Childminders with 3 of your own children...

[fruitpastille]

Am I out of my mind?

We are currently almost decided to go for number 3. Currently we have DS 5 and DD 3 (Y1 and nursery). Because of the cost of childcare and feeling a bit disillusioned with my job at the mo I was wondering about becoming a childminder if all goes to plan. Both older DCs would be at school and I thought I would be able to manage one younger mindee along with my potential youngest plus others before/after school. Am I deluding myself?? School is a bit of a walk but not too bad (about a mile). We would need a bigger car for our 3 anyway and our house is pretty ideal for childminding imo.

Anyone out there do cminding as well as look after their own 3?

I started cm with a 3 month old, we are now ttc number 3, ds1 is year 3 and ds2 is nearly 3 and starts nursery soon. If we get dc3 I am not planning on taking much maternity, only a couple of weeks. Most of my mindees will be at school by then and i have to go for my dc anyway so won't make much difference to have them for an hour or so.

Do you need your car for school runs? I do so am limited to car spaces.

It's totally do able, you would still have a couple of early years places and could also have an after schooler.

We'll be having three after March, and I'm planning to go back to work when DD starts school in September (in fact that was the essence of the timing) though I think I'll only be able to have one during her school hours. (The Ofsted 'numbers' guidance is unclear to me about whether the siblings for which you can get an exception are your own children or mindees, so I need to ask them about that.)

You can have 6 under 8 of which 3 can be under 5 but if your dec is at school full time they are classed as over 5 even if they're only 4.

Dc not dec!

OOh, thanks wish - I didn't know that! It would be handy to be able to have a fulltimer, I must admit. DD will only be 4.5 when she goes to school and I was thinking I wouldn't be able to have another fulltimer until the August after her 5th birthday.

That is if you're in England, also if you started with 2 part timers and you needed to have them more hours you can risk assess it and decide if you could cope with them together, you need to do learning journals etc for them until the 31st aug after their 5th birthday even if they move up an age group, if that makes sense?

Have you been on the childminding forum, it's great.

I haven't looked at the childminding forum - will check that out. Thanks for the help!

Zuleika - Wish is right about 4 yr olds starting school. The only thing that was missed out is that they only count as over 5's once they are in school FULL TIME. If your school has a half term of half days and gentle settling in then you would still have to count your 4 yr old as an under 5 for that time period. However seeing as the Ofsted inspector this week was telling me that I could have 4 under 5's if I wished and that I just had to risk assess it and make sure it wasn't for "too long" I think everything is up in the air at the moment and even Ofsted inspectors don't really know what is allowed!

BTW Fruitpastille - definitely doable. Just buy yourself a 7 seater car, when you are changing yours anyway, so you don't have to walk every time if it is not practical. (I have a Ford S-Max and love it!) Bear in mind if children are over 8 yrs old they don't count in your numbers so you can have more if you wanted to....

I'm currently doing my registration course and have 3 under 5, I am wondering how/if it's going to work!

I'm car shopping at the moment which is my biggest concern, as well as wondering how I'm going to keep on top of the housework!

Thanks for all the info, just hope i won't be tearing my hair out getting then all to school! It is walkable but realistically better part of half am hour each way which is a bit much if i pick up from nursery at lunchtime as well.

Am i in the wrong section? Is there a different forum for child minders to chat? Will investigate.

I'm worrying about the school run too - last year I could put 2 in a buggy and ds1 would scoot/ride his bike but now I sit in traffic for nearly an hour in the morning, go back a couple of hours later for nursery pick up. The lady running the course I'm on said that's fine so long as you're making the journey a learning experience! I doubt I will be able to do the school run at another school but am hoping to have under 5's to start with.

Fruit pastille this is the right section but there is a childminding forum website too.

Naturalbaby - wih 3 under 5 yourself, I'm not sure how you could make it financially viable, as most childminders are only allowed to look after 3 children under 5, including their own..... My two are 7 and 5 and in full time school, so I can look after 3 little ones, making me £15 per hour, plus a couple of extras after school, including my two.

My oldest is in full time school so I can have one more under 5. He turns 5 in May so then I can have another child under 5. I'm hoping that will be financially viable?!

Naturalbaby if he's in full time school now you can have another now, if you're in England that is.

Check the EYFS 2012 page 21 and you will see that you can have more than 3 under 5 now as long as your total is 6 under 8....this is causing lots of confusion but you can do so after you assess your resources, equipment and agreeing with parents

Another question to put at the Ofsted and c/ms Q&A session on 17 Nov advertised in another post

Yes, that's what I was told by the county council. I'm on the registration course at the moment and checking things like this out but the course leader had to phone Ofstead to work out how many children we're allowed in relation to the floor space. The Ofstead adviser couldn't tell her! We've been told in another session it's up to us to decide how many children we can care for within the EYFS guidelines e.g you can have 2 under 12months if they are twins and you prove you can safely care for both of them.

How do you work out how much you need to earn to make it viable? So if I only have one child, how would I work out how many hours I need to be paid for? I've only paid for my courses so far, then there'll be insurance and the paperwork. My house already has all the equipment needed to care for young children so I can't see that we would need to buy anything else.

It's a question of how much you want to earn. If you talk to the County Council then they will also be able to tell you how many CMs are registered in your area and what the demand is like. In areas where there are lots of CMs and low demand as a consequence, people can only charge £3.50 per hour sometimes. I'm in an area of high demand/low supply and I charge £5 per hour.