Opening a Home Childcare with two caregivers can increase the number of children?

Hello Everyone!
So nice to be in the forum and read all about your experiences.

We are two Montessori Teachers that are planing to open a home day care with the Montessori approach. Basically we want to take care of our own children (grandson and son) and have other children as well.

We are seeking for some advice about the numbers of children that we can have in our space and if you can tell us your experiences being licensed or unlicensed.
Can each one of us have their own 5 children and share the space? (our "classroom" is a very big adapted room)

thank you for your help in advance.

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Originally Posted by guillecana

Hello Everyone!
So nice to be in the forum and read all about your experiences.

We are two Montessori Teachers that are planing to open a home day care with the Montessori approach. Basically we want to take care of our own children (grandson and son) and have other children as well.

We are seeking for some advice about the numbers of children that we can have in our space and if you can tell us your experiences being licensed or unlicensed.
Can each one of us have their own 5 children and share the space? (our "classroom" is a very big adapted room)

thank you for your help in advance.

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What province are you in? Most provinces will say no you are still limited to the same number of children. Ontario for sure it goes on the roof not the number of adults working. I knew a small private school here in Ottawa that had 2 family daycare programs run within it. Different floors, absolutely no contact between the 2 groups (one caregiver and 5 kids each). When the province found out they shut it down that day. Sent all kids home, fined the programs for being over the limits (back dated) and only one daycare was allowed to reopen after all the legalities were sorted out. They were under the same roof and were therefore illegal.

If they are all in one building they they max it at 5kids. If you want more kids you need to open a city care center and follow all those stringent rules. In Ontario you can't even both have your own daycare in different homes and do playdates together in one house. You are limited to 5 children under one roof at all times.

If you are in Ontario at the answer is NO.
In Ontario a unlicensed home daycare can ONLY have five (5) children + the providers own children 6+ at any one time. It doesn't matter how many adults are there. And a licensed home daycare can ONLY have six (6) children + the providers own children 6+ at any one time.

If you are in a different province I can't help you.

Licensed and unlicensed means something different per province.

In Ontario licensed means you sign up with a licensed home daycare agency. Its the agency that holds the license. They sign you on as a "contractor" so they don't havee to pay you holiday pay, sick pay, or give you benefits as you are self-employed and not their employee.
the agency claims that your business is yours and you can run it as you see if, this is a lie, They give you lots of rules and dictate how you MUST run your business or they will drop you. rules like: a 18m old MUST sleep on a cot/mat, not a play pen, knives need to be on top of the fridge ir in a locked cupboard even if the kitchen is on a different floor from the dc kids and they will never go in there. They pay is a joke. They tell you if you can have the 6st child or not, they can even tell you that you can't have a full 5 children if THEY feel you can't handle it.

unlicensed - you are truly our own boss. except for a few laws (ratio, disclaimer etc) you can run your business however you like to. You create your own contracts, policies, rates etc.

I started out as licensed (2 yrs) with two agencies. I hated it. They treated me horribly. Most of my clients through them would try to walk all over me. When I would go to the agencies about it they would inform me to "let them" and if I didn't they would pull them from my care. I would find clients and they would convince them to go elsewhere (to a provider that has been with them longer). Agencies are not a good fit for me. I know many providers who love being with agencies and have had much better experiences with them. I am now unlicensed and I love it.

Not permitted in any of the Maritime provinces either. Ratios are per address not per adult. I don't think there are fines in the Maritimes for being over numbers but there is on site shut down and notification to CRA to audit based on breaking one rule means others likely aren't followed.
100% there's no fine in PEI. Others will have to confirm for sure that there's no fines in NB, NS, NFLD etc. But limits I am sure are per address.

In terms of licensed vs unlicensed - again this depends on where you are. Daycare legislation is set on a provincial level, so the rules and ratios are different depending on where you are.

Some provinces don't have licensed day homes but instead ones who work with an agency who is a licensee. Some do license day homes through agencies, others only license direct with Community Services. The agencies charge a cut in some provinces while in others, they have a government grant.

Knowing your location is key when asking for information.

Please do not get caught doing this, it is considered ILLEGAL if you're in Ontario. It doesn't matter if it is even the whole house just for children. The regulations are as you've mentioned are a maximum of five children per household or six if you're licensed through an agency. It doesn't matter how many adults are in the house taking care the children.

If you want to open a larger group between two teachers and more than five children then you must proceed to apply to open a child care centre. Also a Montessori diploma doesn't count to open a centre you'll need a Registered Early Childhood Educator.

The only way for you two and your groups to get together (playdates or teaching montessori lessons) would be renting a public area for few hours ex. Rent a room in a library, community centre, park etc. It has to be a public area not in your house.

Become familiar with the regulations of the province that you are, you will find it in the Web pages of the ministry of education the document is called Cceya (if you're in Ontario). There has been a lot programs closed like the one you've sujested, and another change also happening is that even big montessori schools need Ece's working in their classrooms.

I hope it helps.