Questions
The things parents ask us
Answered plainly, including the ones we cannot fully answer yet.
Are you open yet?
Not yet. We are getting a center ready in Frederick County, Maryland, and working through licensing with the Maryland State Department of Education. Until the license issues we cannot enroll a child, so there is no date and nothing to sign. Joining the interest list costs nothing, commits you to nothing, and does not hold a place.
What are your hours?
6:30 in the morning to 6:00 at night, Monday through Friday, all year, including the summer. We close for the major holidays, and the full list of closed days will be published alongside the prices so you can count them before you decide. We close at 6:00, not 6:30. If your commute makes that tight, tell us on the form. We are asking families exactly that.
What will it cost, and what gets added on top?
Prices go on this website the day we are licensed: the weekly tuition for each age, any registration fee, what is included, and when the next increase would be. Nothing will land on you at signing that was not on that page. Until then we cannot quote a number, and we would rather say so than guess.
What ages do you take?
Two, three, four and five year olds, and before- and after-school care for their school-age brothers and sisters. Infant care is not part of our first center. If you need infant care now and a twos room in a year, tell us on the form; the twos room is where most families will start with us.
Do you offer part-time?
Full-time schedules come first. Whether we can offer two- or three-day schedules depends on the rooms and on what the license allows, and we will answer it on this page as soon as we know. If part-time is what you need, say so on the form. It is one of the things we are counting.
How long have the teachers been here?
Nobody has, yet, because we have not hired. It is still the right question, so here is how we plan to keep the people we hire: the same room every day, breaks covered by a regular floater rather than by whoever is free, training paid for, and someone in charge who has opened and run a center before. It matters more than it sounds: a child builds words inside a relationship, and when the teacher leaves in February, the words are the first thing to suffer. Ask us this again a year after we open. If the answer is not most of the original team, that tells you something.
How many adults are in the room?
Maryland caps a twos room at one adult for every six children and a threes-and-fours room at one for every ten, in groups of no more than twelve and twenty. We will never run past those, at 6:30 in the morning or at 5:45 at night. How many children each of our rooms holds depends on the building, and the number goes on this page the day the license names it.
What will my child actually do all day?
Play, mostly, with a teacher sitting in it. And, in pieces of fifteen minutes spread through the day, letters and their sounds, numbers, rhymes, and books read aloud. For a three-year-old that adds up to about two hours of teaching in the eleven and a half we are open, never two pieces in a row. The rest is blocks, paint, the water table, the play store, the yard twice, lunch at a table, rest on a mat, snacks, and stories. One Bible story at morning circle. The whole day is on the front page, hour by hour.
Is it teaching, or is it just play?
Both, and on purpose. Letters and their sounds get their own few minutes twice a day at a small table, four children, a teacher and five cards in no set order, because letters do not turn up in the block corner on their own. Numbers, shapes and patterns are taught with things in hand, which is where the research is clearest that a game with a teacher in it beats a lesson. Books are read aloud twice a day and talked about, and most of a child's language is built in the conversation around all of it. The rest of the day is play with a teacher inside it, not at the edge. What you will not see is a worksheet, a tablet, or a room of three-year-olds facing a board.
Will my child learn to read here?
Some children read before kindergarten. Most do not, and that is normal: no kindergarten in Maryland expects it, and the state's own standard for a four-year-old is naming some letters and knowing some of their sounds, with help. So we do not promise you a reader. We promise the work that comes before reading, which is letters and their sounds every day at the small table, rhymes and first sounds, counting, and books read aloud and talked about. And we promise that every Friday you will know exactly which of it your child worked on that week.
What if my child is ahead, or behind?
They move at their own speed, not the calendar's. A child who has the letters moves on to the sounds, and then to putting two or three together, when that child is ready; nobody waits for the room. A child who is slow to letters at four is ordinary, not a worry, and gets more time at the small table rather than less. Nobody is moved rooms on a deadline, and nobody is compared to the child at the next table.
How will I know what my child is learning?
Four ways, none of which needs an app. The note home every evening says what your child actually did. Friday's note names the letters, sounds and numbers they worked on that week and how it went. Twice a year you sit down with the teacher and a folder of your child's work. And the door is open: once we are licensed, you are welcome to come and watch the small table any morning, unannounced.
Is there screen time?
No. Not a television for a rainy afternoon, not a tablet to settle a child at drop-off, not a video at rest time. A day here is books, blocks, paint, the yard and the people in the room.
How much time do they spend outside?
Every day the weather allows, in the morning and again in the afternoon. Coats, boots and a drizzle are not a reason to stay in; ice, lightning and a heat advisory are. The yard will be fenced, checked every morning before the children go out, and used more than any room in the building.
Do you provide breakfast, lunch and snacks?
Breakfast for children who arrive early, a morning snack, an afternoon snack, and something small at four for the long afternoon, yes. Whether we serve lunch or you pack it is one of the details we will settle before we open, and we will say plainly which, on this page and on the price page, rather than leaving you to find out at signing.
