Yesterday we had our second ultrasound, where we found out what our baby is!

(Here’s a picture of me at 20 weeks!  FINALLY showing!)

My husband said the baby looks like a dinosaur.

I think its spine still resembles a lizard.

But no, it’s not a dinosaur, or a lizard, or even a dog or a cat.  (Though those were high on my daughter’s wish list this year!)  It’s a little baby boy or girl, and I thought it would be fun to play a little gender guessing game with you!

So whether you’re a psychic or have a great understanding of old pregnancy wive’s tales, or even if you are just a great guesser… Have fun guessing what we’re having!

FUN FACTS ABOUT THIS PREGNANCY:

• Baby’s Older Siblings: Girl, Girl, Boy, Girl
• Month of Conception: October
• Due Date: July 21, 2012
• How I’m Carrying: High
• Baby’s Heart Rate: 156
• Foods I Crave: Salty stuff like fry sauce, baked potatoes, hamburgers, and pickles
• Morning Sickness?: Never got it
• My hair is: The same. My hairstyle will never change.
• Beachball or Watermelon? Watermelon
• I’ve Gained: 13 Pounds
• I Started Really Showing: 17 Weeks

As you’re preparing for your first preschool tour, I’m betting you’ll feel pretty anxious about how you’re going to answer the many preschool teacher interview questions that parents will ask you.  But if you’re prepared in advance, and can actually answer those questions without parents ever having to ask them, you won’t find yourself having to defend your answers.  You’ll simply be stating how your preschool runs, and at the end of the tour, every parent should have the majority of their preschool teacher interview questions already answered!

It’s all in the delivery, folks!  And after answering literally hundreds of preschool teacher interview questions myself, I’d be an idiot if I didn’t learn a thing or two about how to carefully craft what I say to alleviate a parent’s fear and help them feel at ease with putting their child in our care.

And at the root of most preschool teacher interview questions, a parent is really asking: “Is my child going to be safe in your care?”  And you can’t answer that question point blank, because that fear will never be alleviated with a simple answer.  It will come over time, as parents develop confidence in your program and abilities, and that confidence will only develop if they see that YOU are confident about your program and abilities!!!  This is a very important point, so take note!

I’ve listed below the top 10 preschool teacher interview questions that you MUST answer during your interview/tour before a parent even asks them, as well as your possible responses.  Remember, you’re in charge of the interview, so take charge and start answering your preschool teacher interview questions!

1.  Are you licensed with the state?
   When preschool teachers have Early Childhood Education knowledge and several years’ teaching experience, your child will learn and grow in a caring environment with age-appropriate activities and positive behavior to model.
2. What education and experience do you have to teach preschool?
   When preschool teachers have Early Childhood Education knowledge and several years’ teaching experience, your child will learn and grow in a caring environment with age-appropriate activities and positive behavior to model.
3. How many children will be in my child’s class, and what is the staff/child ratio?
   When a preschool has small class sizes, your child will feel more comfortable in his/her class and will gain close friendships with the other preschoolers.  Similarly, a staff/child ratio within Idaho licensing guidelines (1:12) will help your child get lots of 1-1 attention from the teacher.
4. What is your teaching approach: Teacher directed or child initiated?  Activity- or worksheet-based?
   When a preschool has a balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated activities, your child will learn to follow directions and also play independently.  And if the curriculum is activity-based, your child will enhance their learning by using all 5 senses.
   
5. Do you have an open-door policy?
   When a preschool has an open-door policy (meaning that you can pop in at anytime without calling first) they’re letting you know they have nothing to hide.  And preschools that allow you to observe their teaching are obviously confident in their teaching methods.
6. What will my child be taught?
   Preschool is not only a time for learning important Pre-K concepts but also to learn important life skills and develop their social, emotional, and physical skills.
7. What is your daily schedule?
   When a preschool has a consistent routine each day, your child will feel confident with their place inside the class.  A familiar routine helps your child to understand what is coming next, which often facilitates easy transitions from activity to activity.
8. Do you take field trips?
   A preschool that offers field trips will help your child grasp fun concepts not possible within the classroom, such as seeing baby lambs walk, hearing a fire truck’s horn, or visiting a Dentist.
9. How will you keep my child healthy and safe?
   When a preschool has distinct policies and procedures setup regarding health and safety, your child will benefit from being in a safe, clean environment.
10. What is your discipline policy?
    When a preschool has a specific procedure in place to handle misbehaving before it grows into a problem, your child will feel secure in knowing the rules (and consequences of those rules).

So now your marketing’s out, and you’re waiting patiently for your first prospective preschool parent to call.  When will they call?  What will they ask?  What should I say?  How will I get them to take a tour?  Will they end up signing up?  I’m sure you have all these questions–and more–running through your mind!

No worries, though, I’ve been in your shoes before!  And after talking to almost 500 prospective preschool parents over the past 4 years, I’ve learned a few tips on how to successfully convert a phone conversation into a commitment to tour your preschool.  I’ve even put together a complete interview dialogue that you can use anytime a prospective preschool parent calls in to inquire about your preschool!

(Keep reading to find out how you can ask me questions about how to sign up 99% of prospective preschool parents during that tour.)

But before we get to the phone conversation dialogue–which you’ll want to print out and have easy access to anytime a preschool parent calls you–let’s talk briefly about what your prospective parents should already know about your preschool to make sure your phone conversation is as effective as possible.  Of course, sometimes you’ll have preschool parents call that don’t have all the information below about your preschool, so you’ll need to tell them about that information first and foremost before you move onto the dialogue.

