LifeHouse Early Childhood Center (LECC) is a ministry of LifeHouse Church and the preschool is a non-profit community service. LECC was established to provide a safe, nurturing place where children can grow in their understanding that there is a creator God who loves them and desires a personal relationship with them while providing an educationally rich environment and programs consistent with the highest standards allowing children to develop to their maximum potential. We offer distinctly Christian CARE, EDUCATION, and DISCIPLESHIP for our children.
LifeHouse Early Childhood Center Daycare Center Townsend, DE
The Features of Quality Childcare
When you must place your little one into childcare, safety and well being will be of paramount importance to you. Investigate and explore every company you consider prior to making a final decision to ensure that your youngster will be healthy and happy with the placement.
Licensing Requirements
Each state has specific licensing requirements for centers. Learn about the licenses required of your state, and then confirm that every facility you consider has current licensing in place. It's also possible that facilities can go further than the minimum requirements of a state, earning additional certifications and accreditation. A center that goes further to earn additional accreditation is usually demonstrating that they provide a high quality of care for youngsters.
Staff Training
Explore the requirements for education and training. An excellent facility will typically require its staff to have specified degrees and related experience in the field. Look for a facility that also requires its staff to participate in continuing education. The director of a facility should have a degree in the field, as well as extensive experience.
Structural Elements
A quality center will have a wide range of structural elements in place indicating the exemplary services it provides. For example, the facility should have a structured routine for each day with meals, snacks, rest, outdoor play, planned activities, and free indoor playtime. Meals and snacks served must comply with state requirements for nutrition.
Environment
A number of details make up the overall environment of a facility. The square footage of the rooms and outdoor play areas must be large enough to accommodate the number of youngsters. Check state requirements to ensure that a company meets minimum requirements for inside and outside square footage. Indoor amenities such as furniture, flooring, bedding, kitchen, bathrooms, diaper changing areas, and toys are important factors that combine to create a positive environment. The ratio between children and staff must meet or exceed state requirements. More staff members and fewer children in groups is an excellent indicator of quality. A low staff turnover also indicates that staff members and youngsters can bond, which increases the security of little ones.
Health and Safety
A childcare center must have health and safety standards in place to ensure that youngsters receive appropriate care. Review policies of a facility to ensure that it meets state requirements.
The center must follow standards such as cleanliness, privacy, food preparation, and supervision of children. Staff members should have adequate emergency training to enable them to respond correctly in emergencies. Each youngster should have health screening performed and documented and updated immunizations. The center must have evacuation procedures documented, performing drills as required by the state.
Parental Involvement
Parents must be an integral part of quality childcare. A center that recognizes the importance of keeping parents informed and involved with their youngster's experiences while at daycare demonstrates a strong program. Parents should receive daily updates about activities, experiences, and any problems that occurred. This collaborative relationship ensures that youngsters have their needs met.
Assess and analyze the policies and procedures of a childcare center prior to placing your child there. After placement, continue to monitor the care your little one receives.
Types of Childcare Services
Before you start your own daycare, it is important to understand the meaning of childcare and the different types of childcare services available in the market. In general, childcare is the care of a child by a person outside the child's immediate family.
Childcare needs are met in many ways but generally fall into these three categories: Care in the child's home; care in a regulated childcare center; and care in the provider's home.
Care in a regulated childcare center
Regulated childcare (or daycare) centers are institutions that are bound to strict rules or legislation mandated by a government body. These rules or legislation exist to protect the safety and welfare of the children enrolled in these centers.
Rules in relation to security, area per child, health, staff to children ratios (e.g. 1 teacher per 3 children), food handling, behavior management, and programming are just a few of the areas that a regulated daycare must adhere to. Without adherence to these rules, daycare centers will not receive a license to operate the childcare business. In addition, rules vary for each state or province. Therefore, it is important to refer to your state's or province's childcare government body responsible for licensing requirements.
Licensed childcare centers are also required to run structured programming for the children. A structured program consists of age-appropriate activities that develop the child's skills. In general, the selection of age-appropriate activities follows the center's learning philosophy such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, etc. However, regardless of which learning philosophy the center adapts, age-appropriate learning activities are meant to develop the child's cognitive, gross-motor, fine-motor and other types of skills, with the goal of achieving specific developmental milestones.
