home from home or nursery?
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  1. #1
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    Default home from home or nursery?

    I have recently joined a childminders Facebook page and feel that others appear do a much more professional job than me. They have business names and uniforms, do very official looking paperwork with letterheads and seem to run it like a mini nursery with self registration etc.
    I must admit to feeling slightly inadequate as I don't do invoices, don't have a business name and my house is a home. I don't have a reading area or a home corner and I don't have masses of stimulating posters.
    I like it the way it is though and wouldn't change it for the world.
    How do you work?

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    Do you know I've been feeling like this a little too lately, had to give my head a shake and remind myself I answer to me and no one else. I'm not out to impress anyone apart from Ofsted, myself and the parents and kids here.
    A lot of cms I've been chatting to almost show off about what they do and how they take the kids here there and everywhere. One even said to me last week I couldn't do what you do, not drive.
    Ruuuuuuuude. I'd never say that to anyone, but she seems one of these who only thrive if they're making others feel bad
    But anyway, I digress!
    OFSTED are not looking for a nursery, parents are not looking for a nursery- they'd send their kids to a nursery if at was the case
    Childminding is a whole different thing in my eyes, its a home from home place where children are cared for on a more one to one basis and each child's needs are more specifically met, since we don't have another 25 kids demanding our attention
    Don't let it bother you, these people on Facebook will be selling themselves, and of course they'll be posting the best aspects of their business, they won't post pics of their house looking like a bombs hit it or their sink clogged with glue!
    Keep doing what you're doing, and be proud of it, so many people could never do our jobs xxxx
    Kelly xx

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    I completely agree! After looking back at some old photo's of the last 3 years, and having turned my dining room into a playroom, I have realised that I preferred my house as it was! No shelves with all the toys stacked on or stuff all over the walls etc etc, so have decided to turn my house back into a home, as it should be. I've also come to the conclusion that I have way too much stuff that hardly gets used or played with, so am having a big clear out. We have a really good toy library so if I need anything I'll just borrow it.

    The kids don't need loads of stuff, they need time and attention and open ended resources to encourage their imagination. We go to toddler groups to give them a change of scenery and toys.

    New Year, new attitude!

    Good luck, you sound like you are doing things just right to me!

    Lynn x

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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by yummyripples View Post
    I have recently joined a childminders Facebook page and feel that others appear do a much more professional job than me. They have business names and uniforms, do very official looking paperwork with letterheads and seem to run it like a mini nursery with self registration etc.
    I must admit to feeling slightly inadequate as I don't do invoices, don't have a business name and my house is a home. I don't have a reading area or a home corner and I don't have masses of stimulating posters.
    I like it the way it is though and wouldn't change it for the world.
    How do you work?
    Just carry on doing what you are doing and what you are happy with. Don't worry about others, they won't worry about what you think or do.

    I don't have a business name or uniform. I do have my name & childminder at the top of any letters I write and I do send invoices ... If only to keep track of everyone!
    I don't have any defined areas ( except we only do craft and messy play in the kitchen ) nor do I have any posters. I do have self registration but it only happens if the children do it ...usually they put all the children they know on the board. ; 0)
    I do termly and weekly planning but very rarely do we follow it and I am about to cut my obs and everything right down regardless of what anyone else does.

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    Ha Ha you read my mind! During term time I'm a bit of a mixture, but then I do still have young people in my house. And I have an IKEA canopy like so many others, but, and this is the difference, over Christmas it's ALL been put away / hidden. And that's been fab and I'm going to try do it more often!

    I think that there is a place for quiet corners / reading areas, but actually I have that anyway. But I don't have a "print rich" environment, I don't have masses of banners and signs and trofast units and I still think the children are thriving and learning and most importantly, happy. Plus, like someone else said, we go out to groups etc and so we're not actually "home" that much!

    The area that looks most like a nursery is the garden - sand pits, rocking things, scooting things etc.

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    i was a cm for 9 years (til this sept). i never had a noticeboard in my hall, all artwork was kept to the kitchen, never did self registration, never had a business name, a website or a business card. I DID have homecorner in my lounge which kind of took over and they were toys everwhere - including in my garden but it did still feel like home.

    I was always full (pretty much) I mostly did averaged fees so produced 1 invoice for parents explaining the monthly paymnent and that was that - very few I did an invoice per month. However, I always behaved very professionally to parents, other minders and with schools and children's centres (which paid off for me in getting my new job). You do what feels comfortable for you.
    if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got

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    I have a playroom but only because it works best for me it means that childminding doesnt take over my whole house, just the one room and i feel so much more organised having everything in one place

  13. #8
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    I do have a business card, but only because I don't know my mobile number! And I have a logo I drew myself. If I write a letter to parents I do put the logo at the top.

    I agree with other posts that I want my house back, all toys are now stored in a big cupboard and only a few are out at a time (mostly we play with the pans from the kitchen any way). I don't have a reading corner or home corner unless the children make one for themselves. I don't even have a sand pit outside and the very basic outside toys can all be put away in the shed.