Information Your Prospective Preschool Parents MUST Know Before They Call You:

• The fact that they need to call for a tour
  You certainly don’t want to have preschool parents just dropping in on you at unscheduled times, so parents need to know that not only will they need to setup a tour to learn more, but they also to be ready to schedule that tour
• The fact that you’re not a daycare
  Most preschool parents needing childcare won’t be able to afford the extra preschool cost or be able to arrange transportation to/from the daycare.
• Your class times and tuition
  Parents need to know that the class will work with their schedule and their budget
• Your location
  Preschool parents also care about how long it will take them to drive to and from your preschool
• Ages Accepted
  A lot of parents think that preschool is only for 3-5 year olds.  If you take “Independent, Almost 3-Year-Olds” be sure to let them know
• Your website address
  This is the best tool to get preschool parents excited BEFORE they call you, so make sure that any marketing materials feature your website address where parents can find more information about your preschool

The easiest way to teach you how to create your preschool marketing plan is definitely to start off with a story.

This past week I’ve done quite a lot of window shopping for a bigger car, now that our 5th addition is on its way this summer!  After doing my research on the safest, most cost effective, and rewarding car that could fit my family, we finally decided on a Honda Odyssey.  And while doing my research, I came to find out that low mileage was my first priority, and low price was right behind.  And that’s when I discovered my biggest pet peeve in the car shopping experience:

Finding the right car, with the right mileage…  BUT NOT KNOWING WHAT THE PRICE WAS!

You see, I did all my shopping online because I didn’t want to actually come face-to-face with a salesman.  And sometimes I would click on a link from a dealer, look at all the pictures of the car, check out the mileage and the features, and then scroll around for about 30 seconds trying to find the price.  But all I would find was “Please contact the dealer for price.”

How frustrating!  I didn’t want to call the dealer, who inevitably would then have my name and number and call me back, trying to sell me a car in the future.  What if I had to call 3 dealers to find prices?  Then I would have 3 dealerships hounding me for the next few weeks!

I had found the perfect car, but I still didn’t know if I could afford it.

So what does buying a Honda Odyssey have to do with creating your preschool marketing plan?

A lot, actually.

(Keep reading to find out how you can ask me questions about how to handle the first phone call from a perspective parent.)

Because one of the biggest myths in marketing is that if a company can make their product/service irresistible enough to customers, then price isn’t really an issue; but if it becomes an issue, in the end at least they’ll be talking to the customer and can try to convince them that their product/service is worth it.  Sounds a little “sales-y” to you, doesn’t it?  I don’t know about you, but when I created my preschool marketing plan, I made sure it required as little “selling” on my end as possible!

But what these companies forget is that customers make decisions EVERY DAY based on quality -and- price.  I mean, how many times do you walk into a store to go shopping and end up looking at a price tag?  Or hundreds of price tags?  Every time you consider buying an item, you weigh the benefits to the cost.  And if it has enough benefits to warrant the cost, then you buy that item.  You’re constantly weighing your budget to how many items can fit into that budget, and choosing a preschool is no different.

So what’s a prospective preschool parent supposed to do when they receive a flyer about your preschool, and after they get so excited about it, realize they can’t find a price anywhere on your materials.  What’s going on in their heads?  ”Can I afford this?”  ”Maybe they didn’t list the price because it’s expensive.”

Do you really think they’re going to call you to find out how much it costs?  They’re not even ready to make that commitment to take the first step of communication with you, let alone be led down some path where they might be asked to come take a tour.  Because as much as they might love your preschool, they don’t want to be let down later on by knowing they can’t afford it.

And that is the biggest myth in creating your preschool marketing plan: Not posting your prices on EVERYTHING you market.

But your preschool marketing plan extends way beyond just including pricing.  You should include as much as you possibly can about your preschool, including pricing, class times, the fact that you’re not a daycare, registration fees, location, website address, phone number, curriculum used, your education and experience, licenses acquired, ages accepted and potty training requirements.  Post this information on your website and every flyer, postcard, and brochure you hand out.

Why must you give SO MUCH information about your preschool, you ask?  Isn’t it better to just give a little, get them interested, and sell them on the rest later?  Sorry, folks, but “selling” and “convincing” them in the future is just a huge hassle, and we’re not in the sales business.  We’re in the preschool business, where you need to be straight-forward about how you run your preschool, and if they don’t like it, who cares?  You shouldn’t be talking to them in the first place.

I know that’s a bit dramatic, but I’m thinking of a fellow student who mentioned to me that she’s super nervous about pleasing every parent, and often will change a policy to accommodate that parent’s wishes.  Don’t discount her just yet… because she was a lot like ME before I finally grew myself a backbone and decided how to run my preschool like a business.

Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t ask for parent feedback and try to IMPROVE your preschool (on the contrary: please please please always make your preschool better every year and use parent feedback to help you grow), but it certainly does mean that if you were planning your preschool to be a certain way because you felt strongly enough about it, then stick to your guns!  It’s called a preschool marketing plan, isn’t it?  So plan for it and put into action.  Parents will see your confidence and believe me, they need to feel that you’re capable enough as a business owner -and- preschool teacher to take care of their child.

Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “But if I post everything about my preschool (including prices), then parents might not call me.”  Then I would probably reply: “If they don’t call you, then there’s some reason why they would never sign up their child in the first place.  And why waste your time trying to convince someone who will never sign up their child?”

I don’t mean to be rude by saying that your time is valuable, but isn’t it?  You have a family to love, preschoolers to teach, and a business to run.  Not to mention anything you want to do in your spare time.  So make your time you spend on the business as productive as possible, instead of wasting your time trying to convince people why they should sign up in your preschool.

