We’ve been talking a lot lately at Community Coaching about environments, and the spectrum of what that looks like and means in family child care. On one hand, we firmly believe that family child care business owners should not be pressured to turn their homes into a center, especially if it means their family would then be LIVING in the center! We know that quality can and does happen in spaces that appear no different than anyone’s home, learning happens in many wonderful ways in these environments! But on the other hand, we don’t want to have this conversation in a way that makes those who DO want the separate, center-inspired, space in their program feel like they are not part of the family child care family. Once again, we come to our motto: RESPECT THE SPECTRUM!
For those of you who have cozy, loving, caring homes with embedded learning for children, we applaud you! For those of you who have found the space in your home to separate your business and create the classroom of your dreams, we applaud you as well! There is not a one-size-fits-all environment for family child care.
What does your space look like? Why did you choose to do it that way?
For me, I chose to have a separate space. I didn’t want to convert my spaces day/night, I have a husband with a OCD level of aversion to messes, and I had a home with a walk out basement full of windows and the space to do it. I especially liked the idea of being able to “go home” at the end of the day and not feel like I lived where I worked. And, I’m lucky enough to have a husband who can, and will, build anything I can dream up! So we built a tree! I loved my child care space, it was like being outside all the time. It “rained” out of the branches into my sensory table, the tree had little white lights and animals tucked into it and was a calming element in the room. I was able to set up interest areas to support my curriculum and it was truly a place I loved.
So what’s your story? Visit our Facebook page to share! We’d love to hear them all and see pictures too!