Infant Daycare near PowderHouse/Davis/Ball/Teele

[fortlotus.livejournal.com]

Like most new parents in MA, I've got serious sticker shock over the cost of daycare, especially at larger facilities (as opposed to home daycare). I'd really like to send my future baby to daycare in the neighborhood, just to avoid having to take an infant onto the T.

Bright Horizons and Kindercare are seriously expensive. Looking at the State directory of daycares, I see that some of the in-home ones are easily half the cost.

My question is: Have any of you used in-home daycare in or around Davis Sq? If so, where did you send your child, and would you recommend the place to others?

I would appreciate any additional thoughts or tips that you might have. Thanks, everyone!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

While it's not strictly speaking in and around Davis, we've sent both kids (now 6, and nearly 2) to the same home-based daycare all the way through. (Candyland Adventures, up near the VNA/Armory area.) And it's been a good experience. The small size is really often a very nice aspect in terms of attention and so on. (Plus, fewer other kids to share germs with!)

I'd definitely recommend visiting before enrolling, getting a sense of the provider's experience and making sure you feel like you have a good rapport with them, etc - it's a more personal relationship than I've gotten the impression that a larger center provides, which can have both pro's and con's.

Make sure to ask about vacation policies - unlike a center, a sole provider will almost certainly have more "closed" days over the course of the year (they do, after all, deserve time off and need personal days now and then, plus they're required to have "professional development" classes for certification, which also means occasional half-days or closed-days). In our case, it's been announced long in advance so we could plan around them, and it's been reasonable numbers of days.

Also check on anything in specific that matters to you, to be sure they're up for handling it - cloth diapers if you go that route, vegetarian diet if you happen to be vegetarian, whatever. Often they're quite able to accommodate things like that, where a center might balk at the idea of cloth diapers, for instance.

Good luck, and congrats on the new arrival!

[gingicat]

If you're out of the house more than 30 hours a week and total household earnings are less than 400% of poverty level, it's worth applying for state-funded childcare vouchers. That made it possible for my husband to belatedly finish his BA.

[narya.livejournal.com]

We went with the kindercare in Davis and are pretty happy with it. I called some of the in-home places and while I liked the idea, most of them don't have a lot of backup (i.e. if the care-giver gets sick, there might just not be any daycare that day). That was pretty much a deal-killer for our household but might work for someone who can accommodate that.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

This is definitely true - backup is fairly limited. They all need to have a backup on call in case, say, the provider needs to leave in a hurry to take another kid to the emergency room or something. But that doesn't necessarily translate to sick days.

Other than one major medical issue, though (see below), I think I can count on one hand the number of times over the past 6 years ours has closed unexpectedly, and I'd still have fingers left over. No different than you'll need to deal with in a few years when your kid's in school and has to call in sick, and much less frequent.

And in terms of that one major issue - when our provider needed to close for medical reasons for a brief stretch, she set up placements for her kids at other home daycares that had a little extra space for the week, and she's hosted kids from other daycares on occasion. They all network with each other.

[greyautumnrain.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the sticker shock, childcare in this area is very expensive. I've actually had great success with au pairs. It's not for everyone, but if you have a bedroom you can spare it is one of the most economical and convenient options in this area.

[sd210.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already done so, you may also want to apply to join the Somerville Moms group on Yahoo Groups. There are tons of posts regarding recommendations for day cares (both centers and in home day care) on that site. Once you are accepted, you can search the old posts and see what other parents recommend. It's a great resource for all things baby-related in the area.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Adding my two cents as a preschool teacher who worked in several Cambridge schools...

Only go with a non-profit. Bonus if it is a cooperative. Absolutely avoid any for-profit center. Not only will they try to suck you for as much money as possible, but they tend to have cookie cutter curriculum and very low standards for teaching. I practically ran screaming from Bright Horizons when they were interviewing me.

(Bizarrely) I don't know if Somerville has it's own city-school department version of preschool/toddler programs, but the ones I worked for as a temp in Cambridge were decent, and, obviously, the most affordable option. I do know that the Agassiz center that used to be in the church on the corner in Porter Square and is now up at the top of Summer Street (across from the Greek Orthodox Church) used to be quite good.

And for somewhat older kids, consider a program at Parts and Crafts. If nothing else connecting with parents and teachers there could help you find a truly enriching environment for you little one.

Finally I second the recommendation of the (unfortunately gender-biased) Somerville Mom's email group that sd210 suggested.

[rozhinka.livejournal.com]

My daughter went to a home-based daycare, run by a married couple, around the corner from Bright Horizons on Mass Ave. It was quite expensive but one of the best developmental experiences of her life--and she went on to attend CRLS and Tufts. Obviously it's been a few years but they are still operating. They do not accept infants but you might keep them in your future plans--seriously, I can't recommend them too highly.