What happens when my child cries at drop-off?
Most children do, for a week or two, and then they stop. We plan the first days short and the goodbyes quick. There is a chair just inside the door that is yours for as long as you need it, we will call you by mid-morning the first few days to tell you how it went, and we will not say your child was fine if they were not. Somewhere in the second week comes the morning they hang up their own coat and do not look back.
What if my child does not nap?
Then they rest. After lunch it is mats, a blanket from home and a dim room. Nobody is made to sleep, nobody is woken, and a child who is still awake after a while gets a book and a quiet corner rather than a lecture. Older fours who have outgrown naps altogether get quiet time and then something to do.
Do you help with potty training, and do they have to be trained to start?
We help, and no. Twos start with us in diapers or pull-ups if that is where they are, and we work on it with you, on your child's timeline and with the same words you use at home. Nobody is sent home over accidents, and nobody is moved rooms on a deadline.
What do you do when a child bites or hits?
A teacher gets down to the child's level, names what happened, and helps the two children put it right. A child who bites is watched more closely, not sent home in disgrace. If it keeps happening, we sit down with you and make a plan together. Nobody raises a hand to a child here, and nobody shouts across a room.
When do you send a child home sick, and when do you call me?
A fever of 100.4 or higher, vomiting or diarrhea means we call you and your child goes home, and comes back after 24 hours without a fever. A runny nose in February is not a reason to call you at work. We also call for a fall that leaves a mark, a medicine question, or a child who cannot be settled. Everything else waits for the note home.
How do you know who is allowed to pick up my child?
The door is locked during the day and you come in with your own code. Your child leaves only with the adults you have named on your pickup list, and until we know their faces they show photo ID at the door. If Grandpa is picking up on Thursday, you tell us in the morning, and he brings his ID.
Who else is in the building during the day?
Our staff, the children, and the adults on pickup lists. The building belongs to a church, and the church's staff keep to their own offices on weekdays; they are not in the classrooms. The only adults in a classroom are the teachers who work in it. Every visitor signs in at the front and is walked through by one of us, and everyone who works in the building, including whoever cleans it, has been background-checked and fingerprinted before their first day.
Will there be cameras?
Yes. Cameras cover the classrooms, the hallways and the yard, they record throughout the day, and the director reviews the footage. There is no live feed for parents.
What happens if I am running late?
Call us. Your child stays with a teacher they know until you arrive, and nobody is shamed at the door. There will be a late fee, printed on the price page with everything else, and it is the same for everyone. If 6:00 is going to be a regular problem rather than a bad Tuesday on I-270, tell us now.
What happens on a snow day?
We are not a school, so a Frederick County Public Schools snow day is not our snow day. We open unless the roads are genuinely unsafe for our own staff, we decide by 5:30 in the morning, and we text every family either way. A two-hour delay changes nothing for us; the doors open at 6:30. Our plan is for the school-age children who are with us before and after school to come for the whole day when FCPS closes.
Will you tell me what my child did all day?
Every evening, yes: the note home, a few lines about what your child actually did, written by someone who was in the room, not a checklist with the boxes checked. On Fridays it also names the letters, sounds and numbers your child worked on that week. At pickup, the teacher who was in the room tells you the rest. Whether the note is paper in the backpack or a message on your phone is one of the things we are asking families on the list.
What does Christian mean here, day to day?
One Bible story at morning circle, told the way you would tell it to a three-year-old. A thank-you before lunch. Songs that come home in the car. That is the whole of it, and it is said out loud rather than hinted at. The name comes from the best-known sentence in the Bible, which does not describe a feeling; it names something given. That is the standard we hold ourselves to. We are not tied to one denomination.
What if we are not a churchgoing family?
Then you will be like a good share of the families we expect to have. Nobody is asked what they believe, nobody is invited to a service, and nothing political comes into the room. What your child gets is one Bible story a day, a thank-you before lunch, and songs. If that is more than you want for your child, we would rather you knew now than found out in October.
Can I see the place before I decide?
Yes, and at a busy hour if you like. Once we are licensed you will walk through the rooms with the children in them before you decide anything, and you will be welcome to drop in unannounced after that. Until the license issues there is nothing to see but a plan, so we are not running tours.
Why can't I find you on checkccmd.org?
Because a center that has not opened has no inspection record, and that is the site Maryland parents use to check one. The day our license issues we will link our page there from this one, and every inspection after that will show up whether we like it or not. Until then, the honest answer is that you will have to judge us on what we say and whether we keep it.
Who is behind this?
A former teacher who has opened and run a child care center before, and a software engineer who has spent the past year on buildings, regulations and numbers. We both live in Frederick County and our own children are growing up here. Names and faces go up the day we open the doors. Until then, a person answers every message within two working days.
I lead a church. Why would we want this?
Your building is quiet Monday through Friday and may already have most of what a licensed center needs. We would rent from you on terms that carry no risk for the church, and everything we set up packs away before Sunday. Tell us about your building through the form on the front page and we will call you.