Welcome to the last article of How to Find Quality Child Care 

Please review Steps 1-4 at the links below:

Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html

Step 2: Set Up a Tour
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html

Step 3: The Interview
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html

Step 4: Enroll Your Child
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-4-enroll-your-child.html


Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program

You have done your homework, identified the perfect child care situation, interviewed multiple care providers and placed your child in a program. Now it's time to evaluate your decision and confirm that it's the best choice for your child.

The very first indicator of the quality of your choice is your gut feeling. Don't underestimate that comfortable ease or bad feeling that you have when you pick up your child. You may not be able to put your finger on the reason why you feel the way you do but it's important to honor your instinct.

There are a series of other indicators of the quality of your choice that can be more easily quantified than gut feeling. The following list will help you rate your experiences.

Webcams: You can never be exactly sure about what is happening when you are away from your child but being able to see them on a webcam can help. If you chose a care provider that offers webcams this is an option to help ease your mind.

Daily Reports: Your child care provider should be providing you with regular information about what your child did each day. Daily reports should include what, when, and how much your child ate, slept, and went to the bathroom during the day. For a 9-10 hour day I would expect 2 large meals and a few snacks throughout the day. I would also expect 3-4 diaper changes and at least 1 nap. Daily reports should include any special activities that your child participated in as well as any unusual circumstances such as diaper rash or a biting incident. 

At Fremont Kid's Academy we use an application that creates a beautiful emailed report that outlines all of the information listed above. Here's an example of what our daily reports look like:

Your Child's Daily report - June 27, 2013
Naps

• 11:24AM – 1:02PM
  

Meals

• 9:03 AM - Scrambled eggs and toast. Milk to drink
  
• 11:05 AM - Blueberries, apples, plain yogurt, milk, and water
• 1:08 PM - Chicken, brown rice and mixed veggies, water
  
• 5:03 PM - Wheat crackers, mixed fruit and water to drink
  

Bathroom

• 8:31AM - potty - Pee
  
• 11:03AM - diaper - Wet
  
• 1:07PM - diaper - Wet
  
• 3:19PM - potty - Tried
  
• 4:58PM - diaper - Wet
  

Sent via Tadpoles at Fremont Kid's Academy 

Curriculum: As your child gets older you want to be sure that they are being prepared for entry into public or private school. Your child care provider should be communicating with you about any assessments they have planned for your child and any results they have obtained. You should be able to clearly see an outline for how the provider plans to prepare your child for school.

Invoicing: Each time you pay for child care you have an opportunity to take advantage of tax savings. The child care tax credit can help reduce your taxes and save you money. For more information visit the article belowhttp://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/04/child-care-tax-credit.html 
Your child care provider should give you a receipt for payment that you can submit to your tax professional. At the end of year you should also receive summary report for all the payments you've made.

Finding quality child care is not an easy process but if you approach it systematically as well as allowing your instincts to guide you, it can be done right the first time and you will find that you have created a relationship with a care provider that will last a life time.

 Color Week Was A Huge Success at Fremont Kid's Academy! 

The staff at Fremont Kid's Academy sends a special thank you to all of our amazing parents who made color week possible. Emily and Rick, Mae, James and Sarah,and Haipeng we thank you for participating in our week long theme - your children had a great time and we are so lucky to have you as part of our child care family.

Orange Day at Fremont Kid's Academy was a peach! We had a great time playing in the sun and writing out a color chart showing primary and secondary colors. 

Congratulations to Leo and Lachlan for standing out at Patterson Elementary School. We are very proud of all of our students at Fremont Kid's Academy and we love to share it when they are recognized in the larger world. 

Leo was recognized today in the first grade at Patterson for having perfect attendance. Well done and keep up the great work Leo. 

Lachlan was given an award for having a "Passion for Learning and Achieving Accomplishments and for Being a Great Team Leader." 

Congratulations to both of our outstanding school aged students.
-Dana Wilson 

GREEN day at Fremont Kid's Academy means more than just the color of plants and money. With children in our care every day, it is important to us to keep our activities as healthy and eco-friendly as possible. 

