Childminder with just one 'customer' alongside own children?

If youre only going to have one other child, then why not do nanny-share instead? Becoming a child-minder is quite an investment, and with only one child it just wouldn't make any sense financially

Firstly be aware that in the UK we call it home education not home school. This will help you find and be accepted by the home ed community. Secondly, both sound good. Lots of people would love some flexible childcare so they can work, be with younger children or just have a break. But ideally that childcare would also have educational benefit for the child. In my area people pay £15 for a 3 hour drop off sports session or £35/£40 for 5 hour drop off forest school or team building type activities with other home ed children.

I know childminders that's do just term time (for teachers) and they ate sought after

I know childminders that had just one child when starting off, that's enough as it's hard work

Remember all your costs are tax deductible so you need to factor in earning enough to do that and childminders get a lot of tax breaks!

Look at wrap around care , especially for school nurseries as those children can't attend school provision

Lots of childminders have their own children and many do it to be at home with their own children whilst earning.
Mine had two children and that was fine by me as she was lovely.

Good luck!

What’s the market for nannies like where you live? It’s much easier to set up as a nanny than a childminder. If there is demand and your salary expectations low enough, you may find a family willing for you to take your baby during the day and have your older child in pre-school. Essentially you’d be looking for a family which mirrors yours (teacher parents) who would pay you to look after their children and yours together at their house.

I also started out when my second son was just turned a year old. He and my mindee were inseparable. It was long hours for one child's fee though. Four years later and I have a waiting list and bringing in a full time wage even though I work four day weeks term time and part time in the holidays.

Don't forget you'll also have accounts to do!

Independent Childminder's is a good group on Facebook to join for advice and regular updates

Some further things to consider:

-You should also apply for your husbands dbs now as that can take time depending which police area you are in.

-despite you being a teacher, you will need to do a childcare in the home course either with packet or your LA. I am level four Montessori trained and breezed through the course with a newborn - felt like a waste of money but it was required

• only once you have your dbs and the course finished and health check, can you then submit your application to Ofsted. You then need a pre registration visit. So think about when you'd realistically like to start work - next September is likely? Also note that you're only allowed one baby under one year old

As a teacher you may also be attractive to the home ed community. There’s a real need for home ed compatible childcare.

Mine went to a childminder that had her own children, where mine was the only mindee. Childminder had one at primary school and a baby. Her baby and mine were the same age - one day apart- and it worked perfectly. We felt like one of the family.

The mother of a classmate of DS does this - she just has one toddler mindee. We are in London so she gets £60 a day, which is topping up her DH's income.

She basically was happy at home with a young child, wanted to be home for her DS, and also likes having company for him. It works out really well, although they will all be devastated when the little one goes off to school.

This. I sent DC twice to childminders who had their own small kids at home - never again something I would consider. Both times it was very clear they had little interest in other children, just used childminding as a way to stay home with their own. Have made some excellent experiences with other childminders with much older children (teenagers) and Dc enjoyed her time there.

Interesting. I sent mine to CM who had her own at home and did wraparound care when he started school. She was amazing and we only left because they were moving away.

Sent him to another who had older children of her own (youngest was ds age) and did LO throughout the day and wraparound care.

She was awful. Treated ds like a nuisance and we stayed for just 6 weeks.

He then went to a very lovely local wraparound care facility that collected from all local schools and ran out of a centre.

If financially it's viable I'd use someone like you. A teacher obviously had good training and likes being around children. That would be a selling point for me. That and term times only as I'm also education staff!

Hi OP
I am a term time only childminder and I have a huge waiting list.
Financially for parents they love that they don't have to pay for care they don't need in the holidays as I am closed and the parents who do need the care use grandparents/holiday clubs.
I started when my ds was 1 and only had one other child, they grew up together and were a real part of the family. Dd came along 3 years later and I then stopped for a while as was offered a job managing my local preschool.
When I took redundancy from that I returned to childminding 8 years ago. Dc are now 13 and 16 and like the little ones here (I work from a cabin in the garden so they aren't actually 'in' our house) but they also LOVE that they aren't here in the holidays!! I have always set my work hours around my own children (my dd dances at 5 a couple times a week so I close at 4.30 those days to enable me to get her there).
Financially it's hard with just one little one at a time but you can make money by offering wrap around care (I earn more in the first and last hour of the day than during it).
As your dc are younger you will have a lot of resources already but just bare in mind how they will feel about having to 'share' their toys and their mum! It used to really annoy me when a mindee broke a toy which my child played so lovely with. Also on birthdays etc I used to put dc new toys in their bedrooms so they felt 'theirs' for a while before being played with by the rest of the children.
Happy for you to PM me if you want with any questions.
My main piece of advice if you do decide to go ahead would be remember you are doing it for your dc as well as others and don't take any crap off parents!!
Good Luck

