Ice cream in the fridge and no water in the coffee pot. The ice cream was yesterday and the coffee pot incident was this morning. Well, actually, I set my coffee pot the night before, so, technically the coffee pot incident was yesterday also. Anyways, I've decided that's a natural result of going from 1 daycare kiddo to 4 daycare kiddos in the short span of 2 weeks. Wow - talk about a growth spurt!
I'm very happy for the growth by the way. But it's definitely been challenging to have so much growth all at the same time. The new members are 3, 18 months, and newborn. So put that with a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 year old and that's a lot of children 3 and under! It's been really fun though. Tiring for sure, but fun.
I definitely don't get to rest as much and it seems like I'm moving in fast forward now when I'm wiping the kitchen after meals/snacks. But it's not so bad. I mean, it's naptime today and I still have time to blog! Itty bitty one is in a wrap right now. He just finished half a bottle and is dozing.
And hey, if that's not enough over achievement for you, the kiddos "helped" me make the pizza today. If you've made pizza with young children, you know why the word "help" is in quotations! We had a lot of fun though and they feel really good about themselves when they've "made lunch." So it's worth it. We made margherita pizza. I used some roasted tomato puree that I made up the other day from my garden tomatoes as the pizza sauce. Then we put mozzarella, diced tomatoes, and basil (from the garden) on it. My only regret is using Pillsbury pizza dough. Terrible - it didn't bake up right at all and I followed the instructions. It was horribly doughy. Awful stuff. I guess next time I'll have to get off my lazy butt and make my own dough. I really wanted to - I guess I just wasn't motivated enough to do it. Oh well - the kids didn't notice the doughiness so much!
Anyways, as we're in a bit of a growth spurt I find that there are some definite things I'll be adding to help the daycare run more smoothly, improve the play areas, and provide educational opportunities for the children.
I don't remember if I mentioned that I ordered a table and chairs when I started the first two (they started last week). They have arrived and I'm loving them. I'll have to post pics if I ever get my film developed! I've got a big blue rectangular table that's toddler height (and adjustable) and four blue toddler chairs (I ordered 2 different heights).
I also moved the potty area downstairs. There's no bathroom downstairs, but I have two potty training right now. So I created a curtained off potty area downstairs and it's working out marvelously!
Well, I guess that's enough rambling for now. I should probably do something productive before everyone wakes up!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Stuff That's New
There are a few things that are new this week at my daycare. First of all, two new kiddos. A 3 year old and an 18 month old. They're adjusting beautifully. In fact, I think the current kiddos are having a harder time with the transition than the new kiddos. They must feel threatened with new kiddos on "their turf."
Another thing that's new? A daycare table. Finally I was able to get a table worthy of daycare. I have chairs ordered, but those have yet to arrive. I'm excited about all of the exciting things we can do with the new table space. The kiddos are excited about the new table also. I'm excited that the new space will allow us to do meals more "family style". Older children will get to work on serving food to themselves, pouring their own drinks, and other such fascinating accomplishments. There's more room for messy art. Woo hoo - that's always a plus!
Speaking of art, it's supposed to rain today. I think I'll end this note so that I can browse the internet for some sort of art activity to do with the kids today.
Another thing that's new? A daycare table. Finally I was able to get a table worthy of daycare. I have chairs ordered, but those have yet to arrive. I'm excited about all of the exciting things we can do with the new table space. The kiddos are excited about the new table also. I'm excited that the new space will allow us to do meals more "family style". Older children will get to work on serving food to themselves, pouring their own drinks, and other such fascinating accomplishments. There's more room for messy art. Woo hoo - that's always a plus!
Speaking of art, it's supposed to rain today. I think I'll end this note so that I can browse the internet for some sort of art activity to do with the kids today.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Kids Make Lunch From the Garden
We had a blast making lunch today. I threw some hamburger in a frying pan with chopped onions and garlic and cooked my penne noodles. I had some tomatoes from my garden and I squeezed the juice of about 5 of them into my pan over the hamburger, onions, and garlic. Then I realized that I didn't have any basil picked. So I put the sauce on simmer and the kiddos walked out to the garden with me. They helped me pick basil out of the garden. They also picked red tomatoes out of the garden.
Once back inside and after washing up, they got to push the pump on the salad spinner and watch the basil dry. Then I chopped the basil and they got to sprinkle the chopped basil into our homemade sauce. I then combined the sauce and the penne and it was absolutely delightful to eat.
It was so fun watching the kids in the kitchen. The oldest exclaimed "I cooked lunch!" I want to do more kitchen activities with them, especially those that involve using fresh produce from the garden. I think it's neat for kids to see where our food comes from and see the process of growing, picking, preparing, and eating. It's just kind of a neat cycle!
Mmmm...I might go have a second helping now that the kiddos are down for nap!
Once back inside and after washing up, they got to push the pump on the salad spinner and watch the basil dry. Then I chopped the basil and they got to sprinkle the chopped basil into our homemade sauce. I then combined the sauce and the penne and it was absolutely delightful to eat.
