Fair rate for kindergarten child

[mlc1982]

Looking for advice on what to charge in this situation.

I have a p/t girl - comes tues/wed/fri and pays 3 day fee- that will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Based on my schedule with other kids, I've agreed to keep her wed/fri and do the kindergarten transporting. I will only have to do pick ups on Wed and have her half day and then do pick up's every second Friday as that's when she'll have school. The alternating Fridays will be full day care here. She will then be here full days for spring/christmas breaks on Wed/Fri and probably Tues (mom hasn't told me for sure but I'm sure that I'll end up with her Tues of breaks.)

Does charging my 2 day rate seem fair even if she's only here on average 1 1/4 days per week (not including breaks?) Or, how would you base your rate to charge her? I'm really stumped on what to charge to make it fair all around.

TIA!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I charge based on the space being required to be available to them ~ I personally would not take on a child with a wonky schedule where they only pay for the days 'used' since I cannot offset the part time income with another child because they need it again the next week or what not ~ it results in a loss of income for me ~ I prefer to have 5 children daily on a permanent consistent basis or if I have part time children they are 'consistent' in one child comes 3 days a week and another comes the other 2 days each week.

So if she needed a Tues Wed and Fri space to be available to her in my program throughout the years she would be paying for 3 days a week even if some weeks they did not 'need' to come all three days ~ they pay for it and are free to keep her home for a family day or send her and do some errands or what not as long as they let me know if she is not coming so I do not prep meals / program things for her that are than wasted.

If you would prefer they keep her 'home' if they do not need care you can meet in the middle and charge them a 50% rate on the days she is not there or something but if you are keeping the spot open to her ~ you should not be forgoing income for it unless it is a benefit to you or your program in some other way ~ later if you find yourself turning away full time clients because you have this person needing a wonky part time spot that they are not using 'fully' so you are loosing income you will resent this situation :(

[mlc1982]

That is so true IBR! I never really thought of that as far as losing income and not being able to fill the time she's not here. I was just figuring it out and really, I couldn't get someone in to fill the other spots, unless they were 4+ (car seat reasons) and that would be a hard to find I'm sure.

[playfelt]

Also remind the mother that your "time" for the child starts from when you start getting the other children ready to go pick up the child so a lot more than just the after school part of the day. I would be charging for the full day as others have said as in for the space but offer the transportation without additional fees - some would even charge for that.