Hi OP,

Some thoughts I’ve had reading this thread:
•childminder ratios are somewhat flexible. If your eldest is attending full time preschool (term time only) then they class into ratios as an over 5, meaning you could actually have 2 minded children not 1.
•IME parents are much less likely to be put off by you having your own child if there is another minded child there too. It makes their child less of the ‘outcast’ if you see what I mean? So having 2 minded children rather than 1 would make your setting more desirable, IMO.
•I think it’s silly to suggest anyone who childminds with young children is only doing so to be able to to stay at home with their own child, and even more so to suggest that is a problem. Isn’t everyone doing their job for some sort of gain? Is it even relevant if that is the case? I was a childminder for 3 years before coming a parent so it certainly wasn’t a factor for me, but of course it’s a bonus of the job. Surely you would like a childcare provider who wants to be around their own children?
•I agree with previous posters that you probably would barely break even having only one child. Being a childminder has quite a few overheads. PACEY can help somewhat with expected costs but I found even that to massively underestimate my actual expenditure. However you do say that you don’t need the money- in which case childminding could be an excellent way to justify the cost of extra opportunities for your own child. For example I have just started working an extra day for a family who needed it. The extra day enables me to take my own daughter and her son to an expensive forestry class which I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.
•A final thing- Working with your own child around can be wonderful, but it isn’t always to their benefit, or yours. As I’ve said, I was a childminder for 3 years before having children and for another 3 since my first was born. I now have 2 children and a 3rd on the way (I work with my partner). There are many a time where I feel like my own children are missing out and coming last because of my job. There are lots of things I resent, and they resent. It is incredibly difficult to split yourself, and for your little one to share not only their mummy but their home and their toys. If you truly don’t need to do it, I wouldn’t. I adore my job, but I know my children would be happier if I wasn’t working. Have you maybe looked into running a playgroup? This is something I’ve always loved the idea of, and it might appeal to your interest in the EYFS/ early years without being quite so intense.

Good luck!

I know you said you would be up for some ad hoc flex but I suspect many parents would want a bit more than that

I would have thought that many teachers/other TTO employees would still want more than just term time childcare. Partly because I had understood from the various teachers on here that some work still happens in school holidays - lesson planning etc - but also to have a bit of down time without either work or young children. We don't spend every day of our annual leave with our kids - we keep a few days for ourselves.

My mum is also a childminder and she's only had 3 kids that were term time only in the last 28 years. I've never had one and I've been doing this job for 8 years now.

Ime it won't really work. You won't make much profit, unless you charge A LOT, people don't really want a childminder that only does term time. I have 4 weeks holiday a year and I think sometimes people think that's too much.

It’s definitely possible to get term time only children. Out of the 6 dc I childmind for, 3 of them are TTO, one Is on funding (which is tto) and the other two have parents in education. I don’t charge a retainer for the holidays, I quite like to be quieter when my own (teenage) dc are here. But I’m happy to do extra days if the parents ask, which they generally do, especially in the summer.

It’s a lot of extra work to have another preschooler to care for and you’re going to make a tiny amount of money from it. Your children will get less of your attention and they won’t like that. I think you’ll decide it’s not worth it.

Yes, the childminder's children were 7, 10 and 14 at the time so they made a lot of fuss of DD1 and she loved being given so much attention by older children. They were also very used to having other children there, all their lives.

When DD1 was little she was the sole charge of the childminder while childminders own kids were at school and childminder also had other kids before and after school. So she enjoyed some individual attention plus a whole gang of them being there before and after school. From a parent's perspective I think this worked really well.