Licensed childcare centers can be located in office buildings, commercial retail pads, stand-alone buildings, houses or in schools. In most cases, they operate between 7AM to 6PM and may employ several teachers to run the program.
Care in the Provider's Home
Care in the provider's home are generally called Home Daycare, Family Daycare, or Day Home. A home daycare can be licensed or unlicensed. In general, licensing is required if the number of children cared for in the provider's home grows to more than the maximum specified by law. For instance, in some areas, you can only care for up to 5 children (including your own children) without a license. Anything over that, you must get a license to operate the childcare business. Home daycare licensing requirements also vary for each state or province. Again, refer to your state or provincial government body responsible for childcare licensing.
Care in the Child's Home
Childcare in the child's home is typically provided by babysitters or nannies. Babysitting is the occasional temporary care of a child during the absence of the parent. Babysitters, in general, can work for more than one family and are often called upon during emergencies (e.g. parent has to attend an emergency meeting for a few hours).
In contrast, a nanny typically just works for one family and has a fixed schedule. They can be classified as live-in nannies or live-out nannies. Live-in nannies will live in the child's home, while live-out nannies do not.
Unlike regulated childcare centers or licensed home daycare centers, babysitters or nannies do not usually provide any form of structured programming.
Things to Check When Choosing a Childcare Service
What To Do First
The obvious first step is to make a list of potential childcare service companies. You do this by searching online which is outside the scope of this article but by using a search engine you should be able to make a list of around ten childcare centers in your local area.
Next Step - Filter Down The Undesirables
Call or email each childcare company and go through an initial checklist. Have a good think about what you want to check and find out from these companies before you contact any of them. Speak to your partner to see if they have any more checks or questions to add to the list.
Here are some recommended questions for your initial (pre visit) checklist;
How many children per care personnel?
You may find some organizations allocate too many children per staff. Obviously the smaller this number the better but it will usually drive the price up. You will have to make a decision on a staff to children ratio that you are comfortable with.
What are their fees?
Make sure you specifically ask them to detail all of their fees include extra fees that may charge you. This is important as you do not want a nasty surprise when the bill comes into your mail box.
Is there a minimum contract term?
This is another 'small print' type check. Some childcare service companies make you sign up for a minimum period of time. Find this out and ask if there is an early termination fee.
Do they belong to any governing education bodies?
Ask them if they have official certificates to prove they have registered with their local childcare authority. And ask them if they have any other credentials.
Next Step - Visit The Childcare Companies
Once you have filtered out any companies that obviously don't fit your needs then you need to make appointments to visit the ones left over in your list. Don't be afraid to ask questions and have a nose around the place.
Look at how their staff interacts with the children. Would you be happy leaving your staff with these people?
Talk to other parents in the center and ask them for honest feedback on the place. You may have to get a quiet moment without any staff to get a full honest opinion but it is worth doing. If you follow these steps it should help you filter down to a couple of remaining childcare centers for you to enroll your child in.
What Could a Suitable Childcare Center Be Like?
Childcare centers have been in the business quite strongly after the industrial revolution. Industrial revolution was the time when the industries were booming up and the need for jobs were necessary in order to live and survive. The jobs made it difficult for parents and mostly mothers who could not work because they had to stay home to look and take care of their child. This in return made the family live poor life because one man could not earn so much for the family so that they could live an easy life.
The opening of child care centers were like a blessing in disguise for parents, because parents now could go to work dropping their child at the center and go to work without worrying about their child, because the child is now in the safe hands and will be taken care of.
When you are deciding on which child care center to put your child in, then you should consider few important things which will be fruitful for you and your child even. You should choose the child care center which you are totally satisfied with and you will be satisfied by considering a few things out yourself. When you are choosing a child care center you should choose the one which you have been advised the most by friends and other sourced.
You should even go and check out the center first, talk to the teachers and the staff there, analyze their personality and check that they are friendly and polite with the children. The attitude of the teachers and staff is very important to consider as this will shape the attitude of your child then, because your child will stay in center most of the day time and this is the place where he comes to learn and develops habits. If the teachers are not friendly and are not polite with them then your child will hate them and will not enjoy going to the center and consequently he will develop habits that are not suitable for a child to have.
The attitude of the teachers is very important and as well as the hygiene conditions of the place. The classrooms and the wash rooms needs to be very clean and they should have the facility of first aid box incase of any emergency occurs. The size of the classroom and the number of children there are important to consider, if there are many children and one teacher to handle them, then the proportion is out of order because a single teacher cannot look after many children.
