Yes. As of May 5, 2009, Sun, Moon & Stars Child is an officially licensed family child care by the State of Colorado. You can check my licensing record here by using my license number: 1558463.

 

The daycare part of my business is open 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Due to my own family commitments, I do not provide child care before or after those hours. However, I do also provide babysitting services in the evenings and on weekends, and we can make arrangements for care outside of our standard hours.

 

I am closed for the traditional holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. If I am to be closing due to vacation or personal needs (medical appointments/training), you will be contacted at least 2 weeks in advance. While I do anticipate taking one to two vacations a year, I do not anticipate needing many personal days.

 

I specialize in newborn (6 weeks) to school age children. I do utilize a preschool curriculum. But I also care for newborns and do have some before/after school children.

 

Absolutely! When in comes to the care of children, I like to minimize surprises. Each parent interested in care will receive a Parent Handbook, which we will go over together. When it comes time to enroll your children, a contract will be signed by both parties to ensure there are no misunderstandings or confusion.

 

To be licensed you must have current CPR and First Aid training, as well as Medication Administration and Universal Precautions. You are also required to maintain 15 hours a year of training including early childhood education and development training.

 

For infants, you will receive a daily log documenting your child's day. There will also be a weekly newsletter for the parents so that they are informed about what their children are learning and experiencing while in care.  Sun, Moon & Stars also has its own Facebook page where I post updates for parents. As a parent, I did not like not knowing what my children were up to all day long. I promise to keep parents as informed as possible on how their children are adjusting, learning and growing each week.

 

Yes, as much or as little as you would like. We have an open door here. If you would like to come and have lunch with your child, or drop in unannounced, you are welcome to do so. If there is a certain theme that you have particular knowledge of, we would love to have you come and demonstrate your knowledge/talent to the children.

 

At this time, I do not transport children. This is because the vehicle I own does not have enough seating to responsibly transport all the children I care for. We will be walking around the neighborhood on occasion to either experience nature walks or visit local playgrounds or walking children back and forth from the elementary school that is beside the facility. I am interested in bringing in field trips to us so that the children can have a variety of experiences while in care. This could include music classes, speakers/presentations, gardening classes, entertainers, etc.

 

Our guidance procedure will never include punishment that is humiliating or frightening to a child such as hitting, spanking, shaking, verbal or any other form of abuse, withholding or forcing food or punishment for lapses in toliet training. These and other forms of physical punishment are prohibited and will never be used, even at the request of a parent.

 

Guidance will include warnings and time-outs. A child will have a warning in combination with other techniques such as redirection, logical and natural consequences, distraction, substitution and role modeling. If that does not curb the disturbance or behavior a time-out will occur. Timing for each time-out will be determined by the age of the child, one minute per age.

 

At this time, I have no training or experience in dealing with a special needs child. It would be a definite learning experience for me to enroll a special needs child and I would work with the parent closely to determine the child's needs and take things slowly when caring for them.

 

I have a college degree in Graphic Design and worked as a Marketing Manager for several years before deciding to open a family child care home. I am required by the State to take at least 15 hours of child care related training a year, in addition to the CPR/First, Medication Administration and Universal Precautions training that is required of licensed providers.

 

Not all child care environments work for all children. At Sun, Moon & Stars we implement a three week trial period for each child in care. At any point during the initial three weeks either the parent or the provider can terminate care without having to pay the two week's notice fee that is required for children normally leaving care. You will be charged only for the care provided up until that point and no more.

 

That being said, I understand that adjusting to new people, new friends and a new environment is hard for anyone, especially a young child. We will do our best to help each child feel comfortable and at home in our environment by including them, encouraging them and helping them make new friends.