It was so fun watching the kids in the kitchen. The oldest exclaimed "I cooked lunch!" I want to do more kitchen activities with them, especially those that involve using fresh produce from the garden. I think it's neat for kids to see where our food comes from and see the process of growing, picking, preparing, and eating. It's just kind of a neat cycle!
Mmmm...I might go have a second helping now that the kiddos are down for nap!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Daycare Drama
I've been absent from this blog for quite some time. Building a daycare is very difficult and frustrating at times. I love what I do, but the business end of this job gets to me sometimes. Shortly after enrolling my last kiddo I lost my family due to parental job loss. They informed me on a Thursday that they were moving to Pennsylvania that Sunday. Wow - that was quick. It felt so defeating at the time because she had such a rough adjustment period. She had just started to turn around after about three weeks in care when I learned she'd be moving.
Despite my enjoyment and excitement about the addition of themes to my daycare business, I knew that I couldn't continue to do new themes constantly with income from only one full-time daycare kiddo. So I let that drop. That's not horrible in and of itself. It's summer after all and we spend so much time outdoors that not having the themes through the summer is not that big a deal. I do hope to resume them later this year. However, I've decided that my daycare needs to be full or close to full before I take on themes again.
I have enrolled two full-timers that are supposed to start this coming Monday. So I'm hoping that this enrollment works out. I have a series of interviews coming up also. I'm hoping to get at least one more enrollment from the interviews. However, I know that interviews are not a guarantee of anything. Last month I had a period of time where I had four interviews scheduled in one week. It made for a long week and Boo was out of sorts because his "mommy time" that he gets in the evening was eclipsed by parent interviews. I got no enrollment from any of those interviews. That felt very defeating, especially considering all of the time that I had given up with my little one in order to do the interviews.
Anyways, I guess all of that information brings this blog up to date. I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I'm maintaining my business instead of building it. But I'm still quite a ways from that point. Even once I get enrollment full, I have big plans for bringing the daycare space to the level of quality that I'd like it to be.
Hopefully I'll get to that point before too long. When I do I will definitely post my progress!
Despite my enjoyment and excitement about the addition of themes to my daycare business, I knew that I couldn't continue to do new themes constantly with income from only one full-time daycare kiddo. So I let that drop. That's not horrible in and of itself. It's summer after all and we spend so much time outdoors that not having the themes through the summer is not that big a deal. I do hope to resume them later this year. However, I've decided that my daycare needs to be full or close to full before I take on themes again.
I have enrolled two full-timers that are supposed to start this coming Monday. So I'm hoping that this enrollment works out. I have a series of interviews coming up also. I'm hoping to get at least one more enrollment from the interviews. However, I know that interviews are not a guarantee of anything. Last month I had a period of time where I had four interviews scheduled in one week. It made for a long week and Boo was out of sorts because his "mommy time" that he gets in the evening was eclipsed by parent interviews. I got no enrollment from any of those interviews. That felt very defeating, especially considering all of the time that I had given up with my little one in order to do the interviews.
Anyways, I guess all of that information brings this blog up to date. I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I'm maintaining my business instead of building it. But I'm still quite a ways from that point. Even once I get enrollment full, I have big plans for bringing the daycare space to the level of quality that I'd like it to be.
Hopefully I'll get to that point before too long. When I do I will definitely post my progress!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Homemade Playdough
I used a homemade playdough recipe that turned out pretty great. I can't remember the website where I got the recipe. But I just did a quick google search and I'm pretty sure the first recipe on this page is the same one that I used:
Homemade Playdough Recipes
I added brown food coloring and a bit of black. Well, my black looked a bit greenish. I found that the combination made my playdough look like the exact shade of dog poop. I was actually going for soil, so it was a bit off. Oh well. Also, I added an essential oil to give it a scent. I used clary sage as that was the best I had for giving the playdough somewhat of an outdoorsy smell. Unfortunately I don't have any dirt-scented essential oil. I really like the scent although I think I could've gotten away with using less essential oil. I used 15 drops. I probably could've used less as the scent of the playdough is pretty strong.
Anyways, we used the playdough to make a "bug landscape" and played around with plastic bugs on our landscape. We found that it was pretty fun to press the bugs into the playdough and look at the impression that it made.
Homemade Playdough Recipes
I added brown food coloring and a bit of black. Well, my black looked a bit greenish. I found that the combination made my playdough look like the exact shade of dog poop. I was actually going for soil, so it was a bit off. Oh well. Also, I added an essential oil to give it a scent. I used clary sage as that was the best I had for giving the playdough somewhat of an outdoorsy smell. Unfortunately I don't have any dirt-scented essential oil. I really like the scent although I think I could've gotten away with using less essential oil. I used 15 drops. I probably could've used less as the scent of the playdough is pretty strong.
Anyways, we used the playdough to make a "bug landscape" and played around with plastic bugs on our landscape. We found that it was pretty fun to press the bugs into the playdough and look at the impression that it made.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Bugs and Butterflies
I've decided to introduce themes into my daycare program. I'm starting slowly with it, allowing two weeks for each theme. This way I can get my feet wet and get a feel for curriculum planning without overwhelming myself. The first two weeks is Bugs and Butterflies. I must say that we're having fun with it. I actually really enjoyed the curriculum planning part of this. I was a little bit suprised by that. It's nice to have a plan that's a bit more specific than our regular routine. However, I am not rigid with the theme either. We still go on our nature walk every morning and we still do outdoor play after snack.
