Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-01-2020 04:51 PM
    I'm working on developing the yearly calendar for our Certified Family ChildCare, and I was wondering how other family childcare facilities schedule in their breaks throughout the year. I know that several here in OR have a specific summer and winter break week where they close the facility. Is this common for other places? How do you choose what weeks  you close?

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    Cassandra Johnson
    OR Certified Family Childcare
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  • 2.  RE: Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-04-2020 05:50 PM
    Good question, Cassandra!  This will be fun to follow what everyone's ideas and schedules are. 
    I follow our local school district calendar for days off.  I take off summers and all school holidays and breaks.  The reason I do that is I am a preschool program first, but I offer extended hours for working parents.  That means I take off all the regular holidays that businesses take off plus Christmas break (winter break) and Spring break, etc.  I don't take off days that children are out due to parent teacher conferences and other activities where teachers need to be to work. I have school teacher parents in my program, so I cater to that schedule.  I know others who work all holidays and all breaks, but they give themself a 1 week vacation somewhere in there.  I need my breaks, so I take off more days than most.

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    DeAnn Jones
    Co-Facilitator for the Family Child Care Interest Forum
    Discovery Place Preschool, LLC
    Stanwood, WA 98292
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  • 3.  RE: Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-06-2020 02:19 PM
    Hi Cassandra,
    I have been doing school calendars since 2009.  I try to schedule our breaks to coincide with the public school breaks as much as possible.  Itʻs helpful for parents with older children, and also helpful for the staff members with children in public school.  At my previous school, we had a one week fall break, two week Christmas (winter) break, one to two week Easter (spring) break depending on when Easter fell, and we were closed for June and most of July.  Because we had Kindergarten we had to have a minimum of 176 days of school.

    At my current school we only have two weeks for Christmas and two weeks for summer.  The last week of the summer break is for the teachers to prepare for the new school year.  We do not have Kindergarten here, but we have more days of instruction!  LOL!
    Hope this helps!

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    Aloha,
    Catherine Awong
    Director
    Mililani Presbyterian Preschool
    Mililani, HI, USA
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  • 4.  RE: Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-06-2020 02:21 PM
      |   view attached
    Sorry, I forgot to include a copy of my calendar for next year.  Hope you are able to open it.  Disregard the Hawaii holidays!

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    Catherine Awong
    Director
    Mililani Presbyterian Preschool
    Mililani, HI, USA
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    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    MPP 20-21 SY CALENDAR.pdf   53 KB 1 version


  • 5.  RE: Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-06-2020 03:54 PM
    Hi Cassandra,

    I also wanted to mention that the way to decide on breaks is to decide what is best for your families as well as for you.  It's nice to have breaks so you can do planning and not get burned out.  However, on the other hand, you need to make sure your parents have an alternative care plan so they don't have to take those days off work.  It is great to use the local school calendar to plan.  if parents already have their school-aged children out of school, that is a good option for taking a break.  It's a balancing act to keep yourself sane and also be there for your parents!


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    DeAnn Jones
    Co-Facilitator for the Family Child Care Interest Forum
    Discovery Place Preschool, LLC
    Stanwood, WA 98292
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  • 6.  RE: Calendar for Certified Family

    Posted 05-11-2020 06:05 PM
    We follow the school year schedule, so we are technically a school year program with a summer camp option. We close during the school holidays, but offer Holiday Care for an additional fee during this time - 3 days each during the weeks of Christmas, New Year's, and Mardi Gras and four days during our Spring Break, which is the week following Easter. This allows my faculty the same time off as teachers in other divisions of our school while also giving opportunities for my after care staff and summer camp counselors, many of whom are college students, to get extra hours. We have a two day turnaround between the end of school and summer camp and a 1.5 - 2.5 week gap between end of camp and start of the next school year.

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    Holly Dalferes
    Director
    George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
    Metairie LA
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