity are the major goals for the day. Additionally, I think used toys are fine if they are cleaned and disinfected regularly because new-toys will only stay new for a short while anyway.

You could call your daycare "The Play Cottage"? Just a suggestion, play is so important to the little ones.

[3MusketeersMom]

I will fill out the survey as soon as I get back from dropping the kids off at school. Also, I will forward you the email of a friend in Canada who has run an in-home daycare for years so she could give you some first-hand insight on what to expect.