Advantages
From the standard set by National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), home daycare providers should maintain a minimal number of child under their supervision. It could be two babies not more than 30 months, five kids below five years old, and two school-aged kids. They cannot add more children unless they hire assistant. This is because smaller groups will give your child the one-on-one interaction he needs.
There is an opportunity to learn and play with other kids in home daycares. In centers, kids are grouped by age while in home daycares they usually have mixed-age groups. This scenario is mirrors closely a family and will help the child to be comfortable with older kids. Cindy Goral, a user of BabyCenter from Palo Alto, California said the she is happy to see his only son play with other children and he is enjoying the social interaction.
Daycare centers are sometimes institutional unlike in home daycare. In the latter, children usually feel at home because of the home setting. Your child will even feel good if the provider is within the neighbourhood. According to Phyllis Hodson-Hutsell, another user of BabyCenter coming from Rossville, Indiana, she likes the homey environment of a home daycare. Her child gets a lot of attention she needs. She also likes the idea that her caregiver is within the same town where they live. Her daughter will also have the opportunity to get to know the kids in the neighbourhood.
Home daycares are sometimes the least expensive option. It can also offer some things that centers cannot. In home daycare, they are more flexible with the pickup time and even drop-off times while the center charges you for every minute you are late. Centers acknowledge more holidays than home daycares. So if you are under home care, you will spend for a back up nanny during holidays.
Finally, most of the providers are mothers, so you will be comfortable to leave your child because you are assured that he is in good hands. The provider is already familiar with basics of childbearing and she has enough dose of mothering instinct. You may have different ways of childbearing, but you will find out that you share some care philosophies.
Disadvantages
In home day care, the provider has no formal background in childcare or even training on early education. Though some states require home providers to have certain number of hours for basic health, safety, and care courses but still there is no better substitute for college training.
The requirements of licensing in home daycares are less stringent and most states do not require licensing. Therefore if you are going into an area that do not require licensing, you will just rely on your own judgment whether the daycare is good for your baby
Another disadvantage is that the caregiver has no substitute staff in case she gets sick or takes a leave. So if you do not have anybody around you can turn to, you may end up using all your own sick and vacation leaves because you need to stay at home attending to your child.
For more:
How to start a daycare business by StartADaycare.org