    I don't want to live in a nursery and parents and children are happy with what I offer. As long as you are happy with what you offer don't bother with what others do. At first I tried to compete with the 'nursery-like minders' in my area, but now I have realised I am just as good as them, even if I prefer to take my mindees to the supermarket than a toddler group every day.

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    I think it's great to share good practice with other childminders - we can get very isolated if we are not careful...

    But then we take the best from what they do and we leave the rest to them and do our own thing! We are all unique which is one of the reasons we are special and precious to children and their families.

    If the group is making you feel uncomfortable there are lots of other places you can go for advice

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  17. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by sarah707 View Post
    I think it's great to share good practice with other childminders - we can get very isolated if we are not careful...

    But then we take the best from what they do and we leave the rest to them and do our own thing! We are all unique which is one of the reasons we are special and precious to children and their families.

    If the group is making you feel uncomfortable there are lots of other places you can go for advice
    To be honest I am happy with the way I do things and as I say I wouldn't change it. I did try being more 'professional' but it took away the personal touch in my mind which I hated.
    I like what I am doing now but worry that parents think that the professional route is better - well not worry exactly because I am as full as I want to be for now.
    Each to their own definitely but I just wondered what the majority of minders do.

  18. #11
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    I'm lucky in that I have a separate playroom as I have 2 children of my own aged 3 & 6yrs so it keeps the toys in one place (as well as their bedrooms). I do have things displayed on the wall but only in the playroom, if you walked into my house it mainly looks like a messy normal house who have children living there. The single buggy is usually kept at the front door as I use it daily, car seats are kept in the car and garage. The dining room is usually used for crafts but apart from over December when the older girls were constantly doing crafts it's usually cleaned up after they've finished. I do have a website but haven't updated it in ages. I send out monthly invoices but it's just on a piece of paper. My planning is also virtually non existent, have started to do monthly next steps on a4 paper but that's more so I can remember what I need to do as my memory is shocking. I have a small whiteboard up in the playroom which I usually write special activities/dates on but haven't done this since June. In the warmer months we try to get out as much as possible but mostly in colder months we do the usual playgroup/soft play home thing.

    You need to do what works best for you and your family.
    love Sarah.

  19. #12
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    I never used to have a playroom and the toys were everywhere, whereas no I close the door on one room - this isn't for everyone I know

    I have business cards to handout to parents and use them as advertising

    All my documentation has a letterhead but this is because there are two of us trading.

    As to invoices - I have this because I need a paper trail for my accounts and the HMRC

    We all work differently and that is why we are unique and there isn't anything wrong with that.
    Debbie

  20. #13
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    I have no artwork in the walls as ir either goes in lj's or home. I only have 2 posters on the wall...a selfish crocodile counting poster that i blagged for free from walterstones and a world map. I have 2 expidit units to hide all the toys away. Its a playroom/dining room. I have certificates up but alot of friends who come here say you wouldnt know i was a childminder (mmm they wouldnt say that during the day!!). I have to walk thru playroom to go in living room as its open plan (toys arent allowed in living room), so i dont want to see mountains of toys my dd doesnt play with anymore, hence the expidit units!! All my mindees are happy and thriving!

  21. #14
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    I do have a website and business cards and in fairness the site has brought families to me.

    Im very lucky too in that I have a play room which also has the downstairs loo so no need for mindees upstairs either. All my posters etc are in the playroom.

    The only artwork I have around is stuff that ds and I have done so he feels special and can see easily that it is his home and the mindees also like to take theirs to their home anyway.

  22. #15
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    I agree that some cm houses look like nurserys, and that's fine, but my house is my home and that's what I want it to look like. I'm lucky that my eldest son recently moved out of his downstairs bedroom so this has become my playroom. Although still having a 7, 27 and 20 plus her partner living at home evenings and weekends they use the room for watching tv, playing on consoles. I have one notice board up, things blu-tacked to wardrobe doors and window clings on the French doors, these can all be easily removed. Along with the wardrobes and expedit unit these hide all the toys.
    My parents came to me because they wanted a home from home setting, not a nursery and they want their lo's to do exactly what they would do at home with mum and dad.

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    Mandy xx

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    Quote Originally Posted by sarah707 View Post
    I think it's great to share good practice with other childminders - we can get very isolated if we are not careful...

    But then we take the best from what they do and we leave the rest to them and do our own thing! We are all unique which is one of the reasons we are special and precious to children and their families.

    If the group is making you feel uncomfortable there are lots of other places you can go for advice
    i agree. I got lots of ideas and was in awe at how much some people did but it wasn't always for me and I picked and chose what worked for me. That's what we need to do. Share and adapt until our practice is how we like it. The good ideas of others should never make you feel inadequate, if we never shared, we'd never find new ideas when we were looking for them.