For instance, up until last fall, by using my preschool marketing plan, I had a 99% rate of parents calling me about my preschool and then taking an interview.  From that point, I had a 99% rate that they would sign up.  So you can see that I had done a great job of weeding out non-interested parents way before they even called me.  And that’s because I followed my preschool marketing plan of putting all my preschool’s information on our flyers and website.

But last fall, when we opened our second preschool location and put a huge vinyl sign in the front yard advertising our preschool, my conversions fell WAY down.  All of a sudden I had 3x as many calls, but only 75% of them converted into an interview.  Why the difference, you ask?  Because so many passersby thought we were a daycare–all they saw was the sign and the children–so after I found out on the phone they needed childcare, I didn’t ask them in to interview.  Thankfully, my rate of parents signing up after having an interview stayed at 99%, because I was able to weed them out during the phone call.

So while you may have a random parent call you out of the blue and not know much about your preschool, try to have the majority of those prospective parents be as well-informed as possible so when they call you, they’ll be ready to setup a time to take a tour.

And as calling you is the next step to creating your preschool marketing plan, stay tuned for my next post that teaches you EXACTLY how to handle that phone conversation to get 99% of parents to commit to an interview.

YOUR TURN:
To help make sure I answer all your questions about how to handle that phone conversation, what are your biggest questions about talking to a prospective parent on the phone?

You guessed it!

Pregnant!

Again!

And this time, for the last and final time!  We couldn’t be more thrilled!

It was the funniest thing, because for so long we knew there was one little more kiddo for us, but didn’t know quite the right time to bring that little one to our family.

If you remember, I’m remarried, and brought 3 children of my own into our marriage.  My sweet hubby didn’t have any children, and quickly grew into his role of the father of our home.  He always wanted a family, he just didn’t know he’d be a dad of 3 kids overnight!

Then, two years into our marriage, we welcomed our own little bundle of joy into our family: baby Sarah!  Well, baby Sarah is not such a baby anymore, but quite the bundle of energy!  She walks around the house–or crawls around growling like a dog–and leaves a mess of toys in her wake.  She has quite the knack for signing and can’t wait until she gets to go to preschool in a year and a half!

Since baby Sarah has joined our family, our preschool has grown incredibly, with us opening up a second preschool in our town.  To say we’ve been busy is an understatement.  We’ve been SWAMPED!  And with the new preschool, came a request from our parents asking for us to create a private Kindergarten program for the fall.  We’ve always been thrilled about the idea, but didn’t know the right timing for it.  Not known to disappoint, we said SURE! and started preparations for our Kindergarten program for the Fall of 2012.

Now, back to our baby story…

We knew that 2011 was all about getting into a second preschool, and had no baby plans on the horizon.  On the contrary, we knew that 2011 was DEFINITELY not the year to get pregnant!

So imagine our surprise, when one week after we moved into the new preschool in October of 2011–and finally felt a moment of peace–that I got the impression that the next month WAS the time to get pregnant.

I can still remember exactly what we were doing when that impression came.  We went to a theater nearby that serves you dinner while you watch the movie.  We had never gone to it before, but thought it would be fun to try out.  So we ordered hamburgers (which, in all honesty, were only so-so; why would we think differently?) and watched the cheesy hometown commercials before the movie started.  (The movie was Transformers, the moon one.)

As my mind was otherwise not engaged–seriously, who even watches those hometown commercials?–I found myself thinking of the upcoming Kindergarten program, and how I’d probably be at the schoolhouse Monday-Friday during school hours.  I imagined my little Sarah bear playing at her friend’s house, and I tried to imagine myself being pregnant NEXT year.  I couldn’t.  All I could think of was how busy I was going to be.  Helping out the teachers.  Shopping.  Talking to parents.  Getting the rooms all set up.

And that was when I realized that once the Kindergarten program started, there was no way I would want to have any more children.  That would be my life.  And I know myself well enough to pay attention to those thoughts.

And then it hit me: If we want to have another child, it has to be right now.  Not literally right now, as in jump on my sweetie in the darkened theater (though the idea of leaving early did cross my mind…)  but as in the next month or two, because we had to time the baby’s arrival for the summertime.

So I turned to my husband and told him what I had just thought.

Of course, he was totally shocked.

We had just finished the schoolhouse, we had parents to keep happy, and more renovations were on the horizon.  In both our minds, now was still NOT the time to get pregnant.  But we said we’d think about it, and see what we felt during the next few days.

Sure enough, we both started feeling great about the idea, and knew somehow we’d make it though all the upcoming months of craziness.

So after just a month of being off birth control, we found out we were pregnant!  Apparently it WAS the right time for our family!

And you know what’s so funny?

My due date is the SAME as baby Sarah’s!!!

JULY 21st!!!

Don’t even ask me how that happens…

So right now I’m almost 16 weeks along, and if you wonder why I’ve been M-I-A in the past months you can blame it on this crazy pregnancy!  It’s all I can do to keep my head above the water sometimes.  But overall, things have been going great.  I’m super hungry, have the worst cravings for PICKLES, FRY SAUCE, and HAMBURGERS, and can’t get enough of FUDDRUCKERS!  Oh, if I could only eat there every night…

In other news, every other mother in America will probably hate me because I haven’t been sick one bit this pregnancy.  With my first 3, I was totally sick during the first trimester.  With Sarah, I skipped the whole first trimester sickness and replaced it with 2nd trimester sickness.  Go figure!  But this time… not an ounce of nausea.  And I couldn’t be more grateful!!!  Seems like God’s giving me a blessing to be able to get through this pregnancy and still do everything I need to do.

