Daycare software?

[agesandstagesdaycare]

Does anyone use daycare software to manage the business side of their daycare?

thanks,
A

[Play and Learn]

There's daycare software? I just use Microsoft Office and make all my forms and whatnot.

[agesandstagesdaycare]

Yes. HomeDayCarePlusProfe ssional offers a complete software program for home daycare providers for less than $100. Still a lot of money but at least the option is there. You can have all the info about each child including photo, fees, etc.. at the click of a button. I'm thinking of it but would LOVE to find something free! I'm creating my own with Microsoft Access but I'm just learning so it's slow going! lol!

[Play and Learn]

I did alot of searching on the internet and looking at what others made (check out US home daycare websites). I have many friends (I'm an ECE) who are or have been a home daycare provider, so I've asked to look over theirs. Send me a private message (PM) with your email address, and I can send you mine to look over if you're interested.

Good luck! Free is best!

[playfelt]

Would love to know if there is something that is strictly Canadian. Right now I have some basic forms in excel - just so it is easier to add up the columns. My son mentioned microsoft access as a possibility as he is using it right now in his internship job. Mostly my stuff is still the old fashion method of on paper.

[agesandstagesdaycare]

Would love to know if there is something that is strictly Canadian. Right now I have some basic forms in excel - just so it is easier to add up the columns. My son mentioned microsoft access as a possibility as he is using it right now in his internship job. Mostly my stuff is still the old fashion method of on paper.

Here are the Canadian sites I found in my research:
- Home Daycare Plus http://www.homedaycareplus.com/index.php
- Child Care Pro http://www.childcarepro.ca/cgi-bin/W...ccpWebsite.woa

Both are around $100. I haven't heard back from Childcarepro so I'm not going with them. Home Daycare Plus is quite helpful. I love the set up of their software but I had trouble viewing some of the screens in the trial. They offered to make a custom one for me for no extr charge. It would take two weeks. I'm torn on what to do. I haven't opened my daycare yet and would love to have it bought and up in place. However, I wish it was easy to create a free system. Sigh. So much to do!

[playfelt]

There are a lot of aspects we wouldn't need in home daycare to the extent it is in the program but please let us know after you have used it for awhile how easy it is to track household expenses which of course is our biggest issue since so much is mixed in with our regular home life. It is nice to see something that reflects how we need to organize our reports for Canadian taxes which is the issue of course with the US based software.

[playfelt]

That is probably the least important part of records keeping we deal with. Since we only deal with a few children and parents hand us a cheque each week or even once a month it doesn`t take much to write out a receipt. Keeping track of who paid what yes we need to do that.

It is the output part of daycare that is the problem. Keeping track of what we spend on running our daycare that we can claim as an expense at the end of the year. Scanning and saving a receipt is ideal as is being able to input parts of a receipt into different catagories since so many stores now sell a mixture of goods such as buying food supplies at walmart or picking up babywipes at metro.

To be Canadian we need it to record the expenses into the same catagories that are on the tax forms so that come the end of the year we either have the exact amounts to put on the forms or we are able to print out the exact form.

[lunademiel]

Here are the Canadian sites I found in my research:
- Home Daycare Plus http://www.homedaycareplus.com/index.php
- Child Care Pro http://www.childcarepro.ca/cgi-bin/W...ccpWebsite.woa

Both are around $100. I haven't heard back from Childcarepro so I'm not going with them. Home Daycare Plus is quite helpful. I love the set up of their software but I had trouble viewing some of the screens in the trial. They offered to make a custom one for me for no extr charge. It would take two weeks. I'm torn on what to do. I haven't opened my daycare yet and would love to have it bought and up in place. However, I wish it was easy to create a free system. Sigh. So much to do!

I was just wondering if you ended up trying out this software? I am just opening my child care in February and would also love to be set up before hand. Please let me know if you did try it out and if you liked it or not!

Thanks
Sheena

[VictoriaChildCare]

I don't know if this kind of stuff was even available when I started out. I made my own spread sheets on Excel, most of the stuff they are offering is for a much bigger facility. You have so much going out in the first year I wouldn't bother. All you need is an attendance sheet, receipts for your parents and something to track your deductions/expenses to start out.