    Look on it like a supermarket - you just choose what you want to take home xx
    if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got

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    I thought long and hard about how I was going to develop an 'enabling environment' before starting up my new business, my background draws me too a ' nursery ' like set up as it enables all the areas of learning to be easily planned for......but.....we are retired, we don't have young children, we have spent 40 years creating a lovely home.....how was I going to run a successful business without it intruding on our lifestyle too much or require masses of effort to hide it when our ( also retired) friends come round......I think this caused me the most angst!

    I have been able, since starting from scratch, to create an environment that doesn't impose on us but yet is stimulating for the children. Montessori style storage where minimal well thought out activities are on offer to the children, based on their interests and next steps. I commandeered the bureau which has always stored drinks ( we shouldn't drink anyway!!!) the inside of the doors have a mirror and regularly changed posters - they fold back when the children are here and close to look like a bureau when they are not. Our console table has a low shelf which was always empty ..it now has our focus activities for the day on trays which is easily accessible to the children.My whole house is literacy and music rich anyway, we have a 'den' which was library like with record player and LP storage too ...I recycled some books which made way for younger book storage to go with my lifetime collection of children's books....I bought a folding ikea magazine rack and we choose books from the den to put in it, put it in the living room with a couple of cushions...hey presto a reading corner! Though they really like reading in the den. The den now stores some resources ( jigsaws etc..) in natural baskets which means it doesn't intrude and a shelf under the fish tank in there is a regularly changing interactive display focus area for the loose theme we may follow. The living room book shelf has a series of lovely Moroccan baskets that store mark making equipment. My husband designed and made a table that folds and easily stores behind the settee ..but it actually looks so nice we used it all over Christmas as a side table! But it sits next to the bookshelf usually and has a storage shelf so chalkboard and whiteboards here make it a good markmaking/ writing area ..but in reality we all know that books and writing goes on everywhere! I have a pop up tent that can be anything the children want with a fabric box ( I have always sewed so have fabric storage in our office/ craft/ music room.) Musical instruments are displayed in there along with the violin,guitar,piano,clarinet and drums - lots of visitors this Christmas had a play in there using the children's percussion and world instruments - it was a real draw to adults especially the boomwhackers!!
    I have two large glass red squares on my hall wall which are actually magnetic ..so they display what I have to and are taken down and put in the hall drawer leaving art like wall colour ( Rymans) . We live opposite a nature reserve and a park so I made the decision not to have plastic large play in my garden, DH has made wooden balance beams and stepping stone logs, ( which are stored in the log pile- I must remember not to burn them!) a herb plant arena converts to a wooden mud kitchen, one veg patch is a digging area, a sand tray, balls,bike and rocking toy and den making resources stores in the shed.
    I have donated 2 small low kitchen cupboards to child access paint/ craft/ playdoh resources and cooking and as our kitchen doesn't have a table I store our old camping table next to the fridge freezer and it pops out when we need it.
    The play kitchen lives in the garage at weekends and in the hall during the week, not too intrusive when we are in the living or dining room, it moves around to wherever the children want it when they are here. Our loft has storage units for rotating toys,construction small world resources.

    I haven't yet sorted all the growing craft 'stuff'!! Hall cupboard in bags currently but it is rapidly being taken over with it all.
    Ofsted pre reg visit loved it, spoke highly of lack of clutter, yet inviting, she liked all the natural looking design - we had a long conversation about how important what you do, how you interact and teach , your knowledge of the children being most important now, no matter how you store or organise play areas - before, the child access environment was the biggie - she talked of posters often being wallpaper eventually that children pay no attention to. My inspector said a lot of childminders are decluttering and selling themselves as definitely not a nursery now, highlighting the home atmosphere as the positive side to the child care they offer- if this home then looks like a nursery ........

    I think I have it how it suits our family best, but as I am in the early days of childminding I will probably alter and change to suit the individual children, I thought I wouldn't want the resources around me at night, but in reality I am preparing for the next day anyway so it isn't such a big issue during the week. A lot of young families I know have converted rooms/ conservatories to play rooms in there own homes so like the playroom at the childminder as it is like home to them.
    Sarah pointed out earlier, the uniqueness of our business is how different we all are thats what attracts some parents over choosing a nursery!

  25. #18
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    Recently I have heard many parents say they have visited CMs but 'it's like a nursery...they have so many children' they say!!!
    none of them were impressed so it is vital cms continue to protect our home based childcare as it is intended...home from home with a high ratio!

    As for advice and support it is good to listen to others then reflect on what works best for us and adapt it to our practice...websites and business cards enhance practice but are 'additionals' on top of the basic which is caring for kids and understanding their needs, having a good relationship with parents based on mutual respect.

  26. #19
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    FloraDora-Can I come to your house to play please? It sounds lovely.

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  28. #20
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    I guess I'm somewhere in between. I have a business name. My paperworks quite official and i do invoices. But my house is my home and everything childminding related is in one room. I don't run like a nursery we don't have a structure to activities only routines. E.g I know some people like to do activity at this time, story at this time, etc. I try and keep nap times and meals consistent as possible but generally we go with the flo. I think everyone works differently. To be honest I wouldn't have such official paperwork of I didn't feel I had too

 

 
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