I think having this many is totally doable. Some providers will have better coping skills with much younger ones whereas others will be better with the preschool and kindergarten aged kids.

I agree with Momof4. It's like an assembly line and as MichaelsMommy said the key is routine. You most certainly need to be consistant and run a tight ship under all circumstances otherwise the balance can tip and you are left pulling your hair out. Having kids start at this age means you can really mold them, especially the full timers. You can get them on your schedule, following you rules in no time. I also like to have the kids all at a similar age to have activities running that are at a similar developmental stage. It makes life much easier.

I have seen a friend with a similar background as you who managed centres for years start a home daycare and try to run a rich program with something constantly going on and she literally poured thoudsands into buying educational resources and spent countless evenings "overplanning" activities which ultimatly could have been simplified and still been a great activity for the kids. She burn out after only 10 weeks and was extremely sick. I think you really need to check yourself their. You can't run a home daycare program the same way as a centre runs. It doesn't mean the kiddies can't get as much enrichment, but you just don't have the same resources which include support staff to prevent burn out and anyone here will tell you that burn out for home daycare providers occurs frequently, and only through learning lessons through experience do most overcome this by learning not to shoot to high with goals for the program.

Having a group dynamic that you are describing I would be looking at interactive activities that even babies can play independently at so if you are attending needier kids, the others are still happy and entertained.

This is a great site for treasure baskets

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.ca/...sure%20Baskets

which are an amazing activity for infants and your older kids including your older 2yr old child will still enjoy them and be able to use them at the same time. I make these up in various ways for not a lot of money and store them away, switching them up on a regular basis. Its worth looking up treasure baskets and understanding how they work.

Also sensory tubs are on this website and you can just be sure to make them with items that arent choking hazards and then they can be used similarly to the treasure baskets but you can be more involved with them and theme them more.

Good Luck with your new venture, believe in yourself, and if you need us, we are here