Thursday, March 30, 2017

Sharing Web Resources

            There are so many wonderful websites out there that help support early childhood educators and professionals to meet new goals, learn new methods, and expand our knowledge in the classroom. HiMama is a wonderful Blog and Podcast that I have been reviewing for a few weeks now and I can honestly say I can sit for hours just clicking through post after post and podcast after podcast. They have so many different topics that can ensure that your question will be answered here. One topic I am extremely interested in is how to grow a brand, how to create a successful childcare center, and to also learn about the rules and regulations in my state. Katelyn Vickers recently published an article on How to Create a Child Care Center Business Plan, while you may have a great idea in your head it is important to write everything down, review your community, understand your demographic, and most importantly understanding the licensing and regulations for your state.
            I know starting a business can be very challenging, but after reading this article it allowed me to create stepping-stones to completing smaller tasks before looking at the big picture. This article also made me think of “why my early childhood facility?” There are so many on Long Island but what will make mine stand out, what services can I offer that others may not, what exactly is my target market? These simple questions created an issue, I never thought that way, I just assumed it would be a simple task and I would eventually grow a wonderful business. I must create a fool-proof marketing plan that will attract a large majority of my community and also come up with community events and activites to support funding for such an expensive investment.
            While this particular newsletter doesn’t contain much information on economists, neuroscientist, and politicians, I understand how they can support the early childhood field with growing a business. I must understand the law, I must understand the politics and I must understand that investors will play a strong part in growing a wonderful business. The text, Learning Together states, “recent insights in the fields of law, policy, economics, pedagogy, and neuroscience demonstrate that these particular programs produce robust educational, social, and economic benefits for children and for the country” (Kaufman, Kaufman, & Nelson, 2015). As we spoke a lot about this week, investing in early childhood education is imperative to improve our next generation learners.
            Being able to subscribe to such noteworthy newsletters and blogs really allows for early childhood educators all over the world to connect, understand, and learn about new methods from one another. While we may find new issues or trends in the United States maybe they don’t exist in other parts of our world. Being able to see how others provide a high-quality, loving, nurturing and educational environment to their students is what makes the internet so unbelievably valuable for such a growing field.
Reference:
Kaufman, M. J., Kaufman, S. R., & Nelson, E. C. (2015). Learning together: the law,
politics, economics, pedagogy, and neuroscience of early childhood education. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Vickers, K. (2017, February 13). How to Create a Child Care Center Business Plan.

4 comments:

  1. Great post. It is interesting that you speak on building a brand for a childcare business because my husband and I were talking about this just the other day. We both love children and although he works in the culinary field, he would not mind stepping away and building a childcare business with me. I would love to look into the blog and getting more information. Thank you!

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  2. The blog that you mentioned sounds like a great resource. Especially for those who are considering opening their own child care. The information that you convey suggests that you have a good foundation to begin this journey. Best of luck to you!

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  3. Wow, great post. I enjoyed reading your blog. This definitely is a site I want to check out. And I find it interesting that as you say, the issues we are dealing with may be different than those of other countries. I have a frien from England who has described the education system there and I wish we did that things a similar way.

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  4. Wow, what an undertaking. I can feel your enthusiasm and excitement in the way you stated your thoughts in this week's blog. All the best of luck to you-it sounds like you are on an exciting journey and children will reap the benefits.

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