Stay tuned in the next 4 weeks to find out if it’s a boy or girl!

But what do YOU think it is?  Our kiddos so far are: GIRL, GIRL, BOY, GIRL…

So I’ve been pretty much M-I-A these past two months as I’ve been working 24-7 (and some nights not even sleeping!) on renovating our second preschool house!

Enjoy this fun 16-minute video of the entire renovation!  (Then keep reading below to see the whole story!)

When we doubled enrollment over the summer, we knew we needed a second place for them – their own dedicated space!

What we didn’t know was that we would spend almost 4 MONTHS trying to navigate all the red tape over at Planning & Zoning to try to get a second preschool location!  Finally, after getting shut down time after time with places we put up for review, we asked P&Z where they wanted us to go.

They suggested we get a property kitty-corner from the city park, a 1970s home that had once been a daycare but sat vacant for 2 years.  It was already commercially zoned.  And we didn’t need a Special Use Permit.  After going through all the bureaucracy we just went through, this sounded like MUSIC TO OUR EARS!  We couldn’t wait to see it!

What we saw when we got there, though, had us seriously reconsidering if this place was right for us!

The roof was falling apart, the gutter was falling off, the yard was overgrown with weeds, a 6′ chain link fence surrounded the entire property, the walls were painted blue, the floors were ripped up, and the kitchen and bathrooms were outdated.

It actually took us a couple of months to think about the property, analyzing how it could work for us, how much it would cost to renovate it and bring it up to the premier excellence our community has come to expect with our preschool.

But once we realized all the renovations were merely cosmetic, and that in a year, we could recoup all the renovation costs with our additional preschool classes, we moved forward with an intensity I haven’t felt since starting my first preschool four years ago!

Within a week, we started demolition and immediately ripped up the 6′ chain link fence on the front of the property.  We ripped off the roof and gutters, tore out the rickety deck stairs, pulled out all the existing landscaping, and set to work with a fresh canvas.

We installed a sprinkler system, hydroseeded the first week of September, put up a new roof and gutters, planted new bushes and flowers, created a paver wall, painted the entire house RED, built a handicap ramp and new deck stairs, and built a 4′ picket fence around the entire front of the house, as well as 6′ privacy fence sides for a backyard.

And that was just on the OUTSIDE!

From there, we moved inside and painted all the walls upstairs a soft beige and the downstairs walls white to brighten up the space.  We tore out the bathroom toilets and sinks and replaced with handicap-accessible fixtures.  We carpeted the entire house, put vinyl flooring in the art areas of the preschool rooms, and tiled the entryway.  We replaced all the lighting with modern lighting fixtures and replaced all the wooden doors with white 6-paneled doors and silver hardware.  (Super important whenever you’re updating an older property: spend the extra money to replace all the GOLD hardware on door handles, lighting hinges, cabinets, drawer pulls, etc. with silver or pewter hardware!  Otherwise it will still look outdated, no matter what color you paint the wood.)

It took just 2 months from start to finish, which is a miracle in and of itself!

After that, it was time to decorate!  We have over 2,000 sq. ft., half of which will be used for (2) preschool rooms downstairs, and half of which will be used to house our brand new private kindergarten program upstairs next fall!

I’d love to hear your comments! What do you think!?!  Questions?

With each new preschool year, I recommit to making this year an even better one than last year in so many ways.

With my preschool parents, I want to give them such an amazing experience that they rave about us to all their friends.  To never focus on the quantity of students, but the QUALITY of our program.  To give them more than their money’s worth.  To prove that our preschool is not just a safe place to drop off their child, but a place that will love, nurture, enrich, and engage their child with every ounce of energy we can possibly give.  To offer advice to parents who need extra help with their children’s potty training, behavior problems, and overall parenting help.  To support them in their own efforts at home, and to merge the gap between home and preschool, making it a seamless, comfortable transition.

With my preschool students, I want to love them unconditionally, and be there for them at every moment they need my guidance.  To praise them when they do their best, to carefully nudge them in the right direction, to hold their hand as they try out new things.  To make every hour at preschool some of their happiest moments of childhood.

With my preschool teachers, I want to give them every opportunity to succeed and feel proud of their teaching efforts.  To reward them for a job well done.  To provide a secure job where they know they could always stay if they wanted to.  To offer such a job that is both rewarding and challenging, allowing them to grow in their own confidence.

And with my family, I want to get back to a simpler life.  To sit by the river and listen to the calming water flow lazily across the rocks.  To relax.  To leave the computer and just be. with. them.

And with that, I will take my last goal and begin.  Right now.

So here’s to a new year, a new you, and a new goal or two to strive for!

Please leave your comments below about what YOUR goals are for this upcoming year!  I can’t wait to read them!

Ever wanted to cheer someone up with a thoughtful, original idea, but had no idea what that idea should be?  Have no fear – have some FUN and create a candy bar message for your friend or loved one!

Here’s how to do it:

STEP ONE:
Go to the grocery store and buy candy bars… A LOT OF CANDY BARS!

Choose candy bars or candies that have a fun brand name that could be used for a word in your message, such as:

• 100 GRAND
• 5TH AVENUE
• PAYDAY
• NOW & LATER
• AIRHEADS
• MOUNDS
• DOVE
• SKOR
• TWIX
• NERDS
• SNICKER(S)
• REECE’S PIECES
• SUGAR DADDY
• SWEETART
• LIFESAVER
• ALMOND JOY
• RIESEN (REASON)
• STARBURST
• SYMPHONY
• BUTTERFINGER
• ROLLO (ROLLOVER)
• HUGS & KISSES
• MR. GOODBAR
• MILKY WAY
• MARS
• CRUNCH
• WHOPPERS
• SUGAR BABIES
• FUN DIP
• SPECIAL (Hershey’s special dark)
• SMARTIES
• ROCKY ROAD
• FAST BREAK
• RUNTS

STEP TWO:
Write Your Message Using As MANY Candy Bars As Possible!

