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Everything you need to know to start a preschool in your home

There are so many great reasons to start a preschool in your home. If you’ve been considering opening your own preschool business, you may be excited about the opportunity to do what you love while also spending time with the people you love.

But even if you have many years of teaching experience, opening your own business can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to it in terms of the ‘business side’ of things that many people don’t have experience with when they first start out.

So how can you start a preschool in your home? Here are 10 steps with everything you need to know:

1. Obtain a family child care license

To start a home based child care center, you must obtain a license from South Carolina’s DSS. Click here to view all forms and requirements to start your business.

2. Start creating your target market.

Start thinking about your business and what you want to provide to your community.

  • Who is your target market and what is the competition like?

  • What is the financial forecast for your business?

  • Who will be a part of your team?

  • How much will you charge for tuition fees?

  • What are your expenses, including salaries, materials, licensing fees, and rent or mortgage?

Don’t worry – The Greenville Chamber has all the tools to help you create your next business plan!

3. Choose a Philosophy

You may already have an idea of the type of early care and education philosophy you want to use in your preschool. The following are some common types we see:

  • Play-based

  • Bi-Lingual Education

  • Nature Based

  • Montessori

Some directors choose to combine different philosophies or aspects from a few together to create a unique program. Deciding on the philosophy and curriculum of your preschool will help you with the next few steps of designing the learning environment and writing up the handbook.

4. Design your learning environment

Now it’s time to imagine what your learning environment will look like. You’ll need to transform your living space into an enriching learning space. While the details of your learning space will reflect the philosophy and curriculum of your program, there are four ‘interest areas’ you should include no matter what philosophy you choose.

Check out tips on how to turn any space into a home-based preschool with before and after pictures from real directors’ homes.

5. Write ideas regarding your future Handbook Policies and Procedures.

You’ll need to decide on some basic operating policies and procedures for your school before you open. You can write it all up and use it as a parent handbook. Here are some ideas of what to include in the handbook:

  • Hours of operation

  • Holidays and days off

  • Meals and snacks

  • Payment schedule

  • Daily flow

  • Capacity

  • Children’s ages

  • Late pick ups or after school

  • Parts of the home that are off-limits

  • Sick day procedures

  • Emergency procedures (e.g. severe weather and lock down procedures)

  • Discipline

  • Field trips

  • Parking

Don’t worry – The Greenville Chamber has all the tools to help you create your next business plan and handbook!

6. Use an online platform to manage your business

As you’ve probably realized by now, running your own business, whether it’s a preschool or not, takes a lot of organizational and administrative work behind-the-scenes. Plus, you’re caring for parents’ most prized possessions – their children – so you’ll need to be within reach and constant contact with parents.

Handling all of this plus caring for children all day is a lot to think about and can become disorganized very quickly. Luckily there we have provided a system for you!

Our CORE software provided by Kellie Rynn Academy allows directors to manage their students, parents, and program from one dashboard. Along with this, we have built a marketplace for parents to search for child care, schedule tours, fill out enrollment paperwork, and make payments.

7. Hire any assistants

Depending on the specifications of your family child care license, you might be required to hire an assistant or two. Or you might want to hire an assistant to lighten your load.

You’ll need to…

  • Have your Assistant(s) obtain the same training and submit the same information for Background Checks as you do.

  • Decide if they will be part- or full-time

  • Establish a salary or rate per hour for any assistants

Once you have all of this figured out, you will need to look for and interview qualified candidates for the role. You can try word-of-mouth firstly or post on your social media pages asking if anyone knows someone suitable. There are also sites like Craigslist and Indeed where you can post looking to hire.

8. Name and market your preschool to your community

You’re finally in the home stretch of starting your home preschool! Still, this step is extremely important. You’ll want to decide on a name for your program if you haven’t already and a plan to market it in your neighborhood.

Will you post online in Facebook or mom groups? Put flyers up in your neighborhood? Get word-of-mouth referrals? Do you need a website and nice photos? What kind of open houses or tours will you host? These are just some things to think about when it comes to marketing your program to bring in your first students.

9. Get insurance

Lastly, you’ll want to make sure you get liability insurance to cover any injuries that might happen and to adhere to licensing requirements. Here at Kellie Rynn Academy, we offer access to a discounted insurance policy to child care providers who partner with us.