am i going mad??? a bit long sorry

[gegele]

hello,

i have finished my first year of childminding and concluded that i'm a disorganised ass!!!!!!!!!!

i had only one under 5 and planning was a mare, recording a mare,

i'm terrible at writting things down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can do it but by the time i get my bum into gear i'm a couple month late and then it's impossible to catch up!!!!!!

I'm paying for my mistakes!! i just done my tax and didn't claim for everything i could have because i misplace receipt, didn't keep a record of what i bought, spent....

and mre importantly a mum has been fraudlant with taxcredit and i haven't got an up to date attedane record, and i didn't do receipt because i was the same amount every week....!!!!!!!!:blush: :panic: :panic: :mad:

so as i'm off for a while i decided to found the solution to my problem!!!! any ideas???

well i had one! i'm truly thinking of having a clocking machine!!!!!!!!!!! what do you think???? am i going crazy???

i need to at least buy a clock as i never know the time.

how do you do to sign in and out???

i also need a n easy way to record learning journals. funnily enough my diary is always detailed LOL

NEED HELP!

[mama2three]

How about the parents dign the children in and out like they would at a nursery? I know what you mean , I keep having to catch up with mine too.
I'm determined to be more organised after the summer , though tis true that I say that every holiday!!

[jumpinjen]

love the idea of parents signing them in and out..... takes the stress out of my day! You do need a clock yes, and receipts are a must for cash payments, even if you do them once a month with all the payments listed... put a copy in your financial records and give one to parents. I have a hard bound notebook and a page for each week.... I write each day down and log the trip and mileage, any extras like ice creams bought, and staple any receipts to the page. Oncec a month when i am paid i write cash payments in and staple e-mail receipts for bacs payments/vouchers in too. Every phone bill and power bill goes into, stapled in the week received then once a year it goes to an accountant and they do the rest!

As for observations you need a system that works for you..... I have a monthly sheet with a box for each week and i jot things down as they happen (it's on a clipboard whether in the house or garden) then relate them to the EYFS. I take lots of pictures and once a month I print them off and stick in a big spiral bounds hardback book for each child.... the notes I made on my monthly sheet help me order them and write comments next to them. If there is something worth making a longer more detailed observation on then I write that up in detail and stick in the book. I make sure that a picture goes in once a month that the child has made too.

It's hard to tell you how to do it.... if you are struggling then start small with one resolution and build on it!

HTH, Jenni

[sarah707]

You need to set up systems that you will keep updated every day / week.

Register - every time a child walks in or out write down the exact time.

Accounts - every time you spend money put the receipt or a note of the money in an envelope with the month on the front.

Eyfs - set aside time every week to update everything then it doesn't all get behind.

Risk assessments - diary a month when you update them.

Policies and procedures - diary a month when you update them.

Marketing - do a bit every month. Diary it so you know what you need to do.

Write everything in a planner so it's organised time :D

[gegele]

thank you Ladies,

i like the idea of the book where everything get stapled lol i love stapplers ah ah ah

i need to move the walls in my house to make it more childminder friendly ah ah aha h i have a gap between door which is supposed to be a hall but it's too small. i use to keep attendancer ecord there the idea being that it was nearthe door but it's behing it so unaccessible.

i'm going to have 3 part timers under 5! plus 1 5years old i need to found a system that work for me but i tried so many ways taht i got my self confused and worse off.

i do take picture but i'm still not convinced on planning obs ect. i think i'm just trying too hard.

Sarah you know i have read lots of your work but it's just doing it all....

i'm going to buy a planner and strat there lol. and a book and lots and lots of stapples !!!!:laughing: :laughing:

[jumpinjen]

I read an article which says that there doesn't always have to be a different next step. young children thrive on consolidating their learning by repeating the same activities over and over so next steps can be to sit and play with them with the duplo again, or make it available and well-labelled for them to find every day. You don't have to go overboard, as you observe and learn about the children it will come more easily. relax, get the legal requirements of attendance, risk assessments, permissions etc sorted first and take it step by step!

As for attendance by the door.... it can be a clip board on the floor or a piece of paper in a polypocket blu tacked to the wall.... it doesn't have to be a table or a desk!!!!



jen x

[bekki0405]

Just a word of warning though, on my first Ofsted visit, 7mths after I registered, I couldn't find some of my attendance records.
I got my paperwork in a pickle, and when it came time to produce all my paperwork, I just could lay my hands on it. I suspect it was shredded, as we never found it.
Anyway, I explained this to Mrs O, and do you know what happened. I got an automatic inadequate grading. She said it's a legal requirement, and by not keeping these records I was failing to comply with the legal requirements of Childminding.
I had to be re-inspected 6 months later. By which time, I had pulled myself up by my breeches, and although I am not the worlds best paperwork person, I know what I need to do to keep my house in order, so to speak.

If it's any consolation, I'm no better with my own personal paperwork. I'm just one of those people

[caz3007]

I tried with sheets of paper as an attendance record and it didnt work for me. Now I have a large A4 diary that I make notes in and write the times in that....Mrs O was fine with that.

[Ali56]

I have an organised mum calender for attendance, children timed in and out each day parents can see it and its signed at the end of each month by parents. Mrs O quite happy with it. In the front i keep a record of names/ages and attendance times of children who attend. I also use photo's and a diary for ob's and add then to the learning journals regularly-you can do this with the children they love to help and then to discuss what to do next if they are old enough! (also helps to use up time!!) I have a weekly sheet pinned up with what we plan to do(children help with this too if they can) and regular activites, such as toddler groups etc, pencilled in-at the bottom there is space for ob's, this is handy because its there and you can write on it when you have a spare moment, and consolidate later.
I do agree with the others-get your legal paperwork sorted as it is v important and could see your ofsted grade plummet, then sort the rest one thing at a time. They are all right, once you have a routine it isn't to hard!

Ali :)

[Monkey26]

For the tax return bit: any reciept i get (regardless of what its for!) goes in a large icecream tub stored on top of my microwave! Haha, then when it comes to actually sitting down and doing my tax return i tip the box out, sort all the reciepts out into 12 piles (months LOL) and work out which are childminded related and which aren't :) when i first started minding i screwed myself over on my tax return by not having reciepts and this is just a simple thing i have found that works for me! And when i have to return something ie clothes... i know where the reciept will be now!!! HTH xx