It helps if you have a marker board, or some other hard board to write onto (Dollar Tree sells hard display boards for just $1!)  When you’re writing, get creative!  Use a sharpie marker to X-out any part of the candy bar name that doesn’t apply to the message.  And if you get stuck, you can always put a candy bar up there and then put what it’s supposed to be down below.

Here was my message from the preschoolers to my teacher on her birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  You are the STARBURST of our day!  I know sometimes we act like AIRHEADS but us RUNTS love you so much!  You are a TREASURE!  (Gold coin).  We told Miss Joy to get you 100 GRAND for your PAYDAY, and she said You Deserve It!

STEP THREE:
Finish off with a fun gift for your friend or loved one!

When it comes to gifts, I think cash is king, so I put together a fun card for my teacher to read to make her THINK she was getting cash…

It says: “Here’s a hint to what your present is.  It starts with: ‘M-O-N’ and ends with ‘E-Y.’”

Money, right?

NOPE!

“M-O-N-K-E-Y!”  Then on the bottom of the card it said, ”Ha ha!  Just kidding!  Turn the board over to find your REAL gift!”

I finished it off with a monkey taped to the board with him holding a sign saying “Happy Birthday!” in one hand, and a $50 bill in the other hand!

She loved it!  And I know whoever you send your candy bar card to will love it also!

***  Who thinks they can come up with a message using the MOST of the candy bars listed above?  Write it in the comments below and I’ll post ‘em as they come in!  Have fun!!!

So if you’re thinking about either increasing your class sizes and want to hire a preschool assistant, or you’re thinking about transitioning out of being the preschool teacher/director and want to hire a preschool teacher instead, then this guide should really help you!

Two years ago I was in the same position, asking myself: “How in the world do I hire a preschool teacher?”  You see, I had just found out I was pregnant with my daughter.  And at the time, I was a one-woman show: the director, the teacher, the business owner…  But I was teaching full-time (M-F 9-2:30 p.m. each day) and realized it might be difficult to teach while taking care of a brand new baby.  After all, the preschoolers need a teacher who can devote her full attention to them!  So I asked myself the question: “How do I hire a preschool teacher?”

But that question didn’t stop there, and I soon found myself asking:

• Where do I advertise?
• What should I put in the listing?
• What should I look for in an applicant?
• How can I learn more about the applicants?
• What should I do in an interview?
• What kinds of legal forms do I have to file?
• And once I hire a preschool teacher, how will I KEEP my teacher!?!

Now, I didn’t know it at the time, but KEEPING my teacher was the absolute most important question I should have been thinking at the time, not how do I hire a preschool teacher!  Because I soon found out that you can get the best teacher out there, but if you can’t keep her, you risk your preschool parents rebelling and your preschool falling apart!  After hiring my first teacher, she ended up leaving just five months later!  So what did I do wrong???  I was a great employer who simply wanted to hire a preschool teacher.  I paid her well, praised her constantly, and made her job as simple as possible.  But none of that mattered when it came down to the truth of why she left: she needed a full time job with benefits… and I couldn’t give that to her.

Now, thankfully, my parents didn’t rebel and my preschool didn’t fall apart, but the fact of the matter is: IT COULD HAVE.  And yours could, too, if you don’t follow some important strategies that will help you hire a preschool teacher who will not only improve your preschool program, but who will also be loyal to your preschool program.

So with that in mind, let’s answer the questions above for you in your search to hire a preschool teacher, all the while remembering that our primary goal is to get a preschool teacher THAT STAYS!

And as always, please understand that this information was gleaned through my own experience when I wanted to hire a preschool teacher and might not be true for you.  So please take what you can out of it and meld it to your own needs.

Where Do I Advertise?

When I thought about how I should hire a preschool teacher, I knew I needed to advertise and get the word out first.  My favorite place to advertise is Craigslist, because it’s free.  Out of the entire Boise area when I posted my ad on Craigslist, I received around 100 applications.  Out of those 100, only about 50 were worth considering.

That being said, when you try to hire a preschool teacher on Craigslist, the only people who will see your ad are people looking on Craigslist for jobs, so you’re not guaranteed to get a huge response.  If you want to receive more applications (or if you don’t have Craigslist in your area) you can always advertise in the newspaper classifieds section.  If you’re going to advertise in the newspaper, though, you won’t be able to write as much as you’d like, so I would suggest referring candidates to a website where you’ve written the job description and requirements.

I also recommend that if you want to hire a preschool teacher that you personally know, that you start talking to your family members, friends, neighbors, and anyone in your community.  But a little caveat here: Don’t say you’re interested in THEM specifically, just say, “I’m looking for a preschool teacher, so if you, or anyone you know, wants to apply, let me know.”  Then have them apply just like everyone else.  That way you don’t feel bad about saying they don’t get the job… it simply comes down to the matter of someone else having better qualifications then they do.

What Should I Put In the Advertisement?

When you’re writing your ad to hire a preschool teacher, be simple, be concise, and above all else: be specific about what you want!  After all, you can’t very well get what you forgot to ask for, can you?

