I'm thinking of using a C.M or similar for my 6 year old home educated daughter.

[mummyloveslucy]

My daughter has been home educated since Christmas due to her Special needs. She is developmentaly 2 years delayed. She is so much happier and calmer since leaving school but it is hard work being with her 24/7.
I wondered if a child minder could take her once a week for about 5 hours so that my DH and I can spend some time together.
It would be lovely if the C.M hd other children there for her to play with, she loves younger children too.
What advice would you give for finding and choosing a CM? And also, would a CM be prepared to deal with her not being fully toilet trained?
I think I'd find it very hard to say no, if I wasn't keen on a CM. I think they'd take it very personally. It's not like saying no to a nursery.
Any advice would be appreciated.

As a CM, I'd be happy to take a child with your daughter's requirements on.

Have a look on the childcare thread on here, on childcare.co.uk and ask around - word of mouth is the best way to find one. Go and visit a few, find one that you, DH and DD feel comfortable with - things like a big garden and super flashy toys are no good if you're not all comfortable together.

CMs deal with all manner of bodily fluids -it's part of the job, so don't worry about that!

And finally...don't worry about saying no. If the CM isn't right for you, then there's every chance that you're not right for the CM either. I wouldn't take a 'no' personally - it has to be right otherwise it's not going to work. We go into it knowing that we won't be able to satisfy every family who make an enquiry :)

I'm another childminder who would be happy to work with you.

I think you need to maybe ring a few up and ask.
I am a member of a Special Needs Network, and receive extra training and support.
Could you ask at your local surestart?

Sorry I'm not much help!

Sally x

Thank you, that's great. I will ask surestart and hopefully they can recommend someone.
She really likes doing the sort of things a CM might do with pre school children like play dough, painting etc, so she wouldn't need anything extra.

Oh and hw much do CM charge per hour? I don't think I'd get any funding for it as she's school age but five hours a week should be o.k.

I'm interested to know if those 5 hours would be part of the home schooling hours or not... does anyone know? I know nothing about home schooling but I presume (possibly wrongly) that there are minimum educational hours involved.

Childminders fees vary around the country. In my area (West Surrey) £4.50-£5.50 per hour is typical, though minimum session fees may also apply.

When would the 5 hours be? At the sound of it if the CM had other school aged children present at the same time, then that might be harder for your DD than if there were just pre-school aged children around.

Something to consider also would be if you needed to use the space during local school holidays or not, as if the 5 hours were say 9.30-2.30 (so during school hours, thus older children not around) in school holiday periods the older children would be around.

CMs charge differently throughout the country. I charge £3.00ph as an example.

Nannynick, according to this there is no minimum hour requirement for Home Ed (p9, clause 11)

Hi, no there is defintly no minimum amount of time you have to spend on home ed. We basically go with the flow. She learns all day long but this dosn't mean I sit her down in front of work books.
We play games, cook, do gardening, paint, do jigsaws, I read to her a lot and we go out and about all the time.

What a CM would normally do, would be perfect for her. I would want it to be within school hours as she does feel a lot happier with pre school children.

The cost does vary a lot then. I think £3 an hour is extramly cheep fr all the hard work the CM does. I thought it would cost a lot more.