Daycare Franchises? Montessori Day Care? Start Up Decisions Tackled

So, you’re biting the bullet, quitting the 9 - 5 and starting your day care however, you’re only now realizing what you’ve let yourself in for. You sigh as you survey the growing to do list and decisions to be made e.g. are daycare franchises for you, should you have a montessori day care as opposed to other curriculums and numerous other weighty questions.

Turnkey, tried and tested, lots of hand holding - all make a day care franchise vey appealing. Customer loyalty is more easily acquired thanks to instant brand recognition. Licensing, staff/owner training, building selection, getting funding, the building process and actually opening your business will be covered in the development process.

Packages may also include design templates for buildings, proprietary curriculum plus ongoing training and support for owners and staff. Operations manuals will make hitting the ground running a breeze and having the use of a recognized brand for advertising may well mean a busy opening day. Some deals even offer home office support.

Sounds like a great, turnkey deal huh? All this convenience comes with a high price tag (and that’s before you start collecting fees!) plus you often need to prove a substantial net worth before a franchise will touch you. Better hope to win the lottery!Sounds like a great, turnkey deal huh? However, franchises are extremely pricey and require an upfront financial commitment plus proof of a healthy net worth (and that’s before you even open your doors). Better hope to win lots of cash somewhere!

Onwards to the curriculum consideration. There are many, excellent programs to choose from so you really need to do some thorough research to establish which method might best suit your day care (or you could just draw straws :-)). Ever thoughtful, I’ve compiled a list of the better known programs with a short synopsis to help you on your way:

- Play based program - play is the educator with children learning through focused play - Montessori - development is observed by the teacher, who neither interfere nor get in the way but support the child - Waldorf Method - learning through imagination, imitation and play due to an inbuilt love of play - High/Scope - teachers are facilitators as children have responsibility for their work and learn through doing - Reggio Emilio - focuses on the natural development of the child in relation to their environment - Piaget - interaction based - Steiner - the changing needs of the children as they develop dictates how the education is designed

While daycare franchises may not be the route for you they definitely have a lot of appeal to those with a little extra cash and not much time. Your curriculum definitely requires lots of thought and whilst I find my Montessori day care to be a wonderful learning environment, so to are many of the other excellent methods.

To discover more about starting a day care, visit Child Care Only where you will find this an much more, covering all aspects of how to open a day care.

- Fiona Lohrenz