You’ll want to state these 6 things:

1. Your name, your preschool’s name, website, address, and your email address
2. Their job title (Preschool Teacher, or Preschool Assistant)
3. Work hours (Put in your preschool hours, remember to say it runs Sept.-May, with holidays off)
4. Compensation (I pay my preschool teacher $13-14/hr. depending on education and experience)
5. Duties (What will your preschool teacher do? Teach, write curriculum, etc.)
6. How to apply (They should email you with their cover letter addressing WHY they will stay at your preschool for a long time, and their resume should address WHY they would make a great preschool teacher)

What Should I Look For In An Applicant?

I told you earlier that you want to hire a preschool teacher you can KEEP, so the first thing you should look for when you hire a preschool teacher is their LENGTH OF TIME WORKING ON A JOB!  When you’re searching their work history, be sure to look not only for what types of positions they’ve held in the past, but also the length of the time they’ve spent at each job.  If you have two applicants who are on the same playing field in education and experience, but one has worked with 5 different employers over the past 5 years, and the other one has worked with only one employer for the past 5 years, guess who you should probably hire?

That’s right… when I hire a preschool teacher, I place a LOT of bonus points on someone who’s stayed at a particular job for a long time because it shows me two things:  That person is loyal to the employer (and therefore will probably be loyal to me and STAY) and that person probably did a good job (and therefore will probably do a good job for me.)

Of the other two things to look at, you’ll want to look at their type of Employment and Education.  An ideal candidate would have several years of experience teaching preschool and a Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education.  I’ve also seen that college students in the middle of their ECE degrees are excellent preschool teachers because they have so much passion and excitement for implementing the activities/practices/teaching methods they are learning right then.  When I’m looking to hire a preschool teacher, I go first to the college students!

That being said, I also realize that someone with a love for children, an ability to be teachable, and a desire to educate herself in age-appropriate learning methods could still make a wonderful teacher.  Just remember that you’re going to hire a preschool teacher, so why not pay someone whose education and experience can help your preschool look even better to prospective parents?

How can I learn more about the applicants?

Before you hold interviews to hire a preschool teacher, you’ll want to narrow down your candidates to a list of your top 10.  At that point, contact those candidates and setup a time for them to come interview (I like to schedule interviews every 45 minutes) and I also request that they fill out a Preschool Questionnaire that they email back to me before their interview.  In the questionnaire, I like to ask the questions below, but feel free to modify the questions to fit your own needs.

1. Describe your dream job. This will tell you what they need out of a job… full-time employment, benefits, different position, etc.  It should help you find out if they will be fine with being a preschool teacher for several years.
2. What is one of your greatest achievements? This helps you see where their priorities lie.
3. Have you ever run your own in-home daycare, preschool or childcare? If Yes, please tell me about your experience. Very important… most likely if someone has owned their own business they’re not likely to settle for just being a preschool teacher.  Because when you hire a preschool teacher, that’s exactly what you want.
4. Please write down all your levels of education achieved and the year achieved, beginning with H.S. Sometimes they don’t list everything on their resume.
5. Do you have a current CPR/1st Aid Certification?
6. Do you feel more comfortable teaching 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, or both, and why? If someone is great with younger children but struggles with reigning in older children, you need to know that.
7. How many years would you like to see yourself dedicating to our preschool? Again, here is the loyalty question.
8. Please explain why you chose your answer to question #7. This helps to understand why they will or won’t stay a long time.
9. Have you ever taught preschool by yourself? If so, how many children were in the class and for how many months or years did you teach by yourself? If not, how many children were in the class, how many adults were teaching the class, and were you the lead or assistant teacher? If you’re going to hire a preschool teacher so you can transition out of being the preschool teacher role, and your teacher will be the only one with the children, you need to know that he/she feels confident in that position.
10. Please tell me about your experience with teaching from curriculum  that you have created yourself or curriculum that is already existing.  Which do you prefer teaching from? A lot of teachers like to create their own curriculum, but you still need to know that you can give her your guidelines and she’ll stay within those guidelines.
11. Please briefly tell me about all of your experience with children ages 3-5 and why you like that age group. This should help show his/her love for children.
12. Are you currently employed? If Yes, why are you looking for another job? Also incredibly important, as you don’t want to hire a preschool teacher who will turn around a few months later and look for another job.

What Should I Do In An Interview?

The next step when you’re going to hire a preschool teacher is to interview each candidate.  I recommend spacing each interview about 45 minutes from each other, but keeping each interview under 30 minutes so you still have time to write notes and prepare for the next candidate.  If the interviews will be held in your home, remind the candidates to come at the specified time, and not earlier, as you will be interviewing other candidates.  (I had one candidate come an hour and a half early when I was trying to feed my brand new baby!  NOT OK!)

I like to ask a few generic questions to each candidate like:

• As you look around this room, please tell me one or two things that could possibly injure a child while at preschool? This is GREAT, as you’ll quickly weed out the people who are used to babies and not preschoolers, because they’ll say things like “Well, that toy could be put in a child’s mouth,” or “You need a gate up so a child doesn’t fall down that step.”  You can’t hire a preschool teacher that keeps treating the children like babies.
• What would you do if… Give several different examples of a problem that could happen at preschool and ask for a response.
• Why should I hire you? That’s right, be bold, and see how they respond.  Are they confident or timid in their response?  Confident people can probably handle preschool crises better than timid people.

I also ask questions specific to each candidate based on questions I had with their resume, cover letter, or questionnaire.  These questions might include:

• Why did you leave your previous job?
• What did you like -and dislike- about your previous employer?
• What did you mean when you said…

After each interview, write down any comments and immediate gut feelings you have about each candidate.  When you’re trying to hire a preschool teacher, these gut feelings are important!  Because most likely, those gut feelings will also be felt by your preschool parents as they interact with your new preschool teacher!