Other than the attitude and the proportion of the teachers to children, you need to see whether the center has a proper license from the state to work and also they meet up the safety and other requirements that are put up by the sate. Be sure to choose the center which you have easy in access and is reliable.
Home Childcare Vs Childcare Centers - Which is Best?
Childcare is one of the most serious topics we can consider. After all, you are entrusting your little one with the hands of another. And you want someone who will show your child the same kind of love you would give.
Of course, there is no one that can take the place of a parent, but if you have to work, you want the best you can find for your child that is available. You don't just want a "baby sitter" to watch your child, you want someone who will love, and nurture, and care for your child while you are away.
So let's consider two of the most popular options.
Home Childcare
Home daycare is a good choice if you can find someone with a good reputation. Home childcare can give your child an atmosphere that the larger commercial childcare centers can't give.
First of all, the child has a home atmosphere to go to, which can give your child more of a feeling of love and security. When care is given in a home, the number of children is less, which also gives more of a home or family feeling to the child.
The other children in the home can become more of brothers and sisters. Also, their interaction with one another can be better supervised.
Other benefits with the home groups are that they are usually less expensive than large care centers and they are usually more flexible about drop-off and pick-up times. If you can find a responsible, loving and caring homecare give, this is definitely a good way to go.
Childcare Centers
Although these larger centers do not offer the same homey feeling as homecare, they do offer some other benefits.
One of the benefits is that they do not call in sick. These larger centers have backups, so there is always someone available for your child. Also, the staff of any descent center will have been trained to care for children in their early childhood. However, there is no training that can take the place of an experienced mom who has a heart for your children.
Of course, if you go this rout, make sure the childcare center is licensed and regulated.
What Is an Infant and Childcare Center?
Infant and childcare center is a place where children and infants are dropped by their parents to spend the day at the center so that their parents can go to work without any worries. The need for these infant and childcare centers has arisen to manifolds since the past few decades as more and more parents are working on a job.
The need for these centers have arisen because in today's world it is very important to earn good amount of money in order to spend a good decent life and for this both the parents are working on particular jobs and cannot give time to their children. So in order to ease this tension parents can get their child's admission in one of these care centers.
It is not a difficult task to choose a good childcare center as there are certain things that you have to consider and make sure before choosing the right childcare center. As a parent you should choose the center which is in the route of your workplace and home so that you can pick and drop your child easily.
Secondly the center should be spacious enough and have proper trained staff at the child care center. The staff and teachers should be experienced because children are not easy to handle and it requires a lot of experience to educate and look after children at the center.
There are other things that you need to consider when choosing the right center for your child. The center facility should be hygienic and with proper sanitary conditions in it. The classrooms should be spacious enough to accommodate children easily and the number of children per class should not be exceeding to much as then the children will not get proper attention.
At infant day care center there are not many factors to consider as infants are very small children and they just need to be given food on time and change their clothes when they dirty them off. But at infant day care the staff should be experienced as it is not an easy task to take care of small children as they are not easy to handle and can get annoying at times. So the staff should not be short tempered and should be loving and friendly with the infants and children.
You should properly review the childcare or infant day care center yourself before choosing the particular center or you can choose the famous centers in your city. The famous centers are expensive but they have good qualified and experienced staff and teachers and the center function properly that is why it has gained so much popularity. But the famous ones are also expensive so you have to decide if you can afford it or go with the ones which are not that famous but are fine with their reputation.
Most of the centers have well trained staff and they will work their level best to provide quality service to you and your child.
Choosing Safe Childcare Centers
If you've got to (or wish to) go back to work prior to you little one or young children are old enough to go to school, you most likely have to find out what you possibly can find in the way of childcare centers that can have them while you happen to be working. This may be difficult, as some are very much better than others, and some ought to be avoided whatsoever expenses. You'll find some factors it is possible to look at whenever you visit every single spot under consideration, and also some signs you possibly can see with your kids that might tell you anything is completely wrong or that these are content and happy with your option.
Kids require to become protected whatsoever charges. No one has to tell you that. If you might have ever seen your toddler waddle up to a stranger quite readily, you know that it is possible to not leave your kid somewhere unless you know these are safe. This suggests asking for background checks on each and every and every individual with access towards the childcare centers you might be interviewing?correct down for the persons that clean after hours. Also, ask about the policy they have in location for who can pick up your young children and who can not. Make sure this is strict and to your liking. If not, move on to other childcare centers.