There are a few easy ways that you too can help protect your family and the environment. Consider the everyday things you do and try to substitute environmentally friendly products for the mainstream ones that might be on your shelf. Pesticides are sometimes a necessary evil but at Fremont Kid's Academy we have an integrated pest management system that includes

a pesticide made from plant oils such as rosemary, peppermint, thyme, and clove. You can find many different versions of the products at your major hardware stores.

Inside the home we use method. products and we love the philosophy of this company. 

Make easy changes like these and you are well on your way to keeping our world green for those that really count...the next generation.
-Dana Wilson

Let the Sun Shine In. It's YELLOW day at Fremont Kid's Academy and we are shining with scrambled eggs, bananas, corn, and the most fun of all...homemade, natural, play dough colored YELLOW of course.


Here's the recipe for the play dough to enjoy at home.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Cream of Tartar powder
Food Coloring of Your Choice - today was YELLOW

Mix all ingredients except flour in sauce pan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Slowly add four and mix continuously until consistency is that of play dough. Cool, knead, and play!

-Dana Wilson

BLUE DAY at Fremont Kid's Academy


From blue berries to blue jeans, today was BLUE day at Fremont Kid's Academy, and even some our our fantastic parents got the BLUE spirit! Yesterday was RED day and today the children mixed RED and BLUE to get PURPLE. They had a ball and learned a little something too. 

Tomorrow is YELLOW day, so stay tuned, it may be bananas!
-Dana Wilson

Today we are celebrating the color RED at Fremont Kid's Academy.

All the children wore red, ate red things like cherry tomatoes, had a "red ball" Easter egg type hunt and practiced finding red things. They played games counting red things and spelling the word red. Tomorrow is blue day.

Children at Fremont Kid's Academy got a chance to see the life cycle of a butterfly. We watched as each caterpillar hung from the top of their enclosure and turned into chrysalis. Then we saw them emerge as painted lady butterflies. 

One warm day we released the butterflies into the garden and the children got to watch them fly away. The butterflies even landed so we could all get a good look at their beautiful wings. 

-Dana Wilson

Children can benefit greatly from supervised exposure to friendly pets while in a child care setting. At Fremont Kid's Academy we help children to interact with our animals and they love feeling responsible for providing great care.

Many children who might be shy around adults or other children come right out of their shell when given a chance to interact with a non-human playmate. 

Our resident schnoodle is even considered hypo-allergenic and loves to have the attention of the children during their short and supervised interactions.
-Dana Wilson

Welcome to the next to last article of How to Find Quality Child Care 

Please review Steps 1-3 at the links below:


Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html

Step 2: Set Up a Tour
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html

Step 3: The Interview
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html


Step 4: Enroll Your Child
If you have completed the steps above by defining your prefect situation, taking tours, and doing interviews, it should be easy to make a decision about where to place your child. Now it's time to do all of the paperwork and get your child enrolled. 

Expect to fill out quite a few forms and give detailed information about your child, after all, they will be with this care provider for many hours each day and good communication is essential to create the best situation for everyone involved.

There should be a contract outlining the days, times, and expectations of care provided, as well as the compensation agreed to by both parties. Each care provider should also have a list of policies and procedures that you agree to in writing. This ensures that everyone is informed of expectations and no one is surprised or disappointed. 
 
Immunization records will be requested and any illnesses should be described in detail so the provider can respond with the appropriate level of care. 

A very important part of the paperwork to be completed is the authorized pick up form or list. This is the document that informs the care provider of which people you allow to pick up your child. Anyone not on this form attempting to pick up your child should be met with resistance from the care provider. If you can provide a picture of alternate pick up people, even better.

There may be other forms as well, such as a resting schedule, photo release, or allergy information form...while these forms are not mandatory they will help the provider give the very best care to your child. 

For a complete example of contracts, policies, and other forms go to http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/enrollment--location.html

To enroll your child in any program you will fill out forms like the ones mentioned above, complete payment arrangements, and set a start date for your child to attend the program. Keep in mind that it is customary to pay for care in advance but each provider has their own requirements for how much in advance payment is required. Some providers require just the daily rate while others require the entire monthly tuition to be paid in advance.

The next step in How to Find Quality Child Care is actually determining if you made the right choice. Check back soon for Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program

Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program
http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-5-evaluating-your-child-care-program.html