Narrow it down to the top 3 candidates, and if you want, do a follow-up interview on the phone with them if you need any last questions answered.  Or, even better, have them come in and do a mock lesson plan for 30 minutes for your preschool class!  Remember, after you hire a preschool teacher, you can always teach them what to teach… you CAN’T teach them how to teach to a preschooler’s level, how to love children, or how to be more patient.  So those qualities are even more important than WHAT they actually teach.

What kinds of legal forms do I have to file?

That’s right, if you hire a preschool teacher, you’ll be filing some legal forms so you keep everything on the up-and-up with Uncle Sam and the good ol’ IRS!  Although this question alone deserves another 5-page guide (perhaps I’ll do one soon!) I’ll give you the basic gist:

Your employee will need to fill out:

• Employee Contract: You can make one up but be sure to include Employer information, Job Title, Time Commitment, Compensation, and Duties
• Form W-4: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
• Form I-9: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

If you’re licensed, your employee will also probably need to:

• Get CPR/1st Aid Certified
• Pass a Background Check

And remember, now that you’ll be paying wages, you’ll also need to deduct payroll taxes from your teacher’s paycheck each month.  A good idea of how much you’ll REALLY be paying is to think of adding a dollar of taxes onto your employee’s hourly wage.  For instance, if I pay my teacher $13/hr., I’ll really be paying about $14/hr. after I pay payroll taxes.  You can plan on paying:

• Medicare/FICA Taxes
• Social Security Taxes
• Unemployment Taxes

You might also need to withhold Federal and State Income from their paychecks.  The best thing to do is to contact your state’s tax commission and tell them you’re thinking about hiring an employee.  They’ll tell you all you need from there!

How Will I KEEP My Teacher?

Yes, you can be a great employer, pay wages on time, and generally make the job as easy as possible.  BUT…  you’ve got to go a step BEYOND that by being an EXTRAORDINARY employer!  You’ve got to be the kind of employer that an employee WANTS to be loyal to, and wants to continue working with!  I’ve found that these simple ideas below will help keep your teacher loyal to you, and hopefully will help you keep your teacher as long as you both enjoy working together:

• Give Bonuses! I love to give bonuses to my teacher around every other month or so.  Usually a month into the new preschool year, at Christmas time, for her birthday, right before preschool ends, and a signing bonus when she commits to teach another year.  I won’t divulge how much I give out on the bonuses, but I always consider how much I think would be a great bonus, and then go with that amount.
• Give Gifts! That’s right, be thoughtful!  Especially give gifts on the obvious occasions, but even more important is to give gifts when they’re not expecting anything.
• Write Notes or Emails! Keep the communication always open.
• Praise, Praise, Praise! Anytime you think your teacher has done a great job, and especially when he/she has gone above and beyond the job duties, praise your teacher!
• Ask Questions! Find out what parts of the job are enjoyable to your teacher, and if there are parts that he/she would rather not do.  If you’re fine with taking on those duties, great.  If not, find out a way to make them more enjoyable to your teacher.

I hope this incredibly LENGTHY guide helps you in your search to hire a preschool teacher!  Let me know if I left anything out, or if you have any more questions for me!  I always love your comments!  :-)

- Joy

How To Start A Daycare

A Day In The Life Of A Childcare Provider

Are you interested in learning more about how to start a daycare?

Then you’ll love this educational glimpse into a day in the life of a childcare provider.  After all, it’s important to know what kind of a job you’ll be getting into if you’re going to be committing to taking care of other people’s children every day.

You might be wondering about how to start a daycare so that you can bring in extra money to your family budget each month, or so that you can provide a full-time income for your family.  If you want to stay home with your kids, running a daycare might have seemed like the only option available to you.

I’m Joy Anderson and 3 years ago, I was in the same boat as you!  I needed to provide a full-time income for my family, but desperately wanted to stay home with my kids.  I thought about learning about how to start a daycare because I thought starting a daycare was my only option!

So as you continue reading, you’ll learn what your daily life will be like if you choose to start a daycare, but you’ll also learn what your daily life could be like if you choose to start a… PRESCHOOL instead!  What’s a preschool?  It’s where you teach preschool classes in your home to children ages 3-5 for just a few hours each day.

TEACH PRESCHOOL - NOT DAYCARE!

Three years ago, after I did my own research about how to start a daycare, I decided to start a preschool instead, and my preschool business has absolutely blessed my life!  I hope this short article will help you decide if you want to continue down the (dark and dreary) how to start a daycare path, or if you’d like to know more about how to start a preschool instead.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in and explore what a typical day is like after you’ve learned how to start a daycare and you’re now running a daycare from your home!

“When I start a daycare, how many hours will I be working?”

When you’re thinking about starting a daycare, this is one of the most important questions you need to find the answer to!  While you’re trying to sign up parents into your daycare, you might believe that every family you sign up will drop off their kids on the dot at 9 a.m. and pick them up promptly at 5 p.m.  Now I don’t know what world you live in, but in the world I live in, it’s rare that anyone’s job schedule is 9-5.  Lots of parents work night shifts, and some have errands to run after work.  And any working parent still has to commute to work, which means they will be dropping off their children much earlier than that, and picking up their children much later than that.