When you've got found a few childcare centers that fulfill your expectations in those regards, you could have to determine what you like as far as what they do all day and what variety of educational activities they provide, if which is critical to you. Also find out about how numerous young children are assigned to one staff. You do not want your kid in a room with ten other kids and just one caretaker. Also see if these are broken up into age groups, as this is usually far more crucial than you believe. Infants take plenty of care, which suggests you four year old won't get a great deal attention if they're all grouped together with the babies.
When you've got started sending your youngster to what you believe is the best of the childcare centers you visited, start watching them for clues to find out if you've made a very good alternative. In case you notice any variety of change for the worse, pull them out instantly. Kids under the age of five rarely lie about factors, and if they seem distraught, one thing is inappropriate. If your youngster fights to stay with your arms, beyond normal separation anxiety, whenever you go to drop them off, turn perfect back around and go home. Those kids may very well be getting punished in methods you would not approve, or they may be neglected. Anything could possibly be the cause of their fear, but know that fear indicates anything is really faulty.
You possibly can find additional data about childcare centers within your community with a search on the net and by asking other parents where they take their little ones and what they consider of every single spot. You will discover constantly going to become wonderful places and you can find constantly going to become some that ought to be skipped. In case you select to use a private babysitter, go through the same steps. Factors can go faulty there, and actually, they frequently go incorrect there very first and most usually. Do not leave the well-being of your little ones up in the air.
7 Tips to Finding the Right Childcare Center for Your Child
For a parent, choosing the right childcare center can be stressful. As a result, parents need to take their time to do the appropriate research and make sure that the center in question is truly a good fit for their child. Here are some simple tips to help in the process.
Tip 1: List Important Personal Factors
First, know your family's personal needs. Location and price are likely to be factors, but so are the ages of the children. For younger children, an early childhood development program may be necessary, while older children may only need an after school childcare provider.
Tip 2: Know What to Ask
Parents also need to know what characteristics indicate a quality childcare center. Is it licensed by the state? Has the center been accredited by any organizations such as the National Association for the Education for Young Children? Have the childcare providers had any formal training?
Tip 3: Seek Recommendations
Talk to other parents and ask for their recommendations. However, don't just get the names, ask some additional questions. Have the parents ever used another childcare center? If so, why did they switch? Are they pleased with their current early childhood development program?
Tip 4: Conduct a Phone Interview
Call the director and ask her to describe the facility. What is the typical day like? How much time is spent on formal lessons, playtime, and naps? What are the age ranges, the teacher to pupil ratio, or the staff turnover rate?
Tip 5: Visit the Childcare Center
Arrange a tour of the center that includes spending time in your child's classroom. This will provide an opportunity to watch how the childcare providers and other children interact with your child. Does the ratio seem appropriate? Is the teacher nurturing, and does she handle discipline appropriately?
Tip 6: Check References
Ask the daycare for additional references and then follow up on them. This is especially important if the childcare center was located through an advertisement and not a personal recommendation. Make sure at least one of the references is from a parent of a currently enrolled child.
Tip 7: Re-evaluate the Childcare Center
Once the child has been enrolled, parents need to remain cautious. Talk to the staff, and be watchful of sudden changes in your child's attitude toward the center. A few unannounced visits are even better, as these can be the most revealing.
In trying to locate the right childcare center, parents need to take extra care. Make sure to do some research, spend time talking to people, and visit the centers in question. Doing this will help reassure you, and will provide your child with a wonderful childcare experience.
The 3 Ways to Establish Tuition Rates for Your Childcare Center
It's an age old question, what should parents be charged for childcare tuition? Other variables in the equation include, part-time vs. full-time care and half days vs. whole days and weekly vs. hourly care.
It sounds confusing just thinking about it.
But there are some very simple answers and it's my job to lead down the road of salvation. So let's begin with the 3 ways to establish a tuition rate for your childcare center.
1. Do your homework and research: Find out exactly what everyone else is charging. You have several ways of doing this, you can be honest and introduce yourself and your center and mention that you are doing an evaluation of tuition rates in your area or you can do it anonymously. Pretend to be a parent looking for childcare and ask for the rates. It's entirely up to you as to how you want to do your research, but I'll tell you that it is so very important to find out what other daycare owners are doing in your community.