We've never done a "circle time" per se. However, we have done everything that most providers do in a circle time. We do finger plays, books, poems, songs, etc...Well, with the start of themes I decided to try out circle time. I must say that I really like it. We do our circle time at 9:00am everyday. So basically the children have 1/2 hour of free play after breakfast before our circle time. It's a nice way to start the day and it makes me feel a bit centered and together. My oldest seems to get circle time the most. And even my own little one seems to enjoy the concept. Our newest member is not sold on it, but she is younger and she is still adjusting also! After circle time we do art before going outside. I'm making a conscious effort to add more art into my program. Honestly the art has been getting the short end of the stick as we're usually rushing to get outside. However, I would like to do art projects/crafts on a more consistent basis. I prefer open ended art to crafts as I feel they're more appropriate for young ages. We will do some crafts also though as I know parents like it when their children bring home a finished "product" and children like to show off their work! We will also do group activities that are based on the theme. So after circle time we will either do art, craft, or group activity. Then we will head outside as usual.
Today was really fun outside. I have a couple of children's sized garden shovels. The children and I had fun digging for bugs. I have a huge pile of dirt/sod left over from creating the garden. I don't have a wheelbarrow, so we are slowly removing the sod by hand! Anyways, there's quite a bit still there and it was a great opportunity to look for bugs. We saw an ants, flies, earwigs, and some tiny green bug that I'm struggling to identify. It was fun to see the kiddos get excited about identifying bugs.
Our walk was pretty eventful today as the squirrels were out in large number. They were chasing each other all over the place. One of my daycare kiddos told a squirrel "Get back here!" as the squirrel was running away! :)
Our next theme is flowers and gardening. I'm going to plant flowers by the side of the garage. Yes, in June. I realize I'm a little late on this one. Oh well! I'm going to let the kiddos help me put the plants in the ground. The only thing that's kind of a bummer is that the area is all weeded and sodded over right now. So I'll have to get my shovel back out and do more digging. Ugh - I just finished digging our big garden area. I'll be so glad when all of the digging is overwith for the year. We don't own a tiller - we're gardening on an eensy budget this year!
Anyways, I'm looking forward to continuing with the themes. I'm really having a great time with it so far!
We've never done a "circle time" per se. However, we have done everything that most providers do in a circle time. We do finger plays, books, poems, songs, etc...Well, with the start of themes I decided to try out circle time. I must say that I really like it. We do our circle time at 9:00am everyday. So basically the children have 1/2 hour of free play after breakfast before our circle time. It's a nice way to start the day and it makes me feel a bit centered and together. My oldest seems to get circle time the most. And even my own little one seems to enjoy the concept. Our newest member is not sold on it, but she is younger and she is still adjusting also! After circle time we do art before going outside. I'm making a conscious effort to add more art into my program. Honestly the art has been getting the short end of the stick as we're usually rushing to get outside. However, I would like to do art projects/crafts on a more consistent basis. I prefer open ended art to crafts as I feel they're more appropriate for young ages. We will do some crafts also though as I know parents like it when their children bring home a finished "product" and children like to show off their work! We will also do group activities that are based on the theme. So after circle time we will either do art, craft, or group activity. Then we will head outside as usual.
Today was really fun outside. I have a couple of children's sized garden shovels. The children and I had fun digging for bugs. I have a huge pile of dirt/sod left over from creating the garden. I don't have a wheelbarrow, so we are slowly removing the sod by hand! Anyways, there's quite a bit still there and it was a great opportunity to look for bugs. We saw an ants, flies, earwigs, and some tiny green bug that I'm struggling to identify. It was fun to see the kiddos get excited about identifying bugs.
Our walk was pretty eventful today as the squirrels were out in large number. They were chasing each other all over the place. One of my daycare kiddos told a squirrel "Get back here!" as the squirrel was running away! :)
Our next theme is flowers and gardening. I'm going to plant flowers by the side of the garage. Yes, in June. I realize I'm a little late on this one. Oh well! I'm going to let the kiddos help me put the plants in the ground. The only thing that's kind of a bummer is that the area is all weeded and sodded over right now. So I'll have to get my shovel back out and do more digging. Ugh - I just finished digging our big garden area. I'll be so glad when all of the digging is overwith for the year. We don't own a tiller - we're gardening on an eensy budget this year!
Anyways, I'm looking forward to continuing with the themes. I'm really having a great time with it so far!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
New Enrollee
I started a new kiddo yesterday. Yay! A full-time toddler. She's a cutey too. It was a rough day though. She's young and I'm sure it's all a bit overwhelming for her. But we'll get through this transition period.
I'm excited to have two full-time kiddos now though. I'm hoping this momentum will keep going and I'll get even more enrollment. I guess time will tell. I really want to see this daycare get into full swing though!
I'm excited to have two full-time kiddos now though. I'm hoping this momentum will keep going and I'll get even more enrollment. I guess time will tell. I really want to see this daycare get into full swing though!
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