You’ll quickly realize that if you’re going to learn how to start a daycare, in order to sign up kids and get paid, you need to accommodate OTHER PEOPLE’S schedule.  After all, if you say your hours are 8 am – 6 pm, and a potential family says they need you at 7 a.m., what are you going to do?  Here they are, saying they’ll pay you if you just change your schedule by an hour.  So of course you’ll say “Okay.”  And the next family that wants to sign up will need you to watch their kiddos until 7 p.m. because the mom doesn’t get off work until then.  So of course you’ll say “Okay.”  And before you know it, your hours will have gotten so out of control that you end up being at the mercy of your paying parents!  And if you say no to them, they’ll stop paying you, and you’ll end up being so afraid of losing your paying parents that you’ll say “Okay” anytime they need to drop off their children earlier, or pick them up later.  So in truth, when you’re learning about how to start a daycare, the only answer to this question is that if you want to get paid, you’ll work the hours that your paying parents want you to work. Which means putting in long, 12+ hour days, and sometimes even nights or weekends!

And now, knowing that, do you still want to learn how to start a daycare?

Remember how I mentioned that I started a preschool though?  My hours are a whole lot different – I only teach for 5 hours a day (9-11:30 a.m.) and (12-2:30 p.m.) and you can bet that I will NEVER bend to anyone else’s requests to watch a child earlier or later.

CLICK HERE to learn more about how to start a preschool instead of learning about how to start a daycare!  I created a special video for you, so Visit Me Now!  ;-)

“When I start a daycare, what will I do all day long?”

It’s up to you of course, but I’ll tell you this: bored children are cranky children who end up misbehaving!  So unless you want to deal with fussy children all day long fighting with each other, when you’re learning about how to start a daycare you’ll also have to set up a daily schedule full of activities for the children.  Have you ever tried to plan out every hour of every day? For weeks and weeks, and months and months!?!  It’s exhausting!  But these daycare kids will need a structured schedule and they’ll also need to be played with, cared for, and taught.  So you’ll end up searching the internet for hours each day trying to come up with new activities and things to teach them.  And if you think your own kids misbehave, just wait until you get a bunch of kids in your house who don’t have the same rules at their house as you do.  Kids will be jumping on the couch, hitting each other, using language that you don’t want your kids to hear, and acting out for your attention.

And now, knowing that, do you still want to learn how to start a daycare?

If you’re beginning to question whether or not you should continue to learn about how to start a daycare, let me tell you more about what you do all day if you decide to start a preschool instead.  Of course during a preschool class, your preschoolers will need structure as well, but the benefit here is that it’s only for 2.5 hours!  You can use pre-made lesson plans to teach the kids so there’s only about 5 minutes of prep time, and the kids always behave better at preschool than they do at home!

Click Here to learn more about how to start a preschool instead of learning about how to start a daycare.

“When I start a daycare, what will my children do?”

Um, get neglected?  Starting a daycare is truly the biggest oxymoron in the world: You start a daycare to spend time with your kids, but inevitably when you take care of OTHER people’s kids ALL DAY LONG, there’s very little energy for you to spend time with your own kids!  And considering the fact that the daycare kids have paying parents, you have to keep those kids happy or they’ll go home complaining to their mom and dad that they don’t like you, and then the parents will take their kids out of your daycare!  That should make you think twice about wanting to learn about how to start a daycare!

How will your children like their toys being played with, broken, and mishandled?  Do you think they’ll act out if your attention is now divided by some other kid they don’t even know?  You betcha – they’ll act out for YOUR attention!  And if you have older children who are at school during the day, they’ll start to regret the daycare for the fact that when they come home, their home is being taken over by the daycare!  They’ve been away from you all day so when they come home, all they want is you!  Yet what they get is quite the opposite: they get a frazzled, snappy, “I can’t help you right now because I’m taking care of so-and-so over here.”

And now, knowing that, do you still want to learn how to start a daycare?

On the flipside, one of the biggest benefits to starting a preschool instead of a daycare is that you get paid to spend QUALITY time with your kids!  And honestly, which child wouldn’t love to have their mom actually PLAY with them for 2.5 hours every day by singing, dancing, reading stories, doing arts and crafts and teaching them fun ideas about the world?  And, preschool is only held during school times anyways, so when your older children come home from school, preschool is already over!

Click Here to learn more about how to start a preschool instead of learning about how to start a daycare.

“When I start a daycare, when do I get time for myself, my kids, and my husband?”

In truth, you don’t!  And if this doesn’t make you reconsider your decision to learn about how to start a daycare, I don’t know what will!  I know so many daycare providers who are so exhausted from taking care of other people’s children every day that they get completely burnt out by the time the last daycare kid is picked up.  All they really want to do is go upstairs and lock the door to their bedroom so they can have some peace and quiet! But you’ll still have to cook dinner, clean up the house, get your kids ready for bed, and try to squeeze a minute or two of quality time in with each kid while gritting your teeth because you’re so doggone tired and just want one minute to yourself!  But when that’s all done, you can forget about watching a movie, reading a book, or spending time with your husband.  Because after a day like you’ve just had, you have to go to bed early, because in the morning, you have to get up early and do it all over again!

And now, knowing that, do you still want to learn how to start a daycare?

If there’s one thing I cherish most, it’s my sanity.  And I KNOW that I can’t watch other people’s children for 12+ hours every day and still have enough energy to share my love with the people that I care most about.  Instead, while I teach preschool for just a few hours each day, I’m actually giving my children true quality time and playing with them.  That way, when preschool is over, they feel completely loved and they’re fine with playing by themselves for a little bit, giving me an hour or two to enjoy a little bit of “Me Time.”  And I never get burnt out, so I have plenty of energy for my other kids and my husband too!

Click Here to learn more about how to start a preschool instead of learning about how to start a daycare.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this fun guide, and I look forward to teaching you lots more as you explore your options for making money at home.  Remember, starting a daycare is definitely an option to make money and stay home with your kids, but it is not your only option!  You can continue to learn how to start a daycare, or you can start a preschool instead and save your sanity along the way!