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2. Evaluate all the information you have gathered, ask yourself this question:
o Which centers have a waiting lists and/or a good reputation
o What activities or curriculum do they promote? Some daycare centers have swimming lessons, teach computer class, etc.
o Are teachers certified or degreed?
3. Your Results will give you an idea as to what your market demands. What I mean by this is what other centers are charging. My knowledge and experience tells me that people are not so interested in the tuition rate, but more so on the environment and quality of care. Many parents choose a center based on if they feel comfortable and trust that provider.
Based on your research you should have a good idea as to charging tuition, but realize one thing. Don't try to undercut others in your childcare industry. Parents believe that they will get what they pay for. Having a cheap tuition rate will not bring you more enrollment.
What will bring you enrollment is a healthy amount of "word of mouth". Parents talking about you positively and telling their friends and family what a wonderful experience their having at your daycare center.
The Quality Childcare Mentoring Collaboration
One of our new focus areas, Education, is divided into two parts: Early Childhood and Youth. Most of the work done in the Early Childhood area is being done by Success By 6, the United Way initiative that for the last two years has brought together more than 70 community groups and leaders to help make sure that by the time they reach six-years-old, every child in Central Texas is "healthy, happy, and smart"-and ready to succeed in school.
Enter the "Quality Childcare Mentoring Collaboration," a project of Success By 6 and its many partners.
Goal of the Collaboration: Help childcare centers achieve state-approved quality ratings, which ensure that the childcare center is effectively preparing children to succeed in school.
Why is this Work so Important? Because we know that children who attend high quality early childhood programs are more likely to succeed in school and in life. (Consider also that every $1 invested in quality early-childhood care saves society up to $17 in costs down the road.)
Collaborators: United Way Success By 6, WorkSource, Family Connections, Austin Community College, City of Austin, Travis County
As part of the "new" United Way, we have outlined a deliberate and specific process for addressing our community's needs, including the need for quality childcare centers. Starting at the top and moving clockwise, this process looks like this:
And here's how the Quality Childcare Mentoring Collaboration fit into this process...
1. Assess Community Needs
We began with the simple question, "How many childcare centers currently meet quality standards?" Unfortunately, we learned that less than 14% of childcare centers in Austin met any quality standards beyond basic licensing requirements-a much lower percentage than for other U.S. cities of comparable size.
We then asked, "Who is providing services to child care centers now? And how might things improve if we came together to tackle the issue?"
2. Research Best Practices
We looked at mentoring models across the U.S., wherein various experts and community organizations help guide childcare centers toward making improvements in their services.. This resulted in a stack of data that shows conclusively which strategies yield the best results.
That data, showing evidence-based best practices and promising practices, was shared with our collaborating partners so that our strategies and practices could follow the lead of those that have been proven to work.
3. Develop Collaborative Strategies
When our partners came to the table, we discovered some duplication of services. Aligned under United Way Success By 6, the partners then worked together to create a new system for serving the childcare centers that eliminated any duplication of services. It was agreed that:
* WorkSource would serve the centers with the most needs, or the furthest to go in the quality rating system.
* Family Connections would work with centers that already meet some quality standards but are looking to improve.
* ACC would work with those centers striving to reach the highest standard of national accreditation.
4. Invest And Take Action United Way Success
By 6 is providing funding to the mentoring collaboration. Success By 6 also met with each City Council member and every Travis County Commissioner to request additional funding from the City. The result?
5. Measure Results Last year, fewer than 14% of childcare centers met any quality standards. Today, 19% have achieved quality ratings, and by mid-2008, a full 27% of childcare centers will achieve quality ratings.
In just two years, the number of quality-rated childcare centers will have almost doubled.
We're proud of these results, but we know we have a long way to go. Through this collaboration and other programs, United Way Success By 6 will continue this work until more than 90% of childcare centers achieve quality ratings, placing us among the leading communities in the country when it comes to serving our youngest children.
Contact Details:
LifeHouse Early Childhood Center
101 Karins Blvd Townsend, DE 19734
Phone: 302-449-0017
Website: https://lifehouseecc.com/
Google Site: https://sites.google.com/site/lifehouseearlychildhoodcenter/
Google Folder: https://mgyb.co/s/x2WMb
