Daycare Update

I can not believe how much time has passed since posting an update on the daycare situation! I have done such a poor job at keeping people informed, haven't I?

Last you heard, we had seen 3 places:
1. Afgani woman family care provider - This one pretty much became less and less of an option with the more places we saw. So let's move on.

2. Little Lighthouse - Smallish child care center that was excellent program-wise, but slightly expensive (especially if considering full-time price, which we aren't).

3. Luv to Discover - Very small child care center out of the basement of a house, who seemed good program-wise, cheaper than the Little Lighthouse (still expensive if thinking full-time price) but was less convenient when it came to location.

We tried to find other family care providers, hoping that the Afgani woman was not the norm (nothing to do with her being Afgani, but completely having to do with the fact that she was just a babysitter, not a teacher). We were able to get hold of someone who would have been super-convenient (just down the road), but after she canceled on us a few times, we gave up on her.

We were able to find one really great family care provider, though! Kids Honeycomb Hideout was an example of a family care provider who ran her business as though it was a child care center. She teaches her children and is so much more than just a babysitter. In a nutshell, her program seemed good, but her part-time price was in between the two childcare centers (though her full-time price is SIGNIFICANTLY less). Location wise, she was probably more convenient.

So, here is a summary of how the top three places score relative to each other... initially done in hopes of helping us make a decision...

Based on full-time price -
Lighthouse: 3
Luv: 2
Honeycomb: 1

Based on part-time price -
Lighthouse: 3
Luv: 1
Honeycomb: 2

Based on location -
Lighthouse: 2
Luv: 3
Honeycomb: 1

Based on program -
Lighthouse: 1
Luv: 2
Honeycomb: 3

Based on today's gut feeling -
Lighthouse: 1
Luv: 2
Honeycomb: 3

So, what does that tell us? Who scored scored the best?

Average score -
Lighthouse: 2
Luv: 2
Honeycomb: 2

UGH!!! Aren't statistics supposed to be useful???

So, in the end, Michael and I admitted to each other that if money wasn't an issue, we'd go with the Little Lighthouse. So we determined if money was an issue by sitting down and figuring out how much money I would make when working part-time. We put all our bills on Michael's paycheck and daycare and the majority of our savings on my paycheck. The way we figured it, bills always need to be paid but things like daycare and savings are more flexible, depending on my work schedule.

The result? Apparently we can indeed afford Little Lighthouse when on a part-time schedule. That's not to say we can afford it on a full-time schedule (at least not if we want to continue saving the way we do), but by the time I plan to return to work full-time, we're hoping to be in Colorado... so that's not an issue.

Yay! Yay! We made a decision! How strange is that? Our child will be going to the Little Lighthouse 3 days a week. Now I have to try to convince the daycare center to let me have Monday as one of those days (so that on the days that a holiday falls on a Monday, I get off of work and thus have to work less time that week). Ugh. There's always something on the TO DO list, isn't there?