This weekend we attended a “Fall on the Farm” celebration. One of the draws was a children’s entertainer. He’s just starting out in the entertainment field. By day he is a Montessori teacher (multilingual and very musical). He lives in a city an hour away. In our brief interaction before his program started he had indicated how he had been looking at possibly starting a Montessori school in our city. (We have one already, but she only takes in 4 kids at a time - one being her own child.)
We talked about how hard it is to start up something like this - finding space, cost of space, cost of Montessori materials, etc.
So…here’s what I’ve been pondering since Monday: We are moving to a home that has the opportunity for a large learning room. We have a playground directly in front of the house and a large play field directly behind the house. Would YOU think about offering your home to a Montessori teacher to start out in? If so, how many days/week? What type of parameters would you set up? Is it fair (to us or him) to ask that your child attend in exchange for free “rental” of the space? What should I consider before even offering this idea to him? Any thoughts you may have are more than welcome!
I think it is a wonderful “idea” I have often thought of starting my own in my home. But I would be the teacher.
However, I don’t think I would be comfortable allowing someone else to run their business in my home. What if you or one of your family members were sick you would still have to allow all the other children and the teacher into our home. Even if you have a tight sick policy, additional kids means additional germs and sicknesses coming into your home. No matter what your schedule is like you would have to make sure your home is clean and orderly everyday that other children are coming or else parents will not feel comfortable leaving their children there. What if you were traveling? Would you be comfortable having them in your home if you were gone? You also would need to consider the possibility of increased insurance needed on your home. You also need to consider personality compatibility, you and the teacher just may not mesh when it comes to the treatment and organization of your home. Children can be very rough on a home especially when there are several young children together. The wear and tear on your home alone could end up being costly.
Although I think this is a wonderful concept, I think in the end it may be a lot of stress on you and it could end up costing you a bit of money. Especially if you are thinking of letting him use your space for free. Also, I would think that it would be mandatory that your child attends free of charge if he’s using your home :yes:
I think that it is a great idea! I have seen a similar idea in practice. I sent my little girl to such a preschool for two weeks while we were packing for our moving homes. The family lived on the top floor and rented out the bottom floor. They set up a barrier of a wooden trellis in the garden so that the kids stayed on one side and the family on another. The entrance was the same and I think that they put a door at the top of the staircase so that things were separate. It was a beautiful space consisting of two large rooms, a winter garden and a small kitchen. The majority of the kids only stayed until noon and after that they had lunch, naps and quiet indoor activities or went to a local playground so that the family had some peace and quiet for the afternoon. HTH
I will suggest you to think about it. Children are a lot of responsability, if you rent your place for something like that you need to be sure, you won’t have privacy , parents dropping off kids, picking them up, children running around,screaming,playing,coloring in your walls,getting your carpet with stains,breaking things…THAT IS WHAT KIDS DO!! For me is ok, I am a teacher and I am used to kids running around…etc but I don’t know if you want to allow somebody to work in your house and control this situation instead of you. It is different because he/she will have the control, if he/she doesn’t have experience, also if any of the kids gets hurt somehow, parents can sue you and take your house from you, in case you will need to buy some bussiness insurance to avoid this.
If I were you I will go ahead and open this Home center by myself and you can hire an assistant if you’d like. So can bring some extra income in your house, you set up the rules(instead somebody of somebodu elses)you will give your child the opportunity to improve his social skills with other kids. And maybe have the wonderful experience of raising other children while their parents work.
It is a difficult decision. Talk to your husband and ask him if he will the the patience to colaborate with your proyect.
The idea of having a trained, experienced, musical and multilingual Montessori teacher teach my child for free is fabulous. I think everyone would agree with that. However, you all have made some really great arguments for me to be scared silly of doing it! : :ohmy:
Too many cons with just the one pro. I don’t think we’ll let this take up any more of my valuable brain time…limited as it is. lol